The Broken Arrow Campground is run by a husband and wife who spend 6 months of the year working at their campground and the other 6 months traveling the country in their Prevost Motor home. They were both retired, in their 60’s and living their dream. We met the husband Jerry the first day. He was definitely a people person. It was one of the reasons why he wanted to own and run the campground he said because he loved people! They were ready for peace and quiet, coming off of their busy season, the Sturgis Rally. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a group of bikers (about 650,000 of them) that come for about a month and take over this small western area of South Dakota. Specifically Sturgis South Dakota for a week, but they come before and stay after and spread themselves throughout the neighboring towns.
The campground was located well off the main road of small down town Custer and surrounded by beautiful country hills.
This campground also catered to horse people. They offered trails and stalls for campers to house their horses.
Thankfully the campground had WIFI, unfortunately you had to go sit in their cabin office for it to workL And their laundry was the most expensive we have had yet at $2.75 a load for wash and another $2.75 to dry it. The bath house was clean and well kept.
We situated ourselves and left. We had the whole afternoon to go and check out surrounding towns.
There were several small towns that we had read about and wanted to go visit. When we asked about what one to go to in the limited time we had, we were told to go visit Keystone, a Gold town from the 1890‘s.
To get to Keystone we went through “Custer State Park” via the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.
It was a very very windy narrow road with many switchbacks and “Pigtail bridges”. Peter Norbeck was a successful business man and very heavy into politics ultimately holding a seat in the US Senate in the 1920’s. He also helped establish The Badlands National Monument and Grand Teton National Park. His mission was to preserve natural beauty while making special areas accessible to as many people as possible. He designed the “Needles Highway” and the “Iron Mountain Highway” in South Dakota, inside Custer State Park.
His goal with the Iron Mountain Highway was to make three tunnels (in side the mountain) frame all four faces of Mt. Rushmore.
He also had the tunnels connected by roads, lifting the traveler from one level to another without adding miles of road in between. These roads where called the Pigtail roads, I nicknamed them, the “Hold on, don’t throw up curves”.
You literally had to slow down to a crawl to make the turns and pray someone wasn’t coming around the other side!
We stopped at viewing areas along the way. Many looked out over Mt. Rushmore.
There was another pull off we stopped at that had an arch carved out of the rocks. Gabe took the daring steps across the top of it, just like his dad did at the Arches National Park!
Which you had to blow your horn before you went through to let the people on the other side know you were coming!
There was a quote on a plaque at one of the viewing areas that read, “You are not supposed to drive here at 60 miles an hour. To do the scenery half justice, people should drive 20 or under; to do it full justice, they should get out and walk.” Peter Norbeck. This is also a great way to view ones life.
There were really cool trails all around that you could take. Tina and I were just happy to be out of the car for a little while! Custer State Park was very wooded with great camp sites, lodges and cabins spread through out. Very rustic compared to where we were staying, it would have been really neat to stay there. The park was heavily wooded and we spotted a few Bison sleeping under some trees along the road. Very cool!
We stopped at the Visitor Center and outside in a small kiddy pool they had turtles! Don’t know why they were there, but it was fun to watch them try to get out of the poolJ
We park in down town Keystone and don’t really care for what we are seeing, there are souvenir shops and an ice cream place. Nothing special. Along one wall was a map showing a historic trail! Exactly what we like to do! We took one of the pamphlets and were on our way. Well we drove where it said to start and didn’t really see anything depicting what the map in the pamphlet had shown. There were no signs showing you the way either. Thankfully Tina was upfront and with her keen eyes she led us in the right direction! She may have been staring off in space when something caught her eye and one thing led to anotherJ
The old school house was the first stop.
There was also a small room containing a store, selling books, photographs and displaying memorabilia from Laura Ingalls sister, Carrie Ingalls, from Little house on the Prairie fame! She moved out to this small town in the early 1900’s and settled there. Laura would come and visit her occasionally and eventually their blind sister Mary came to live with her after Ma and Pa Ingalls passed away.
