I know which exact rest areas double as gay bath houses at night. PM me if you want more info.

As an experienced truck camper guy, I know Many good places in SD. But like America pointed out, you guys are mostly loosers so I'll just keep my little known 'gems' to myself. Except--Rushmore, fugedaboudit. It's full of more loosers and it's Very unimpressive.


"i live in my own little world, but that's OK as everybody knows me there"--MartyFeldmansGoodEye
"it was unbelievable"--Las chicas de Jimmy Reardon
"[redacted]"--DO30


#gophers

_________________
Obama's Legacy is Trump.
And dead cops.

"One guy lays the pipe, the other guy smokes it"--Clint Eastwood

You mean the "gems" where you can set up your sex with little boys? Stretch out a paper clip and stick it in to your pee hole, then drink some Valvoline.

_________________

I'm sorry you chose to withhold your contributions. Do you eat a sandwich in front of a beggar?

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

_________________

My wife booked us in some dude ranch. Apparently it is off season until May, so we are the first people of the season with the price being about 1/5 of summer prices. This should go well. I hope the country rape is included.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Let me know if you need a referral.

This is a great time to take "scenic" vacations if you get good weather. We take an annual trip to Galena and Wisconsin in April, and if the weather's nice, it's freakin' awesome. The resorts are half-empty and you have the whole place to yourselves.

_________________

I think we are locked and loaded now. It is only a few day.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

"Frank's obsession with boy sex is disturbing. We hope he has no kids at home."--Las chicas de Jimmy Reardon
"anything goes if you vote Dem, we decide social norms"--Andrea Mitchell
"sickening, but we know musicians often are attracted to children"--Elvis


#Glitter

_________________
Obama's Legacy is Trump.
And dead cops.

"One guy lays the pipe, the other guy smokes it"--Clint Eastwood

"Frank's obsession with boy sex is disturbing. We hope he has no kids at home."--Las chicas de Jimmy Reardon
"anything goes if you vote Dem, we decide social norms"--Andrea Mitchell
"sickening, but we know musicians often are attracted to children"--Elvis


#

_________________
Obama's Legacy is Trump.
And dead cops.

"One guy lays the pipe, the other guy smokes it"--Clint Eastwood

5W30

_________________

Remember to take a wide stance when using public restrooms.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I think the vacation was a blend of people's opinion here with me not in 100% agreement with anyone.

I 90 between east of the Winona area and the Missouri River is drudgery. Flat plains of important but visually boring farm land with nothing of note to break up the monotony. The ride from Chicago through La Crosse-Winona is nice with beautiful rock formations from a little south of the Dells through Winona. Winona looks like a great place to live with beauty, colleges, outdoor activities and easy access to bigger areas. We have family there and I had always dismissed it as a one horse town but I have changed my opinion.

Immediately upon reaching the Missouri, the entire character of the drive changes. You are thrust, apparently literally, into a set of Dances with Wolves...rolling hills, leading to plateaued plains that fall abruptly canyons. This is as natural of beauty as you will find anywhere in the world.

Our first stop was Sioux Falls. The town is appropriately the capitol of the stretch of purgatory between the Mississippi and Missouri save for one redeeming quality, Falls Park. I don't think I have ever seen a natural item so perfectly adapted into an urban green space like the falls. I was very happy that we used it as a stopping point as it gave us an opportunity to see something of significance after a long day driving. Go to Falls Park.

We continued the drive the next day with a brief stop at The Corn Palace. I thought it was a fun, easy rest stop on the road. It is a stadium whose exterior is clad in corn cobs of different colors to form murals. I remember reading about it in some sports magazine as a kid and wanted to see it. They keep the stadium open for goofy gawkers like myself with a concession stand selling themed products. I bought popcorn, carmel corn and a corn dog as sustenance for the ride ahead.

We made it to The Badlands later that day. Amazing land that everyone should see. You can see everything you need on the scenic drive but to get deep into the park you have to hike. I did a 4+ mile march that I will never forget. We then took the scenic drive where, along with the landscape, I got up close and personal with buffalo, long horned sheep, antelope, and prairie dog. It was like one of those drive through zoos except the animals were in nature. I am one of those stupid people you would see in a viral video getting his car wrecked by an antagonized beast when I see animals. I escaped this day without incident

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

That night we slept at a dude ranch. This is low season for a tourist area that draws in three million visitors all within about five months so you can get great deals on lodging. Unfortunately, they are also not completely running. It was a beautiful little horse farm tucked up against the hills. We had our own cabin with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and two bathrooms with use of a fire pit and hot tub. Unfortunately, the horses weren't shoed so we couldn't take a ride. I couldn't really complain for all we got for $100 per night, including a big, home cooked breakfast.

We arrived late and this place was remote. It was dark with no street lights and the owners already at lights out. It wasn't a problem getting in the room but we were starving with none of the local (and local means within 20 miles in this area of the US) open for the season. I had to go to the local gas station for cans of chef boyardi and a frozen pizza. I didn't notice the kitchen had no stove so I tried to cook the pizza on the grill. I know I did it correctly at a reasonable temperature bot the bottom was still burned. It was one of those nights where things are going wrong and tempers flare, especially with a teenager who seems to be able to graze non stop 24 hours a day...but I persisted.

The next day was freezing (literally 32 degrees) and rained the entire day. We decided to change plans and leave Mt. Rushmore to the next day with a good forecast. Instead, we tried to do things where we would be in the car more. We were planning on going to Deadwood anyway so I added Devil's Tower in Wyoming which is about an extra 1.5 hours away. Great call. This is a true natural wonder and a sacred sight for thousands of years. While we were hiking around it, my family was in front of me by about 50 feet. I heard rustling in the tree above them and saw a porcupine. Who knew those things climbed trees. I said, "hey, look, a porcupine" hoping to get a picture with them. My wife screamed, scaring the thing so that it hurridly climbed down the tree, which scared her so that she hurridly ran away with the whole shot ruined.

It was balls cold, wet and as I found out, perpetually windy (as it always is in that part of the country) but the day was well spent. Deadwood sucked and I would recommend not wasting your time. Its an old west town that really is just a big casino. I think that is one overriding theme of the trip: outside of the natural beauty, the area is a grotesque, typically American, overcomercialized zone. I think it would have been detrimental to my enjoyment of the trip if it hadn't been so empty that we were able to avoid it.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Did you not go to Wall Drug??????????????????

_________________

The third day was spent at Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer. I don't know how you guys could say Mt. Rushmore is underwhelming. Maybe I'm easily whelmed. I do think it is a defilement of the Black Hills. If they were to propose it today, I would be against it but it is here and an enjoyable monument.

WTF is with the Crazy Horse monument? Those people must be the worst fundraisers in the history of man. Even if they won't take government money, how difficult would it be to find corporate sponsorship of a location 3 million people per year are visiting? If that family would let someone other than the family work on this project, this would have been completed decades ago. I know that they have a much greater comprehensive plan of a city of native American heritage but get that thing finished. How do the native americans not push this a little more intensely?

Custer is a nice state park with lots of buffalo roaming free.

The drive home sucked. I got a ticket in the speed trap near Sioux Falls where the speed limit drops from 80 (where it is for 500 or so miles) to 65 for no apparent reason other than to make money for the state.

The End.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

That place is not even worth a mention. It's a testament to the stupidity of americans that it has become a thing. I stopped for donuts on our drive back to Chicago.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It's a daily FUCK YOU to the natives.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way