September 23, 2022
For today’s adventure we are heading back to the Badlands and surrounding area. Our first stop is Badlands Harley Davidson. This is the last of the Harley dealers in the area. I said I wasn’t going to buy a shirt but they had the coolest design that I couldn’t resist. The next stop is Delta 09 Minuteman Missile Site. This is an actual missile silo used during the Cold War. It had a missile sitting in the silo. The ground cover was slid away so you could see how it was. There is a clear dome over the silo so you can see down inside. It was very interesting to me. This is an era that I grew up in. This is one of three sites that tell this story. The second site is Delta 01 where you actually go down into a silo to see the Ground Control Room. I called too late and we could not get a reservation. They were closing by the end of September. The third site is our next stop, the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitors Center. We had briefly stopped here before but Nancy did not go in and I didn’t sit and watch the movie. The movie actually told the story of the Minuteman sites and how they were manned and launched if necessary. It was very interesting to hear about the “close calls” we have had through the years. It really reminded me of the movie “War Games”.
We left here and drove down into the Badlands again. Our next stop is the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. The last time we came through was around closing time. This time we didn’t stop at the overlooks as we had done that the first time. I find visitor centers to be educational and helpful. We walked around the center enjoying the story of the Badlands. It was now lunchtime so we went next door to the center to the Sage Creek Cafe(?) and had lunch. It was a beautiful day and we were going to eat lunch outside at one of the picnic areas. Well, in the Badlands it is always windy. So we wound up eating lunch in the truck.
The next stop wasn’t actually a stop. It was a drive. A drive on the Sage Creek Rim Road. It is a gravel road about 17 miles long and has some breath taking scenery and a good chance to see wildlife. What they never tell you is the road is a gravel washboard. The views are lovely! After about 15 minutes of the ride on a washboard road in a one tone 4X4 truck, Nancy said we needed to get off of this road. We found the available opportunity and headed up to Wall. From there we picked up the Interstate and found our way home on smoother roads.
