I knew today was going to be a rough day with the long distance I had to travel. I just didn’t expect such a disappointing ending.
My alarm was set for 6:00, but when I awoke at 4:00, knowing I had a long drive ahead of me and didn’t want to arrive in the campground after dark, I packed up and was off by 5:15. There’s really not much to share when you’re driving all day; you hope for beautiful scenery, but that did not materialize. Southern Montana/Northern Wyoming is pretty much long stretches of brown hills with an occasional cow dotting the landscape. I was fortunate to have phone calls with a few people who kept me awake during those nodding-off moments. So, thank you.
I had decided to take a mini detour to see Mount Rushmore. I figured it would add on about 45 minutes to my already-long drive. Not. It ended up adding 3 hours. Sigh. And I have to say, I don’t think it was worth it. Rushmore was built to be a tourist attraction, and while interesting, that’s pretty much what it is – a tourist attraction surrounded by a sort of Disneyland-style set of shops and eating spots.
That detour brought me into the Badlands NP campground 30 minutes after sunset. For a national park, I have to say, this campsite is pretty disappointing. Super primitive, and so far, I haven’t been able to find any water spigot. There may be one, but as dark set, nothing was visible. My neighbor says he has electricity, but zippo here. I’m hoping that life perks up tomorrow. I will be moving a lot slower tomorrow morning, and visiting Badlands NP will definitely require less than 13 hours of driving.