One of the duller stretches of US-83 is this 20-mile leg along the mind-numbing I-90 artery between the Fort Pierre grasslands and Murdo (pop. 700). Once a stop on the legendary Texas Cattle Trail and also used by stagecoaches, the town was named for cattle baron Murdo McKenzie, whose ranch pushed through some 20,000 head of cattle a year. Today, the town of Murdo still lives on the cattle industry.
The one place that’s definitely worth a stop is smack-dab at the diesel-blue polluted confluence of US-83 and I-90, where nostalgists will find the Pioneer Auto Museum and Antique Town (daily; $8.50; 605/669-2691); pricey, maybe, but it’s a 10-acre, 39-building collection of about 250 antique cars, with tons of other great items. Classic cars include a rare Tucker (the 1940s car with the central pivoting headlamp; Francis Ford Coppola made a movie about it). There’s also a nifty White Co. motor home from 1921, one of the earliest RVs, and the “General Lee” muscle car from TV’s Dukes of Hazzard. Star of the show: Elvis Presley’s 1976 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide 1200 motorcycle. Pure Americana.
The public swimming pool across the street, and the Tee Pee Restaurant down the road at 303 5th Street (“We Will Sell No Coffee Over a Half-Hour Old”) can round off your Murdo visit.
