The Badlands and Wall, South Dakota

"Where's Waldo? Where's Joyce....?"

With the giant prarie dog

Ernie with a friend.

Joyce with a card shark....

Goofy cowpokes

We had 3 separate deer sightings yesterday.

We were out the door by 9 a.m. this morning. Stopped at the Badlands National Park visitor's center and saw a short film about the park, then went to a gift shop a few doors down. Drove the Badlands loop with quite a few stops at viewpoints; it was cold and the wind got colder, so we didn't view for very long. Looks like we are on another planet when driving this road; there are very few people here this time of year (this park gets 1 mil. visitors a year - most in the summer). One thing we have found out is that this is an excellent time to travel - no crowds at all.

Then we headed for the town of Wall (famous for Wall Drug Store). Had lunch in a local eatery, then did the tourist thing and went thru some shops. For those of you who haven't heard of this place, I think it started back in the 1930's when a family started a little road side business by giving out ice water (in the summer it gets very hot here) and adding things to sell as the years went by. Now it's a tourist draw, for no particular reason other than it's a quirky place with not only lots of stuff to sell, but also quirky displays and trivia (see pictures of us with statues).

Returned to the RV before nightfall and took a few pictures outside. It is really getting cold out and the wind is especially wicked. There is a major winter snowstorm coming in over the weekend and we are going to have to change our travel plans to try to avoid it. At this time we will probably only drive to Sturgis, So. Dakota tomorrow (about 90 miles from here) and wait out the storm that's supposed to hit the area we were going to be driving thru. Well, so much for the sun and warm weather - now I remember I really dislike being cold! - Joyce