Wait a minute, man!

Now I was really testing the limits of of the kids' patience.

Just outside the Badlands National Park, there is another national park near I-90.

The Minuteman Missile National Park is dedicated to the nuclear missiles that were stored in "silos" and aimed at targets in the USSR.  This cold war-era operation is captured well in the film and artifacts housed at the museum.  The crews were subjected to days of monotonous waiting interrupted by seconds of sheer terror.  It took the coordinated effort of four individuals to launch these irrevocable nuclear payloads.

The START treaty signed in 1991 led to the deactivation of 150 of these missiles in South Dakota. Who talks about the Cold War nowadays?  This was the children's first exposure to this 50-year threat to the planet.


http://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm


Holland scored her last junior ranger badge of the trip.  Still going strong!