Brookings, SD

Friday 7/04/08 - Today we headed from Hill City to Brookings, South Dakota. We got an early start for the 350 mile drive to see our friends Bob and Donna Burke. We were on the road by 7am. We took a different route than earlier planned, so I missed seeing the famous and renowned Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. Instead we stopped in De Smet, SD to see one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home. She’s the one who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series.
It was so good to see Bob, Donna and to meet their two kids Brandy and Darin. Lynn and I haven’t seen them for many years so we had a good time talking about the good old days. Ed and Darin had a good time shooting off bottle rockets in their 13 acre back yard. After a South Dakota steak dinner, we went to Brookings to see their 4th of July fireworks. This was a treat since we had missed the ones at Mt. Rushmore. I’m sure they were pretty comparable, Ha, Ha. We just imagined the heads of the four presidents in the background.

Mt. Rushmore, SD

Thursday 7/03/08 - As we had planned, we got an early start to see Mt. Rushmore and the traditional fireworks this evening. We arrived at the park around 9:00am and we couldn’t believe what we saw. The parking lot and the park were almost full. It was wall to wall people. They had brought chairs, blankets, food and they had staked out spots throughout the park. The ones who had arrived early had the best spots to see the fireworks; the late one just grabbed a spot wherever there was room. It was like being in the middle of New York City with so many people around. There were also food stands and entertainment taking place throughout the park.
We walked around the park and we were very impressed by the rock sculptures on the mountain. Being there puts it all into perspective how massive is the work of Gutzon Burglum. The granite portraits of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln are so perfect that you wonder how they were able to accomplish something of that magnitude.
Since yesterday we had done the 30 mile bike ride, we were still tired as we walked about the park. My legs felt weak as we had to go up and down steps to see the different things around the park. At about noon, we decided that we didn’t want to wait another 10 hours for the fireworks to start so we got back into the truck and headed to camp. As we were leaving, the people who were still coming had to walk up to two miles to the park because the parking lot was full. Many were carrying coolers and chairs up the hill. We just chuckled and drove on.
That afternoon we relaxed by an almost empty pool and hot tub. Everyone had gone to see the fireworks.

Hill City, South Dakota

Wednesday 7/02/08 - We left early this morning, stopped in town to make train reservations for the afternoon train ride and continued on our bike ride. The bike trail is built on an old rail road right of way. About 15 miles out of town the trail crosses two old RR tunnels. Our goal was to make it to the tunnels and came back on time to take the train ride in the afternoon. The trail is a great place to ride bikes and we made it to the tunnels with out any difficulty except for some light rain a couple of miles before we got there. After taking some pictures and eating lunch we headed back. With about 10 miles left on the ride the rains go a lot heavier. We had to keep on riding because of the train reservations in the afternoon. By the time we made it back to camp we were soaked to the skin and mud all over our backs and the bikes. We managed to change clothes and make it back to the train with 15 minutes to spare. Needless to say, we enjoyed sitting down for a couple of hours to give our legs a rest. Tomorrow we are off to Mt. Rushmore.

Hill City, South Dakota

Today we left Hardin, Montana on our way to Hill City, South Dakota. The only excitement on this leg is almost running out of gas. I wanted to make it to Rapid City because the Diesel prices on the little towns along the way seemed high. My tour guide mentioned a Flying J station in Rapid City so we kept on trukin’. When we pulled into the station my low gas light had been on for a few miles. I was thankful to have been able to stop next to the gas pump because I knew I was very low on gas. The truck’s tank holds 33 gallons. I filled it up with 32.5 gallons. I will never do that again!
After we set up the RV in Hill City and ate dinner, we got on our bikes to check out the Mickelson trail which runs right by this place. It’s a 110 mile trail from end to end. We rode three miles into town and checked out the 1880 Train ride. We liked both the trail and the train so we made plans for tomorrow to ride about 30 miles on the bikes and afterwards take the two hour train ride.

On the road to Hardin, Montana

Monday 6/30/08 - We left Yellowstone early in the morning because I wanted to stop in Cody for breakfast. After having breakfast at one of the local restaurants we headed to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. We spent a couple of hours there going through Cody Firearm Museum and the Buffalo Bill Museum.
We arrived at Harding, Montana in the early afternoon and as soon as we got the RV set we headed off to see the Little Bighorn Battlefield which is only 15 miles from here. That was really an impressive site. They have markers trough out a 10 mile drive explaining the different battles that were going on and they have placed head stones in the places where the soldiers and the Indians died. We really got a sense what was going on and how each side fought the battle.

At Teton National Park

Sunday we took a drive to the Tetons where we saw the sights which included a boat trip across Jenny Lake and a hike to see Hidden Falls. From there we headed to Jackson Hole to have a late lunch. On the way back one of the places we stopped to see was Cunningham Cabin. A sod-roofed cabin built when he acquired the land thru the Homestead Act of 1862.
God has blessed the many hundreds of people in these parks with great weather this week and we happen to be among them. The temperature has been in the 80s during the day and dropping to the mid 40s at night.
Tomorrow we head to Mt. Rushmore by way of Cody, Wyoming and Hardin, Montana.

At Yellowstone National Park

Saturday we took a hike up to Upper and Lower Falls. This included going down 328 steps to the bottom of Lower Falls and having to come up again. From there we headed to Artist Point where the canyon is called the Gran Canyon of Yellowstone because of its bright colorings. We heard that a bear was also taking a hike on our trail but we never saw him.