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ROCKING RETIREMENT

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Oh Dear what can the matter be?

Avatar for paddiperkins By paddiperkins #Badlands, #Carhenge, #Cheyanne, #Chimney Rock, #rain, #roadtrip, #South Dakota, #Stonehenge, #storms, #USA
alt="scrub land with chimney stack landmark"
Gaining a day called for a touch of re routing & altered potential stopping point as we headed for the Badlands of South Dakota. The day started out ok as we passed through yet another town called Boulder. This made me wonder just how many can one country have? Mainly because I think we have now been to most of them!  In a bid to avoid driving through downtown Denver we joined the freeway as the weather started to turn a bit nasty.

Electric Storms

Electric storms & heavy rain seemed to dog us & Denver was so large that we found we still had to navigate its outskirts. Google maps committed us to a section of new freeway which to our alarm proved to be some sort of toll road & given the volume of traffic & no discernible exit. Driving in relentless rain is tiring so common sense prevailed & we stopped. Opting to book ourselves in the Cheyenne KOA for the night. Once parked up the rain seemed to abate a little. At least long enough for my buddy to utter something like ‘seems to have eased off a bit’ as she took off for a long hot shower. I like a good shower so initially wasn’t concerned that she had not returned. Time flies when flute playing & hadn’t noticed the skies darken. A full blown electric storm started kick off until Martha was literally rocking in the wind. Internet & phone signal were erratic & certainly not weather to be out in your nightie. So it seemed like my mate was trapped in the wash house. Hours later a knock on the side of the van heralded her return accompanied by shouts of ‘let me in’.

Stuck In the Lavatory?

Momentarily the temptation to sing ‘oh dear what can the matter be how long were you stuck in the lavatory’ were shelved. Grudgingly alighting from my bed grumbling that the side door was not locked I had failed to appreciate a small lake had formed beside it. The link below is to a clip of the rain hitting the side of the rain Had my flute playing annoyed the weather gods? Don’t know but as she climbed through the drivers door I think I narrowly missed receiving a rigid sigmoidoscopy with it! Next morning we woke up to a different world where the skies started to clear & we continued our quest for a gawp at the odd & unusual punctuating the journey.

Chim Chimney?

‘Chimney Rock’ has long been used as a distinctive landmark however the original Native American name was replaced for fear it would offend the pioneers. Rattle snakes were the chief creature for us to avoid here & luckily none appeared. So off we  set for Bayard where upon we came across a road block. From here we were diverted by a sheriff down the backroads where cheery bunting prevented us from entering several roads. While google maps had a melt down trying to re route us we finally found a bunting less road to try. However our escape was once again thwarted by official looking folk on horseback.

Pioneers All Around

Pioneer Day was clearly a popular celebration that we had inadvertently stumbled into & out of.  Which also explained why the entry to the Chimney Rock visitor centre had been free that day.

Slightly ‘Un henged?’

Alliance home of Carhenge was next to make comparison to Stonehenge which not a million miles from were we live in the UK. Slightly brilliant in a barmy sort of way we chatted with the lady in the shop about the history & purchased a couple of keepsakes. Use link below to discover more about Carhenge

carhenge.com

Wounded Knee

In my role as re router I realised with a minor detour we could visit Wounded Knee. Neither of us were completely au fait with its history. Therefore decided to stop to discover more about a profoundly sad story. Where it quickly became evident that recording of the event was largely in the hands of those writing it. alt="sign with information about the Massacre of Wounded Knee" Sadly it has taken a long time for the description of ‘Battle’ to be revoked. Replaced by that of Massacre of Wounded Knee & a more accurate account of events there. Sobering stuff & makes you stop & think what other version’s historical events might not be the impartial accurate recordings you once thought.

Badlands

With the Badlands fast approaching & the light fading we were suddenly aware that we had not yet fixed any where to stay. Bolding knocking on what seemed the correct trailer for the site manager. The man who answered embarked on the strangest dialogue of the trip but thankfully found us a pitch. It appeared that these spots were prone to flooding so with fingers crossed that a ‘no flute practice’ had appeased the weather gods we parked for the night. If we hadn’t been washed away then we were in pole position to embark on the scenic loop drive the following day.  
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By paddiperkins

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