Week 3.. South Dakota to St. Louis

this week has been a little different than the first two. After taking our time and enjoying ourselves the first two weeks, it was time to start making our way to St. Louis. We left The Black Hills for Rapid City, which is in the foothills to the Black Hills... does that make sense? Anyway... we had intentions of staying here for a night in the Cabela's parking lot... and exploring town and maybe doing a day trip to the Badlands National Park.

Well, we started out towards the Badlands and decided to look at map... I was going on memory, and as it turned out, the scenic drive through the Badlands doesn't even begin until you get an hour east of Rapid City.. then its s 3-4 hour drive to get back. We just didn't have that in us today, and Debi was still having alot of problems with her back, so we decided to go have a beer in Rapid city and save the Badlands for another time.

We get to Rapid City and go into the downtown area.. it's a very cool historic district.. lots of neat buildings, stores and restaurants. They had an art/culture festival going on in the streets, with some cool booths and also some Indian dancing, etc...  They also had BBQ event/contest at the fairgrounds.. unfortunately, the BBQ event was almost over, so we skipped that.. and went to Firehouse Brewpub. They had all kinds of beer on the menu there that we normally like (Red's, Amber's and Scottish Ales are our fav's).  Unfortunately, many of these types of smaller breweries only have a handful of beers on tap at any given time, so we ended up with 2 red's.. They were just OK. One was way too bitter, and the other one lacked a decent finish. Not growler worthy (we brought 2 growlers for fill-ups if we find really good beer). Luckily, the beer wasn't great, as I left the growlers back at the RV anyway!

Downtown Rapid City, SD

Firehouse Brewpub

BBQ festival sign downtown

Firehouse Brewpub.. in an old Firehouse

Debi was in some pain... she seems to start out OK, but gets worse as the day goes on and with alot of walking... so we decide to go back to the RV... when we get there, it's about 4 PM..  and think "what are we gonna do, just sit in here"?  We decide to knock out an hour or so and drive to Wall, SD.. home of the famous Wall Drug Store.. plus, that makes out 6 hr drive tomorrow to Sioux Falls a 5 hour one.. a little more tolerable.

We find a decent RV park about a 5 minute walk to the Drugstore. They also have a nice Good Sam Discount, so for about $25, we get our hookups, and go take a swim in the small pool they have. It was quite refreshing, actually... even though it was only 75 out, the water temp was about the same, and it felt good on the bones.

After our swim, I take the pups over to the large fenced in dog park in the rv park.. it's quite nice! No other dogs in there, but I reunited with my old friend, tommy mosquitoe.. been a long time since I've seen him, and he and his friends decided to give me a few munches as a welcome back. Luckily, they never amounted to much itching, so I got lucky there.

We're hungry, but don't really want to go out to eat, so I defrosted and heated up some of my pre-smoked pulled pork that I portioned out before we left... and we had a couple quick BBQ PP Sandy's... and headed over to Wall Drug for a couple ice creams. They said they were open til 9.... well, some of it was... they closed the ice cream shop at 8 as well as the cafe/fudge shop.. right when we got there. Oh well.. We looked around the stores for about 45 min, and although there was a few cool items.. honestly, neither of us really got all the hype. It was more or less a glorified tourist shop, with a few cool stores within a store. I guess the fact that it's been there forever, and it's in the middle of nowhere is half the hype. We still had fun, but went back to the RV and watched a little Satellite TV and had some mint chip gelato I bought the previous week.

Wall Drug, with Debi on the phone

sunset from the dog park in Wall, SD

We got up pretty early the next day, but Debi had a conference call.. so we waited for a bit to get going. The weather was nice, but again... Mr. Wind was blowing, so it was going to be another semi-stressful drive to Sioux Falls. There was little traffic on I-90, so that was nice. The drive got flatter and flatter as we headed east. It was still very green, and these were the high plains prairie grasslands.. which were really beautiful.

