After our Grizzly Bear encounter, we hit the road en route to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore & the Badlands. On Rt. 90 in Wyoming the speed limit is 75 mph. I was driving roughly 12 miles over the speed limit and a Wyoming State Trooper made sure to let me know about it. He gave me a ticket for 87 in a 75 (120 Bones). Hey, if I was a trooper and spotted an out of state license plate going more than 10 over the speed limit, it's a no brainer. Everyone and their mother was driving 85-90 on the road, but out of state vehicle speeding is easy picking. Also, what's a road trip without getting pulled over anyway? I did it on purpose.
We didn't arrive to Mt. Rushmore until 9:30pm but from calling ahead of time we knew the park would be open until 11:00pm. Joe and I were literally the only people in the park at 9:30. Originally we were stopping there because it was on the way to the badlands, but after seeing it we were glad we went. At night they shine a massive light on the mountain and leading up to the memorial you walk through an outdoor hallway of state flags which gave a sense of unity & nostalgia consider we experienced about half of them while on the road. The Monument consists of 4 presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, & Lincoln (Someday Obama. Just kidding... but I'm probably not). As I mentioned in past posts, it was under Roosevelt, that some places of natural beauty would be conserved within nationally administered parks. There are more National Park Service units dedicated to Roosevelt's life and memory than any other American. As we looked up at the monument, I guess you could say we thanked Roosevelt for taking the initiative to conserve natural beauty in this country. In essence, it was the purpose of our journey, and he made sure places like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite & Yellowstone, stayed relatively untouched and preserved.
After Mt Rushmore, we pressed on and broke our "no night driving rule". We arrived at our Badlands campground around 12:30am Central Time and went to bed. In the morning we woke up and drove the badlands loop for an hour or two. The Badlands are interesting because of the rock formations and the randomness of there placement in the grasslands. It almost seemed like the badlands were a miniature Grand Canyon. Billions of years ago the "badlands" was covered by ocean. Over time the ocean dried out and the land became a rain forest where many prehistoric animals thrived (Saber tooth tigers). The surrounding area of the badlands is lush with greenery, hence the randomness of the rigid hills.
After the Badlands, it was time to press on to our next location. The plan was originally to stop in Chicago and then drive from Chi-Town to New Jersey. That was the original plan, but since we had both been to Chicago, it wasn't like we would be missing anything if we skipped it, so we made the decision to go straight home. South Dakota to New Jersey: 1600 miles roughly 29 hours of driving. We each took turns driving in 3 - 4 hour shifts and forced each other to sleep when we were the passenger. We left the Badlands around 10:00am Central time on Friday May 13 (Day 19) and arrived in New Jersey at 2:00pm Eastern Time on Saturday May 14th. We were greeted by our parents/aunts and uncles banging pots and pans on the front lawn of my parent's house in Freehold NJ. It was a funny sight to see. As Joe and I pulled into my parent's development we felt a sense of excitement, slight depression (since we were back to reality), and a sense of accomplishment. When we reached the top of the driveway we shook hands pridefully and sealed the bottle cap of an epic journey across our great Country. I'll have more to say/reflect upon in my final post of the blog.
Stay tuned for the final post...
Vin
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