Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

In January 2013 we were in Casa Grande, Arizona. There was an aerospace museum nearby that we did not go to. Part of the museum was a Minuteman Missile Silo that I found out about after we left. We would have loved to have seen that but we were long gone before we found out about it.

We figure we will be back in Casa Grande eventually and will be able to visit it then. Because we are in South Dakota I found they also have a Minuteman Missile National Historic Site here!!

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

The Missile Site is open to see anytime and you just drive up to it and view it, but there is a launch control "capsule" that is 31 feet underground that you need to view with a ranger led tour. Free tickets are available at the above building with a limited amount of tours with only 6 people per tour because it is tight quarters!

The elevator that takes you down is open grate and you have to agree and be able to climb up this ladder in case the elevator malfunctions.

Ladder

More on the tour latter because the morning tours were already booked, we took an afternoon tour so we could drive through the Badlands National Park. The Park was immediately across from the Missile Site's building so it was very convenient! 

Badlands National Park

We stopped at many of the view points. This was called the Badlands Wall.

Badlands Wall

As we were driving along I happened to notice this bighorn sheep standing proud on this ridge! Wasn't sure as we went by that's what it was so we actually turned around and came back!

Dodge Ram??

It turned out that there was a whole herd of bighorns here. My truck felt right at home! LOL!

Herd of Bighorn Sheep

We took a small hike at Three Trails. This overlook is Castle Rock.

Castle Rock

At the visitor center they have an active fossil lab that is open to the public. You just walk in and the staff is actively cleaning and working on fossils. It's pretty interesting because they will interact with you answering questions and showing you what they are presently working on.

Fossils

We finished the loop and got back in time for our scheduled tour of the Delta -01 Launch Facility.

D-01 Launch Facility

This is how thick the sealed door is to the launch capsule. They were trying to protect the team from a nuclear blast.

Capsule Door

This was painted on the outside of the thick door. It was supposed to look like a Domino's Pizza box. It says, "Worldwide Delivery in 30 minutes or less. Minuteman II. Or your next on is free.". 

Worldwide Delivery

This is the Launch Capsule. There was seating for two with the seats about 12 feet apart so one person could not launch by himself.

Capsule

Here is launch key number one. As I said it would take two keys turned at the same time to launch a rocket and the keys were about 12 feet apart so one person could not turn both keys.

Key #1

Here is the launch key #2.

Launch Key #2

After we finished the guided tour of the launch facility we drove to the missile silo.

Delta-09 Silo

There were hundreds of silos right next to the interstate highways hidden in plain site! The Russians knew were ours were and we knew were their's were, They were a deterrent. You could take out one or two, but not thousands of them all at once!

Minuteman II 

This missile has been decommissioned. The warhead has been removed. This is self guided but if you call a phone number that is listed at the site it will give you information for each area of the site by pushing #1, #2, #3, etc.....

Minuteman II Missile

One of the Roadside Attractions must see's is Wall Drug in Wall, SD. It's kind of like the Burma Shave signs in that all over the midwest there are Wall Drug signs. In the "old days" they were famous for offering "FREE" Ice Water to weary travelers! 

Wall Drug

Since we were passing right by Wall, SD coming back from the Missile Site we needed to stop by and get some of that 'FREE' Ice Water!

Wall Drug Store

They also have self pay 5 cent coffee. Although Patty doesn't drink much coffee anymore, and not this late in the day, hey it was only a nickle!!!

5 Cent Coffee

Here we are with my 'Free' Ice Water, Patty's 5 cent coffee and our $2.00 homemade donuts! The donuts were pricey, but sooooo goood!

Homemade Donuts

After drinking the coffee and eating the sugar Patty needed to take a trail ride. We found this wild Jack-a-lope for her to ride!

Jack-a-lope rides!

They only had one Jack-a-lope to ride and I didn't want to be left behind so I was made an honorary Lakota and was loaned a horse so I could ride along with Patty!

Honorary Lakota

After a 3 hour ride we drank more 'FREE' Ice Water and headed back to our campsite at Hart Ranch.

A big storm started bearing down on us coming from the Sturgis area. There was reports of tennis ball hail in Johnson Siding which is about 13 miles from us. The storm was heading our way. That large of hail will cause severe damage to vehicles and roofs as well as cause injuries to animals and people. 

Thankfully before the storm got to us the hail had stopped or what little hail we got had become pea sized and slushy.

Big Storm

A little scary with the thunderstorms and scare of hail but all turned out OK. God was with us!

That's all for today. As you can see today was a very busy day for us!

Let me remind you to continue to pray for Avery Huffman. To follow her progress you can follow her parents blog Here!

Thank you for reading and following our blessed lives!

God Bless you,

Brian and Patty