South Dakota grasslands

About 90 minutes west of Sioux Falls, the sky to the east started to darken. We were trailing a cluster of thunderstorms as they headed east along with us. We got the county line just west of Sioux Falls and both our phones beeped.. there was a flash flood warning for the county. We did notice alot of standing water in the fields, as well as swollen creeks. We decided to pull off for a few minutes to let the dogs out before we hit the storm.. or give it more time to move out. When we got out, I noticed snow on the side of the road.. wtf?  Ok, it was hail.. but it was piled half a foot deep in spots! It must have really unloaded out here.

What the hail?!

Co-pilot Cheddar

We get to the outskirts of Sioux Falls and turn south... then boom.. we caught the storm. Heavy rain, winds.. and lots of lightning. Luckily, we pull into Walmart just off the freeway (where we will camp for free in the back of their parking lot- most Wal-marts allow this for an overnights) and let the storm settle down before we unhitch the Tahoe so we can go to Costco.  Well, it doesn't let up very much... so we break out the raincoats and head out to unhitch... luckily, we have this process down pretty good, and it only takes us about 4-5 minutes, so we don't get too wet.

We head over to Costco and get a few things, then pick up some KFC for dinner. We had hopes of going out to east some sushi or something since we were in the "Big City"... but with it storming so bad, we decided to stay in. After eating, it's almost dark.. but the storm was still hanging around. We were right on the fringe of this storm system, as it kept regenerating in the same place for hours. Some spots just south had gotten 9" of rain today. I-29, was closed about 10 miles south, which was out route to get out tomorrow. I took the pups for a quick stroll, but it was more or less staying in the RV for the night. It continued to storm until about midnight before it finally let up.

The next morning was overcast and sticky. I did want to see the actual "Sioux Falls", which was about 20 min to downtown. We drove over there and got out for about 30 minutes. I think half of town was there as the falls were roaring from all the rain. It was pretty cool to see these rocks and water spilling over them right in the middle of downtown. It seemed kinda outta place.

Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls

We go back and hitch up at Wal-Mart, and I take the pups across the street to the greenway walking path along the river. Not a soul around for the entire walk, so the pups are off leash and walking by me. Just as I get almost back to the car, a guy on a bike roars up to me, and proceeds to chew me out for having my dogs off leash. I can barely get a word in, as he's telling me about the $85 fine, blah blah..  I let him banter for another minute of so, and I'd had enough. I told him there must not be alot to do in Sioux Falls,  and after taking a few jabs at his behavior, tell him to leave me alone... now, or he will be sorry. Well, he didn't leave, but he backed down to ole' Tub-o-Todd. He apologized and came back to to earth a little. I explained to him, I was just visiting here, saw no signs, and there had been no one around until him.  I also would have walked the dogs off the path and down closer to the river if it had not rained 10" the night before. Anyway, he continued to mellow and apologize for coming on so abrupt, and I accepted his apology... and we parted.

We set off for St. Joesph.. again, about 5 hrs south. The I-29 had re-opened, but for about 100 miles all we saw was huge lakes in the fields and creeks and runoff everywhere. We also saw 2 cars still submerged from the flooding the night before.



We go through Sioux city, IA.. a pretty good size town.. at the confluence of the Missouri and Sioux Rivers... then drive a couple hours south through the Missouri Valley. A big broad river plain several miles wide created by the Missouri River. We skirt the east side of Omaha, and hit some of the worst roads of the trip. I have to say, so far in our travels, that's one thing that I see has really suffered over the years is our highway infrastructure. They really need a new massive CCC-type project to get our roads and highways back in good condition. I know there are alot more cars now, but damn... some of the roads are in REALLY bad shape and dangerous, especially for large vehicles.

As we drop down into Missouri, and we  start to see alot more trees and hills... and creeks. Their are fireworks stands showing up at every exit.  I'm tempted to stop, but we need to get to St. Joe to Walmart... at least that was the original plan. We pull into a rest area to let the pups out, and realize dry camping at Walmart isn't going to work. it's about 90 degrees and 85% humidity. Trying to sleep in that would be miserable... So I look online and find a campground that we can get 50% off at... so for $20, we get a full hookup site, in the trees.. and a pull-thru at that.. so no unhitching. The sun has started to settle behind the hills, so we come outside and let the dogs out. All of a sudden I see lightning bugs!  One of my favorite pastimes growing up was catching them and putting them in a jar. Well, I didn't do that... but it was great fun watching them as the sun went down.

