This summer I took my son on a cross country camping trip. We went from Madison, across Wisconsin, Minnesota and the plains of South Dakota to visit the Badlands, and the Black Hills. Then it was off to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower and Yellowstone National Park. Now this isn't your typical vacation story, at least I hope it isn't, because if it is - many of you will never go on vacation again.
Last January I got the bright idea to take my son camping. Not just any camping trip but on that would span across five states (Originally it was eight but I regained some of my sanity prior to booking). Did I mention we were going to do all of this in a tent and that my son is twelve?
The day arrived for us to leave for the Badlands for the most part, other than a suicidal pheasant about midway through South Dakota, the drive was uneventful. Then, about fifty miles outside of the Badlands the heavens opened up with the worst storm I have ever had the pleasure to drive through. We pulled off the Interstate to wait out the storm. Then as quickly as the storm came up it ended. I hoped it was our bad weather for the trip.
We arrived at Badlands National Park around five that evening. We went to set up the tent and promptly broke a tent pole. Through the miracle of duct tape I made a temporary repair and we were able to enjoy the spectacular views surrounding us.
At least we could relax until we saw this...and the radar confirmed it. Another whopper of a storm coming in. Have you ever ridden out a hailstorm in a tent? It is not a pleasant experience. Luckily the storm was brief and we were able to get to bed and get ready for a new day.
The next morning an older woman was walking through the campground and asked us, "How did you ride the storm out last night?"
I replied, "We did okay, looking forward to a better day today."
To which she responded, "My fifth wheel has some dents and has some paint chipped off."
I really wanted to respond with, "We went through that storm in a tent and you are whining about the paint on your camper that costs as much as my freakin' house!" But I chose the high road and said, "That is too bad."
The next day it was off to the Badlands Loop road, a Minuteman missile silo and Wall Drug.
Funny, at this point of the trip I had not run into any TEA Partiers...
While this is rather dark humor, it is pretty funny.
Cold War artwork in the Missile Control Center
We are entering the scariest place on earth.
Console one...missile launch key is just under the hat on the right.
Console two, missile launch key is just to the left of the phone. The red box above the console holds the launch codes.
I can honestly say that this and the missile silo we visited were the scariest places on earth that I have ever visited. Just thinking about why they were built put shivers down my spine. One thing that did strike me about this missile site was the amount of labor it took to build them. The park ranger who was giving us the tour stated that these missile sites not only put thousands to work in South Dakota they also brought electricity to parts of rural South Dakota where no company was willing to build lines as the population was not high enough to warrant the investment. Take note, government created jobs.
Sunset over the Badlands
Of all the places we went I was most looking forward to seeing Mount Rushmore...I gotta say I was disappointed. You look up...and that is about it.
Crazy Horse monument. I doubt this will be done in my lifetime and maybe not even in my son's lifetime.
Custer State Park along the Needles Highway
Bison
Beer
Fire
And then all hell broke loose. Around seven that night I looked up at the sky and started to get worried. The campers at the site next to us said it looked like it was going to miss us based on the radar they were looking at on their phones. It did not miss us. Twenty minutes later hailstones the size of quarters started falling from the sky. This went on for twenty minutes.
Taken from my tent window shortly after the storm started. By the time it ended there was at least an inch of hail on the ground. What we didn't know was that there had been a tornado touchdown about a quarter mile away from our campsite. Never heard the siren. Granted, I could not hear my son talk to me from the other side of a 10x8 tent.
The next day we were scheduled to head to Deadwood for the day. We took our time getting there and ended up just staying at the campground for the night. Once the owner of the campground realized we were from Wisconsin he started quizzing us about whether we were union supporters or not. I told him I was. He then said that while he agreed with what Scott Walker did he thought he did it the wrong way. I decided not to discuss the matter with him and went on to our campsite.
The next morning we were off to Wyoming and Devil's Tower.
The Bighorn Mountains.
And Yellowstone.
Did I mention that this is what we went through two hailstorms in?
All is good in the world.
The next day we awoke to 27 degree temps and I was having a hard time breathing.
Onward we went to explore Yellowstone.
