Today was our longest drive so far, about 500 miles! Actually, its not as bad as it sounds or maybe I was just really happy to get out of that place we stayed in last night. To be fair, Guy did almost all of the driving with the exception of about 100 miles when I was at the wheel. We've been listening to Obama's book, Letters From My Father, and that made the going easier. I never thought that I would like listening to books on tape, but on a long drive like this, its kind of a great thing.
The scenery didn't have the bang that it has had in the last couple of days, but it was still extremely pleasant. The weather was perfect, blue skies and temperatures in the high 70's, perfect driving weather. Makes me wish we had a convertible. The dogs have either finally adjusted to being in the car for long stretches or they are just in shock; whichever it is, I thank God that Sonny has finally stopped panting and Luigi didn't puke once today.
As soon as we got on the highway, we started seeing signs for "Wall Drug". I had read about this place in my roadtrip book and had spoken to some people who knew about it (thanks Matt), so I was looking forward to seeing it. It didn't disappoint. It started out in the 30's as a real drug store and it wasn't doing so well during the Depression. The couple who owned it had the bright idea of putting signs on the road advertising "free" ice water. At the time, anywhere you stopped on the road gave you free ice water, unlike today when we, shmucks that we are, gladly handover $2 or more for a bottle of water. But I digress; so they put these signs up and voila, all of a sudden, people began stopping at the store. This brilliant idea happened to coincide with the completion of Mt. Rushmore, so more and more people showed up. It kept growing and growing until it became what it is today, a giant tourist trap, where they still give you free ice water and a 5 cent cup of coffee, but where it is impossible to get out of without spending at least $50. They sell everything. My purchases tell the story; we bought tee shirts, post cards, little wooden boxes with "Wall Drug SD" printed on them (don't ask), a Christmas tree ornament, a mini replica of Mt. Rushmore, and are you ready? Rosary beads, again, don't ask. It spans the entire block and they recently built what they call the "backyard", which kind of looks like a little area for kids to run around in. Did I say that there is also a bar and a cafe? We had a wonderful breakfast and also bought some homemade donuts for noshing in the car. No whiskey though, it was only 10am.
From there, it was a nice ride and although we stopped for gas and to let the dogs out a couple of times, it was pretty uneventful. We did stop in Mitchell, SD which is the home of the "Corn Palace", another place I read about in the roadtrip book. This is sort of a sports arena, think Spectrum, (Philly people will understand this, everyone else, sorry) with the only difference being, it is completely covered in CORN. Really, they make these murals for the front of the building totally out of corn. Every year there is a different theme. It seems that the optimal time of the year to visit is during the harvest at the end of August. That's because that's when the corn is picked (you know, "harvested") and when they complete the murals with all of the corn they just picked. Get it? Anyway, another place to buy dumb shit and buy we did. For some reason, Guy was a little possessed by this place and actually wanted to buy things. Weird! I have to figure out why that happened so I can transfer whatever it was that made him want to shop, to his shopping at, umm, lets say, Bulgari.
Tonight we are staying in Sioux City, Iowa, which is right across the Missouri River from Sioux City, Nebraska, where we had dinner at the Crystal Cafe, a place I read about in, you guessed it, the roadtrip book. It is a truck stop with great food. Ok, Philly people, think Melrose Diner, except it has really great food and is filled with people from Nebraska and Iowa (really, really nice, but no style; unlike the people in the Melrose who have great style but aren't really, really nice).
The hotel, I know, you were wondering when I was going to get to that, is very nice. No drama at all to report. Its clean and has real wooden headboards. One interesting thing happened tonight. I took the dogs out for walk and I saw lightning bugs. Wow, I haven't seen lightning bugs since I was a little kid. It made me think of my grandmother's farm. A very nice way to end a very nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment