South Dakota

South Dakota, for us has been an absolutely wonderful experience. We never, ever realized what a pretty awesome state it is. Day 3 at Box Elder and Americas Mailbox campground finished with a success:

Our new SD plates for the truck

We are now officially un-Dakotans. We have certainly gotten a lot accomplished in the past 3 days. Now it was time to relax, so we decided to take advantage of the proximity to Ellsworth AFB which was less than 5 miles from us, and do a tour of the Air & Space Museum there.

B 52 Bomber

The B 1 Bomber - could not get over the size of this plane

Getting ready to board the bus for a tour of the base and the MinuteMan Missile Silo

MinuteMan Missile Transporter

Another view of the Missile Transporter

Getting back on the bus for trip back to the Museum

Back at the RV Park, it was all about cleaning and polishing the airstream. It really needed it after almost 1500 miles of travel across the country.

Our spot, with neighbors Mike, Martha, and Matty - whom we plan on meeting up with and visiting when they are at Desert Trails this winter.

Another view of the area where we camped

And then we were on the road heading to Hill City- in the heart of the Black Mtns.

We stayed on 16 to Hill City

Along the way.......

Winery just outside Hill City

And then there was Hill City which, from Rapid City was just about a 35 or 40 mile trip

Home is where you park it. Creekside Mtn RV Park

The view from the rear of our spot at Creekside Mtn RV Resort

Home is where you park it. Sign - thanks Jim

Another view out the back of our trailer

Probably why they call it Creekside. This creek flowed through the whole property. 

This creek became my favorite spot while we were there!

After getting settled in, we realized it was lunch time, so headed just up the road about 1/2 mile to Silver Dollar Saloon for a quick bite to eat. What a pleasant surprise this place was. At first we didn't think the place was open, as it didn't appear that anyone was there, and then, surprise, the bartender/waiter in residence opened the door and told us that, yes, it was open and to come on in. Are we glad we did. His name was Hecter and he was from NY originally. We spent quite a bit of time talking. We ordered a sandwich and he surprised us with a cup of his own soup for each of us. Chicken Tortilla soup. Mary's favorite. Was it ever good. So good in fact that we each ordered a cup to take with us for supper that night. He gave us 3 for the price of 2. We knew then that we had to come back here.

This became our favorite place to eat.

We had arrived on 9/13/15 and on 9/14/15 it was time for a trip in to Hill City to do laundry, some grocery shopping, have lunch, get a fishing license and most important of all- at least for Mary - visit the fabric store.

Main Street - Hill City

Doing the tourist thing

Lunch at the Mangy Moose

The ninja turtles

That night we had to do the Alpine Inn. Highly recommended by almost everyone we talked to. RVillage people also recommended. So, at about 4:00 we headed in to town to join the queue for the 5 o'clock opening. That is a fact. They don't open the restaurant until 5:00 and you have to get in line for a table. We  got there about 4:20 and couldn't get a table in the bar, so sat at the bar to wait for 5:00 when they opened the doors to the restaurant. While there we met a couple from Atlanta, GA who were also in the area as tourists. We got in line together and then to make things easier for all, elected to sit together at a table for 4. The Alpine Inn is really special.

Special as in not only the opening time, but the menu. There are only 3 things on the main menu. A 6 oz Filet Mignon($11.95), a 9 oz Filet Mignon($13.95), or a German dinner. The only other choice is dessert. Dinners come with a wedge of lettuce and a baked potato.  We enjoyed the meal, each others company, and stories. Their story was about their horses. Back in GA, they have 3 Tennessee Walkers. Interesting listening to their stories about the horses, keeping the horses, and traveling with the horses. Not this time though. They had someone baby/horse sitting. And then it was time to leave. We wished each other well and safe travels and we were on our way.