We settle in for the night, and pop the satellite.. and somehow get our signal thru the trees. We watch a little Property Brothers and Debi fades off to a fast sleep dreaming of Drew... and not me. I turn the lights out, and play on the computer for a bit, as the cold air pumps thru the AC making the RV feel like a cool Missouri cave.

Wednesday morning arrives, and it's already well into the 80's at 9AM. The humidity never left the 80's overnight. My morning hot coffee has turned into a morning cold mocha frappucino, as the idea of drinking hot coffee in 90 degree weather isn't appealing.We don't have much to do to get going, as we are all hitched up, but we decided to dump our waste in the sewer that we had at this campground, since we were going to be camping at Mom's house for the next few weeks. We also have that down to an art (albeit a smelly one).... and are on the road in about 30 minutes.

Guess what? Another windy day.. this time, it's a full on cross-wind. Since we are in St. Joe, I decide to take a route east that I've never been on, instead of heading south another 60 miles to I-70 near Kansas City. US Rte 36. Its the old hwy that is north of I-70 and goes from Indiana to Colorado. The portion thru MO is all 4 lane divided, so it's basically the same as I-70, but a fraction of the traffic. It turns out to be a good choice. The road is in great shape, and there is very little traffic. There are enough trees alongside most of the road to buffer the wind a little. Unfortunately, a couple hours in, we remember Debi has a conference call, and must have good cell recpeption. to this point, it has been fine, but the Verizon coverage map (which has become a good friend) showed sparse coverage further east towards St. Louis... so we head down Hwy 63 at Macon, to Columbia.. home of the Mizzou Tigers, where my Dad went to school back in the 60's. He also played basketball for the Tigers when he was there. 

We hop on I-70, and all of a sudden, my stress level tripled. Lord, the traffic was insane.. tons of trucks, cars, and other distractions. I remember being on this interstate growing up all the time, as we went back and forth between KC and STL.. but never remember traffic like this. Honestly, it reminded me of the drive between LA and Vegas on I-15... granted, the speeds were in the 60-70 range, and not 80-90... but still, it sucked. We made good time to St. Louis, but hit a little rush hour stop and go traffic for about 30 minutes or so on the north side of town. We pull into Edwardsville around 6:30... back into the driveway, and we're here.. time for a beer!

The first few days have been great, except the weather. OMG, it's hot and extremely humid. Unfortunately, I remember it too well... but it's been a long time since I've had to endure this kind of humidity again. That being said, my skin loves it vs the dry western air... and a few thunderstorms in the evenings has been fun to watch. It's also a good excuse to veg out in the AC or if I do venture out, make Starbucks a required stop for a cold summer coffee drink.

I saw my Aunts' Pat and Pam briefly the first night, and then went to visit my 92 yr old Gran the next day. It was great talking to her for a couple hours... she likes to reminisce about old times... OK, well... all my relatives do.. HAHA.. we here the same stories everytime we come back home, but honestly... it wouldn't seem right for it not to be that way. I know my Grandma loves telling some of those stories.

Thursday night, we considered going to the Cardinals Game, but with the heat and humidity, Debi's still ailing back, and us being a little pooped, we headed for the other ball game... my 13 yr old cousin Ricky had a game in town, so we went over to watch that.  We tried to stop by Bobby's frozen custard (frozen custard is a midwest tradition)... but the lines were half way to Indianapolis... so we went next door and got soda's and a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar... it just wasn't the same.

