South Dakota Meanderings

I drove to Rapid City to check out their health food stores. Very nice! Seemed to have all the amenities needed, spacious and clean.

Wall Drug Store was next on the stop. Thirty miles east from Rapid City, this landmark sure knows how to advertise! There were signs every two minutes on I-90 all the way advertising everything from homemade pie, to western clothing, boots, tourist attractions! It was fun to see and I was really proud of myself for being able to avoid buying fudge...second time so far. Pretty good willpower even though I make up for it with other foods I should not buy or eat, but I think fudge might kill me!

I drove through Badlands National Park. The rock formations were created from volcanic activity. It reminded me of Utah's sites. It was interesting, but dry and barren, also much like Utah. Finally saw a bighorn sheep.

There was one really cool BLM land just south of Wall Drug and just before the park entrance on the left. The campsites were high on a cliff with a marvelous view of the Badlands canyons. The weather definitely improved and the wind was gusty, but I didn't want to camp in that nor under electrical transformers. I high-tailed it to Mt. Rushmore and found a glorious free campsite at Wrinkled Rock right next to the monument. Lots of wild turkeys roaming around.

Speaking of turkeys, the Wrinkled Rock campsite was just a trailhead parking lot. Lots of tents in the woods beyond that later I discovered belonged to a group of 20-something boys. The sun went down and they decided to stand in a group outside my van and talk loudly. Do they not even consider for a minute someone might be trying to sleep in the van. After about an hour I got impatient, with keys in hand crawled into the front seat ready to move the van. Instead I opened the door. They all looked at me. One cheerfully said, "Hi!" I said, "Hi! So how long do you plan to stand in the parking lot next to my van talking?" They all started apologizing. I said, "I don't mind moving." They said, "No, no, we are sorry." They became very quiet, but they still stood there. Then they slowly dispersed to their tents and I heard car doors slamming for the next hour. I got up early and left, made breakfast at the Mt. Rushmore profile view. See the profile of George Washington beyond Big Blue?

Then I drove, at 5am when no one was around to get a better view of the front of Mt. Rushmore.

I drove around to see Crazy Horse Memorial, but it was closed.

Then I made my way back to Keystone to do laundry, and went through Custer State Park and up the Highway 16A. Beautiful drives especially early in the morning when it's quiet. There were three rock tunnels around 10 to 11 ft high and wide! There was the Norbeck Overlook with distant view of Mt. Rushmore.

After laundry, I headed to North Dakota along the incredibly boring Highway 85. Lots of green, rolling prairie! Sides of the highway are very clean. But it went on and on for miles and hours with not much to look at! Except cows. Lots of little babies playing in the fields.

Stopped at the Picnic Spring Campground north of Ludlow in the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Huge campgrounds with campsites spaced far apart. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. There is a piped water source down a canyon. I'm the only one here and it's so quiet, especially considering last night's experience with 20-something boys.

Left Monday morning early and arrived in North Dakota to much of the same flat prairie landscape. The air is muggy and hot. It feels like it needs to rain. North Dakota like South Dakota has amazingly well-kept highways and interstates. Great roads. I continued west to Montana...