Day 22 - Home, Sweet Home

We were on the road by 6:45 am.  We actually left the campground at 6:15 but had to get gas.  It was dark as we headed east on I-90 but soon the sky gave us a sunrise and naturally, I had to take a picture or two of it.  We knew that we had about 600 miles to make today in order to be home tonight.  The only stops we made were for gas, food and rest areas for a break for the dog.

One reason why I love traveling is the unusual things you see along the road.  Blue Earth, Minnesota has a 60 foot Jolly Green Giant.  I could actually see it from  the interstate.  Why did they have a 60 foot Green Giant?? I don't know but I do know that Blue Earth has one.  Also, in Blue Earth is the "Golden Spike of I-90."    I was able to look this one up on the internet and found out that it was actually a painted gold point in the road that celebrated the completion of I-90 in Minnesota.  I also found out that I-90 is the longest interstate going from Bostom to Seattle.  This is the stuff that you need to know if you play Trival Pursuit!

As we drove east through the bottom of Minnesota, we saw several wind farms.  We drove almost 150 miles across the bottom and only a few miles did we not see a wind farm.  We finally turned off
I-90 onto I-35 heading for US 20 heading Waterloo, Iowa and I-380 to I-80. We decided to stop at the Iowa Welcome Center.  It was the neatest place.

It looked like a big red barn.  Inside on the lower level are the necessary restrooms but upstairs are brochures and phamplets about Iowa, a coffee and pie shop, and a gift shop with Iowa-centered items.  The greeter at the welcome center said there was no other welcome center like this one in the United States.  It was very clean and we could have spent more time there but we knew that we needed to get back on the road.

We did find out that the federal government has declared the northeastern corner of Iowa as "Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area."    The booklet we picked up said "A National Heritage Area is a region that has been recognized by the United States Congress for its unique qualities and resources."  There are 49 designated regions throughout the United States.  The "Silos and Smokestacks" area forcuses on agriculture.  Who knew that the Congress was busy declaring National Heritage Areas?   I didn't know that Congress could agree on anything and actually accomplish something.

Around 3:00 p.m. we crossed into Illinois on I-74.  We backed into our driveway at 6:45 p.m.  We had a great trip but summary details will have to wait until tomorrow.  I want to make one more blog entry which I can hopefully tomorrow.

Day 21 - Eastward Ho We Go!

Woke up to snow, again.  It seemed like there was a little more than yesterday.  We were on the road by 7:30 am.  We decided that we wanted to stop by Wall Drug and Badlands National Park as we were heading east on I-90.    We limited ourselves to 45 minutes at Wall Drug because we knew we had miles to go today.  Carol has been looking for a hat (not a baseball cap) this whole trip.  He finally found one at Wall Drug.  He wore it the rest of the day and I think he looks quite handsome (I may be a little prejudice!) .

We drove the Badlands Loop which took about an hour and a half.  We enjoyed the wild scenery and even got to see a couple of big horned sheep.  We need to come back because we would have liked to take a trail or two but there just wasn't time.

Finally, we got back on I-90 and drove as hard as we could east.  One thing we noticed about South Dakota is that they raise a lot a wheat and hay.  We didn't see any evidence of irrigating what they grow so they must get enough rain and/or snow for their crops.  We did see lots of small ponds that looked very blue and clean but I think those are used for all the thousands of cattle we drove by.  We finally got past the rolling hills and the road straightened and flattened out.  We enjoyed the terrain even though it was farmland.

Stopping at Wall Drug and Badlands took more than two hours, and we are in CDT so we had to move our watches forward an hour.  We are camped at Sioux Falls, SD KOA.  We had wanted to make it into Minnesota but decided to stop and rest for the long day tomorrow.  We drove a little over 400 miles but it is still 600 miles from home so we will have to drive, drive, drive tomorrow.  We didn't unhook so we are hoping to get on the road by 6:30 am.  The goal is to get home and we will keep that in our minds as we drive east.

I am posting a few pictures of the Badlands, and the rest are miscellaneous pictures I took from the truck.   Tomorrow will be a long day so I may not write anything until the next day.  I do want to summarize some things and have other thoughts about the trip.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Day 20 - A Snowy Day in South Dakota

We woke up this morning to a light snow falling.  It was pretty, leaving a light dusting on the pine trees and the chairs we left outside.  By the time we left for Mt. Rushmore, it had stopped.  Weather Channel is predicting a low of 19 and snow showers for tomorrow morning.  This will motivate us to pack up more quickly and not drag things out just because we want to stay here!

Not only did we wake up to snow, we woke up to a tire going flat on the truck.  It looked like we had picked up something which was causing a slow leak.  Thankfully, we have an Internet connection so I found a tire repair shop in Rapid City and we were heading that way so after a look at Mount Rushmore, we mapquested "Dale's Tires and Retreads" and got it repaired for only $17.