The game was actually pretty fun. My Aunt Kay and Steve were there, as well as my cousin Jennifer (Ricky's mom) and her daughter Maria. Jenny had her new Grandson Conrad there, and I got to hold him on the bleachers... I was showing off my baby handling skills quite nicely, bumping the little bugger on my knee... until Conrad proceeded to let out a watery burp all over my leg and arm. No harm, no foul ball... I wiped it off and likened it to a little spilt mayo when I'm BBQ'ing. It was nice chatting with the relatives I havan't seen in a couple years, while watching the game. It was a typical St. Louis summer evening, with sauna type weather, bugs flying around all the ballpark lights... and flashes of lightning off in the distant western sky.

Friday seemed a little cooler... barely. We had plans to go to my Aunt Kay's for the evening to celebrate Jenny and Ricky's B'day. (They have birthdays on the same day!). however, during the day, everyone took a nap...Debi got a massage for her back... and then Mom and I went to Sam's Club.. (my first time in one)... it's rediculous how similar it is to Costco.. right down to the hand dryers in the bathrooms. However, I was unimpressed with their meat and food selections... about 1/4 of what costco has. We also went to Dierbergs, a big grocery store here in STL... and it was beautiful. They had just built it when I left in the mid 90's. The midwest seriously has some of the nicest grocery stores I've seen anywhere!

We come back and relax for a bit at the house before heading out to "the country" where my Aunt Key and U. Steve live. The dogs all get along great, but the introductions for Cheddar have been a little challenging. Cheddar is game, but Bailey seems to not enjoy the relationship quite yet... so he barks and chases, and the rest of the dogs follow.. so needless to say, Cheddar is hanging out inthe front yard chasing birds, while the rest of the 5 dogs have they house. Cheddar seems to enjoy it though.

Aunt Kay and Uncle Steve's back yard.. Steve is behind the tree with Maria fishing.

Dinner at Aunt Kay's is at 5:30... we get there to a memento from my Uncle Vick. You see... back when my cousin Jenny and I were in our early teens I think it was... we were playing badminton in the back yard. Well, something funny happened.. not sure what it was... and we both started laughing uncontrollably. We couldn't stop... and soon, it happened. We both started to pee our pants.. and went running inside. Thanks Uncle Vick for taking us back!

There were sub sandy's and some killer chicken wings, along with lots of other side dishes. Much of the rest of the family was there, too. Conversation is plentiful as is typical at Cook gatherings... and a few of us head outside to the "lake" in the backyard. (They have a beautiful house they built on this small lake about 30 minutes from Edwardsville, near Highland, IL).

There are rumors of great fish in this lake... and Steve grabs a few rods for us to take a shot at fishing.  He and Maria (younger cousin) proceed to reel in several fish, while my sister Julie catches a tree on her first cast.. I get a few bites and almost reel a couple in, but they steel the worm and leave me with moss after I bring it back in to re-bait. A storm is rumbling off to the west, and it's looking like a good one. The thunder scares off the humans, but the dogs are running rampant all over the back yard. Merced decides to take a dip, and Dixie sits down with Dad to do some storm watching, Sierra is in the house cuddling with whoever will cuddle her.

Dixie watches the storm

The storm blows by just to the south, with lots of thunder, wind... but only a few raindrops. The breezes with it cool it down some, and make it almost a tolerable evening.  We go back inside and no sooner does the power go out. We hang out for a while and talk some more, but the party starts to break up after the storm,  We decide to head home too. The drive back was beautiful.. as the sun illuminated the parting storm clouds, and the fields of green corn waved in the breeze. Much more rain fell over in Edwardsville, and the temperature had fallen to a cooler 74... but there was steam rising from everything, so it wasn't as nice as it could have been. Bedtime came quick for some, while again... I got on the computer and did a little shopping on Amazon, and pre-planning our Colorado excursions for next month.

Saturday, we all awoke to another steamy day. I slept in too late again after staying up on the computer too late.. However, I was up in time to head over to the Edwardsville Farmer's Market. So much has changed in this town since I lived here in the 90s. It has been built up so much, but the downtown area has changed less. It was a nice market, and we got some veggies and blue cheese brats for this weekend. We than went to Sgt. Pepper's for brunch...and got a coffee drink after. Into and out of a few shops, and it was back to the AC at home.. Debi and Julie went to get Mani-Pedi's.. Mom and I and the pups hung out in the AC watching Polo.... yes, Polo.

