28 August 2025
Today was a day to regroup and rejuvenate. We slept in, had brunch around noon, and then planned what we wanted for dinner. We knew that we wanted to try St. Louis BBQ, so then it was just a matter of where to get it from. We picked Salt & Smoke, which has a location in Ballpark Village. We placed the order online for 3:00 pickup – a meat combo of pulled pork and brisket, with sides of mac n cheese and baked beans. The order was ready when we got there (we walked), and on the way back to the loft, we stopped by the grocery store for wine. By the time we got back to the condo, we walked just over 3 miles in an hour and 15 minutes. That’s a long way for food and beverage!
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and sorting our luggage – we are trying to use only one suitcase at each accommodation, so we need to put together a couple days worth of clothes for each of us plus our toiletries. So far, it has worked pretty well. But, it does require a bit of planning.
We ate dinner around 6:00; I warmed the meats on the stovetop and heated the sides in the microwave. Everything came out really well. Markus and I thought the pulled pork was better than the brisket, and the mac n cheese was better than the beans. Despite sharing a single meal, we have leftovers. Maybe we will eat them in the morning – we’ll see.
29 August 2025
We left St. Louis shortly after 9:00 and got to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri at 1:00 (stopped for a rest break and gas along the way). The museum was really informative. From my American history days, I hadn’t remembered that Truman was FDR’s vice president and was sworn in as president after Roosevelt’s death in April of 1945 – just three months into his VP term. I can’t even imagine what he faced as the nation was involved in WWII and, unbeknownst to Truman, was in the process of developing nuclear weapons. He made the difficult decision to use those weapons against Japan in order to end the war in the Pacific. He also made the decision to involve the US in Korea. He had to live with those decisions for the rest of his life.
We left the museum and drove the last 15 miles to our hotel in Kansas City. We got checked in and relaxed in our room for 45 minutes until happy hour started in the Concierge Lounge. The menu included hors d’oeuvres and a self-serve bar; Markus and I had Pinot Grigio. There were several people in the lounge wearing Nebraska gear – Nebraska played Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night as part of the first weekend of college football (the Cornhuskers won 20-17). We went back to the lounge about 8:30 for “Dessert with Don” (Don is the attendant in the lounge and is a super nice guy!).
Accommodation: InterContinental Kansas City At The Plaza (2 Nights)
Travel: 260 Miles / 4 Hours
30 August 2025
We slept in this morning and went to the Concierge Lounge for breakfast – eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast, bagels, muffins, fruit, juice, etc. We lingered over coffee and headed back to our room. I got online and bought tickets for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
A bit of history is in order: “Negro League baseball emerged in the United States to provide professional opportunities for Black players, whose talents were excluded from Major League Baseball due to racial segregation. Founded in 1920 by Andrew “Rube” Foster, these leagues featured innovative playing styles and drew large crowds, becoming a source of community pride. The leagues persisted through the Great Depression but declined after Jackie Robinson integrated MLB in 1947, as top Black players moved to the newly integrated major leagues.”
After the museum, we drove out to Kaufman Stadium to scope out parking as well as the route back to the hotel, since it will be dark after the game. It was further from the hotel than we originally thought, so after some thought, we decided to go to the game tomorrow afternoon instead of tonight.
We returned to the hotel and walked across the Plaza to the Granfalloon Restaurant and Bar. We ordered the Butcher’s Pizza – think meat! – to share. I would have called it a flat bread, but regardless, it was plenty of food and we enjoyed watching college football as we ate.
We weren’t very hungry, but we went to happy hour in the lounge. Don had a problem with a couple of guests bringing in a multitude of persons (~10 people) that weren’t authorized to have lounge access. He stopped short of kicking them out, but he did let the guests know that they were breaking the rules. Apparently, they apologized, but they didn’t leave for at least 30 minutes – and then only after they had all refilled their drinks.