We made it to Mount Rushmore to see the monument.  It was cold with intermittent snow so we didn't hang around outside very long.  The visitor center had lots of interesting displays and video showings so total we probably spent two hours there.  We ate lunch at Keystone and headed to Rapid City for the repair.  The man was very nice and worked us in but it still took a couple hours away from what we had planned for the day.  We had planned to drive to Wall Drug because it was less than an hour away, but we decided to go back to the camp and rest because we will be driving hard these next two days.

We filled up with gas to be ready to get on the road tomorrow and then drove into Hot Springs for a picture or two.  Hot Springs is an interesting town with neat red sandstone buildings.  The area around has lots of red sandstone, and the buildings are over 100 years so when they were built, they used the natural materials around them.  One crazy thing about the town is that the US highway that goes through it is not straight.  There are several turns you must make as you are driving down the main street.    We had to go through the town several times and Carol hated it because of the turns.  They were doing road construction and didn't have a flagman so you had to stop and when the coast was clear, move into the other lane.  I guess things operate on its own time in a small town.  Although the population is only 4000, they have a VA hospital and national veterans cemetery.  On the town sign, they say the town is the "Veteran City of the USA. "

Their are signs in yards and public buildings saying "We love our VA" and "We love our veterans'" and "Save our VA".  I am assuming that the federal government has slated this VA hospital for closure and the community is rallying around to try to keep it open.  It seems like such a small town for both a VA hospital and cemetery.

When we got back to camp we discovered that we had run out of propane.  We have been using our furnace a lot.  We had to fill both tanks so we will be nice and warm tonight. .  I had to take one more animal picture.  Then when we went into Hot Springs, we saw mule deer in a yard so I snapped another picture.  That should be it for animal pictures.

Day 19 - Custer's Animal Safari

It was a cold one last night.  It got down to 29 degrees and only warmed up to the 40's today.  When we were up in the mountains and the wind was blowing, you were glad to have a coat on.  The good thing was, it was sunny and we had a great day so the temperatures didn't mean a thing to us.

We spent the day driving three scenic drives in Custer State Park.  We saw so many animals that after a while, unless it was an animal we hadn't seen already, we kept on driving.  Custer Park was rounding up the buffalo within the park.  We saw a small part of a roundup.  Every fall, usually in late September, they round up the buffalo, brand them, and separate them into a group to keep in the park for the next year and a group to auction off for breeding purposes or to slaughter.  Their goal is to have 900 in the park when this process is over.

The first drive was the "Wildlife Loop".  We saw prairie dogs, buffalo, turkeys, coyotes, pronghorn antelope, whitetail and mule deer, and Custer Park's famous burros.  The burros stood in the middle of the road and tried to convince us with their sad eyes to give them some cookies but we resisted.  The Wildlife Loop was mostly through meadows so the animals were easy viewing.  The meadow was so beautiful because of the fall colors.  The meadows were brown, orange, gold, and yellow.  Some of the animals really blended in to their surroundings.

Next, we took the "Iron Mountain Road".  It had three tunnels cut through the stone of the mountain.  We were able to see Mt. Rushmore through  the tunnels but that was as close to Mt. Rushmore that we got today.  We saw a tour bus coming through one tunnel.  That is one brave driver!

The last drive was "The Needles Highway".  It was spectular!  There were two more tunnels, curves weaving back and forth, narrow roads, and beautiful views of huge rock formations like Cathedral Spires, Little Devil's Tower and Needles Eye.  I posted pictures of the spires and needles eye.  Around every 15 MPH curve was something beautiful and breathtaking.  It was on this drive that we saw our last animal, the Mountain Goat.  As we came out of a tunnel, there were four goats moving up a rocky wall in front of us
We were gone from camp for eight hours but only drove 140 miles, most of that we were driving 15 to 30 MPH.  Tomorrow we will actually be going to Mt. Rushmore.  It will be our last day here.  I'm so sad!

Buffalo

Prairie Dog

Pronghorn Antelop

Whitetail Deer

Day 18 - Look Up, Look Down, Look All Around

Last night was one of the warmest since we left Nebraska.  We had both bedroom windows open all night and didn't use the electric blanket at all.  We left the campground for a day of sightseeing.  First stop was "The Mammoth Site" just outside of Hot Springs.  We had never heard of it until we arrived here.  In the 1970's a real estate developer was using a bulldozer to clear off land he had purchased for a housing development.  The blade of the bulldozer scrapped across the tusk of a mammoth.  He stopped the bulldozer until someone with a knowledge of fossils could be contacted.  The site has yielded to date, fossils from 59 mammoths.  Every year for one month students and scientists work in the site removing layers of rock/dirt to uncover more fossils.  The other 11 months, the fossils are studied and categorized.  I am posting a picture taken at the dig site.  The bones of a mammoth have been exposed but not removed yet.