A set of double stairs led you to the 2nd story where the class rooms were.
The desk reminded us of when we had gone to school! And they had REAL Chalkboards! Gabe was amazedJ
Awwww..........
The Teachers quarters......
Amen!
After leaving the school we followed the road down to the old General Store. It consisted of 3 floors; the main floor, an attic and a basement. All original shelving, floor boards and ceiling. Everything on the shelving looked to be collected over the last century from various flea markets and yard sales. Some antiques, some old pieces and some basic junk.
In the middle of the store was an old wood wrap around bar, selling beer and homemade food. There was a crock-pot on the end of one counter to show you just how homemade it was! Not sure how original that was to the bar or if the Health Department was aware of it or not?
We wandered through and found some really cool old Tupperware, mason jars and license plates. As we were checking out we asked the guy behind the counter, in his 30’s I would guess, about the history of the General Store. Come to find out his family bought the store 31 years ago in the exact state that it was currently in! All the old tools down in the basement came with the building, the wood bar in the center was the store keepers counter. I’m thinking the billiard table in the other room that a young mom was changing her baby on was added later.
They had added the various merchandise they collected over the years from yard sales and pickings, filling in all the shelves and nooks and crannies on all 3 floors. I asked him about the winters and how bad it gets? Joe asked about the tourist and what happens when they leave?
He explained to us that during season, which consist of early summer when everything is defrosted and into early fall before the 1st frost comes, the population jumps up into the thousands daily, but especially during Sturgis Rally, you can‘t get around at all. In the winter most of the town shuts down, leaving about 300 people, whom all know each other. The cold can get below zero in the hills of South Dakota where they are at and snow can go unmeasured. Unreal. Cant imagine it.
It was a really cool experience talking to someone who basically grew up in an old General Store in a small town and still lived there to help run it.
We decide to eat out and headed back to the small town of Custer where our campground was. We passed some interesting places looking for someplace to eat. One of them interested Joe so much we stopped. The Flintstones Theme Park.
Hunger was getting the best of us so after our tour through the Flintstones Theme park we headed back down main street to the “Bugling Buffalo”. We ate outside on their upstairs deck. The view was great, overlooking the small 1 traffic light down town!
Sitting out side and enjoying the campfire is one of our favorite things to do at a campground. Unfortunately at the Broken Arrow we were over run with Flies. They have been following us all across the country! These flies come from the horse stalls on the other side of the campground. It just so happens there are more than the normal amount this year. So we sit inside.
The Badlands is a National Park. It was once a portion of a giant salt water sea. Volcanic activity pushed the sea floor up, as water drained away it left behind broad marshy plains. Periodically white volcanic ash covered the soil. It covers over 244,000 acres.
It is described by a Paleontologist like this, “Imagine it is the hottest day in the summer, in the hottest spot without water, animals or insects, without a single flower or anything pleasant. Than you will have some idea of the utter loneliness of the Bad Lands.”
Then you drive a few miles through the park and all you can see is green grass land. All the valleys of stone are gone. It is like the outer shell is pretty green and filled with life, while the inner shell is destitute and beige.
We stopped at the Visitor Center for Gabe’s Jr. Ranger booklet and to explore their museum. They had some really cool picnic tables outside where we had our lunch. They filled up quickly!
Gabe returned his booklet and picked up another Jr. Ranger Badge! Losing count now of how many. But eventually he will have them all pinned to a really cool vest. To wear out in public and show his many accomplishments, teaching the world how to be a good Jr. Ranger and preserve our beautiful country! Ok, maybe not, but the vest will be really coolJ
Really lady? You couldn't of moved for my picture?
Have you heard about the infamous Wall Drug located in Wall South Dakota?
