We’ve just left the area we were in at the last update as there was so much to see and do there. There’s a bunch of photos again on this page cause of all the stuff we’ve done, so my apologies to those of you with a slow dial-up server!

July 6, Day 12

We headed out early to see Mt. Rushmore, as it is supposed to best in the morning light. We were suitably impressed with it. We’ve all seen pictures of it, but to stand at its foot and look up at it is something else. The drive in was something else, too. Very steep, narrow roads with many cutbacks and low, narrow tunnels. Just what I wanted to do in my pickup truck loaded with a full ton of camper.

Stayed in Custer State Park at a delightful, secluded campsite. On our drive over we passed by a herd of wild buffalos. Cecelia and Aurora went hiking and I tried my hand at fishing for the first time since leaving Maine. I caught 3 nice 11-12 in. rainbow and kept 2 for Cecelia to have for dinner. Got woken up by another thunderstorm around 2 in the morning.

July 7 Day 13

Today we visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, another mountain carving that’s been in progress since the 40’s. It’s got a long way to go, but it’s already impressive and will be absolutely amazing when it’s done.

After spending the morning there, we headed to Wind Cave National Park and took a tour of the cave. We started by going down an elevator for 200 feet, then walked along a path through the cave for a half mile or so. The pictures don’t do it justice, as it was really quite something. The parts of the cave that have been explored go over a hundred miles so far.

The park ranger shut off all the lights except for a single candle, like the original explorer had in 1890. I’ll never know how he found his way in, much less his way out again!! We were so fascinated by it, we may go to Jewel Cave National Monument tomorrow, which is about 20 miles away.

We’re staying at the same state park as last night, cause there was so much we wanted to see in the area and because it’s just very nice here. We’ve seen prairie dog towns and wild buffalo on our drive around the area. We had buffalo steaks for dinner tonight, too. Very lean, but otherwise not all that different from beef.

Tomorrow it’s on the road again, heading out of South Dakota and into Wyoming. We’ll do a couple of road days, then spend a few days in Grand Teton and Yellowstone before heading north into Montana.

July 8, Day 14

Started out this morning with a shower. While showering, I found a tick on my backside. Got back to the camper, and Cecelia found another couple. We then found 2 on her, one on the dog, and two in the camper. We later found that we removed them incorrectly, (jerked instead of a slow pull), but they seemed to come off intact anyway.

Dealing with the tick infestation made us a bit late getting on the road, but we finally did, and headed to Jewel Cave National Monument. We enjoyed Wind Cave so much, we wanted to see another. Glad we did! Jewel was much nicer and had much larger “rooms”, as well as more interesting formations. We left there, and soon entered Wyoming and headed for Devil’s Tower National Monument. You’ll remember it if you’ve seen “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. It was quite impressive up close.

Skirted another thunderstorm on the way to the hotel, and had a hard time dealing with the wind from it. The campa really gets blown around. Made it to the hotel in Gillette, WY, got a coupon for a free drink and 15% off in the dinning room, so we’re all set! Hope to stay in Cody tomorrow, then Yellowstone. The next update will be the end of the week or the weekend.

		Prairie dog
Fishin’ South Dakota
	Crazy Horse Memorial
			Jewel Cave