Homeward bound

This seems to happen at some point on every trip. Daily updates until some point where I loose Internet connectivity. After missing a day or two, I'm so far behind that I can't catch up with posting all of the great photos I would like to post

When we get home in a couple of days I will catch up.

Where are they now will continue to work :)

Take care

Hiking in the Black Hills

Monday was a hiking day for some of us.  We departed Sylvan Lake headed to Harney Peak.

First, there was ample evidence that the State of South Dakota needs a proof reader :)  To make it even better, the same sign was posted at multiple trail heads.

We didn't have to go far before we saw what would be the scenery of the day.  Lots of large rock formations.

Cathedral Rocks.

Climbers on Cathedral Rocks.

It's about 3 1/2 miles from Sylvan Lake to Harney Peak.  Plenty of time to take a support call from a customer -





It was a long hot slog but we finally made it to the highest point in South Dakota.

Backside of Mount Rushmore.  Parking structure visible to the right of the mountain.

"E" has a fantastic view.

After eating lunch in the shade inside the lookout, it was time to head down the stairs which are the final challenge on the way up.


We took a different route down and saw different beautiful scenery.  Plus some rumbles of thunder in the distance.

Little Devils Tower in the distance.

We will pull up stakes Tuesday, saw good bye to the Black Hills and head for a look at the Bad Lands of South Dakota.

Continued fun in The Black Hills

Wow, what a busy couple of days. As if Crazy Horse and that fantastic lightening storm wasn't enough for one trip. :)

Sunday was out Mount Rushmore day. We spent the morning sleeping in late. It had been hard to sleep Saturday night. Much to excited with the ongoing lightening storm to sleep well. Sunday afternoon we headed over to Mount Rushmore. I give great credit to the folks at the National Park Service and their contractors for putting together a very efficient facility to welcome many thousands of guests for the evening program. Easy in and easy out. Only time I felt like I was surrounded by 8500 of my fellow guests was when I was seated in their monster amphitheater. We arrived early enough for the Presidential Walk. It's a nice path that takes you as close as possible to the figures in the mountain. Then back in time to watch the very patriotic presentation at the amphitheater. A great way to spend the evening.

On the way out, we pulled over at a point in the road where you can see George Washington's profile. Looked pretty great as it was still lit up from the evening program.

Too much to see in the Black Hills :)

Enjoying the Black Hills

A little over 1,400 miles later and we have arrived in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

To top it off, "E" & "E" departed Fish N'Fry campground in Deadwood early Saturday morning and secured us spots in Custer State Park.  This is a very nice state park.  The facilities are well kept, the bathrooms seems fairly new and showers are included with the price of camping. 

The big attraction we've seen thus far is Crazy Horse  We arrived around 20:00 MDT.  The goal was to see the exhibits then hang around for the light/laser show after sunset.

It's hard to photograph laser light shows.  Especially from this distance without a tripod.

Most of the laser work included animations.  This last shot has the horses mane flapping in the wind superimposed over the carving.  Pretty nifty.

The absolute niftiest part was the fantastic thunder storm that passed all around us during the show.  The lightning enhanced the light/laser show and the thunder added a lot to the music.  Even when the power was out for 5-10 minutes interrupting the show, we didn't mind at all.  The natural show more than made up for it.  On the way back to the rigs, the clouds cut loose with RAIN!.  Tons of huge rain drops.  Very exciting.  The locals are happy to have the rain.  Last Winter they got very little snow leaving them with nasty drought conditions.  The rain last night helped some.  There are a number of forest fire in the area with at least one, the Myrtle Fire, closing some roads and attractions in the area.

Then, early this morning, the unmistakeable sound of hot air balloon burners.  I shot this through the screened window of the camper.  Not the best possible picture but the best I could do :)

That's enough time in front of the keyboard.  Time to have another adventure.

Take care everyone.

Devils Tower. aka Bear Lodge

Made it to Devils Tower. Not much signal there so I had to leave before I could send everyone an update.

It's quite a sight. If you get a chance to visit I would highly recommend it. Wish we had another day to burn here. There are a number of hiking trails around the monument which look like a great way to see it up close. We did take a hike this morning around the paved trail which is nearest the mountain. Up close and personal. It's a lot of fun watching the climbers maneuver around on those columns. I don't have much desire to do it myself but I sure admire the talent and ability required to do it. There were even a bunch if them coming down last night while we attended the ranger talk at the campground.

