The Badlands

We arrived at Badlands Ranch & Resort in Interior, SD early afternoon on Wednesday.
We weren't expecting too much, but the place is really nice and rustic. It is a very nice campground, but we would be hard pressed to call it a resort. Level sites, full hook-ups, clean, rustic bath house all make up this scenic place. We needed to do laundry upon arrival, so Brenda did so . It costs $2.50 to wash and $2.00 to dry no matter how many loads you have.
The former owner manages the ranch and is very friendly in a cowboy sort of way.Yesterday, we went to the Minuteman Missile Control site about 15 miles from here. It was a very interesting tour. This base has been closed since the end of the cold war. Each tour at the base was 3 days and it is so desolate and the crews were restricted to the base for their tour of duty that boredom became a real issue among the crews. These people were stationed at Elsworth AFB and sent out here on a rotating basis. Several enlisted crew were permanently assigned here. The station Chief and cook is an example.
The missiliers were on duty in the bunker for 24 hours at a time. One was allowed to sleep while the other one was alert. The bunker was 32 feet below ground and could sustain a direct nuclear missile hit and still survive to accomplish their mission. The door to the bunker was 16,000# and 2 feet thick.
We then went on to Wall, SD to visit the world famous Wall Drug Store. It no longer even remotely looks like a drug store, but it was very interesting. If it weren't for Wall Drugs, I'm not sure Wall would even be on the map. We spent several hours there with many varied shops all belonging to the corporation. They even have a travelers chapel.
The water is free. The coffee is $.05 and the doughnuts were fairly cheap, too. Since I am a veteran, I got my coffee and a doughnut free. Quite tasty.We toured the 'metropolis' of Interior. We found the post office as we are having our mail delivered there and should be here now. We found the Catholic Church and the city jail. A small mid west town on the south side of the Badlands National Park.
We plan to go into in the park today to to some site seeing and short hikes. The weather is cool and dry here so the hikes should be tolerable.


Ta ta for now