Saying Goodbye to South Dakota

From Glacier National Park, Saturday, August 30th.

We had originally planned on staying only 2 weeks in South Dakota.  We had some legal things to do (our wills) and still had things we wanted to go see in the area.  After two weeks, we still had things we wanted to see in the area.  The Black Hills area has at least a month worth of things to see and do - and that doesn't include the commercial attractions.  So we stayed and played some more.

Our last week in SD and Rapid were not without some some fun.

Badlands Redux

We had planned to visit the Minute Man 1 historic site just outside of the Badlands National Park.  Part of the draw is the descent into an actual control bunker (now decommissioned) that was used during the Cold War.  The number of people allowed on a tour is very limited and when we got to the park "headquarters" (two trailers behind a gas station) we could not get tickets for that day.  What to do.  Well the main Badlands park entrance was just a few miles away so off for a quick transit from East to West.

Just a reminder of what the SD Badlands look like.

I guess you can consider this an arch.  It is pretty obscure and not easy to see from the main road.  We caught a glimpse, took a side road, and found this feature.  There is no access to this that I am aware of, at least no official access. 

We went looking for buffalo (bison to you purists) and found big horn sheep instead.  Who would have thought you would have found these on the plains.

Mom and baby big horns.  These crossed slowly in front of the car a few minutes later.

Custer State Park Redux

Custer State Park might be one of the best parks for tourists to enjoy.  Great wild animal viewing, scenic drives that you truly talk about for years, and very memorable National Monuments.

Views from Iron Mountain Road (taken from various turnouts)

Taken from the base of Mt. Rushmore

Views from The Needles Highway

Yes you can fit a bus through this tunnel.  Tourist buses use the Needles Highway all of the time. but it is narrow, windy, and somewhat less than two lanes in most places.  Great to visit in your toad but your motorhome is not going to fit.  The tourist buses that visit have no roof top attachments and are about 33' to 36' long.  They clear this tunnel with inches (as in 1" to 4") to spare. 

Cars are not a problem.

And last, but not least, a bison jam.  The last week in SD, the bison decided that the Custer State Park Visitor Center was the the place to be.  Normally found on the plains, these guys became mountain bison for a few days.

Time to leave

SD gets some pretty wild storms but we had missed most of them.  One of the worst ones occurred when we were in Scottsbluff.  But this one was a at least a close second.  As soon as the radio started yelling at us, I stepped outside to this:

We pulled the slides in, put the satellite antenna down, and hoped the hail didn't cause too much damage.

The biggest pieces were about golf ball size but most of it was small, pea sized hail.  Sounded pretty dramatic hitting the roof of the motorhome.  The storm was moving so fast that it didn't last too long and no damage was done.

And finally, bye from South Dakota.