Sunday, May 31, 2020
I departed from Moline Illinois around 7am on Sunday, May 31, 2020 with a little over 12,000 miles on my Honda Ridgeline. I headed north through Iowa and just across the state line into Minnesota to take care of a brief errand, then dropped back down to I-90 westward. I made two brief stops along the way – primarily to satisfy family members who insisted that I see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota and the Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota on my way. I completed the trip with just under 16,000 miles on my odometer around 11pm on Saturday June 6th.
The point of this excursion was to retrace the trail run by stagecoaches that travelled between Deadwood, South Dakota and Cheyenne Wyoming during the wild west days, especially around the days of prospecting and gold mining in that area. I was following up on an article from the American Road magazine (Volume XV Number 2, specifically) called: “Last Stagecoach to Deadwood.” It chronicled the towns and events along the way between Cheyenne and Deadwood including Fort Laramie, Lusk, Hat Creek, Newcastle, Lead, and of course both Cheyenne and Deadwood. That path, referred to in the article as the “Cheyenne – Black Hills Stage road”, is about 300 miles. But I added several points of interest to the trip like Mount Rushmore, which stretched out the time required quite a bit. At the last minute, an errand needed to be run that actually caused me to reverse course. But it all worked out fine, and this little jaunt turned out to be one of my fondest trips ever. I’m a big fan of the old westerns – especially the movies (John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, etc.) and so this was like manna from heaven for my natural wanderlust and love for all things west.
My principle planning references for the trip were that back issue of American Road and one of my favorite traveling buddies, the hardcover version of “Off the Beaten Path” by Readers Digest. If you travel and don’t have a copy of that book, buy it; just trust me on this. Refer to it before every road trip; you’ll thank me later.
I headed west on I-80 then I-380, I-218, and I-35 toward Mitchell. The weather was good, I had a fresh oil change before leaving home, and my Honda hummed happily along the interstate with only one minor incident. It seems the speed limit plummets to 55mph for a short stretch around Cedar Rapids. Apparently I missed that, and was photographed by one of the 3 hidden traffic cameras set up for that very purpose, still doing the typical interstate speed limit. Cruise control strikes again. A very nice photograph embedded in a form letter arrived by mail not long after I returned home demanding payment of $75, including a promise that the matter would not be reported and therefore would not be deleterious to my automobile insurance rates; they just wanted my money. A word to the wise about Cedar Rapids, Iowa folks.
My first stop was at Palisades State Park in Garretson, South Dakota. Approaching the park entrance, I happened across a private display of old (circa 1920s or 1930s, I think) farm equipment. I paused there long enough to have a chat with the owner, who happened to be departing as I was pulling over to take a few photos. The owner is a genuinely nice man who congratulated me on my retirement and told me as he left to “take all the pictures you like.” The piece of primary interest to me was a very old tractor that he rescued from his late father-in-law’s property out in the Badlands, and he had a half dozen similar era farm implements there.
Palisades Park is an amazingly beautiful place. It looks like the calendar pictures that used to grace the walls of every Midwestern American home. Gorgeous bluffs and pinnacles (some stretching 80 feet or more skyward) and the sound of rushing water. Over 100 acres provide lots of places for younger folks to climb and get a view of the surrounding landscape. The park borders Split Rock creek with paved and unpaved footpaths, well-maintained bridges and parking areas, and a crisply organized park management presence who provide maps and information at the entrance. An absolutely delightful respite from travel, and the first glimpse of just how beautiful a journey into this part of the country can be. If you have time, plan to spend at least a few hours at this park. There are places for picnics and a lot of hiking or just sitting on rounded boulders along the waters edge and communing with nature. They accommodate camping there as well. This is one of the spots on my journey that I discovered as a result of “Off the Beaten Path,” mentioned earlier.
After Palisades State Park, I drove on west to Mitchell South Dakota and visited “The World’s Only Corn Palace.” If you’re a lover of gift shops, which I am not, this is a great place for you! I had seen the Palace once before, but it was more than 50 years ago, so this was a pretty new experience for me – again – and I have a better sense now of why I forgot about it the first time. It is clean, well maintained, huge (think full size basketball court with adjoining bleachers, also connected to a stage for live performances,) and seems to function most of the time to house an enormous gift shop doing business on the floor of the basketball court. The real claim to fame for this edifice appears to be the fact that the exterior of the building is encased in a gigantic façade of corn cobs depicting a kind of mural of the countryside, and apparently it is completely redone each year. I know it must impress the pants off of people generally, because it’s been there for a very long time (1921) and popular accounts state that it receives half a million visitors a year. Performances at the Palace have included Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, and Willie Nelson so they are clearly doing something right. I just didn’t get it. But I kept my promise to family members by returning there for a visit, and then moved on. The Corn Palace is located at 604 Main Street in Mitchell; knock yourself out.
With the first day’s excitement over, I ate dinner and called it a night.