24 Hour Toe Service

The level of English in South Dakota must be rather low (loe?) if spelling such as this makes it onto a giant roadside billboard. Puts a whole new spin on the term Autobody Shop. Perhaps their tagline is "Real Men Get Pedicured"? Okay, I'll stop.

I seem to have a knack for picking the most Christian coffee shop in a given city. At least their wifi works, unlike the last place I was at in Portland, Maine. There's a cute little youth group going on and they were watching a video with uplifting string music when I walked in. Yes, yes, I'm brown and wearing a hat, I wanted to yell as they stared.

Today's drive took longer than I thought, probably because I decided to go east on I-90 to visit the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota. I should have visited more of those weird museums on my trip so I felt like making up a bit. Of course, their map is way better than PAM's. What a trippy place. I've made it to Rapid City, South Dakota, but in the fading light I didn't think I wanted to drive down to Mount Rushmore. The funny thing about South Dakota is that you wouldn't know the biggest attraction in the state is Mt. Rushmore. I mean, you do, there are signs, but there were probably about three signs per mile for something called Wall Drug that seemed to sell or carry everything. There were hundreds of road signs, large, small, all exhorting one to visit this place. It was so insistent that I couldn't drive past it fast enough when I finally got to the place after over 200 miles of experiencing it via billboard. I sort of wonder what it is but I was so dreading that someone would be stopping traffic on the freeway and making sure this place be visited or else.

I doubt Mt Rushmore will make it into my itinerary after all. I have to be in Missoula by the early evening as Lee (or the Colonel as he's known to most people) will be playing a show that evening with his band. I'd like to attend the show, and the 10 hour drive might turn into 11 with stops so an early start is a must.

South Dakota has been unfriendly for the most part. I was also followed by a cop for a while. I hadn't been speeding. He just showed up behind me, sat there, then pulled alongside and took a look at me, and then slowed down again and then faded into the distance. A little alarming.

The youth group is dispersing. They are staring. I'm staring back. Don't try to convert this heathen! I'm off to the local brewery.


View Leg 21: Rapid City, South Dakota in a larger map