The Badlands and the Black Hills

Last night, we had a storm blow through.  I had the window open on my side of the bed and the wind was so strong it woke me up.  I tried to wake up my captain, but he rolled over and kept on snoozing.  Thunder, lightning, high winds and then the hail.  It was a fast moving storm and only a lot of leaves and small limbs came down.

This morning we headed out early and drove the loop through the Badlands.  Beautiful scenery.

After leaving the Badlands, we drove to Mt. Rushmore.  We were glad to get a parking spot.  Being Saturday and Labor Day weekend, we figured we might not get a spot.  Our third time there but it never fails to amaze me.  It's such a beautiful carving.

We then drove through Custer State Park and saw a lot of wildlife including buffalo, deer and prairie dogs.

South of Custer State Park is Wind Cave National Park.  We had never been there.  We took the tour and it was very interesting.  The only other cave I have been in is Mammoth Cave.  The Wind Cave has the world's largest display of a rare formation called boxwork.

We drove north to Deadwood.  Wild Bill Hickcok was killed there in 1876 and is buried there next to Calamity Jane.  We had planned on camping at Deadwood, but the town was loaded with people and we headed north to Spearfish.  We're at a KOA on a very large site with free Wi-Fi and cable.  Tomorrow we head to Montana.

We only drove 253 miles today but it sure seemed longer because we were on the road all day.  We have really got to find a spot to stay for a few days so that we can just sit.  The dogs are already quiet, I'm hungry and have drank far too much coffee today.