Road Trip Day 3 - Wall, South Dakota

My wife and I by Dam #7 on the Mississippi River
Photo by Barbara Gammon, Copyright 2011. Do not copy.

We drove through hundreds of miles of corn fields on day three of our cross country road trip. We crossed the Mississippi River which was bigger than I expected it to be this far north. We stopped and took a few pictures at the crossing in Minnesota near Lock and Dam #7. I hadn't realized that the Mississippi had locks installed to make it navigable as far north as St. Paul. It makes sense though, as the information sign at the rest stop points out that the from source to mouth, the Mississippi has a vertical drop of 1488 feet, of that, 857 feet of drop occurs between the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca and the northern border of Iowa.

After the Mississippi, I-90 climbs up onto the plains. More corn fields. Interestingly, though, the corn fields here are doing double duty as wind farms. Rows of modern windmills stretch as far as the eye can see. I couldn't tell which manufacturer produced these windmills, but the website Wind Energy, The Facts says that the most popular models produce 1500-3000 kW of power.The U.S. Energy Information website says that the average U.S. home consumes just under 11,000 kW hours per year. For comparison, the average coal-fired power plant in the U.S. produces roughly 220,000 kW of power though this type of plants vary widely in size and output.

Windmills ended abruptly once we reached South Dakota, despite the fact that there were just as many corn fields along the highway. They seemed to be replaced with billboards which lined the highway. As a native Vermonter, where billboards are prohibited by law, I ordinarily prefer landscapes uncluttered by advertising. In South Dakota, however, they only serve to break up the endless corn fields.

I'm beginning to suspect, however, that the quality of the attraction is inversely proportional to the number of billboards on the route to it. Wall, South Dakota and, specifically, Wall Drug have the highest billboard count along I-90. We did not expect much from Wall and our expectations were met. We arrived in the early evening and checked into the first place we saw, the Sunshine Inn. We asked for a non-smoking room and got one that smelled of smoke. Continental breakfast consisted of prepackaged cinnamon rolls, coffee and orange juice. It was cheap in every possible meaning of the word.

Wall Drug itself is essentially a small mall full of tourist shops. Several gift stores, a cowboy boot shop, leather goods, camping equipment, knives, books, jewelry, and similar offerings are peddled from individual stores inside the Wall Drug complex. There is  T-Rex robot that comes to life every 12 minutes or so and a small outdoor area with some static displays. For me the most interesting thing was the photo wall in the very back building. While it mostly chronicles frontier life, there is one photo that more accurately reveals "how the west was won." It shows a number of U.S. Cavalry Soldiers posing proudly on horseback in and around a mass pit grave filled with native American bodies at Wounded Knee. Read Lorie Liggett's introduction to Wounded Knee here.

Don't feel compelled to make a stop at Wall Drug, its reputation and billboards notwithstanding, there's not much to see here. The best thing about Wall, South Dakota, is that it is located at the entrance to the Badlands National Park. We ate dinner across the street from Wall Drug at the Cactus Cafe & Lounge. Not recommended. They offered an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet for $10.95 which featured a soup and salad bar, spaghetti, fried chicken, baked beans, and pizza. It was not particularly good, but it was close and easy after a long day of driving.

Me posing with the Green Giant.
Photo by Linda Sylvester, copyright 2011.
Do not copy.

I should also mention that we had a celebrity encounter in Blue Earth, Minnesota. We actually had the opportunity to get our pictures taken with the famous Green Giant. There's a sign next to him which gives some statistics such as the fact that it cost $43,000 to build him out of fiberglass and that he stands 55 feet six inches tall. You'll have to go to Blue Earth and read the sign for yourself to see which of the Green Giant's body parts measures 48 inches...