Sept 15 rolled around and it was time to do some sight seeing in the Black Hills. First on the agenda, and what else, was Mt Rushmore. What can I say but WOW. Mt Rushmore was never on our agenda and now we could not figure out why it wasn't. It was spectacular. And would continue to be spectacular as we traveled the Black Hills. I'll let the pictures do the talking......

After parking the truck, we walked up to the main entrance

And then, there it was

We should be getting a dividend check from this place

Mary being a tourist

Awesome

A couple of tourists

The Sculptor of Mt Rushmore

The States. Each state was represented in this walkway

And this was our State

Couple of guys having fun with a photo- they stacked their heads to line up with heads on Mt Rushmore for a photo

The walk through the States Flags area

And then, there it was

The main viewing area

another tourist

View to the 3 deck parking area / garage

View back towards Rapid City

When exiting the park, this view is available from 16A

The Needles Highway was another thing that we had to experience. Pretty incredible. We had to go thru tunnels carved out of the mountain - some just barely wide enough for our F350 with mirrors extended.......the views were awesome......

90 degree turn in to rock tunnel - one vehicle at a time of course

The Views!!!!!!!!

And then it was time to take a break for lunch. We found Coolidge General Store in the vicinity of Custer State Park  Wildlife Loop, so pulled in and stocked up on Souvenirs and also something for lunch.

Picnic tables were a welcome relief. Molly got to run around a bit. When done, we were ready for the Wildlife Loop - Custer State Park.

The holding pens for the Buffalo Roundup scheduled for 9/25

The views.......

The first wildlife we came across were the donkeys......hanging around the road looking to mooch food off of the tourists......

And then the moment I had been waiting for........Tatonka!

And of course the views continued.......

A Prong Horn Antelope along the road

This made Mary's day. Of course she wanted to "borrow" it.

We exited Custer State Park and ended up in the town of Custer where we got on 16 & 385 to  take us back to Hill City, a trip of about 25 miles or so. On the way back we passed the Crazy Horse Memorial Entrance, and immediately put that on our agenda for the next day.

Sept 16 we headed out around 9:30 for Custer to find the Drug Store that did UPS shipping. We had some serious issues with our Rand McNally GPS and their support sent me a shipping label for device return for "repair"(i.e., reinstalling all the software, which had become horribly corrupted when trying to do a map update). The people at the Carson Drug Store were very helpful, to the point of printing out my shipping label, finding me a box to ship it in, and then shipping it for me. Great job people!

Then it was off to Crazy Horse Memorial.

That is it in the background

The main buildings at Crazy Horse Memorial

What the finished project is going to look like

Inside the main buildings

Billy Mills, Olympic Medal Winner, and a Lakota. And a supporter of the Memorial.

Sept 17 - began with a trip in to Custer. We had a number of post cards to mail as well as the return of my VT Truck Plates to Motor Vehicle Dept in Vt. We also needed some more stamps.... here is a look at the town of Custer....

Kind of reminded me of Bennington, Vt with their Moose and Wilmington, Vt with their Bears. Custer had a Buffalo on just about every street corner

Main drag (Rushmore Rd), Custer, SD

When we left Custer, our plans were to head back in to Custer State Park and another trip on the Wildlife Loop, followed by a trip on the Iron Mtn Rd.

Once again, the views were spectacular

walk time for me and Molly

Mary stayed with the truck

Entrance to Custer State Park, complete with advertisement!

As we entered the Park, we saw some new sights.......some that we hadn't seen on our other trip, plus some that we did....

Prairie Dogs!

And a Prairie Dog Village

And then it was Buffalo time again. What amazing animals. And huge.

The round up is like a week or so away. They round up all the buffalo in the park and check for tags and do a certain amount of culling, i.e., thinning out the herd by selling selective ones at auction. Bred heifers will bring almost $3000. There were other sights to be seen on this loop:

They walked right up to the truck - looking for a handout

The views...............

And the views

And the views!!!

