May 30th - The Badlands

Tonight we are parked at Cedar Pass Campground in the Badlands National Park. This is the first time we have stayed at a National Park. It has been my impression that most National Park campgrounds can't handle a 40' motorhome. This one can, of course this is the wide open spaces of the prairie. It drizzled rain most of the way here but hasn't rained while we have been here. There has been a brisk breeze with temps in the high 50's. The breeze had died down and the low is forecast to be 38. We will see.


This is main street in Wall, South Dakota; home of the famous Wall Drug Store. What a neat place. Everything you see in this block is part of the "drug store" complex. There is even a nice little chapel, capable of seating over 50, in the complex. Behind what you see is the Wall Backyard. Another complex of buildings with historical photos and lots more stuff, including a T-Rex that "attacks" every 12 minutes. Once you are inside you just keep walking from area to area. I think the "cafe" said it had seating for 560. There is a nice covered walkway to get to the "backyard."

 Just a little larger scale photo.

 Lunch. My beef gravy sandwich was really good and Kathy like her chicken/bacon sandwich. My cup of coffee was only a nickel, one of Wall Drug's trademark issues, but my plain donut was $1.25. Kathy has a glass of Wall Drug's free ice water, another of their trademarks.

 Parked at the campround in the Badlands. If I took the photo right now you would see 5 RV's in it. There are quite a few tent campers here. If it gets down to 38 it will be brisk crawling out of the sleeping bags in the morning. There are no water and sewer connections for RV's but we do have a 50 amp electrical connection. It is a very short walk to nice restrooms, although there are no showers. Not a big deal for us. We can easily take showers in the motorhome for 3 days before we need to dump our grey water tank. With our old folks pass to National Parks we got into the park for free, which saved us around $15 and it only cost us $14/night for a space with 50 amp electricity. The standard rate is $28/night if you want electricity. No WiFi, just a slow Internet connection using my phone. (The plan is to stay here tonight and tomorrow night)

The sun is setting here now. Time to get outside and look around. Star gazing is supposed to be spectacular here. There is also supposed to be some type of program at 9 PM but I don't know if we can stay up that late.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.