We started out east of the Black Hills at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. Here is a view looking over to Badlands National Park which we will visit in September on our way back.
Minuteman Missile NHS tells the story of the International Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) that were built and armed with nuclear warheads following WWII through the Cold War. After seeing the story of the development of nuclear war weapons when we visited Los Alamos last year, it was a very powerful follow-on.
This is how they packaged the components of the ICBMs in transit.
The Visitor Center tells the story of the men and women in the bunkers that were trained and prepared to launch the missiles to Russia at a moments notice over the North Pole, and the amazing feat to hide these missile bunkers in plain site in the remote plains and the effects on the local folks. I am too young to remember the Cuban missile crisis, but this made it all so real.
The incredibly frightful thing was the number of incidents were nuclear war was almost triggered due to errors on both sides. There are over 400 of these silos still operational in the remote areas of the midwest.
Shortly after we left, we stopped at the legendary Wall Drug. It is on the level of South of the Border, road signs for miles, and incredibly tacky when you get there 🙂 It’s original claim to fame was free ice water and 5 cent coffee, which they still offer to travelers.
3 For the Road 