2009 Roadtrip, Part 3: South on the High PlainsJune 27: The weather is once again clear. U.S. 14A continues my tour through the Black Hills National Forest. I stop in Deadwood and walk the brick streets. Here's the view from The Gem:  toward Saloon No. 10 (now the Wild Bill Bar) where Wild Bill Hickok last held his aces and eights. There are many other popular attractions in this corner of South Dakota. I just choose Badlands National Park. The Badlands have gotten so much rain this year that they're turning green:  The wind is strong and relentless out here. Inside the car, it sounds like singing. I head through Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and into Nebraska. The motel in Merriman is a bit pricey at the U.S. 20 junction, so I drive off into the sunset across the grasslands of the Sand Hills and save a few bucks in Gordon while the highway continues back to Yellowstone. June 28: Western Nebraska is more scenic than I had expected, with its own versions of mesas and grasslands on the piedmont of the Rockies. Unfortunately, there aren't any places to stop and photograph the scenery (in sharp contrast to Utah and Idaho, which provide plenty). There's no shade either, and it's starting to get hot again. I see a woodpecker trying to make do with the telephone poles; poor little guy. I visit the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, drive through Scotts Bluff NM, and have a quiet lunch somewhere off scenic NE 88 on my way east past the Courthouse and Jail Rocks, landmarks on the Oregon Trail. U.S. 26 takes me along the North Platte River, through more surprising scenery, to Ogallala; then I-76 to a regrettable night at the Days Inn, North Platte. June 29: In western Kansas I cross I-70 and smile and consider taking it west, but I stay on U.S. 83 south to U.S. 50 east (while Montrose, Moab, Reno, and Sacramento lay to the west). Dodge City tore down its historic Front Street buildings in 1970 but has put up a cowboy town for reenactments and shows. The rest of the city is kinda like Gainesville. A storm blows through Dodge and brings some pea-sized hail, despite a temperature of 95. The storm is following my planned route southeast into Oklahoma, so I take a detour northeast, past the Spearville wind farm and to a birding area, Cheyenne Bottoms:
When you get tired of bird-watching here, they let you shoot the ducks. I'm in Great Bend for the night. June 30: U.S. 281 takes me south to Alva, Oklahoma where I stayed my third night out -- so I could start all over again, maybe with a sidetrip through Arizona this time. Instead I retrace my original route and enjoy the red mesas from the opposite direction, stopping off at the Gloss Mountains (Oklahoma's newest state park) and listening to the wind. Damn, I love it out here. I had hoped to take a scenic detour south of I-40, but a storm is blocking the way. I grab a sandwich and backtrack a bit to Roman Nose park, proving I've been out west too long: I think nothing of a 70-mile roundtrip just to eat outside. Eventually, I take the interstate east to Shawnee for the night. July 1: After only an hour on I-40, I'm starting to fall asleep. There's no way I can last to Memphis. So I take U.S. 69 south across Eufaula Lake to McAlester, then U.S. 270 east to some scenic routes I've enjoyed before: Oklahoma 1 over the Winding Stair Mountains convinces me I'm on the right roadway; then U.S. 259 to Broken Bow. I journey through southern Arkansas and spend my last night out in Crossett. Tomorrow U.S. 82 will take me to Tuscaloosa and I-20. Last modified: 7/31/2009 |
