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: