Blogs from South Dakota, United States, North America - page 5

We spent today in and around Custer State Park, starting with the wildlife loop road, where we saw plenty of wildlife, then stopping for lunch at one of the park lodges. I went for the bison burger this time while Barb tried a barbecue bison sandwich. We heard the couple seated at the next table tell the waitress that they were from Pennsylvania. Amazingly, they were from Mill Village! We then visited the nearby Black Hills towns of Custer, Hill City, and Keystone, and went to Mount Rushmore. Considering that today is September 11, it was an especially appropriate time to visit Mount Rushmore and to pause and reflect on the greatness of our nation. We circled back into Custer State Park on what is called the Iron Mountain Road, and wow, what a drive. Lots ... read more

blog 08-29-17 Where the Deer and the Antelope Play The night in Casper was quiet and comfortable with the temperature dropping to 55 degrees. In the morning we took the dogs on a longer walk through the campground and along the river. It's the North Platte River and the current is quite swift. We headed out about 9:30 am, found rt 26 and headed west. It was a 2 lane 65 mph road through the countryside with very little traffic on it. We passed more of the same as yesterday with rolling hills and gullies. It's amazing that we could travel over 100 miles with nothing vertical, it was absolutely flat. There were a lot of bee hives all along our route, a real surprise. The road led to Riverton, a small town with a Walmart. ... read more

George Washington 1732-1799 Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826 Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919 Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 and Gutzon Borglum 1867-1941 Back in October 1941, date of the end of the work at Mount Rushmore, these are the men and their dates of birth. The architect of this landmark died in March 1941, but it is the war effort who ended the funding of the project in October the same year. Mt Rushmore, carved in granite is a leading monument in the United States, honoring the four of their Presidents, also called the founding fathers. They were the first President, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the third President, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President, and Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President. You can google all the explanations about this monument all over the internet, so let's share here the experience we had. We left ... read more

Time to drive West, for the final legs of our 45 days little trip. Are we bored? No. Have we seen enough? No. Do we have long drives ahead? Oh yes, some solid few more hours driving our cool Mustang. But this is ok, I'm not bored yet of driving this cool toy! Today it's all about driving and moving West. Google map put it simply, driving from Chicago to Sioux Falls is minimum 8h30 drive without any stop, a nice 574 miles. But this is if only we take the shorter drive...because why not drive through one or two more states if we can. So before heading West, we are heading North to cross into Wisconsin. The idea is today to do a mix between highways, and back country roads. If we do only back ... read more

blog 08-26-17 Bison ! We woke to the fog shorouding the mountains and the air filled with mist that felt like droplets. So strange to see a desert climate in fog. We walked the dogs, and packed the fence, chairs and rug, secured every thing inside and proceeded to the dump area. I took some pictures while we waited our turn and Ginnie hooked up the car. I have not attempted to do the car yet, soon though. We were on the road and opted to go to Rapid City by way of the back roads. It was a 2 lane 60 mph road that was just a delight to drive. I had been wanting to see Bison for 2 days but they eluded us until this stretch of road. We rounded a bend and there ... read more