So... there you have it! Week 3 is in the books. It's really good getting back to the STL area, and seeing family... hopefully in the next week or so I will get to see friends, too. Debi is off to Nashville on Monday for the week for work... I will hang out here and find stuff to do. Next Saturday, we hae a family reunion here at the house, with about 40 people coming. We will also celebrate Debi and I's marriage with a little reception-type theme, as well. Looking forward to it.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks adventures...
Debi, Todd, Merced, Sierra, Dixie and Cheddar

Black Hills, South Dakota... Week 2.

It seems like I've got a theme going for writing blogs on stormy Saturday nights... Last week, it was on the shore of Lake Desmet, near Buffalo, WY. Tonight, it's within a stone's throw of Crazy Horse Memorial, near Custer, SD.

Tonight's storm (the 3rd today) is the most impressive of all. Lots of lightning, heavy rain, and some strong winds.. oh, and it's a chilly 43 degrees. Debi has some hot chocolate in her mug...along with a splash of Bailey's.... and I've got a little shot of Scotch. The dogs are all chewing on their C.E.T. chews.... and cheddar, is sitting ON mom's computer while she tries to do some work.

The past week has been kinda eventful. We left Buffalo Sunday, at the crack of 1PM for the 3 hour drive to Devil's Tower, WY. After about an hour, we finally escaped the dreary weather that plagued us over the weekend, and hit sun. We stopped in Gillette, WY for some gas and supplies at Wal-Mart. I also had to take pictures of a Gillette Razor.

Gillette Razor, in Gillette, WY

The land through here is rolling hills, with sporadic rock outcroppings. There are also some surface coal mines and oil wells near Gillette. That area is exploding with that type of thing, and the population of Gillette has doubled in the last 10 yrs (15k to 30k) because of it. It's pretty country, especially since everything is still super green.

About 45 min SW of Devils tower, we start to see some mountains again. These are actually the Wyoming Section of the Black Hills National Forest. very pretty again... not huge mountains, but interspersed pine forest, rolling hills, rock outcroppings, and deciduous trees. About 20 minutes later, we get our first peak at the tower.

Devil's Tower

We decided to stay in the NPS Campground.. for $6 a night.. which includes free firewood, split and seasoned. No Hookups, but we don't need them all the time. We got a great site with a view of the tower, and along the Belle Forche River.. with some cool red rocks nearby. The campground sits in a cool valley with lots of green meadows, red rocks, cottonwoods, and then forest. For some reason I thought it was going to be a desert.. but it was far from that.

Belle Forche River at our campsite

Red Rocks from Campsite

Our Campsite at Belle Forche Campground

We were tired from traveling that day and Debi has a sore back, so we ate some hot dogs and had a couple beers, and went to bed.

Monday, Debi woke up and was barely able to move. She was having severe back spasms, and causing quite a bit of knots to form and muscles to tighten. Needless to say, she wasn't going to do much today that required physical exertion. She took alot of advil, and rested... and I went out to explore for a bit, so she could rest up to go to the visitor center later.

I piled the pups in the truck, and took a drive around the immediate area on a forest road and got some nice views of the area. I stopped for a slab of buffalo jerky at the gift shop, shared a few pieces with the mutts, and looked around at all the rediculous tourist gift shop.. I can't believe some of the crap they think people will buy... or maybe they do buy it, I guess... otherwise, they probably wouldn't sell it.

Huge Prairie Dog Colony

Red Rocks along river

Pups enjoying a stroll

Forest Road

I made it back to the campsite a couple hours later, and Debi was ready for a drive up to the visitor center. it was only a couple miles.. only 1 short road in the monument, so it doesn't take long to see it.. but we weren't going to do the walk around the bottom of the tower.. Debi just wasn't up to it, and I didn't want to fight the hundreds of tourists with cameras.. that's just not my style, ya know.

