Custer State Park

On Sunday we went on the wildlife loop road in the park.  We saw many critters.  We got stopped by a buffalo jam blocking the road.   We sat there and got quite a show by one of the buffaloes.   Barb had just got done taking a few photos of this one and he circled our truck and decided  he wanted back on the other side of the fence and avoiding the cattle guard  he jumped the steel gate.  Most of him made it over but his leg got caught in the fence.   Someone got help and a park worker used a saw in two places to cut the gate.   That did the trick and he got loose and limped away happy.  We have a video of the whole ordeal but too long to show here.  Sunday night we camped  in Wyoming by a railroad track.  After we had paid the $20 and set up camp, we found that trains were running about 10 min apart all night long.  Kinda hard to sleep.  Here are the photos of the animals,  buffalo, burro, prairie dog, and pronghorn.

Minuteman missile and Mt. Rushmore

Friday we fought a terrific wind trying to drive around to see the sights.   We toured a Minuteman missile command center and also the missile silo.  The photo of the missile is the actual missile underground with the nuclear warhead deactivated.   The command center shown is 90 feet underground with 4.5 feet thick concrete around it.  They were taken out of service in 1993 with one of the treaties with Russia.    It was very interesting.   Today Saturday,  the weather turned worse with cold and rain.   We seen Mt. Rushmore and headed to Custer State Park where we are camped.   Here are some photos.  The indian photo was taken at Wall Drug.

Badlands National Park

Last night we stayed in a Lake Vermillion state rec. area near Montrose, SD.  It was a beautiful campground on the lake and we were the only ones there.  Temp was again near 85.  Today we fought a side wind all across SD to the Badlands.  Speed limit was 75 on I90 but had to drive 55 a lot.  We had left the campsite early to avoid the wind, but in the late morning the wind picked up speed.  Not good when your driving a truck camper.  In the badlands we did a lot of hiking to the scenic views.   The highlight was when we climbed a log ladder.  Got a National park campsite for the night.  Electricity and all for $14 per night for us with National park golden age passport.  There are thunderstorms coming thru the area now.  It has been dry here for quite some time.   I guess we brought them Ohio weather.  Here are a few of the many photos we took.