Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: Badlands National Park September 23-24, 2018

During the Cold War, a large arsenal of nuclear missiles was placed, underground in the Great Plaines of the United States. For nearly 30 years 1,000 Minuteman missiles were kept on constant alert underground. There were 100 launch facilities at the peak. We got to go down into one of the launch facilities, Delta-01, which lies 31 feet underground, and we also visited one of the launch sites, Delta-09. Each launch Control Center had 8 air force security personnel that did 3-day shifts with an additional two missileers stationed in the underground launch facility every 24 hours. There was an 8 Ton blast door that had to be opened from within before a shift change could happen. The straps you see in the seats were to hold the missileers in place had a nearby attack happened.

Next, we visited the Wounded Knee Museum in nearby Wall, South Dakota. On December 23, 1890, US troops massacred almost 300 Lakota Sioux men, women, and children at what has come to be known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. This museum is run by the Lakota tribe and provides a carefully researched account of the events leading up to, during, and after the massacre. The museum contains many primary sources like journals, witness reports, Congressional records of the time, and original photographs. This visit is truly a sobering experience but a very important story is told. We hope you take the time to view one of the videos shown that provides a good overview. The Massacre

The title of this blog is the Badlands. We camped in the Badlands National park. The Badlands were once under water and because of this, you will find no Dinosaur fossils here. What is here, however, is an incredible story that begins 75 million years ago. Each of the different colors that one sees in the rocks contains the stories of a different time, at the bottom, are fossils from 75 million years ago then each layer heading up tells a different story with a different evolution of species. We did the fossil walk while here which was very educational, with fossils shared too. Beyond the incredible history of the layers, the rock formations that have been created over the years are beautiful to view. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

Tomorrow we head off to Custer State Park in South Dakota.