The visitor center was pretty cool, but small. I bought a book at the gift shop, and we took a short drive to another viewpoint off a dirt road a mile from the visitor center. We decided a few hours later for sunset, this would be a good place to come. We went back home, and I made a fire with the unlimited free firewood (sorry, that's just not something I'm used to seeing at campgrounds)... and tossed a steak on the fire, threw a couple baked potatoes in the microwave (we turned the generator on for a few minutes), and sauteed some green beans. I've been enjoying cooking in the RV... unfortunately, my 7-1 grill/smoker unit I bought is a pain in the butt, and after I got it out... I decided it was too much work.. It also takes up alot of space...so it might find a new home in St. Louis.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner... then got in the car and headed up to the lookout. We got there just as the sun was nearing the bottom of the tower... perfect!  The weather was nice... about 60, and no wind. No bugs yet on our trip yet, either. We snapped away a few shots and watched as a guy pulled up and spent the next 10 minutes trying to get his camera on his tripod, on top of his van... to get some shots... meanwhile, missing the good light.

When we got back, I rekindled the fire, we poured a little of a special Scotch blend we bought in Jackson on our way out of town... and had a nice talk by the fire about the meaning of life... or something like that.

Tuesday Debi woke up worse. We were leaving that day, and she decided to make a call to the urgent care in Sundance, WY... which is about 45 min away... towards where we were going. She took the truck, and I packed up the motorhome... and we met up a few hours later. They gave her some drugs and that was about it. We considered a chiropractor, but there weren't alot of options in this area... I have been playing massage therapist just about every day to supplement the drugs.

We make our way onward to the Black Hills and a RV park near the town of Deadwood. It's only about 90 minutes or so, and just a hop on I-90. Dixie and Cheddar jockey for the spot in the front seat while Debi is in the back... they both finally give in, and share.

Ched's and Dixie snoozing in the front seat

 We enter South Dakota... a new state for both of us. Damn, it looks like Scotland... or so says Debi. (However she's also just waking up from a muscle relaxer induced snooze). Just crazy how green it has been on this trip. This area also got about 200% their avg rain/snow over the winter.

We go thru Deadwood to our RV Park...about 6 miles south of town in the mountains. We use our Passport America card and get a site with full hookups for $17.50 a night... we stay 2 nights. It's nothing special, but we have space... and it backs to forest land, and there is a dirt road going into the forest... good for walking the pups. It also had Laundry, as we're getting low... Debi wants to keep me from turning my underwear inside out.. Ok, probably TMI. We had some thunderstorms that evening after we got in... that left a spectacular sunset.

Thunderstorm of the Black Hills

Steel Wheel Campground

Debi is still in alot of pain, and not moving around much. She has to work, and has conference calls. I walk the pups, do my weather blog, and wait until she's done... so we can take a tour of Spearfish Canyon. It's raining again and cool... not good lighting for photography, but a decent day for a car tour otherwise. We head over to Lead, SD... a couple miles from Deadwood. This is another very historic town with alot of history. The houses are all old Victorian, and perched on the hillsides, similar to Deadwood. Right in the middle of town is the huge Homestake Mine. Pretty impressive, albeit quite the scar on the earth. Spearfish Canyon was beautiful.. huge pillars along with walls of towering rock for 19 miles down the gorge. We stopped by a film site of Dances With Wolves (the final winter scene).. I didn't recognize anything, but it was still cool.

 

Debi is worn out when we get back, so she settles in for some leftover tacos while I head into Deadwood for a burger and beer. I go to the Old No.10 Saloon, site of where WIld Bill is shot and killed. I walk in and they are doing a re-enactment in the back of the bar of the scene. I waddle up to the bar since there are plenty of seats, and have a beer and order a buffalo-elk burger. This place is about as old west bar as it gets. All wood, game heads hanging on all the walls, and all kinds of old west memorbilia. My burger arrives with some tasty fries, and I settle in for a feast. After dinner, I walk down to the Midnight Start bar and restaurant... which is owned by Kevin Costner. He has quite the footprint in this area after filming Dances with Wolves.. as he fell in love with the area. The bar has all kinds of Costner stuff from his films.. costumes, set pieces, pictures, etc..

