Sioux Falls to Rapid City

A windy day on the plains! We fought a 40mph headwind across the state, so our little Golf diesel did not live up to its mileage potential. Prairie grasses whipped in the wind as if the

land was alive until we crossed the Missouri, where prairie gave way to plains, then plains in turn gave way to the eerie

rock formations of the Badlands. Just before we turned off route 90 for the Badlands loop, we stopped for fuel at a desolate station on an exit that went nowhere except said desolate station.

The Badlands made John think of parts of Utah rendered on a somewhat smaller scale,

but it was a new experience for Susan. We made a picnic lunch of sorts in the gusting winds, finished the loop, and returned to route 90 for the final run into Rapid City.

After checking into our hotel we made our way downtown, as we did last night in Sioux Falls. It is a remarkably vibrant downtown, both in terms of historic preservation and new initiatives. For example, they are nearly done with placing statues of all U.S. presidents on downtown corners (it took us all evening to find Nixon, who remains tricky

even in bronze), and there was a high-energy street fair/concert underway featuring a competent Beatles cover band accompanied by (for unknown reasons) a troupe of belly dancers. For the second night in a row we found an altogether remarkable restaurant (the McFadden Culinary Tour of South Dakota) called The Corn Exchange. They have been open for 13 years, are champions of slow/local food, and have a well-chosen wine list. We shared an order of tenderloin that came from a nearby ranch where the cattle eat only grass and have daily tai chi classes. Tomorrow we plan to visit Mt. Rushmore (because people kept telling us we should) before exploring Custer State Park in the Black Hills.