Badlands and Battlestar - Day 102

From Portland I drove to Seattle, WA. In Seattle, I left the car behind and flew to Minneapolis, MN. In Minneapolis, Battlestar (BS) picked me up, and we are now heading back to Seattle. Flying half way across the country, with the sole purpose of driving back to the starting point, isn't very logical, but most of this Road Trip is a bit left of crazy.

The flight from Seattle flew by. Mainly because I was fortunately seated next to Bill Hirabayashi. He started the conversation with this: "Hi, I'm Bill. I used to be Japanese, but now I am Yapanese because all I do is is yap, yap, yap." 3 quick hours and a hundred entertaining life stories later we landed. Bill is 84 and both spry and sharp, and was just returning from his 60th high school reunion. His life has had many career and life directions, perhaps the most historically important was that he and his family were rounded up in 1941 and placed in the Japanese internment camps, but it has not stopped his love of god and country.


BS and I had an excellent Italian dinner with url's cousin Tracy in Minneapolis before bunking down. This morning we checked out all the most interesting routes across Minnesota. There were none, so we simply took I90 all the way. Minnesota seems to be almost exclusively soybean and corn farms. Enough said. Most of South Dakota was the same other than the highway is lined with intermittent signs and billboards announcing just how many miles you have to drive to get to Wall Drug.

Upon entering South Dakota, we headed into Sioux Falls at the behest of Bob's Cafe, courtesy of the Roadfood book. The challenge of beating the eating record there lured us. Free lunch if one could eat a 3/4 lb. burger, 3/4 lbs. of fries, a large bottle of Coke, and a cookie--thereby besting the record of 3 minutes, 26 seconds (the key as we're told is to put the cookie on the burger). We instead chose a lunch of ribs and chicken in about 13 minutes. We also got the background of Bob's from two lovely Sioux Falls natives.

After lunch, more bland scenery. That was until we got to the Badlands and the landscape (finally) changed. At first, the Badlands seemed to be just a so-so place for a National Park. The Badlands kind of sneaks up on you. Unlike places like Crater Lake or Monument Valley that you see coming for many miles, it is hidden in the grasslands of South Dakota, and does not jut up to much of an elevation. It is an abnormal place with canyons and ridges topped at times by long grass. Both Battlestar and I kept thinking it would be a fun place to build a golf course.


The more I saw of the Badlands the more it impressed me. At first the landscape had these little ridges with Grand Canyon wanna be crevices. But after winding 20 or so miles up and down through some rough and vibrant, grassy yet crooked terrain, the compexity of the Badlands gnaws at you. How does a place like this exist? Why hasn't it been leveled by time? Wouldn't that make a great Par 3? And just when when you think you are at the end of it, when you've crossed the last trap, it throws another obstacle in your way.

In the end, it was pretty good. BS was probably more impressed than me, but he had driven half way across the country on only the interstates (evenly divisible by 10); I've already seen Big Bend, Crater Lake and the Grand Canyon.

Commuting with BS to his new hometown: so much fun! We've only been at it for 24 hours, and it feels like we have had a hundred hours of experiences. This was a relatively boring driving day until the Badlands; but, having someone to chew the scenery with and someone to hear me when I go "Wow" (or equally as good to agree with when he says "Wow") and someone to recount the day with over a fine dinner adds so many excellent new dimensions to the Road Trip. Thanks for moving to Seattle bGirl and good luck with the new job. I think BS will be finishing off the summer with me on this Road Trip.
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There is a new temporary(?) feature on the blog today - Battlestar's Corner. It should be obviously to the right of this post. Not sure how I will keep versions of this yet, but I'll figure it out next time BS posts. Enjoy.
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Battlestar's Corner:

DAY 1-2: Hey all, BS here. So glad to be part of RT's adventures again. After about 26 hours of driving since Sunday afternoon (kept my sanity only via the wonders of XM Satellite radio), it was fun to actually see something interesting today in the Badlands. Things will get even better tomorrow with Rushmore and Yellowstone on the agenda. Thanks to our Minneapolis friends for the short-notice hospitality.

My favorite part of the journey thus far, though, has been witnessing the expertise in road life that RT has accumulated. He can identify 327 different types of bugs AFTER they have hit the windshield. He can tell the age of senior citizens to within 2 years. He can predict exactly which of the roadside rest areas have the cute girl passing out tourist literature as opposed to the old guy with the beard and belly. I'm a bit unnerved by how comfortable he is on the road. Anyway, I'll try to sneak a third person perspective into the blog for the next few days en route to Seattle.

PRECAP: Not much to relay prior to meeting up with RT since I drove for about 18 hours in 2+ days. I left CT on Sunday and headed down to NJ to have a late lunch with the Hobokenites and JJ/MJ/mini-JJ. Then I dropped in to hang out with sister BS and niece. At about 8PM I decided to leave and get a couple of hours out of the way. Just past the Poconos in PA, I stayed the first night. Monday was an 11-hour haul from PA to Chicago. Got into my hotel just in time to walk up to Wrigley for brats, beers, and a ballgame. I got a ticket a few rows off the left field line. Cubs win!! After the game, I settled in to Jake's Pub for a drink before heading to bed. My seat at the bar was used for many years by Hank Arnold (1933-2006) as commemorated by the brass plate on the bar in front of me. I was honored to sit in the hallowed seat of Jake's own "Norm Peterson".

The next day, I drove from Chicago to Minneapolis with a stop in Madison, WI, the home of the University of Wisconsin. It's a hopping town. I can't imagine how vibrant the place must be when school is actually in session. That night in MN I met up with Tracy and family. After playing a game of Wheel of Fortune with the family--Tracy's 4-year old Cole was Pat Sajak--I headed to the airport to pick up RT.