Day 3,4,5 Awesome!!!

Okay, for the last 3 days we have had very limited access to any cell reception, let alone wifi.  It was a different experience for us for sure.  I had zero for 2 days then all of a sudden somehow it connected and my phone beeped for 25 texts and 700 emails.

No connection to anyone was no problem because our time here has been amazing.  Traveling from Mitchell SD and on to our stopping point for the night in Hill City SD, we saw some very interesting sights.  We had a pit stop in Wall SD to visit the famous Wall Drug store.  Did the tourist things and even picked up a free glass of ice water, (That is what made them famous).  We then did the Badlands Scenic Drive which caused us to stop ever 2 minutes to pull over and get out.  The views were something else, like a different planet.  From the Badlands, we moved on to Hill City SD where we had 3 night reserved at Palmer Gulch KOA.  We pulled in and were blown away at what a wonderful place this was.  Our campsite was tucked in some tall Ponderosa Pines on the side of a hill.

Diane and the kids went to explore the campgrounds and I went to the office to rent a van for the next 2 days for site seeing.   We settled in for the night with brauts on the grill and snacks in the camper.  The next morning, June 26, we started the day heading to Mt Rushmore which was 4 miles away from camp.  Let me just say that Mt Rushmore is awesome!!  All of us just loved being there and walking the Presidential trail.

We ate a buffalo burger and had ice cream that used Thomas Jefferson’s original recipe.  A stop at the gift shop was a pleasant surprise when we meet the last surviving man to work on the mountain.  He was 98 and worked there when he was 17, Nick Clifford.  We left Mt Rushmore and headed to Custer State Park to do the wildlife loop.  30 minutes into the 45-minute loop and no wildlife.  We finally ran into a pack of wild burrows that were on the edge of the road.  We stopped and got out and let them lick our hands.  10 minutes later we were at a stop while a herd of bison crossed the road.  They were inches from our van.  Some would walk onto the road and stand there for a while.  Altogether it took about an hour to move 100 ft, which was fine because it was very entertaining.   Lincoln had the side van door open to get the best picture.  We named some along the way; Sally, Sam, and Travis. It was an unreal experience.

A stop for some groceries and back to the campsite for supper.  Chicken and pork chops on the grill with corn and baked potatoes, it was delicious.  That night we ran over to Crazy Horse for a birthday celebration for the lady who helped start the project.  For the birthday party, they do a night-time blasting on the sculpture, it was very cool.  Before the blasting, we visited the National American Indian Museum which I really enjoyed.  We also listened to a local Indian from the Lakota Tribe talk about his Great grandfather and Crazy Horse.  It was a great experience, very humbling.  Back to the camper to warm up and tuck in for the night.  Temps here are high 30’s at night and low 80’s during the day, a big change.  Today, Tuesday, June 27, was a “rest” day.  Got up early for pancakes followed by some lounging around the campsite.  The kids ended up swimming and Diane did some laundry.  I read a book and watched some TV.  For supper, we ventured into town for our first official meal not eaten at the camper.  Desperado’s was the place of choice for some Western themed grub.  We ordered drinks and looked outside and noticed terrible looking storm moving in.  We chugged our drinks, paid the bill and attempted to zip back to our campsite.  We had left out some chairs and other odds and ends and wanted to get stuff secured before the storm, we didn’t make it.  It was an all out dust storm at first with terrible winds, followed by thunder, lightning, and rain.  It was so bad we could not see driving the sweet rental van, and had to actually dodge a flying road sign.  Back at the camper, we were lucky, just some wet odds and ends.  There was damage to others we noticed, mostly just ripped off awnings.  After the last of the storm we went back to Desperado’s and finished what we had started earlier, it was a good meal.  We finished our day with a fire at our campsite and discussed our travel for the next day.