Day 4 - Thursday, Sept 6 - Murdo, SD to Custer, SD
Starting mileage: 1639 Starting time: 7:00 am
Ending mileage: 1921 Ending time: 4:30 pm
Travel mileage: 282 Travel time: 9:30 hours
A chilly start to the day. Only 55 degrees but sunny.
The countryside is mostly rolling grassland with lots of grazing cattle. Unfortunately, this is marred by a profusion of billboards advertising all sorts of tourist attractions in the Black Hills.
We were up and out early as we wanted to get to the Minuteman Missile National Monument. We certainly go there early as shortly after leaving Murdo, we entered Mountain Time, moving the clock back an hour. It would have been 7am when we got there and it doesn't open until 8.
Wall Drug was only 20 miles further on and doesn't take long to get there at 80mph so we decided to go there for 5 cent cups of coffee. We also got a fresh donut and pecan sticky bun. We don't feel bad about the cheap coffee since they charged $6.50 for the donut and bun. Wall Drug was almost about to close in 1931 when the pharmacists wife put sign out on the highway offering free coffee - the rest is history with millions of visitors a year. It is a huge complex with crafts, clothing, kids attractions and other things. There are also many other businesses on the street to take advantage of all the customers.
We went back to the Minuteman National Monument and saw an interesting video about the origin of nuclear weapons, the history of the cold war, the arms race and subsequent treaties with the USSR/Russia. We had hoped to go to the missile control center but all the tours were fully booked. We were able to take a self-guided tour of an actual missile site which was quite interesting. I remembered the "Duck and Cover" movies and drills in the 1960s during the height of concerns.
The Custer State Park had been highly recommended as a place to see wildlife and for the scenery so that was our next stop. The wildlife was a bit disappointing. We saw one pronghorn antelope, a few prairie dogs and a couple bison sleeping along the road. The large herds of bison were far off in the distance. The only "wildlife" we saw up close were burros at one of the stops that were begging the visitors for treats! The scenery along the "Needles Road" was quite spectacular, with granite "needles" pointing up in the air. There was a spectacular 360 view from the Coolidge Mt. fire tower. The signs of forest fire were ever present. Many areas had signs of having burned in the last few years with many blackened trees and others with only green needles at the top.
From there we went to the Jewel Cave National Monument which I had visited more than 50 years ago with my grandparents. The only tour available when we arrived was a short "accessible" tour but it was still quite interesting. An elevator takes you down to a large room where you can see the calcite crystals that provide its name.
Yellow jackets were swarming around the front bumper of our car in the cave parking lot and then I realized that they were swarming around the fronts of all the cars there. Someone said they were eating the bugs that were smashed on the bumper - very strange and very disconcerting for Carmen who is highly allergic.
Our accommodations tonight are a big step up with at a Comfort Inn king suite in Custer, SD.
Ending mileage: 1921 Ending time: 4:30 pm
Travel mileage: 282 Travel time: 9:30 hours
A chilly start to the day. Only 55 degrees but sunny.
The countryside is mostly rolling grassland with lots of grazing cattle. Unfortunately, this is marred by a profusion of billboards advertising all sorts of tourist attractions in the Black Hills.
We were up and out early as we wanted to get to the Minuteman Missile National Monument. We certainly go there early as shortly after leaving Murdo, we entered Mountain Time, moving the clock back an hour. It would have been 7am when we got there and it doesn't open until 8.
Wall Drug was only 20 miles further on and doesn't take long to get there at 80mph so we decided to go there for 5 cent cups of coffee. We also got a fresh donut and pecan sticky bun. We don't feel bad about the cheap coffee since they charged $6.50 for the donut and bun. Wall Drug was almost about to close in 1931 when the pharmacists wife put sign out on the highway offering free coffee - the rest is history with millions of visitors a year. It is a huge complex with crafts, clothing, kids attractions and other things. There are also many other businesses on the street to take advantage of all the customers.
We went back to the Minuteman National Monument and saw an interesting video about the origin of nuclear weapons, the history of the cold war, the arms race and subsequent treaties with the USSR/Russia. We had hoped to go to the missile control center but all the tours were fully booked. We were able to take a self-guided tour of an actual missile site which was quite interesting. I remembered the "Duck and Cover" movies and drills in the 1960s during the height of concerns.
The Custer State Park had been highly recommended as a place to see wildlife and for the scenery so that was our next stop. The wildlife was a bit disappointing. We saw one pronghorn antelope, a few prairie dogs and a couple bison sleeping along the road. The large herds of bison were far off in the distance. The only "wildlife" we saw up close were burros at one of the stops that were begging the visitors for treats! The scenery along the "Needles Road" was quite spectacular, with granite "needles" pointing up in the air. There was a spectacular 360 view from the Coolidge Mt. fire tower. The signs of forest fire were ever present. Many areas had signs of having burned in the last few years with many blackened trees and others with only green needles at the top.
From there we went to the Jewel Cave National Monument which I had visited more than 50 years ago with my grandparents. The only tour available when we arrived was a short "accessible" tour but it was still quite interesting. An elevator takes you down to a large room where you can see the calcite crystals that provide its name.
Yellow jackets were swarming around the front bumper of our car in the cave parking lot and then I realized that they were swarming around the fronts of all the cars there. Someone said they were eating the bugs that were smashed on the bumper - very strange and very disconcerting for Carmen who is highly allergic.
Our accommodations tonight are a big step up with at a Comfort Inn king suite in Custer, SD.
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| Day 4 map |
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| Former Minuteman Missile site |
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| Granite Needles in Custer State Park |
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| Calcite "jewels" in cave |
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