Now we have moved on to Deadwood. Spending the night at a fancy RV resort with power and a pool. Oh, and a laundry ;). Getting cleaned up and a fresh batch of cloths before hitting a number of National Forest camp sights in the Black Hills.

It's been dang HOT! Several days over 100F. Really tough on some of us. It's a bit cooler here about 5 miles outside of Deadwood. Currently 88F with thunder in the distance.

Well, I've got to put some quarters in the dryer. Don't get too concerned if I don't check in for a few days. Might not have many opportunities to post much. The "Where are they now" link on the right side of the page will hopefully give you an idea where we are. (yay amateur radio :)

Take care.

Day seven (already)

Wow, that's too bad. Day seven on the road already :(.

That's how it goes though.

We departed Lewis and Clark Caverns and headed east on I90. Still would prefer the back roads but when one needs to put on the miles it does the job.

Visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument. It's a very well done
facility. We chose to take the self guided tour from Last Stand Hill down the five miles of paved road to Reno-Benteen Battlefield Memorial. About five miles of battles between the combatants. Grave markers are placed throughout the complex marking the spot where someone fell. Sure gives the memorial a sense of history. Another option would have been the guided tour. It was tempting considering the temperature was over 100F.

Late in the afternoon we finally got some non-Interstate miles. U.S. 212 then Indian road 314 to Tongue River Reservoir. A nice lake lake in southeastern Montana. Got the camper setup and took a late evening swim. Just what the poor body needed.

334 miles behind us today. We may stay here another day or head to Devils Tower sometime Thursday.

Best to all.

Day two addition

What a great day at Lewis and Clark Cavern.

Wish I could put all of our pictures here but the connection is poor and it's late.

Tomorrow we head to The Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Montana - Day Two

We have relocated seven miles to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. Some spots opened up after the morning flush so we hopped in one. We have hiked up to the visitors center at the entrance to the caves. You can see the rail road grade across this picture. When I was here last, one could ride a narrow gage train over to near the cave entrance. Need to find someone who can tell me what happened to it. That ride was half the fun. Into the cave soon :)

First night in Montana

Moving on down the road. Departed Beauty Creek Camp Ground late Monday morning. Planned destination - Lewis and Clark Caverns just a bit east of Cardwell. There was only one spot left that wasn't reserved. Dang it! We left the spot for the "B's" and hot footed it back to Cardwell before the store closed at 2100 shutting off access to the camp ground. We made it with at least two other rigs behind us that had hoped to overnight at Lewis and Clark Caverns too.

We will head back up the Jefferson River in the morning, join up the the "B's" and take a tour of the caves.

Now a bit of a rant. Montana isn't the only state with this problem but we are recent victims of their inadequacy so they are the brunt of my rant. These states really should do something to modernize their campground reservations systems. We called the State of Montana campground reservations line this morning and there's was nothing they could do to help us. They require at least 24 hours before the dates requested. Alright, we can play it that way. Then we get to the campground and discover spaces that were reserved for LAST NIGHT that had not been used. Just sitting there vacant. When asked, the poor camp host said we couldn't have it because they might show up tonight. (they had reserved it for three nights). To make matters even worse, the visitors center had been telling people that called that they had plenty of spaces. Well, they didn't. Come on Montana, and all of the rest of you the have these very inflexible and unfriendly policies, time to get out of the 80's level of service to your citizens and guests.

Nothing spectacular for pictures today. Got this one of the huge stack at Anaconda and the only help the camp host at Lewis and Clark could give, the phone numbers for area campgrounds. Which by the way, they only had one copy so I snapped the pic so we could get out of their way so they could deal with the next hopeful camper.

333 miles today for a total of 797.

Into Idaho

Got out of Moses Lake around 1600 and headed east. Made it to Beauty Creek Campground. A National Forest campground in northern Idaho. Looks like a squal came though a while ago but the Sun is out nicely. Not nearly as HOT as Moses Lake. YAY!

Day one of Mt. Rushmore trip.

Hi everyone.

Finally got on the road late Friday afternoon. Made it to Moses Lake around 2300. There's is a swim meet here this weekend P is swimming at.

Sometime tomorrow, after the swimming is done, we will head east.