Greetings from the Badlands

We set off from Papillion, NE this morning before our hosts had even awoke; it was early and the Nebraska air hung heavy with fog, apparently from the dense root structure of corn that holds moisture in the soil. Thanks for that bit of trivia, Dave. We headed north on I-29 into Sioux City to connect to I-90, the good old Mass Pike, toward the setting sun and our first tourist detour, The Corn Palace. A structure adorned in husks and kernels that looked better on paper than in person. The most exciting part was, in fact, a car with a license plate that read "MUGGLE". We drove quickly to our next destination, the Badlands.

In the Badlands National Park, the rock formations were incredible, like majestic mud-drip castles dried and hardened in the sun. The color variations between rock segments tricked the eye into one-dimensional comprehension undermined by further, more detailed study. Truly unbelievable. The drive through the park took us nearly two hours, too brief a visit for such a sight, but we had a schedule to keep.

Upon exiting the park, we managed to find our way to famous Wall Drug, advertised across South Dakota as a must see for any road whore. Honestly, the entire place was Spag's meets spaghetti-western. It was kitchy, like every store at Hampton Beach crapped in South Dakota and hung signs. We found some knick-knacks but were ultimately disappointed with the experience.

Now, we're settled into our hotel room, with free wi-fi, for the night. We just returned from the night ceremony at Mt. Rushmore. It was cold atop that mountain, but we thought ahead and packed pairs of jeans and hoodies. The ceremony was a touching and informative tribute to Rushmore and the featured presidents. Very patriotic. So much so, that the ranger, with aspirations of Broadway, broke into her own rendition of "Proud to be an American" as the show started. People actually stood up when the song says, "stand up".

All in all, the trip has been going well so far and tomorrow we're off to Cody, WY before Yellowstone.