Wall South Dakota & the Badlands - Trip back to Florida

As we leave the Black Hills, Ray and I reflect on how beautiful this area is and how much more we would like to have seen. We will be back for sure if we ever get in this direction in our travels. But not during the two weeks before and after Sturgis Annual Rally. We would certainly explore the small towns that abound around Rapid City, especially Belle Fourche, located at a “beautiful fork” in the river that gave the town its name. Significance is that the US Coast and Geodetic Survey officially designated a point 20 miles north of Belle Fourche as the Geographic Center of the Nation. On my list of must-see places next time will be the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, home to America’s largest wild horse herd! Located at Hot Springs, SD.
Saturday, August 04 - We drove 55 miles from Rapid City, to Wall, South Dakota on I-90, a colorful western town. We arrived at Sleepy Hollow Campground. The park is reasonable and we have 50amp service. There are not many people in the park, surprisingly.
The Badlands area is a wonderland of water chiseled spires, ragged ridges, rugged canyons and prairie. The lower prairie lying along the flood plain of the White River is a sod-covered expanse dotted with scattered buttes. The upper prairie varies from great grassy flats to gentle grassy undulations. And there is "The Wall" standing between the two, serving as a barrier to north and south going traffic. "The Wall" is a rugged strip a half mile to three miles wide and nine miles long with a succession of tinted spires, ridges and twisted gullies.

From "The Wall," the name of the town of Wall, South Dakota is derived. Wall was established as a railroad station on the C&NW Railroad in the summer of 1907.

The Wall Drug Store is known as the "free ice water store." Glasses and thermos jugs are filled by the thousands every day at the "free ice water store" for the visitors in town!

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The Badlands: Rt. 240 takes drivers amidst the National Park’s most dramatic rock formations. Badlands was originally proclaimed a National Monument in 1939 and later became a National Park in 1978. The reasons for the park’s special significance include: spectacular vistas and scenery that inspired the first description of the "badlands" landform; it contains rich fossil remains of early mammals; it was the birthplace of the science of vertebrate paleontology (the study of fossils); it contains the finest remnant of mixed grass prairie in the U.S.; and it contains places of spiritual and historical significance to the Lakota Sioux nation. Pictures do not do this incredible land justice.

This is a fossil dig and when we walked the wood path, the heat was unbearable.

Tuesday, August 7 - Left at 7:30 am to travel from Wall, SD on I-90 to Adrian, Minnesota, Adrian Campground. The land is far from flat as there are rock formations off in the distance that look like remnants of the Badlands. The wheat fields run for miles. Most of the fields have already been harvested and the bales of hay were everywhere. We drove 330 miles to Adrian, and set up for a one-night stay. The park is large with grassy sites. But, the flies were bad.

Wednesday, August 08-09 - At 7:30 am we started to drive another long day across south Minnesota on I-90. We encountered a group of firefighters preparing to walk over the mountain to another huge forest fire. Traffic was held up for awhile as they unloaded their men and equipment to their staging area. We are still at 1,600 ft. elevation. Took lots of pictures of the changing landscape. We crossed the border into Wisconsin and we started seeing green hills, trees, and farms.

We arrived around 2:30 and set up our home on a beautiful site looking out over the Petenwell Lake. Petenwell County Park, WI has very nice RV sites on the lake. We are in a county park and a lot of small trailers, campers, etc. are set up for the summer retreat for families. The lake is beautiful and the bugs are out in full force, but the heat is not bad at 88 degrees. We found out our site is reserved for the weekend, so we have to leave on Friday instead of Monday. We drove into the small towns of Adams/Friendship for groceries, had lunch at a local restaurant. Took pictures of sunset on the lake.

Friday, August 10 - We left early (7:45) to drive from Petenwell Lake County Park, Wisconsin to arrive at Sugar Creek RV Campground in Crawfordsville, Indiana. There are corn fields everywhere. We are now encountering a lot of big cities and a lot of traffic since we are parallel with Chicago, 109 miles to our east. At noon, we are in Illinois on I-39 south. Cornfields look taller and healthier, so we believe they must have had more rain here. At 2:30 pm we crossed the Indiana border heading east. Stopped at a very small campground in Crawfordsville, but we have 50 amp service. Site size is good. Hot weather and flies hanging around. We stayed inside until late in evening.

Saturday, August 11 - We drove 125 miles from Crawfordsville, Indiana to Thousand Trails Indian Lakes campground near Batesville, Indiana. A very large park with nice sites. We are on a cul-de-sac and a lot of trees behind us to give us shade in the afternoon. Paved streets with grass and gravel sites. As we drove the surrounding areas, we saw so many fields of corn and soy beans. We kept buying the sweet corn along the way since it tastes incredible. Also saw a lot of old barns. Sunday, we went into the town of Greendale where a new theater was showing the Bourne Ultimatum. Was a great movie. We kept watching the weather channel and saw that we are getting out of the Wisconsin/Minnesota area before the huge front of rain hits. We extended our stay here until Thursday since the park is so pleasant and it is only hotter as we move southeast.

Thursday, August 16 - Left Indian Lakes in Batesville to drive over 300 miles to our one-night stay at Soaring Eagle RV Park in Lenoir, Tennessee. Park is reasonable at $24 a night, but asphalt parking lot and no ambiance whatsoever. Across Hwy. 275 South, we crossed the Ohio River. There was a lot of road construction along the way. And then we crossed the Kentucky state line. Kentucky is full of hills and wide roads mostly in good condition, and green trees everywhere. At 11:30pm, we crossed the Tennessee line.

Friday, August 17 - Left Soaring Eagle RV Park in Lenoir, Tennessee on Rt. 40 to I-75 on our way to Atlanta, Georgia and a small RV park in Cordele. Arrived around 2pm. The park (PA approved) is in very poor condition, without any defined sites. Had to look for our own site up on a hill with red paint on the electric connection box. The heat was unbearable, so 50 amp service was a must. Overgrown grass and stagnate pond. Mostly permanent residents in small trailers. Not a pretty sight. We had a major storm that night with lightning and thunder, and winds rocked the coach. The good news was that we were on high ground.

Saturday, August 18 - We left Cordele RV Park, Georgia at 8am. We crossed the Florida line mid-morning and the sky was a white smog and I could barely make our some white clouds in the sky above. The sun was trying to peek through.

We encountered our FIRST problem on the road that required us to remove our TOW.

Ray wanted to get diesel gas and realized at the last minute that the station was impossible to navigate the RV with the tow. We had to turn into a Best Western in Gainesville to turn around through their driveway. There was a concrete post that made it impossible to maneuver and Ray had to disassemble the tow so I could drive the truck out to a side street to reattach the tow.

We arrived at Grand Lake RV & Golf Resort, Orange Lake, FL. What a breath of fresh air to finally locate a park that is not only free of dirt and dust (paved sites), but there is a lot of room between neighbors. The golf course is on premises and very busy, even though it is HOT at 98 degrees. The park is not full this time of year so we got a great rate. They say in the season this park is hopping with all kinds of things for visitors to do. We are on a concrete site which is rare, but the grass sites are not that bad. Satellite, cell and Internet is all working.

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