When we left the Wildlife Loop we made another stop at Coolidge's General Store. Didn't have enough souvenirs. And then we were off to the Iron Mtn Road. Much like the Needles Hgwy, narrow, winding, with narrow, 1 vehicle tunnels carved out of the rock. The views along this road were spectacular.

Molly was a view too.....

Mt Rushmore in the distance

When we got back to the RV Park, I decided to get some exercise(before I went Fly Fishing again), so headed to the back end of the property and got on the Mickelson Trail. This trail extends for over 200 miles through the Black Hills and is limited to walkers/hikers and bikers(not the motorized kind). Really pretty nice. And it is free.

View from along the Mickelson Trail

The Mickelson Trail is on the right

The Mickelson Trail

Another view of the Mickelson Trail

After the walk, it was time for supper. And where else but the Silver Dollar Saloon. We had a great meal. Sat in their dining room. Hecter came over and said hello and treated us to his soup of the day: Potato. Was it ever good. Filled with bits of bacon, cheese, spices. You could make a meal just out of his soups. While we were there, our waitress told us of an interesting ride we should take before leaving- very scenic. We took down the information. When leaving I gave Hecter one of our VT license plates to add to his collection in the bar area. He was appreciative. And then it was time for us to say our goodbyes. We told him to plan on seeing us back there and he told us we wouldn't recognize the place when we came back, as they were planning on a considerable remodeling job. Told him we couldn't wait. And thanked him again for being so hospitable.

And then it was time to get back to the creek for some fly fishing.

9/18  The next morning we took the waitress's advice and headed out for quick scenic tour before hooking up and heading out to Rapid City.

Long winding road. Another one.

We hooked up and departed Creekside Mtn RV Park around 10:30. Rita came over to say good by and hoped that we would come back again some day. And then we were on our way. Destination for now was Rapid City where we would stop at Walmart for some groceries, travel to Americas Mailbox to pick up our mail, then to Black Hills Federal Credit Union(our new bank) to deposit Insurance cancellation refund check. With these tasks done, we stopped at Flying J truck stop at x 61 on I90 for some lunch and to fuel up.

With lunch behind us, we headed just down the street to a store I had not known was there until I did a search in Rapid City for Fly Fishing supplies. Cabela's.

After a quick stop there, it was off to Sturgis, a trip of about 40 miles.

Sturgis is definitely a bike town. And I am not talking Touring Bikes. Indian and Harley Davidson rule.

The local Indian dealer

The other things that are notable about Sturgis- the bars.

Inside the Knuckle Saloon

And the bars that used to be......

The entrance to the Full Throttle Saloon

Selling last of souvenirs....

What's left of the Full Throttle Saloon. It was destroyed in a fire just about 2 weeks ago.

Our stay while in Sturgis was at the Days End RV Park. Right in town basically and right at Exit 30 of I 90. Yes, we are still traveling I 90.

Home is where you park it. Days End RV Park. Surges, SD

Picnic tables. Hundreds of picnic tables in 2 spots. This place must be packed for bike week.

Can't begin to imagine the amount of beer consumed in this place during bike week.

A view from the door of our trailer in the early morning. 

Sturgis has been a pleasant experience. Had a few tell us there was nothing to do in Sturgis. I would have to disagree. Yesterday I took a ride in to town - just about a mile from our RV park, maybe even less and came on an event in process. Right in front of the Knuckle Saloon - Supermoto Race - dirt bikes racing on dirt, birms, and road in and around downtown Sturgis. You had to see it to believe it....

While here, we've  made arrangements for our month of Jan, having firmed up reservations at Blue Sky RV Park in Yuma, AZ. Today we are going to go in to town and watch some of the motorcycle races and then get ready to head out tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we leave for Bayfield, CO, and a stay with friends Dick & Patti at their house. It is a trip of over 700 miles so it will involve a couple of stops along the way. First stop tomorrow night will be Terry Bison Ranch in Cheyenne, WY.