Friday I slept in. I had intended to be on the road by seven or so, but, after a few nights short of sleep, and the frustration of trying to get this working the night before, I decided to sleep a few more hours and wasn't on the road until after 10.
The Wall Drug signs had vanished, but they had been replaced with a myriad of billboards promoting other attractions, the most frequent for "Beautiful Rushmore Cave" and my next destination, Reptile Gardens.
(Another good reason to drink diet pop/soda/soft drinks is that, when you pull one out of your backpack and open it, only to discover that it has been shaken up, and you end up with your shorts and shirt soaked, there is no sticky residue when it (finally) dries.)
I'm still not convinced that Reptile Gardens is worth the $8.50 admission price. I liked it very much, but it is still a snake farm. It is a very polished, clean, professional snake farm, true, but I6m not convinced that that is a good thing.
I guess the best thing is that Reptile Gardens hire cute college students from all over the state. They looked very professional in their cute khaki uniforms, complete with epilets (spelled wrong, but no dictionary or spell checker here) and patches.
They've got snakes here. Lots of them. Big snakes, small snakes, safe snakes, and poisonous snakes (in a very nice "Death Row"). They've got lizards and aligators and crocodiles and turtles and birds and even prairie dogs, too.
(The contrast between this 20 foot diameter prairie dog pit and the open natural town I had seen the day before was striking.)
The main building features a "safari", a two story room full of trees and loose birds and snakes ans lizards. Stay on the green path!
Just to make sure we never forget this is a sixty year old tourist attractio, up on the balcony were a half dozen coin operated watch-the-chicken-play-tic-tac-toe/baseball/piano machines AND a pressed penny machine.
Rounding out the tackiness are pony rides and an animals-doing-card-tricks show.
Rushmore and Crazy Horse and the Flintstones will appear in the next installment. My thumbs are getting tired.