Marc's Musings

Total Miles Traveled: 1812

Today I spent at Badlands National Park. Most of the day was spent driving up the “loop,” which is basically just a road up through the middle of the park. The road has a series of overlooks which provide different views of the various rock formations.







I had intended to camp at the only campground within the park. However, several factors caused me to modify my plans. First, there is a burn ban in effect as the threat of forest fires is very high. The burn ban meant that I would not be able to cook dinner and most of you know that I do not like to be hungry. (Now, I find a burn ban in Badlands National Park rather ironic since there aren’t that many trees.) Second, the wind was also blowing about 40 miles per hours and it was looking like rain. I sound like a wuss, huh? This is where my day got interesting.

I decided to head into Rapid City, South Dakota to find a hotel and a Wal-Mart. It looked more like rain the closer to Rapid City I got. I spoke to two different couples in the lobby of a hotel who passed through the storm on their way to Rapid City. They were talking about fist sized hail. Of course I thought that they were exaggerating, until I saw their cars. Both of the cars looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to them. The rear window was completely broken out in one of the cars. That didn’t seem like a fun experience to me, so I got in the truck and headed south.

Just a few minutes after leaving that hotel, it started raining pretty hard. It also started hailing. Luckily the hail was small and didn’t do any damage. As I was driving south, I called a hotel in Custer, SD and made reservations (I got the last room!). The person mentioned that the weather was nice in Custer. Of course, it rained on me the entire way down there, which is about 40 miles. Upon my arrival into town, I see signs of flooding, namely the water rushing down Main Street and the rocks and debris in the road. Well, so much for the nice weather in Custer.

I guess I shouldn’t complain, at least I’m not stuck in Houston for the flooding and impending possibility of hurricane Dean. Anyway, my day didn’t turn out quite the way I had planned, but I’m having a great time.