After I took this photo I met a man with a Gasden flag hat who with his wife was ooooing and ahhhing about the sheer beauty of the falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We kept bumping into them as we toured the canyon. His truck was covered in TEA Party and anti-Obama stickers. I really wanted to break it to him that a lot of the overlooks we were using were built by the CCC during the Depression and that if he had his way Yellowstone would cease to exist. I also wanted to ask him why he was on federal land enjoying views brought to us by the federal government, but, I was on vacation dammit and I was not going to get into it with anyone.
Old Faithful - here my son and I met a wonderful couple from Scotland. They were full of questions about Wisconsin and the Recall election. We discussed a lot of topics and they could not wrap their heads around our healthcare system.
At the Continental Divide...and things started going downhill from here.
Once we got back to camp it became more and more difficult for me to breathe. My clinic at home had authorized a clinic visit for me in Yellowstone as I had all of the symptoms of altitude sickness; however, the clinic in Yellowstone would only see me if I paid $200 upfront even though my insurance had authorized the visit. At this point the a campground host came around and upon my asking her what the fastest way was to a lower elevation she took one look at me and knew I was sick and without being asked she called her husband over and they were helping my son tear down and pack up our camp so we could get off the mountain (evidently altitude sickness is quite common among park visitors so she recognized they symptoms immediately). They would not let me do anything. The kindness of strangers. I was overwhelmed by their help, I do not know how my son and I would have gotten everything packed up without their assistance.
Out of the park we went, which was a two hour drive. The lower the elevation the better my breathing became. We spent the night in a Best Western just outside of Billings, Montana. Then it was onto a sixteen hour drive the next day to get home.
The drive home was really pretty uneventful...until we got to the Minnesota/South Dakota border. I had been driving for 11-12 hours at that point and needed a break. The Minnesota rest area was park-like and the shelter was clean so I decided to stay for a bit just to get my legs moving under me. An older gentleman was working as the custodian in the rest area and he struck up a conversation with me. At first he was nice enough, talking about the weather, how much we like the Midwest, and where we were from. Crap, he just discovered we were from Wisconsin.
"You know what the problem with this country is?" he asked, I really did not want to know his answer, but, I was tired and had been driving all day. My defenses were low.
"No, I don't" I responded, fully expecting the answer to be "Unions."
"Mexicans, that is the problem. There is too damn many of 'em. Them and the blacks. you know Arizona is got it right, stop all of 'em and send 'em back to where they came from." He responded.
My son looked on wide-eyed, it was his first experience with a bigot. I was taken aback as it was not the answer I was expecting.
"I don't think Arizona is doing it right, that is the federal government's job." I replied.
Of course he had an answer, they always do. I really wanted to tell him off; however, I also had to think of my son. I told him that I felt he was not correct and that we really had to get going, so much for my break from driving. Once in the car I explained to my son that the man in the rest area was a bigot and that it was of no use trying to reason with him. My son said, "Dad, I was so afraid you were going to tell him off. I just want to get home."
So through Minnesota we went, then back into Wisconsin. (Why is it I had better cellphone coverage in the middle of nowhere than I did along I-90 from Lacrosse to Madison?)
On our infrastructure. Each state we drove through, except Minnesota, had rough patches on the Interstate. Wyoming was by far the worse. There was a fifty mile stretch marked as rough road and that was an understatement. I worried about the bridges we crossed, especially in areas where the road surface was not in very good shape. I wonder if our Legislators ever travel across the country via the Interstate system? If they did maybe there would be better funding for our infrastructure.
I do have to marvel at our Interstate system. What a magnificent highway system - too bad it is in desperate need of work. Our travels took us across the country and we saw parts of the country we had never seen before. We also saw opportunities. If the we could get a decent stimulus package through our National Parks Systems could get improvements that they desperately need. Yellowstone has acres and acres of wind fallen timber that could be cleared. The Badlands could get some much needed road improvements.
I was not happy with private businesses running the campgrounds and resorts in our National Parks. In the Badlands a young man from Senegal was the campground host. I cannot imagine what he was being paid, my guess is that it wasn't very much. In Custer State Park (I know, not a National Park) three young Ukrainian women were running the camp store. In Yellowstone the campground hosts are hired by the National Park Service but the campgrounds are run by a private enterprise. I am not sure I like the idea of private companies running campgrounds and resorts on public land.
All in all my son and I had a very memorable vacation. I don't think we will ever forget being in a tent for not one but two hailstorms.