South Dakota - Day 4 - to Hot Springs

Hot Springs KOA, Hot Springs

Wednesday, 4 August 2021

At breakfast I opened a container of cut-up cantaloupe I'd bought in Rapid City a couple of days ago.  It had a label on it saying "Rocky Ford Grown Cantaloupe." I figured this must mean something because usually cantaloupe isn't labeled that specifically, looked it up, and learned that it does mean something.  Rocky Ford Cantaloupe (TM) is claimed by The Hirakata Farms in Colorado for a cantaloupe grown since 1887, now shipped far and wide.  I have to say it's pretty good cantaloupe. 

today's route

Most of today's drive was on roads I've driven before.  I decided on that route partly because Google was promising it would take 3 hours 21 minutes (which means at least 4 hours for me) and any other route would be much longer; and also partly because I planned to travel those other routes on another day.  Besides, it's a lot of interesting and beautiful scenery and I wasn't tired of it yet.

The first segment, skirting the Badlands, was mostly grasslands with grazing cows, backed by mountains in the far distance.

I passed a large herd of what I thought were cows.  Then I saw their heads and realized they were bison, not cows.

I passed 8 horses in a field; they were all bunched together, all with their heads over the fence.  Couldn't figure out what they were waiting for.

The "check engine" light was solidly on from the beginning of the day; then it started blinking for about a minute; then it went back to being solidly on.

And another herd of non-cow bison.

In Rapid City I passed a fast food place called Taco John's - claiming the "Fresh Taste of West-Mex."  Having come from the land of Tex-Mex, of course I noticed this.  I looked them up and learned this is a company headquartered in Cheyenne WY, that dates back to 1968 and now has franchises in 23 states.  I guess if I can't make it to one here, I'll have to try it in Wyoming next month.  I feel an obligation to check what constitutes "West-Mex."

I took US 385 south through the Black Hills to Hot Springs, the same route I took 3 days ago when I first came to SD.  At one point I pulled over to let folks go by me (I wanted to get them off my tail so I could enjoy the scenery), and 35 motorcycles and 6 other vehicles passed me.  All in that one time.

When I passed through Hill City again, I noticed a sign for the State Railroad Museum.  I looked it up online and learned that the museum gives information about railroads in SD since 1872.  But more importantly, it's next door to the train depot, where I could buy a ticket for an 1880 train ride to Keystone and back.  Sounds like fun.

Farther on I saw a highway sign warning: "Large Wildlife On Roadway Next 7 Miles."  I drove a lot more cautiously after seeing that.  Large wildlife sounds intimidating to me.

Near Hot Springs I came to the turn to go to Wind Cave National Park.  Before I came to SD I was interested in going to this cave, but at this point I changed my mind.  I was hot and tired and my arm was hurting again.  But it sounds like a really special place.

Wind Cave was established as a national park in 1903, and was the first cave in the world to be designated a national park.  It's the world's 7th longest cave, and the world's densest cave system (that's what the National Park Service says - I'm not sure what a "dense cave system" is).  Aside from these unusual facts, Wind Cave has about 95% of the world's known boxwork formations.  Those are calcite products and they look like this:

boxwork

Don't know why it's called boxwork, but that's what they say.  On another trip I'll have to see this place.

In Hot Springs (I didn't see a sign, but online it says they have about 3,500 residents), I passed a historical marker about the local sandstone architecture I thought sounded interesting.  I couldn't stop to take a photo but found it online.   https://www.hmdb.org/sandstone-architecture  Actually, this link is better than I could have done because it includes photos of local examples of this stuff.

From there I went on to the campground, which is about 5 miles out of town.  I guess it wasn't really that long a day, but somehow it seemed like it and I was tired.  The dogs weren't, though, so I had to walk them a couple of times.