Deadwood, SD

Dances with Wolves costume and flute

No. 10 Saloon

 I head the 6 miles back to camp and as I crest a pass on the highway, I see a magnificent sunset in the rearview mirror.. so I pull over and get a couple shots.

Another Black Hills Sunset

Thursday morning arrives, and Debi is still a serious gimp. I feel really bad for her, but other than the massages, muscle relaxers and occasional stiff drink... there's not much else to do for her. Debi does another of her daily conference calls while I pack up (which thankful, in the motorhome is not a big deal) and then take the pups for a stroll on the forest road behind the campsite. Ponderosa Pine forests are unique in that they don't have the same understory or "thickness" that many other forests have. There are also aspen and other interspersed vegetation that make it very beautiful. And of course, the meadows and greenery... I see a white tailed deer on the hill as we walk, but luckily none of the dogs see it, or the chase would have been on.

We head about an hour south to Hill City and Custer.. still in the Black Hills. The drive is again through the rolling mountains and meadows and we pass a couple lakes and streams. Amazed at all the water in the Black Hills, even if some if it is reservoirs... there's alot of water here!

Debi cracks a smile.. sorta

We make it to our next campsite. Again, not your typical RV park.. it sits well off the highway, you can see Crazy Horse from behind the hill.. it's on 56 acres, and includes 3 ponds, meadows, and an old homestead.. really beautiful property. They even had a paddleboat and some fishing rods. I threw a line in, but didn't catch anything... of course, I was using goose poop for bait, so....

Echo Valley Campsite

Walk down to the 3 ponds

The elusive pond monster, Merced

Larger pond with trout. Meadow and cabin behind.

Pond and cabin in meadow behind the campground

corral and barn

Old stove outside the original cabin

Original cabin (1903)

Newer cabin, farm equipment, meadow

Cabin with antiques

wagon wheel

cabin and barn, looking south over pond

So... my comments in the last blog about me trying to cut down on the length and pictures in these blogs... meh, ain't gonna happen.. sorry. :P

Ok.. next day, Debi is still feeling poorly, but we decide to take a drive through Custer State Park. It's one of the premier state parks in the country, and there is a $15 entrance fee. It was worth it though, and we didn't even get to do the "Wildlife Loop", which included one of the largest buffalo heards in the world, along with all kinda of other animals.  We chose to do the Needles Loop, which is a 19 mile loop through some spectacular rock formations, lakes, forest, etc.. there are 3 tunnels.. they are SMALL.. the first one is 8ft wide by 12 ft tall.

As we were leaving the park, a big thunderstorm was moving in..  when we got back to the campsite, Debi needed to rest, so.. while she doozed off to the rumbles of thunder and raindrops on the roof... I took off for the brewpub in Custer about 4 miles away. :)

Custer, SD

Coffee Cream Ale

I get back to camp, and Debi is ready to go out to dinner. We decide to head to Hill City.. a cool little town about 10 miles north. It has a little more charm than Custer... a lively main street, a couple microbrewpubs, and several wineries. We chose a restaurant called Bumpin Buffalo.. partly because they have a nice outside deck up on top of the roof.

Hill City, SD

Rocky Mountain Oysters!

The bar was scribbled with stuff on the wall, so I added a little something.

I've never had bull balls... but I have to say, they were pretty good. Kinda a mix of a fried chicken liver/gizzard.. but less flavorful. I got some ranch to dip the balls in, and that tasted better than the BBQ sauce, actually.

We came back to the camp, and had another thunderstorm... so we settled in, I watched the rest of the hockey game, and Debi read or something... I really don't remember!

Saturday, we set out for Mt. Rushmore. We started around noon, and it was a party sunny day and around 70. We got about 45 minutes in before it got cloudy and cool, but that was enough to enjoy sitting in front of the "faces" for a while in the sun. It was pretty busy, but not crazy like it probably is in July and August. Everything was very official feeling, governmental and monumental, as you would expect.

