Custer SP/Mount Rushmore - 6/22-25

I need to split up our posts because each time I add a picture it screws up the text and formatting that I constantly have to fix. I'm sure there is a way to fix it up, but I'm not that into it...

Custer State Park is in southwestern SD and as we found out it is a spectacular place to stay. At over 71,000 acres it rivals some national parks in size and is known for it's abundant wildlife (buffalo, pronghorn antelope, elk, etc.) and unique geologic formations. We went on the hunt for buffalo the first night and figured the road called the Wildlife Loop would be our best bet. We did get to see plenty of pronghorn antelope, mule deer and a giant bull elk (no pic though), but no buffalo. Not for the lack of trying as we spent what seemed like hours on paved and unpaved roads and in the end didn't get back to our campsite until well after dark. It seems no matter what we plan, we are rarely eating dinner before 10:00pm. It wasn't until the next day we saw buffalo. Some animal pics are below.

Our first full day at Custer we spent on the hunt again for buffalo and then off to Mount Rushmore, Bear Country USA (more on that later), Crazy Horse Monument and some scenic driving - a lot for one day. Mount Rushmore was one of the places Matt specifically requested to see and we had a mission to accomplish there as well. Kylie, one of Katie's friends and soccer teammates, was having a birthday party that Katie couldn't attend since we were over 2000 miles away. We wanted to send her a birthday message though...

When we see you Kylie we will give you this poster actually signed by 2 Mount Rushmore National Park Service rangers (we couldn't get the superintendant). Everyone was impressed with Mount Rushmore. Matt has developed a keen interest in grey wolves and we learned they had some at Bear Country, USA - a kind of free range zoo that you drive through to see all the animals. We saw just about everything but wolves - we saw elk, reindeer, mountain lion, bears (black and grizzley), buffalo, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, fox, albino raccoon, lynx, bobcats, river otter, skunk, porcupine, coyote, and a lone arctic wolf that was hiding in the tall grass. Apparently it was too hot for the grey wolves to be out and the pups were recovering from an early morning vet visit to give them shots. Oh well, we enjoyed seeing all the critters anyway.

Next up we went to see the Crazy Horse Monument - no offense intended, but it wasn't worth the $25 to see a no way near complete mountain carving expecially since it was only $8 to see a complete Mount Rushmore. They've been working on it since 1948 and estimate it will be another 75 years before it is complete. I'm not holding my breath. We turned around at the gate, snapped a couple of pictures out the back window and said, "Maybe we'll come back when it's finished." Yeah, right.

To cap the day we took the Needles Highway back through Custer SP and saw some amazing rock formations and went through some very small tunnels. We left Custer SP on the 25th to head to Yellowstone. The pictures below are from our adventures in and around the Black Hills of SD.

pronghorn antelope

Terry feeding the "wild" burros in Custer SP











Mount Rushmore, of course.



















Elk at Bear Country, USA








Reindeer







black bear








black bear cub

Crazy Horse









Needles Highway Tunnel

campsite at Custer SP

Still Here....

Sorry for the lapse in posts. I guess once you get out in the hinterlands there isn't enough cell service - we got this aircard for the laptop so we wouldn't have to search for WiFi hookups and thought that would cover us. I guess most of South Dakota and Wyoming are in a dead zone - I could see why, there aren't a lot of people out here. From the gist of some of the posts, and the few opportunities we had to use the cell phone, there seems to be concern we were eaten by bears or fell into a mudpot at Yellowstone. Be patient, we're at the mercy of the satellite gods.

We've got a lot to update - Badlands NP, Custer SP, and Yellowstone NP. We are currently in Grand Tetons NP.

Badlands (6/21-22)

We left the bimbette "ranger" (not sure she was actually a ranger, probably just a summer hire) at Lewis & Clark park and set out for the Badlands. As we were preparing to leave some rangers came by and said there were some terrible storms tracking along I 90 - winds gusting to 70 mph and up to softball size hail. Didn't take much convincing to take a different route to avoid a potential catastrophe. I shudder to think what softball size hail would have done to the truck and trailer... So we took the scenic route. Not really out of the way, just stayed south of the interstate for awhile. It was impressive to see the wide open space and actually see the storm in the distance. We were making pretty good time considering our alternate route, but we wanted to get back on the interstate to make up some time. So we are tooling along and know we are very close to getting back on the highway when out of nowhere - Road Closed, Detour. No access to I 90. Eastern South Dakota is actually quite lovely, but not all the roads are listed in our road atlas - including the one we were just detoured on and in the wrong direction... Never fear I figure, the few people who do live in this area (one house/5-10 sq. mi I'm guessing) must use the highway to get around and they wouldn't stand for not being able to access the only major east-west highway in the state. I figured wrong...25 miles or so later we finally get on the Interstate and can get along towards the Badlands....some irony in the name here.

The Badlands are an interesting place. Surreal and beautiful. We stayed one night at a KOA Kampground (I know it is spelled wrong - the KOA people seem to think everything starts with a K for some reason...) in Interior, SD, just outside the park. Interior was quite a bustling "town" with a population of 69 according to their sign.

