Run for the Borders

Had a good brunch today at the Alex Johnson Hotel in downtown Rapid City. The Johnson, towering over downtown at 8 stories tall, was once the grand dame of hotels in Rapid City. Like many other older downtown hotels, it fell victim to the interstate highway system. Now everyone wants to stay by the highway (I'm staying by the highway). According to a newspaper article on the wall, both Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock stayed at the Johnson in 1958 while filming "North by Northwest." The food at the brunch was surprisingly good, and you can't beat the price at eleven bucks.

In the afternoon I made the pilgrimage to Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota -- one of America's all-time great tourist traps. Bought by Ted and Dorothy Hustead in 1931, they quickly figured out they could get drivers to pull over with the offer of "free ice water." The signs advertising Wall Drug became prolific and now the store claims to dispense water sometimes at the rate of 20,000 glasses a day.

The store has grown to take up nearly an entire block of Wall's two-block downtown. It sells a lot of junk but it's all fun to see. It took a while (I'm sure that's the point) but I finally found the spot where I could have my free glass of ice water.

I finished up with a visit to the Badland National Park. I have a new found respect for the pioneers who crossed America in a covered wagon. This park covers the area where the prairie meets the desert. They are areas where literally on one side of the road you can see the flat grassy prairie stretching out over the horizon and on the other side of the road is the forbidding, barren, otherworldly, moon-like desert. Very trippy. It made me wish I had had two glasses of water at Wall Drug.

Earlier today I had a little anxiety attack that I might not be able to read the Sunday New York Times today. But, surprise -- surprise, they sell it at the Borders Books at the mall. It even seemed a little liberal inside of Borders. Having spent two days here I'm amazed that Tom Daschle held on as long as he did. Lots of Pawn and Gun stores everywhere. If I were Democratic Senator Tim Johnson I think I'd be pretty nervous about being up for re-election next year. South Dakota seems pretty red to me.