That didn’t deter Dorothy and Ted as they were hopelessly optimistic people. Kind of like me and Joey! Mt. Rushmore was going to be opening in a few years and they were hoping that would bring people by their store front.
Unfortunately when Mt. Rushmore did open, those visitors didn’t veer off of the highway to come into town. So on a hot July afternoon Dorothy came up with her own ideas on how to make them stop. In 1936 the cars didn’t have air conditioning. The drivers would be hot and parched out there on the road. Why not give them something to help refresh them? Ice Water. Better yet? FREE Ice Water! By late after noon they had come up with signs to post along the highway.
Each board had its own saying and were spaced apart so people could read them as they drove by, kind of like what South of the Boarder does! But not as annoying.
“Get a soda” “Get root beer” “Turn next corner” “Just as near” “To highway 16 & 14” “Free Ice Water” “Wall Drug”
By the time the signs were up, people where lining up for the advertised Free Ice Water! Of course once they were there they would make other purchases as well. Ice Cream, ointment, etc. To this day Wall Drug brings in an average of 20,000 people a day through the summer months. Still offering their Free Ice Water. And their nickel coffee. They believed that a cup of coffee should never cost more than a nickel.
The Husteads have turned their little one room drug store into a few block long Main street, making it look like a typical western town.
They have a small free water park for children and young at heart along with animals they could take pictures on.....
A mall filled with many different items.....
She refused to answer any of his questions.....I wonder why?
Help how do I get out of here!!!
What do I do now?
And the original drug store,
An Art Gallery and a 530 seat Café......
Your wondering why I have gone on and on about Wall Drug? There is a pamphlet that you pick up at any counter filled with the history of how Wall Drug became the place it is. Basically where this story I just plagiarized came from. It also had a message from the Hustead family saying that they learned a valuable lesson from the “Free Ice Water”.
They said, “That there is absolutely no place on Gods earth that’s Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need.” It is something we are teaching Gabe, to not rely on anyone else to take care of you, that you are responsible for your on life and to make the most out of it.
The Minuteman Missile was next on our journey after Wall Drug. It was a National Historic Site located not far from where we were. It was another stop on Joe and Gabe’s top 100 favorite things to see.
For those of you (like myself before this trip) who don’t know what the Minuteman Missile is let me explain. In the 1950’s the Minuteman Missiles were developed as part of the United States air, land and sea based nuclear weapons. They could travel over the North Pole and arrive at its target in 30 minutes.
South Dakota has 15 underground missiles. They are no longer active, but are still there. There are 500 nuclear missiles still deployed in the upper Great Plains. All of them are still maintained at a constant state of readiness.
The Minuteman Missile national Historic Site was established by Congress in 1999. There are 2 preserved 1960’s missile sites located in South Dakota, Delta-09 (a missile silo) and Delta-01 (a launch control facility). The facility offers daily tours. Of course when we showed up there were no tickets available for the tour that day. BUT you could drive yourself out to where the tour starts, at the Missile Silo for Delta-09 and just take a look at the missile in the ground.
The Rangers that were at the main office, where you can watch a film on the Missiles, ask questions and sign up for the tour, were extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Gabe was able to do another Jr. Ranger booklet and earn another badge!
He was so excited to do this one and learned a lot from the movie and the Rangers. I think it is an awesome way for him to learn about things from people who love what they do and want to share it with you.
It was getting late and rain was hovering around us. We wouldn’t be able to take the tour and go underground to the launch control center of Delta-01 but we were able to drive out to the Delta-09 sight at least and see what they look like up close. Off we went!
It was a short drive to the middle of nowhere. Behind a metal gate was a glass cylinder that stood above the ground a few feet.
You could lean over the railings surrounding the cylinder and look down into the ground.
Coming face to face with at one time an active nuclear missile. It was amazing and horrifying at the same time.
It was a sobering sight. While we aren’t in any immediate danger of nuclear war, our defense systems still remain on alert for any possible threats to us.
