Day 3 - Monday, June 30, 2003

Hot Springs, SD to Luverne, MN

542 miles for the day,  2,121 miles traveled so far.

8:11 in the saddle, 10:30 total time check-out to check-in.

Average speed while riding was 66.2 mph.

Parks visited this day:

Stamps:

Daily Journal:

    Left the motel at 7:30, heading west and then north and then west again to Jewel Cave NM.  About 100 miles of the cave have been explorer, but there are many more miles that have not been visited by man.  I took US-16 back east to Custer and then went north past the Crazy Horse Memorial to Mount Rushmore N Mem.  I was a bit peeved that I had to pay $8 to park at Mt. Rushmore.  Also, the last time I was there was in the early 80's and all of that crap had not been built.  The private foundation that built seemed to be trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' and built some touristy columns and arches and an amphitheater at the site (the whole area is full of ticky-tacky tourist traps).  Anyway, after parking, I had to make my way under some large arch, weave past the tourists trying to take pictures of their buddies, walk up a path between columns with state flags on them, go down some stairs (about 2 floors worth) to finally get to the bookstore to get the stamp.  It totally sucked.  I did talk to a few tourists, and I did help a group get a group shot in front of the memorial.

    Traffic sucked all of the way down.  It was a relief to get onto I-90 for a blast eastward.  I stopped at Wall Drug to get some cherry pie (delicious).  Then it was brief bit more of freeway until Badlands NP.  I skipped the loop road, which starts near Wall, and just went in and out at the Northeast entrance which is close to the VC.  The picture at right was taken from one of the overlooks near the VC.

    I got back onto I-90 and headed for Minnesota.  I mostly had the GPS right on 80 mph for this stretch (speed limit is 75).  It seemed like all there was on the side of the road were crews cutting the long grass.  At about 1/2 of the way across SD, I crossed into Central time, losing an hour.  Just after crossing into Minnesota, I went north on MN-23 to Pipestone NM.  This part of Minnesota is mostly flat farms.  As you looked around, where the clusters of trees were, that's were the farm houses or towns were.  Otherwise, it was just flat farms.  I got there at 5:40, 20 minutes before the VC closed.  I got the stamp, looked at some of the exhibits, wandered around the quarry, snapped a photo, and then left.  Pipestone NM is site of a vein of red stone that was and still is quarried by the Indians to make ceremonial pipes.  The photo shows an area where the NPS built a walkway into the quarry so you can see the rock.  That is about all there is.  

    I went south on US-75 to the junction with I-90.  I stayed at the Super 8 there in Luverne, MN, arriving at 7:00.  I had a pretty decent steak at the attached restaurant.  Later I planned my course for the next day.  My original plan was to stay closer to Pipestone, but when I had called from Hot Spring the night before, the Pipestone Super 8 was full, so I settled for Luverne instead.   

Map: 

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