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He we are! Leaving Badlands National Park. If you have not read Day 1 and Day 2 ⅓ yet, I would encourage you to go ahead and read those articles. We left Badlands NP through the northeaster entrance and headed towards I-90. Just north of the exit is the Minuteman National Historic Site, a site administered by the National Parks Service. The park was created to commemorate the nuclear warhead missiles located across the great planes. We headed into the visitor center to take a look at the small museum and to get my second national parks stamp of the day.
The museum contained several exhibits about the several missiles that were located across the plains. There were also other exhibits on the Cold War and Mutually Assured Destruction. The visitor center also has a movie that gives more insights into the workings of the missiles. I spoke to the ranger about seeing the Delta-09 Missile, not far off I-90.
We got on I-90 and headed west for the missile silo. We got off at exit 116 and headed left. One minute later we pulled off into the parking lot where the missile silo is. We could see Badlands NP just south of where we parked. There was a recently built pavilion showing the route that the missile would take over the north pole and into the Soviet Union. We walked to the path and through the gate where there was a massive glass cover. I walked up to the glass and looked down and saw the enormous nuclear missile in it’s silo. It was incredibly interesting and terrifying at the same time.
Delta-09 Missile Silo
Around the small area there is a large antenna to receive communications from the Pentagon in Washington D.C. A small hatch for workers to get in and maintain the missile in their bunker. Behind the glass gate were iron tracks so the door could slide open and launch the missile. Another little exhibit gave a map of where other missile silos are, some still active with nuclear warheads. These missiles were pretty much hidden in the plane site for all to see as a deterrence to ever using them. The whole small area was quite interesting. I definitely want to go back on one of the tours that they have. Some day.
We got back on I-90 and headed for our next destination. We were just 6 miles from Wall Drug. We pulled off into the little town of Wall and found our way into Wall Drug. Anyone who has been to South Dakota probably knows about the signs along I-90 advertising Wall Drug. The last time I counted I think there were 127 signs. We headed in and created some old pictures with the statues that sit on the benches from our original trip to South Dakota years ago.
Wall Drug Store Front
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