 |
| Jan, Brent, Naomi, Amanda. Jonathan, Brigitte, Karlton, Klarissa, Isaak, Brooke, Elizabeth. |
That is such an amazing coincidence.
They hadn’t talked on the phone, text, or emailed.
They hadn’t talked on the phone, text, or emailed.
Brooke and
Elizabeth had been traveling
for nearly
four weeks
and were
in South Dakota on their return home.
Brent, Jan
and family had come out from Kansas City
to her
family reunion on June 22.
They left
here on Friday night planning to spend
a couple
of days with her sister in Idaho
Falls
then drive
through Yellowstone on their way home.
What are
the chances
of them
running into each other
at the
famous Wall Drug in Wall, South
Dakota,
on the 4th
of July?
 | ||||
Brent, Isaak, Naomi, Amanda, Brigitte, Karlton, Jan, Jonathan. Klarissa, Brooke.
|
Last report of their
extended journey,
on Sat, July 7, 2012 at 12:08
AM
sending
one last picture of the kids
pushing
and pulling a handcart at Martin’s Cove,
 |
| Elizabeth, Klarissa, Brigitte, Karlton, Isaak |
Brooke
wrote:
“Made it home sweet home about 11:30 PM.
Wish it
weren’t over.”
They were
gone 4 weeks and one day,
maybe
setting a record for a road trip
in a mini-van
with six people
who didn’t
even kill each other.
 |
| Naomi, Amanda |
According
to Jonathan on Facebook,
Brent, Jan
and family arrived home at 5 AM on July 5th.
History of Wall Drug
The small town drugstore
made its first step towards fame when it was purchased by Ted Hustead in 1931.
Hustead was a Nebraska native and pharmacist who
was looking for a small town with a Catholic church in which to establish his
business. He bought Wall Drug, located in a 231-person town in what he referred
to as "the middle of nowhere", and strove to make a living. Business
was very slow until his wife, Dorothy, got the idea to advertise free ice water
to parched travellers heading to the newly-opened Mount Rushmore monument 60 miles
(97 km) to the west. From that time on business was brisk. Wall Drug grew
into a cowboy-themed shopping mall/department store. Wall Drug includes a
western art museum, a chapel based on the one found at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque,
Iowa, and an 80-foot (24 m) Apatosaurus that can be seen right off Interstate
90.
Wall Drug earns much of
its fame from its self-promotion. Billboards advertising the establishment can
be seen for hundreds of miles throughout South Dakota and the neighboring
states.
In addition, many visitors of Wall Drug have erected signs throughout
the world announcing the miles to Wall Drug from famous locations, treating it
as a geodesic datum. By 1981* Wall Drug was claiming it was giving away 20,000 cups
of water per day during the peak tourist season, lasting from Memorial Day
until Labor Day, and during the hottest days of the summer.
Wall Drug today
 |
| The Wall Drug Dinosaur |
To date, Wall Drug still
offers free ice water, but as they have become more popular, they have started
to offer free bumper stickers and signs to aid in promotion, and coffee for 5
cents. Some popular free bumper stickers read "Where the heck is Wall
Drug?", "How many miles to Wall Drug?", and "Where in the
world is Wall Drug?".
Back when the U.S. Air
Force was still operating Minuteman Missile silos in the Western South Dakota
plains, Wall Drug used to offer free coffee and donuts to service personnel if
they stopped in on their way to/from Ellsworth AFB (50 miles (80 km) west
on Interstate 90). Wall Drug continues to offer free coffee and a donut to honeymooners,
veterans, priests, hunters, truck drivers, and other travelers.
Ted Hustead died in 1999.
The following day, the governor of South Dakota began his annual State of
the State address by commemorating Hustead as "a guy that figured out that
free ice water could turn you into a phenomenal success in the middle of a
semi-arid desert way out in the middle of someplace."
In 1981, Wall Drug was
featured in Time Magazine of the largest tourist attractions in the north. In his 1989 book The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson wrote, "It's an awful place,
one of the world's worst tourist traps, but I loved it and I won't have a word
said against it."
*1981. The year we were there.
Exactly 31 years ago,
when Brent was 18 and Brooke was 9-1/2,
 | |
| It was officially Brent's graduation trip. |
we took our family on a historical trip back east
in the motorhome.
We stopped at Wall Drug.
Where are the pictures?
I thought I had all our pictures in albums.
I found one blurry picture of
Brooke and Amy riding a buffalo.
Monday,
June 1, 1981
-
Lunch on the banks of the Missouri River by Chamberlain, South Dakota.
Lunch on the banks of the Missouri River by Chamberlain, South Dakota.
Search. Search.
Search.
Six-hundred
colored slides still in a box in the basement.
Virtually
all of our children’s childhood pictures.
Thus the
quest began to transfer them to the computer.
From Saturday afternoon
until Tuesday night
DeRay spent nearly every moment
solving one problem after another
until he finally got 40 pictures digitized.
For 19 cents each,
Sam's would have done it.
What is the challenge in that?
From Saturday afternoon
until Tuesday night
DeRay spent nearly every moment
solving one problem after another
until he finally got 40 pictures digitized.
For 19 cents each,
Sam's would have done it.
What is the challenge in that?
 |
| Brooke on Jackalope; Amy Lyn on pony |
 |
| Ride'um Jackalopeboy Ed |
 |
| Amy Pioneer; Jeanne Indian Chief From my journal: Wall Drug – free ice water!
We stopped at the famous Wall Drug
in Wall and drank free ice water, bought T-shirts and took pictures. Ate
lunch on the banks of the Missouri River by Chamberlain, South Dakota.
“We are seeing what we came to see.
Isn’t it beautiful?” Eddy exclaims.
|
 |
| Eddy holding Roger, a revered member of the family, at Mt. Rushmore |
And yes, Amanda and Naomi,
we dressed up too!
 |
| Ed, Jeanne, Amy Lyn, Mom, Brooke |
 | ||
| Eddy, Jeanne, Amy, Mom, Brooke |
Wall Drug not only serves free ice water,
it unites families and memories.
