South Dakota: Where the Buffalo Roam

Though Dave Only Saw A Herd Of Bison, He Still Feels Like He Had His Fill of This Fabulous State

(CBS)  Think of South Dakota and you think of vast expanses of countryside – the Black Hills, the verdant valleys, the enormity of Mount Rushmore. You certainly don't imagine a cramped, underground room that was the white hot center of the Cold War.

Yet the same state that is home to Badlands National Park – all 244,000 acres of it – is also home to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. It remains just as it stood when it was last manned in March, 1993.

On his way through the state, The Early Show weatherman Dave Price stopped for a tour.

Chris Wilkinson, a park ranger at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, explained that the small room that housed the buttons that would set off nuclear bombs was 30 feet below ground and was always staffed by two. They had one mission and one mission only: to launch nuclear missiles at the Soviet Union at a moment's notice.

"They would receive what was known as an emergency war order. They receive it, they authenticate the message, once they go through all kinds of procedures finally the deputy would insert their key in this slot," said Wilkinson.

The other slot was 12 feet away. Why? asked Dave. "Well no one person could turn both at the same time. So let's say I go wacko in the middle of the night and you're over there sleeping on the bunk and I blow you away. It's going to be hard for me to do (turn both keys) by myself," said Wilkinson.

Thankfully the fateful orders were never given, but if they had, it would have taken the nuclear warheads just 30 minutes to hit their targets in the Soviet Union.

From the intense to the ridiculous: Dave also made a trip to the famous Wall Drug Store part of his South Dakota tour.

Of course, drugs are the least of what is sold at the Wall Drug Store, which is 76,000 feet of arts, crafts, food, books, clothing, moccasins, jewelry, knick-knacks, toys, t-shirts, souvenirs and, yes, jackalopes. There's an enormous restaurant and the whole place stays open until 10 p.m.

Back in 1931, the store set out hundreds of roadside signs offering free ice water to passing travelers. Of course, once they set foot in the store, they were bound to buy something – a snack, a trinket – before they returned to the road. And that's how Wall grew so large over the years, said Ted Husted, whose family founded and still runs the store. Now they cater to an estimated 2 million visitors per year.

Just 12 miles west of Wall Drug is some of the most striking beauty in the entire United States: the Badlands National Park. – 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires that create an almost moon-like landscape. Nobody knows its beauty like Park Superintendent Paige Baker.

"Its a place where people come just to reflect, to talk, and certainly to hike, so it is about a spiritual place," he told Dave. "It's a place to see nature unspoiled, things you have never seen before."

Dave saw bison during his drive through the park – the park is home to 800 of them – and was relieved to find they are vegetarians. He was also grateful for the opportunity to commune with nature … from a proper distance.