We got up early the next day to take a hike before it got God-awful hot and since we were also heading on our way to Custer SP. One of the funnier things that happened was Katie exclaiming at some point during our hike, probably when we were at the summit, that she had 4 bars! Verizon would be proud. Some pics below from our hike and then our drive through and out of the park. Some of the wildlife and views:

On to South Dakota

Completed our visit with the Iowa relatives and hit the road yesterday around 11:00a. The day's plan was to drive to Yankton, SD to spend the night at the Lewis & Clark National Recreation Area - approx. 400 miles - 1300+ total so far.

We stopped for lunch and snapped this picture to give an idea of the size of our rig. Looks small compared to the semi, but we are around 55 feet long.

Arrived at Lewis & Clark around 6:00p and needed to find a campsite. We are at Chief White Crane campground - don't know who he is and why he has a campground... It is a beautiful spot on the Missouri River and Lake Yankton. We are right below the dam - haven't seen any leaks yet, but Matt keeps looking for us. The very nice park ranger at the office said we could have any spot we wanted and suggested we drive through the campground and pick one out. So we did. Found a great spot on the lake edge and set everything up - unhooked, slides out, leveled, took pictures, etc. Looking forward to a quiet evening of dinner by the campfire followed by smores, we went back to the office to get some firewood, directions to the grocery store and tell her which site we selected. Well, bimbette ranger neglected to tell us that some of the sites were already reserved including the one we just spent the last hour getting all set up in. We needed to move!! Now it's after 7:00p, we need to go hook back up, move on to a different site, still need to get to the grocery store so we can get something to eat and so on... Our cheerfullness about our idyllic setting was quickly evaporating. Where did we move to? Two sites down. We finally ended up eating dinner after 10:30p and skipping the smores.

Picture of Terry, my little Sacagawea, the next morning (Thur.) on the banks of the Missouri R. As nice as this place is, we are pulling out this morning and heading on to the Badlands NP. Should be about a 300 mi. journey. Thanks goes to Mike G., my boss and SD native, for telling me about this location - I don't think he knew about the bimbette ranger though...

Thanks to those who have posted comments - keep them coming. It nice to know someone is reading this stuff.... Kylie - sorry about your blisters - no bears or boys yet for Katie. Stay tuned :-)

Finally Underway!

Underway at 4:30p on Monday - later than planned, of course.

The picture at right is just before we pulled out of the driveway. Made it to Betsy's house around 11:30p for our first night's rest on the road - Thanks Betsy! She not only came out at that hour to pick us up at the church where we parked our rig, but gave us a ride back there at 6:30 this morning.

Pulled out this morning at 7:00a for the long ride to West Liberty, IA. After 12 hours and 640 miles on the road, stopping for gas, eating and for more gas - that's right, lots of gas. We knew there would be plenty of fuel stops, but not every 150 miles or so. Not only do I wish for better gas mileage but also a larger gas tank....

We arrived at Uncle Jim's and Aunt Peg's house at 6:00p and went out to eat at Hawkeye's Pizza and Steakhouse in West Liberty, IA. Cathy (my cousin) and some of her crew went along also - good food and conversation. Lots of reminiscing about our family travels' back in the day: Mike being left behind at the Wilson's, Julie getting sent to the car at Mesa Verde, Mark and his many injuries. We had some good laughs. Here's the group minus Terry who was behind the camera....Uncle Jim seems to be hiding behind Matt. There are great shots of Matt, Uncle Jim and me and another of Aunt Peg and Cathy below.

We will see Jerry and his family tomorrow for breakfast and then be on the road to South Dakota.

Greetings Readers!!
First order of business is to outline our trip a little bit.
June 18 - leave home and travel to at least Pittsburgh to visit Betsy and family. Thanks to Jack and Mimi for house sitting....
June 19 - travel to West Liberty, IA and visit with more family - Uncle Jim, Aunt Peg and cousins. Big day here - need to cover over 600 mi....
June 20 - West Liberty to Yankton, SD. One night stay in Yankton along Missouri River - should be nice.
June 21 - Yankton to Interior, SD. Badlands NP
June 22 - spend a good part of the day in the Badlands then a short trip to Custer State Park to spend 3 nights.
June 25 - Custer SP to Yellowstone NP - another long day, but are staying 3 nights at Yellowstone.
June 28 - Yellowstone NP to Grand Tetons NP - short drive and another 3 night stay in a NP.
July 1 - Grand Teton NP to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area - southwest WY/northeast UT
July 2 - Flaming Gorge to Steamboat Springs, CO - out of the trailer and into the condo... Plan on 3 nights here including Independence Day
July 5 - Steamboat to Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP - 2 nights here.
July 7 - Gunnison NP to Durango, CO - another 2 nights here...Durango to Silverton train ride planned.
July 9 - Durango to Great Sand Dunes NP - cool....sand dunes in the mountains!
July 10 - Head towards home!
July 14 - Arrive home!

Whew...27 days and over 5300 miles planned. Awesome!

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I just set this blog up and want to see if it is working....