Wawawawawashboard Road.

July 5, 2023

Badlands……..now I know how they got that name. I cannot imagine as a settler back in the day coming face to face with this bit of real estate knowing you needed to get to the other side. I had a hard enough time peddling the Rim Road on a modern bike. It’s gravel, which my bike can handle easily. But due to everyone driving 40-50mph to get a glimps of a bison it is heavily washboarded. The 15 miles from camp to asphalt was rough. I was afraid it would damage my racks or panniers or bust another spoke, so my speed was really about walking pace. And Clunk was not happy either.

This is a unique landscape….a huge basin made up of constantly eroding multicolored layers of earth. Cliffs, mounds, plateaus, streams, grasslands, you name it. I saw more bison here then in Yellowstone by far. At least 40-50. As well as prong horns and a ton of prairie dogs. Don’t they carry bubonic plague or something like that? I was gonna tell the parents of the little kids at the camp that were climbing in the prairie dog holes but I couldn’t remember for sure what old disease they carry. Besides they should probably have been more afraid of the rattlesnakes that go down those holes.

I was glad to finally get to asphalt on Rt 240. I had planned to continue east to Interior but the sign said it was 26 miles away and the washboards did Clunk a real number, so I opted for Wall which was only eight miles away…..and has more motels for a day off.

The town of Wall only exists because of Wall Drug and i90. Wall Drug opened years ago when folks started traveling by car to see the country. The store was not doing well from the start. This is a dry desolate area so the wife of the store owner came up with the idea to offer free ice water and to put up billboards for miles advertising this. She saved the store and probably the town. It has grown to include an art gallery, arcade, cafe, multiple stores, entertainment center, and ice water distributor. Several motels and souvenir shops have sprung up to cater to tourists stopping off of the interstate just to see Wall Drug. Kinda like South of The Border for my east coast friends.

Anyway, I’m taking a day off tomorrow. I need a rest and I’m ahead of my planned schedule anyway. I really only need to do about 35 mikes a day to get to Iowa in time for RAGBRAI. I need to find something interesting to see on my way if anyone has suggestions. A missile silo tour is on my list… west of Wall.

In the mean, time some pics…in no particular order.