Once the crowd was gone, the lounge was much quieter and only the “regulars” were left. It is truly remarkable how many people we talked to that are regular guests at the hotel. They all know Don well, and he knows them. He has been at the Intercontinental for 11 years, and some guests have been coming here for at least that long. We can’t quite figure out what the attraction is – but there is certainly entertainment value in the lounge!!
Travel: 29 Miles
31 August 2025
The weather forecast was calling for rain, so we bailed on the Royals game and hit the road to Iowa. We had quite a bit of rain along the way, but fortunately, not too heavy – just steady. We stopped a couple of times and got to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center by 3:30. It was a small museum but was presented using animatronics – very innovative! Thomas Jefferson seemed particularly life-like. It was a bit weird, but effective.
We got to our room at the hotel around 5:00 and ordered a salad and pizza online from Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom. It was really good – of course since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast earlier in the morning in the lounge, just about anything would have been good!
Accommodation: Holiday Inn Express and Suites (1 Night)
Travel: 291 Miles / 5 Hours
1 September 2025
After checking out of the hotel this morning, we went to see the Sergeant Floyd Monument. The day was overcast and misty with rain, so the pictures don’t really do the site justice. It is a lovely green space on the bluff above the Missouri River. As you can read from the below picture, Sergeant Charles Floyd was the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die on the 28 month expedition – quite sad for such a young man. (Note that the morning was overcast, so we have pictures of the monument, but the photo below is much prettier.)
As soon as we crossed into South Dakota, the speed limit increased to 80 mph. Making good time, but sucking gas!
We continued north on I-29 and hit I-90 west. We stopped in Mitchell to see the Corn Palace; I can’t remember if we stopped there in 1979 when we (my grandparents, Wendy, and me) were on our 6-week cross country trip. It was as touristy as it sounds, but we took a few pictures and got back on the highway.
We were hungry when we arrived in Chamberlain. We couldn’t find anything open on Main Street, so we opted for Al’s Oasis in neighboring Oacoma. Markus and I shared a bison burger with fries. It was good, but didn’t taste distinctly different than beef – not sure why we expected that it would. Both Al’s and the Corn Palace are nothing short of pure Americana!!
After we ate, we stopped by the Akta Lakota Museum. It was a beautiful museum and was very informative – upon leaving, we felt so badly at the way our Native Americans have been treated. Definitely thought provoking.
We checked in to the hotel around 4:30 and got settled in. We watched college football and did a load of laundry. The weather forecast for tomorrow is hot, but then a cold front moves in and cools the temperatures significantly. As of this evening, all of our “warm weather” clothes are clean, so we are ready to switch over to cold weather clothes when needed.
South Dakota Excerpt from May 8, 1979 Journal (My 14 Year Old Self): The scenery in South Dakota is gorgeous. It’s all rolling hills. The rest areas have look out points. At one of them, we was a Lewis & Clark Monument. We kept seeing signs for the Corn Palace. We never did find out what it was. All along the interstate are billboard advertisements. It provides a form of entertainment for all of us and driving becomes less monotonous.
Accommodation: AmericInn Chamberlain
Travel: 242 Miles / 4 Hours
2 September 2025
We left the hotel about 10:00 and got back on I-90 west toward Wall. Just a mile along the interstate was a South Dakota Welcome Center and we stopped to get maps and park information. There was a gorgeous sculpture of an Indian Woman named “Dignity” at the center. We will let the sculpture speak for itself.
Our next stop was the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (comprised of three different sites; we visited two). As of 1991, all of the missile sites in South Dakota have been deactivated (destroyed), with the exception of the three sites preserved as monuments. It’s interesting to think back to when I first visited the area in 1979 – the sites would have been entirely operational during the Cold War. But, what did I know as a 14-year old from Pennsylvania? Certainly nothing about the missiles below the surface of our route.
