We awoke at our De Smet Bed and Breakfast and got ready to head out. We had a good breakfast, got our ice packs out of the freezer and headed over to where they start the bus tour of the area. Unfortunately, they started the morning tour at 8:30 am and we did not arrive until 9:00 am. The next one did not start until 2:00 pm, so we decided just to go out to the Ingalls homestead, south of town. It comprised 160 acres. It was starting to get warm, but not too bad. The elevation in De Smet is about 1,500 feet and it was relatively dry. The homestead offered a walking tour which covered just over three miles. It was a good tour.
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| Gift Shop. T bought The Annotated Pioneer Girl |
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| Sod Dugout |
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| Shanty (not much of an improvement over the dugout) |
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| Barn |
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| Final Homestead Residence (three phases) |
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| Stable |
There was a horse-drawn wagon to ferry people around the property, but it started about the time we had finished our walking tour.
On the far back of the property, was the original West Bethany Lutheran Church. The Ingalls were not Lutheran but devote Congregationalists. We walked back to the church and found (from a black board inside) that it had been moved there in 2009. Why, we don't know. It appeared to be an active church, but we don't know what denomination.
We then went to the Johnson School #20. Laura Ingalls never attended or taught in the school or had anything to do with the school. So why was it there? We were told to show what a school of the period might look like. AND, T noticed that one of the teachers of the school had been one of Laura Ingalls students!
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| We sat through a class session |
I must publicly congratulate T on her conduct during our tours in De Smet. On several occasions, the guides made statements that I knew were contrary to her beliefs. She never corrected them however. Not even when they mispronounced the name of their own city. I was so proud and thought this demonstrated a remarkable degree of constraint on her part.
We departed De Smet around 11:00 am and headed west on I-90. Around 1:00 pm we approached Kimball and decided to get lunch at Ditty's. T had a burger and I had, what I believe to be, the worse Philly Cheese Steak sandwich of my life. But, the ambiance was worth it. Lots of bikers going to or from Sturgis. Last week was the 76th annual bike rally in Sturgis. I guess these guys were just now sobering up.
Back on the road, we crossed the Missouri River at Chamberlain. Very impressive! Much more so that the Mississippi flowing through St. Louis. Of course the Mississippi we passed when we crossed over from Wisconsin to Minnesota was also much more impressive than the Mississippi flowing through St. Louis. On the west side of the river, we quickly climbed about 500 feet in elevation. By the time we reached Cactus Flat, SD (where SD 240 and I-90 intersect) the elevation was 2,500 feet.
We took SD 240 south into the Badlands National Park. I successfully used my senior park pass and saved enough to pay for that miserable Philly Cheese Steak sandwich I had at Ditty's. We drove through the badlands on SD 240. This was T's first exposure to the Badlands and she was impressed. It is kind of like the Grand Canyon however. Every time you look, it is impressive, but after awhile, it gets a bit old and pictures do not do it justice. We stopped at the visitor's center and watched a short film on the park.
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| We saw no rattlesnakes |
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| Visitor's Center |
Then we went on into Rapid City. We easily found our hotel and checked in. Today is our 43rd wedding anniversary, so we dined on sushi and sparkling sake at the local Fuji Japanese Steakhouse. We had a nice time.
Tomorrow we start touring the Black Hills.
