On day 97 of “The Ultimate USA Road Trip” we drive from Valentine, Nebraska to Hot Springs, South Dakota. Along the way we pass a number of beautiful reservations that reflect the history of Native Americans.

Make sure you buy enough food and drinks in Valentine before departure because we drive through areas where food and drink supplies are scarce. After about 30 minutes of driving we cross the state border and enter South Dakota. South Dakota is part of the “Great Plains” and is named after the Dakota Sioux Native American tribe, which comprises a large portion of the population with nine Native American reservations in the state, most of which are located in “West River ."

We drive through the western part of South Dakota where ranching is the main agricultural activity and the economy also depends on tourism and defense spending. A major tourist attraction is the Black Hills, a group of mountains covered in pine trees, with the famous Mount Rushmore being one of the major tourist destinations. We visit Mount Rushmore on day 98.

We pass Crow Dog's Paradise, home of the Crow Dog family, located on the Little White River, ten miles south of Rosebud, South Dakota. It is a place of great natural beauty: a grassy valley surrounded by pine-clad hills. At the entrance to the small valley rises a huge, man-sized truck tire with a buffalo skull on it. Leonard Crow Dog was a medicine man and spiritual leader who rose to prominence during the Wounded Knee Incident on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1973.

We drive past the historic site of Hollow Horn Bear Village, which was formerly home to Hollow Horn Bear, who fought in many of the battles of the Sioux Wars, including the Battle of Little Big Horn. He later served as police chief of the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was a chief chairman and negotiator for the Lakota, making multiple trips to Washington DC to advocate on their behalf. He participated in the inaugural parades for both Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

In the village of Martin we stop for gas and a short break before visiting the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark, also known as Wounded Knee, which was the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 in South Dakota . As “Wounded Knee,” this 350-acre area was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1965 and is listed as a “Wounded Knee Battlefield.”

The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, was the deadliest mass shooting in American history, in which nearly three hundred Lakota people were shot and killed by United States Army soldiers. The massacre, part of what the U.S. military called the Pine Ridge Campaign, occurred on December 29, 1890 near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Visit the museum to learn more about this terrible massacre.

Before we enter the Badlands we visit the White River Visitor Center at the southern part of the Badland National Park. You can buy maps here, enjoy the museum exhibits about this park and talk to rangers about the significance of the Badlands and the treaties in Lakota heritage.

We visit Red Shirt Table, a table mountain in Oglala Lakota County, part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux tribe. Red Shirt Table is one of many tables in the White River Badlands; others include Cuny Table, Sheep Mountain Table and Heck Table. Table Mountain, named after Chief Red Shirt, is approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) long, the park's highest point is on the south side of the Table, at 1,020 meters (3,340 ft). At this point we stop to take in and photograph this beautiful environment.

We plan a break in the town of Buffalo Gap to visit the Buffalo Gap Trading Post, a historic site full of unique antiques, vintage collectibles, furniture and household items. Buffalo Gap, a very old town in western South Dakota, was founded in 1877. In 1885 it was a railroad spur for the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad line, with a population of more than 1,200. Today the town has about 180 inhabitants.

In its early years it was one of the largest cities in South Dakota, but it suffered the same fate as many other cities of that era. A resident's cow kicked over a lantern and burned the city to the ground, as happened in the Great Chicago Fire and many others. The city was never fully recovered and never rebuilt to its former grandeur.

The name comes from an opening west of the city where buffalo herds used to shelter. Although Buffalo Gap has burned down several times, a number of historic buildings are still standing. A nice historic place to stretch your legs and take some photos.

We continue the drive to Hot Springs, where we visit the Mammoth Site, an active paleontological dig site where research and excavations continue. It encloses a prehistoric sinkhole that was formed during the Pleistocene. The sedimentary fill of the sinkhole contains the remains of Pleistocene fauna and flora. By 2016, the remains of 61 mammoths, including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths, had been recovered. The museum now contains an extensive collection of mammoth remains.

The next stop is at the Battle Mountain Sanatorium, a branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS). Established by law in 1902 and opened in 1907, it was unique among the facilities of the NHDVS, a predecessor to today's U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in that it was strictly a medical facility with no residential components outside the treatment facilities. It was founded to treat former soldiers suffering from musculoskeletal problems thought to be treatable by the region's mineral springs, and for conditions such as tuberculosis, treatment of which was improved by the thin, dry air. The facilities built for the sanitarium have an architecturally distinctive Romanesque and Mission Revival style and are now the centerpiece of the Black Hills Health Care facility, operated by the VA. Most of the complex site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011 for its architecture and history, a beautiful complex and well worth a visit.

Before checking into our hotel, we visit the oldest prison house in South Dakota in downtown Hot Spring where Calamity Jane is said to have spent the night. Although old prison records have been lost, newspaper reports from 1895 indicate that Martha Jane Cannary, also known as Calamity Jane, may have spent a night in prison.

According to the Hot Springs Star, Jane was in town from November 10 to 13, 1895, meeting old friends. As usual, she caused drunken nuisance at various places in the city. Jane spent the evening of November 12 drinking at the Bodega Saloon and became drunk and belligerent. So much so that the mayor of Hot Springs sent the chief of police to keep an eye on her.
When the saloon closed, Jane tried to 'borrow' a horse for a ride. On the mayor's instructions, the police chief offered her an overnight stay in jail so she could sleep in. She did so, and to their relief, Jane left town the next morning. However, it is not certain that Jane spent the night in the old wooden jail, as the Hot Springs City Hall, which was built in 1893, also had jail cells, so Jane may have spent the night there. Nevertheless, the historic 1888 prison is still credited with 'Calamity Jane slept here'.

Within walking distance of the prison is the Hot Springs Visitor Center, located in the historic Union Depot train station, built in 1891. It is a great place to visit and get information about Hot Springs and the Black Hills. There is a caboose next to the depot building. The historic depot and building complex across River Street are built of locally quarried pink sandstone with a distinctive appearance.
The visitor center is located on the banks of the Fall River, next to a paved walking trail called the Freedom Trail that follows the river south for 1.3 miles on a greenway connecting Kidney Springs Park, Centennial Park, Brookside Park and Veterans Memorial Plaza at Mueller Civic connects. Centre. If you continue down the trail about 2 miles, you will find a beautiful gazebo at Kidney Springs and a small waterfall trickling down a rocky hill under an American flag dedicated to our country's veterans. Please note that the visitor center is open seasonally.