Montana October 2010 Part 2

I stopped in Kansas City to visit relatives for a few hours and then headed north through western Iowa toward South Dakota. There was not much going on in western Iowa. The lights were few and far between. I slept in the truck at a rest stop, over night. The next day I drove to eastern Montana before stopping for the night and slept in the truck, which I parked in the hospital parking lot of the Crow Indian Tribe. The drive through South Dakota was picturesque, but seemed to take forever.  Endless miles of fields and prairie lined both sides of the interstate, with huge round bales of golden hay  framed by expansive fields of beige in the warm afternoon sun. I stopped in the Town of Wall to get fuel and was pleasantly surprised to find the old drug store. It is a veritable museum of the high plains, the Indian tribes and early settlers. It also has the largest collection and articles for sale, boots, hats, western jewelry, saddles, etc. You need it, they got it. You want it, they probably have that, too. The store is actually a collection of buildings strung together for an entire square block; much like a modern day mall. I was so impressed that I called my wife to tell her about it. She knew all about the place. She had eaten her first buffalo burger at the Wall Drugstore when she was a teenager on a trip out west with her family. It was evening when I pulled over again. I was only 35 miles from Mount Rushmore and decided to see it. I was glad I did. The amphitheater in front of the rock bluffs is imposing with flags from all fifty states framing the walkway to the viewing area. It was almost dark when I got there so I staying until the lights came on so I could see it all lit up. It is as impressive as Stone Mountain in Georgia and ironically was carved by the same person who started the carving at Stone Mountain before going out west to carve Mount Rushmore.