Cloud bank over the mountains that brought in a cold front.

Below picture shows the box work formations in Wind Cave.

Above exposed skeleton of a wooly mammoth.
Below a tusk is clearly visible.

We then drove to Wind Cave National Park to take a cave tour.  I am posting a picture of what the cave is famous for..."box work" formations.  We were told that 95% of all box work formations are found here.  The guide explained that a box work formation is like brick and mortar with the brick
removed but leaving the mortar.  Look closely at the picture and you may be able to see the
formations.  Wind Cave NP has lots of wildlife.  We saw buffalo, a coyote, a deer, and prairie dogs.
Look closely at the picture of the buffalo and you will see a prairie dog standing from its burrow in
the background.  Carol's keen eye discovered the prairie dog!

Our last stop was Crazy Horse Mountain.  We both liked this the best.  Carol, Kara, and I were out
here 19 years ago and the only thing visible then was a hole which will someday be the under part of
his arm.  Now you can see his entire face and the top part of his outstretched arm.  Sculptor
Ziolkowski began the work in 1948.  He believed that the project should be funded with public
interest and not taxpayer money so he has never taken any money offered by the federal government.



When he died in 1982, he left detailed plans to be used with his scale models so the work could
continue.  Today his wife, Ruth, and seven of his ten children continue to work in the project.  Now
in addition the being able to see the mountain, there is a visitor's center which houses pictures, some
of his old equipment, and displays of Indian history.  It is very interesting.
As we were heading north to Crazy Horse Mountain, a cold front was coming from the north.  You could see the cloud bank over the mountains.  The temperatures dropped and the wind picked up.  We  would have liked to take a bus up to the site of the sculpture but it was so cold and we had not dressed for such a drastic change in temperature so we headed back to camp.  We had left Sandy in the trailer for nearly seven hours so we needed to get back.
We turned on the furnace when we got back and the winds had died down some.  I don't think we will have any windows open tonight!  The last picture I am posting is taken of a big burn they must of had out here.  There are signs down some of the smaller roads telling people that because of the burn, stay on the road.  It is possible to see some trees burned and others still green.

Tomorrow we plan to take Sandy with us and drive The Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road
and who knows what else or where else we may go.

X

A

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.

Look closely and you will see turkeys.

Shades of irrigation.

Inyan Kara Mountain, South Dakota.

Backroad somewhere off the beaten path in South Dakota.

Day 16 - On the Road Again

After six days of being in the same spot, it was hard to get up and begin the packing up procedures.  We did pretty well because we were on the road by 8:30 am.  We decided to take US 191 north to
I-90 at Bozeman.  We had never been on 191 and really enjoyed the drive.  The road went through what I would call the Gallatin River Canyon.  The road followed the Gallatin River through high stone walls.  Sometimes there would be a forrest of pine trees mixed with yellow leaved trees and other times it would just be stone walls.
At the beginning of the canyon, we saw a road sign that said the highway department was in the process of making the road less accident-prone.  In Montana, the state puts white crosses along the road where a fatality has occurred.  There are no names on the crosses and The American Legion maintains them.  As we traveled through the canyon, we saw between 30 to 40 crosses on a 21 mile stretch of road.  We could see why so many deaths could occur because if you were to go off the road, there would be no place to go except into the river or into the canyon wall.
As we traveled on I-90, the terrain began to change from what we had gotten accustomed to.  We got into the low golden grasses and scrub-covered hills.  It is pretty, but not as jaw-dropping as the high mountains and rock canyons.  We stopped for gas at a truck plaza in Hardin, Montana.  If we hadn't needed gas, we would have left before getting gas.  We couldn't get the pump to work and finally someone had to  out to get it going for us.  We hadn't eaten and wanted to get something to eat but the store was small, crowded, and uninviting.  Carol has a small book he got when he was driving a semi which lists most of the truckstops on the interstates and other major highways.  We use it to find places we can get gas with some ease.  I drew a line through that one so we never make that mistake again.
We stopped early (3:30 pm) at a KOA near Sheridan,  Wyoming.  It is your typical KOA by the interstate.  We can actually see the cars/trucks on the interstate from our site.  It is much warmer here so I will be taking the electric blanket off the bed.  It is cool but not the cold we have been used to.  We won't be in too big of a hurry tomorrow morning because we think it is only 3-4 hours to the Mt. Rushmore area.
There aren't many pictures to post today.  There is one of the campsite in which we spent the last week, some from the town, one from the canyon, and from the interstate.

Our campsite at Grizzley RV Park

Hibernation Station Motel outside our campsite.

It was sad to take a picture of this sign the last time we left the park for this trip.

Gallatin Valley

One of the many interesting rooftops at Hibernation Station

     

I-80 east somewhere in Montana.