Got a fairly early start, for me…before 8:00 local time (before
7:00 Washington time).
Only one off-trail-stop today…Wall, South Dakota…the home of
the famous Wall Drug Store. It has changed considerably since I last stopped
here 42 years ago. Instead of the one huge building, it has now been sectioned
off into “stores”…a bookstore, a mineral store, the souvenir store, etc. They
have added a “back yard” and the whole area now looks like a small town’s
central core – old looking but new at the same time. Across the street from the
drug store is the Saloon, Barber, and all other typical small town businesses.
I did stop in the bookstore because I was looking to see if they had a book I
had seen yesterday at Mt. Rushmore. I could not remember the name or the author
but the young woman working there knew what I was looking for; they had only
one copy left so I bought it as a “reference” piece for some writing I plan to
do. I also received a history of the drug store and its originators from the
man working in the mineral store. All in all, a good place to stop off.
Back on the road. It was a long drive today…about 600 miles.
It seemed like it took forever to drive across the great state of South Dakota
but they have plenty of diversions and advertisements on the road that help alleviate the monotony of the drive.
And, some of the town names made me smile: Winner, South Dakota, Reliance,
South Dakota are just two of the many. I
visited many of their rest areas…always clean, always something to read about,
and in some cases even a view.
One of the areas I stopped had a vista point to
view the Lewis and Clark Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River. The video
clip is the whole of what could be seen atop this vista and if you listen, you
can hear the wind. South Dakota has to be the windiest state I have been in.
There would be no point in fixing one’s hair here as it would not last even one
open car door.
When I finally hit the Minnesota border (and another time zone change), I was within a
couple hundred miles of my destination. Southern Minnesota, particularly the
west side, has a landscape marked by many wind farms. Not surprising because it
was pretty windy here as well but I thought it was kind of a strange site
because I saw not one wind farm on the long, extensive, windy drive across
South Dakota.
Arrived in Rochester, Minnesota around 8:00 PM…the wine was
waiting. J
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