Trying to beat the heat today, Dave and I left the motorhome at 8:15 this morning for our sightseeing trip in the car. Round-trip, we drove about 220 miles today.
First we visited The Prairie Homestead, a sod house and farm built in 1909. For $18, homesteaders were given a land grant of 160 acres. At least an acreage of these farms had to be tilled in order to keep the land. Many people gave up before the allotted five years because the weather was harsh, both in the winter and the summer, and the farming was harder than they had expected.
Sod house built in 1909--soddy on the left and a later addition on the right. 
Close-up of the sod part of the house
Cacti on the roof of the soddy
The soddies had packed dirt floors.
The soddy wall
The outhouse was half-occupied.
Even the chickens had a sod coop.
Some of the current residents of the prairie homestead:
White prairie dogs were all over the place.
We visited the prairie homestead first, then back-tracked to the Minuteman Missile Site. Click on Dave's blog to read about the Missile Site.
We stopped at the Trading Post next the Missile Site to peruse the store and have a hot dog. We both had buffalo hot dogs, which we had never eaten. They were good--spicier than a beef dog, but not as spicy as a Polish dog.
Buffalo dog
Then it was on to Badlands National Park. These three sightseeing stops were all close together, which made it worth the trip east on I-90. 
It was getting hot by the time we arrived at the Badlands, so we didn't go on any of the hikes. 
Our last stop of the day was in Wall, South Dakota at the iconic Wall Drug Store. After seeing the billboards advertising this place, many tourists, including ourselves, stop to visit this place.
Once you get inside this block-long store, you find many different stores selling almost anything you might (or might not) want. The store even has a chapel!
Dave met up with a friend.
After we each indulged in some Wall Drug Store ice cream, and Dave got his "free for veterans" donut, we headed back to Rapid City and our home-away-from home.
Thanks for sharing the photos and the story. Those sod homes were quite the primitive way to live, but they made sense out there. Tell Dave he better be careful if he plays any poker with his new friend...that guy has a real good "poker face" if I'm any judge of character!
ReplyDeleteThe pictures of the badlands are awesome. I bet it would be easy to get lost in there. Can you imagine being in those canyons on a horse in August and not knowing where the watering holes are? Oh my. I think I like traveling on paved roads in an air conditioned motor home.
ReplyDeleteI love the photos of the Prairie Homestead!! When my mom was still living I had asked her why people ever quit having dirt floors.... she responded that I musta been born 100 yrs too late! I think I would have loved that life, if I wasn't the one having to do the plowing :)
ReplyDeleteGee, those places look so familiar for some reason! I'm glad they were new and fresh to you two so you could give them a proper blog!
ReplyDeleteThe RV spot across from the buffalo dog joint is where we stayed prior to moving to Custer ~ which is pretty full of RVs about now! They have something planned for the 3rd and 4th but we need to buy a paper to get the details!
We did the wildlife loop yesterday and fed our friends the burro's some carrots! Didn't see one buffalo!?!
See you soon!