 The museum was pretty cool, but I got pissed off at a blurb about South Dakota and the Black Hills history, and how the US Army had to come in and "control" the Indians... and kinda just forgot that they took over the Black Hills for the gold that was discovered here. What a crock.. but I wasn't surprised.  After about 90 minutes, that was enough for both of us, so we headed back down towards Crazy Horse.

I gotta kick outta the title

We stopped off at Miners brewpub for a beer.. I think it was an Irish Red.. kinda weak. Then we went next door to the winery... tasted about 10 wines. They were also OK.. nothing great. Lots of sweet stuff, which neither of us like. I did buy a bottle of blue cheese powder.. LOL.  I've put it on popcorn last night, and some salt and vinegar chips today. Its pretty tasty, but I prefer to take the sprinkle top off and guzzle it.

We were a bit tired, so we decided to come back to camp and rest for a bit. Crazy Horse is only 2 miles away, and open until 9PM. They also have a laser light show on the side of the mountain, so we chilled out.

I took the pups for a walk, and Cheddar climbed a tree. Cheddar is awesome in going out. He stays close, comes when we call.. and usually behaves well. Ok, this time he climbed too high... about 12-15 ft.. and I got a dog bed for him to jump on and save him.. but he wasn't into that. So, the next idea was to pull the Tahoe up under the tree, and Debi would rescue him. That worked... the only scar from the incident was a claw mark on Debi's face from the flying cheddar enroute to Debi's arms.

So.. after the cheddar shenanigans... and some rest, we headed over to Crazy Horse. As we left, it was black to the west, and thunder was rumbling. It was kinda sliding northeast though, so I had hopes it would wait before unloading on us. Well, it waited about 30 minutes. We got to the memorial, and I took a couple pics, we went inside to watch the movie about the memorial, and came out to a very strong storm. Luckily, the museum there "The Indian Museum of North American History" is HUGE.. and really cool, so we spent about an hour mosing around. As you can imagine, it had all kinds of historical artifacts and other things. Having recently read some books on the subject, it was really cool to see things like a saddle that was used during the battle of Little Bighorn.

This is what it is supposed to eventually look like (photo from Crazy Horse Memorial Website)

Unfortunately, the storm didn't let up.. so I ran and got the car for the girl.. and we went back to the pups in the RV who probably didn't appreciate the loud booms of thunder. Here's a few pictures of what it looks like up close. I didn't get many any more picts of the carving, and the laser light show was probably going to be cancelled, so we got a raincheck to come back... but we probably won't have time in the morning.

I guess the only thing that kinda sucks about this mountain carving is that it began in 1948, and it's still a really long way from being done. Granted, it's much larger than Mt. Rushmore, and it was done by 1 person for many years..but still, they have turned down tens of million in federal grants to have it only private donations and not federal or state funded. They explained the reasons, and I get it.. but there's a part of me that says the least the US Government could do is pay for a good chunk of this to honor a man and culture that got royally screwed. I dunno.. there's probably more to it than that, but there's a part of me that thinks it might never get done otherwise.


Overall, our impressions of the Black Hills were great. It was much more beautiful than either of us expected. We were both surprised at how much water there was and how green everything was, too.  Unfortunately, the bark beetle has hit this area pretty hard, especially the southern part of the forest, near Hill City and Custer. The history is great in all the towns...It was also a bit more touristy than we expected though... and how many people were in the whole area vacationing was surprising. It's a really big vacation spot for alot of people in the northern plains, and upper midwest. I saw a ton of Minnesota plates.

Sunday... we head to Rapid City and Wall, SD... where we'll spend the night. Then.. looks like Sioux Falls, SD.. (Costco stop) Omaha, NE or St. Joesph, MO... then Edwardsville, IL!


Sorry this was so long... I guess I really can't control myself. I also had plans to get it out Saturday night, but I've had a few connection issues with picture uploading, etc. I didn't proofread or edit, so it is what it is..

Take care!

Debi, Todd the pups and kitty...