After departing from Eastern South Dakota we begun the long drive across the state of South Dakota. Unfortunately, that meant lots of back roads and very little interstate driving. However, the speed limit is much higher in Midwest so that did help with the drive. When we finally reached the interstate we were relieved to discover that the speed limit was 80 mph! This was definitely helpful in making up ground and allowing us to make a road trip detour through the Badlands. This place is amazing. It was like stepping into another universe. The terrain was so different than all that we had seen up until then. Pictures don't do it justice but we have lots to share. My favorite part of the Badlands was all the Prairie Dogs along the road... they were so cute. :)
After making our trip around the Badlands we headed back out to the interstate and made our way to Mt. Rushmore and our campground in Custer, SD. We had scoured the internet for a good place to camp and came across the Flintstones Campground and "theme park" in Custer, SD. We decided that this would be a fun and slightly cheesy place to stay for the night. We headed to the campground first before making our way up to Mt. Rushmore to ensure that we had camp set up before dark. Its a good thing we did this because the campground had mixed up our arrival date and didn't have us on the books. Luckily they were able to sort it out and we were able to set up camp and cook some dinner.
After dinner we hopped in the car and made the 30 minute drive up to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. It was so cool to drive up there and see the great stone faces. Its hard to believe that just a few hundred men created that amazing sculpture on the side of a mountain in the 1900's. We arrived about 20 minutes before the evening lighting ceremony which was a very patriotic experience. They talk about all the historical events throughout history that occurred on that particular day and then show a video about each of the four presidents and the sculptor who created Mt. Rushmore. Following the video they turned on the lights to illuminate the faces and called all current, former, and retired US Veterans to the stage to help in retiring the flag. We also sang God Bless America, and the National Anthem. It was a very cool experience. I'd love to go back during the day and spend a little more time looking around in the daylight. :)
When the ceremony was over we headed back to camp where we thought we were going to have a restful nights sleeps before breaking down camp and making our way to Yellowstone! Little did we know that there was a nasty thunderstorm headed our way. At around 2:30 in the morning I woke up to the sound of thunder echoing through the mountains and experienced a not so wonderful light show. Then the rain started, it was slow at first, but I was paranoid because I was afraid the tent may leak. Well my paranoia was correct, not only did the tent leak, it poured, it was as if we didn't have the rainfly on the tent at all. As the rain started to fall harder, the lightning began to get much closer. At about 3:00 a.m. I woke Geri up and told her we had to go, NOW! We quickly gathered up the stuff from inside the tent and made a run for it into the car. After just a few minutes we decided that it would be safer if we just broke down camp as quickly as possible and started making way to Yellowstone and we could just stop and rest at a rest area if needed. We broke down the tent and put it right into the dumpster at the campground, as there was no way I was dealing with that again while in Yellowstone. We through everything else in the car and hit the highway around 3:30! Man was that the beginning of a very long day. We are bummed that we didn't get to look around the campground more and get pictures but frankly getting to a safe place and getting dry was more important.
Stay tuned for more...
Vickie
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