“A nuclear missile silo is one of the quintessential Great Plains objects: to the eye, it is almost nothing, just one or two acres of ground with a concrete slab in the middle and some posts and poles sticking up behind an eight-foot-high cyclone fence: but to the imagination, it is the end of the world.” Ian Frazier, Great Plains, 1989
Our next stop was Wall Drug – we saw the first billboards 340 miles ago. We don’t think there is a more quintessential tourist trap, but we stopped there in 1979 (and Markus was there as a teenager); I wanted to return to honor my grandparents. And, a cup of coffee was only 5 cents – same as in 1931!! We also bought donuts – one chocolate and one plain.
(When we get home, I will post pictures of our 1979 trip along with my old journal entries; it will be interesting to compare!)
Less than 8 miles south of Wall, we entered Badlands National Park. We drove the loop toward the east and made numerous stops along the way, including Ben Reifel Visitor Center. We saw a bighorn sheep right along the road. We later learned that there are only 300 of these bighorn sheep in the park, so we were really lucky to see one. (More pictures to be added – we promise!)
We left the park and continued to the 1880 Homestead Cabin. It was just as rustic as advertised – no running water or electricity. It was like camping except that we didn’t have to provide the tent. There was also an outhouse – no modern facilities.
Markus built a fire and we sat outside, enjoying the night for quite awhile. We saw a group of 5 deer and heard two packs of coyotes – one to the west and one to the east. No critters in our “camp” site overnight.
South Dakota Excerpt from May 9, 1979 Journal (My 14 Year Old Self): Today we woke up to snow. We saw the Badlands and also visited Wall Drug. It’s an old western town with a lot of gift shops. They have an indoor mall where there are sidewalks with benches. On the benches sit animated figures with outstretched arms. When you sit down next to them, it look like they have their arm around you. There’s a lot of frontier displays too. The Badlands, although snow covered, are breath-takingly indescribable. We didn’t go all the in but what we saw was enough. The one observation point looked down on a canyon-type formation. It seems impossible that nature could create anything so beautiful, even over millions of years. Nature has a way with water and erosion.
Accommodation: Circle View Guest Ranch (1 Night)
Travel: 194 Miles / 6 Hours (Including Stops)
3 September 2025
The Jeep was displaying an issue with the rear axle locker (needed for 4-wheel drive in extreme conditions), so we left the cabin this morning and pulled into the Jeep dealership in Rapid City at 11:00. They were not able to diagnose the problem today, but were able to book us an appointment for tomorrow morning. One fun item to note is that we saw our first bison on the way to Rapid City – it was exciting!
Since we had the entire day with no plans, we decided to go to Mount Rushmore. The drive was bizarre because we encountered super thick fog about 5 miles from Rapid City (the morning was overcast, misty, and cool – around 53*). Markus was considering turning around, but we kept going and when we arrived at the Monument, the weather was gorgeous – perfectly clear and sunny with temps in the low 70’s.
We weren’t sure what to expect since neither of us can really remember the last time we visited Rushmore, but it was super impressive. The photo ops were more than plentiful and the Visitor Center was really informative. There was a 30-minute movie that traced the history from the 1920’s until completion of the monument in 1941. (Note that we will be adding a slide show as soon as we figure out how to do that in the blog.)
We got to the hotel and got online to get a rental car for the next couple of days while the Gladiator is in for service. We were completely shocked – National was sold out, and a small SUV from Hertz was $165 a day! So, we rethought our plan and made a service appointment for Monday, September 8th in Gillette, Wyoming. We hope the rental car rates will be more reasonable!
The hotel had a nice happy hour with vegetable beef soup, salad bar, and cold cut sliders – along with beer and wine. It was certainly more than enough for dinner. It was nice not to have to cook or even decide where to go for dinner!
South Dakota Excerpt from May 9, 1979 Journal (My 14 Year Old Self): We saw a lot of mountains on the way to Mt. Rushmore. It’s 20 miles outside of Rapid City. The country’s just tremendously gorgeous. The mountains reach so high they’re lost in the clouds and all the trees are snow-covered. Beautifully white.
Accommodation: Staybridge Suites Rapid City / Original was Cedar Pass Campground (1 Night)
Travel: 119 Miles / 2 Hours