Mulvanys on the Road: Day 17 - George Armstrong Custer

We unhooked last night so this morning we timed ourselves to see how quickly we could be on the road. We were able to pack and hook up in about 35 minutes. We are getting better at backing the truck to a near perfect place for the ball of the hitch to fit into the hitch of the camper. I will pat myself on the back because I'm the one at the hitch eyeballing where the ball on the truck should be to make the connection in one back up. Anyway, we were on the road by 8:15 am.

We saw lots of animals at the Sheridan KOA. When we first got there, we saw a small group of wild turkey near the registration building. The next morning, that same group were in the playground area. They must make the KOA home. We also saw lots of rabbits and squirrels. These animals are not what we have been seeing in Yellowstone but they are still animals!

We took I-90 to close to the border of Wyoming and South Dakota. Then we took state route 585 to 85 to 18 into the Big Springs KOA in South Dakota. They gave us a pretty campsite under tall pine trees. It should be shady most of the time. The only problem is that it isn't very level and we had to use every piece of board and lift blocks to get it leveled. It's not perfect but it will do. I hope we don't roll down the hill tonight! We plan to be here four nights and three days.

Sheridan is less than 100 miles from where the Battle of Little Big Horn was fought. We had been there before so we didn't make that a stop this trip. The funny thing was that as we were driving down the road, we were listening to XM radio 50's station and they played the song "Please Mr. Custer" as we were driving past the exit for the Battle of Little Big Horn! If you are old enough to remember that song, it is about a man who is begging Mr. Custer not to make him go to the Big Horn "cause there's Injuns out there!"

When we turned off I-90 to the two-laned road, we saw a sign for a mountain called "Inyan Kara". I looked it up on the Internet (thanks to my I-Pad and hot spot) and found out that the mountain is 6,348 foot high and is considered sacred by the Lakota Indian tribe particularly for mothers in childbirth. I also read a blog from a man who hiked to the top of the mountain, and he found this carved into a rock on the top: 74 G. Custer. This man felt that George Custer had probably carved it in the rock when he was in the Black Hills area on an government expedition when gold was discovered. That discovery of gold caused the government to break it's treaty with the Indiana which had given the Black Hills to the Lakota Indians. Two years later the Battle of Little Horn took place. It seemed like every where we turned, George Custer's name was popping up!

Something else I have been noticing is how much this land depends on water. To grow anything, they must irrigate. It is interesting to see a circle of green where the irrigation pipes can water next to another area that is brown without the irrigation water. If you see green, it has either been irrigated or there is a small creek flowing through the area. Rain in the area must be almost nonexistent during the spring and summer growing season. I do think that the brown and yellow colored terrain is beautiful but I like living where we have green yards and roadsides.

We aren't sure what we are going to do tomorrow. I would like to go to Wind Cave so we may take a short cave trip. There is also a big dinosaur dig here at Big Springs where you go and see bones in all stages of being dug up. Of course we want to go to Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse carving on the mountain and the Needles Highway. We have three days to get everything done.