Dave's Miracle Birthday
June 2002. On June 11th Dave Sanderson was supposed to turn 50. But the weirdest thing -- it never happened. Seriously. I've checked and double checked .. Nothing! Instead he and son Nathan got up at 4:30 a.m. on the day he was supposed to turn 50 and headed for the Black Hills. It was another "road trip" those crazy kids are prone to take that only a Sanderson under the age of 50 could enjoy. (Hmm. There's a hint, huh?!) By 8:00 a.m. they were in Sioux City. By noon they had reached the Missouri River in Chamberlain (South Dakota) where they paused for a quick lunch at the rest stop there along I-90. |
To prove it, here is a photo
of Nathan at that rest stop. As you can see, South Dakota has some teepee-like sculptures in their rest areas. No doubt they are one of the many mystical Native American icons that could contribute to the miracle that occurred this day. Fortunately we did nothing to trifle with their sacred image for the amusement of our family and friends. |
From there we drove directly to Wall Drug, a place an old friend said one must not miss (in this case two must not miss) when going to the Black Hills. So miss it, we did not. Photograph it, we did not. It was a marvel of the apocathary arts with many chemically-induced miracles including a 6-foot rabbit (perhaps another hint as to my missing birthday?), a cowboy band, a stuffed buffalo, and the most amazing jukebox that played lame tunes on real string instruments for only a buck (it really was pretty cool -- it really did cost a buck -- which explains why it takes so much education to become a pharmacist). We had trouble finding Advil, but ultimately bought some. Their restrooms were much cleaner than the average gas station. Twenty minutes after arriving we were on our way to Rapid City. (Imagine photo of Rapid City here, as we didn't shoot one.) We checked into our room in Rapids City at 3:00 CDT (2:00 local time), right on schedule. We then snaked our way down to the Reptile Gardens ("snaked" our way down, get it?), where we expected to spend an hour or so. (http://www.reptile-gardens.com) Fortunately we arrive as the snake show was finishing up (water moccasin, cobra, and rattlesnake). We then slithered on over (whooee, there I go again!) to the the world's deadliest snakes exhibit (the main reason we had come). We also looked at the giant bugs, the crocks, and the gators. We did not check out the bird exhibit. They got birds, we got birds -- skipped it. About a half-hour later we had seen it all and were on our way to Mount Rushmore. |
