Blogs from Custer, South Dakota, United States, North America

…was another drive day. Not the usual Point A to Point B, but a beautiful day trip through Custer State Park. One of the other campers a long time ago in a campground far, far away suggested it…okay maybe it was just the campground in Interior a few days ago. We, in turn, passed along the suggestion and vague directions to another camping couple yesterday. I hope they found it and enjoyed it. They left this morning. The drive is within the Custer State Park borders, but as long as you stay on Highway 16A you won’t have to pay the park entrance fee because Hwy 16A cuts through the park. The moment you deviate from the route there is a booth with a nice Park Ranger or two who will happily take your money and ... read more

…was a short drive day as far as distance went, but longer because we drove through and stopped several times in Badlands National Park to take pictures. Wow. It looked like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon. Parts of it also reminded me of eastern Washington. It was super RV friendly. The pull-outs along the windy, twisty road were long enough to accommodate even really long RVs. The parking lots at the scenic overlooks had parking along the curb designed for extra-long vehicles. The main road looping through was nicely paved…no potholes, cracks, crevices or frost heave bumps. There are a few dirt side roads, but they recommend not taking RVs through there as rain may make them impassable. There was plenty to see on the loop road so you didn’t feel like you were ... read more

Our first full day on the road! Check out our pics for a “tour” of the interior and its passengers. We are definitely going to enjoy this mode of transportation. Squeezing back into the minivan for our return trip is probably going to be pretty painful. We kicked off the day with a veritable shopping spree at Walmart. Then we headed north to Cheyenne, where we had a delightful lunch at Sanford’s Grub & Pub – a model of interior decorating to which Todd aspires. There was not an uncovered square inch on the wall. The entire pub was adorned with pictures of sports stars, license plates, neon signs, pop culture items, classic toys and games, and all manner of knick knacks and memorabilia. If Todd could transform our playroom into this he would. But the ... read more

Seven years after the completion of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial was started. Mount Rushmore (which we'll discuss in the next blog) took about 14 years to complete (well, as complete as it will be - more later on that). Crazy Horse is still being worked on. What's the difference in delay? The main delay is financial - Mount Rushmore had government funding and sponsorship, whereas Crazy Horse is privately funded, funded by donations and by admission fees to the location. In 1939, Chief Henry Standing Bear (Lakota tribe leader) wrote a letter to Korczak Ziolkowski, asking him to carve the monument. He said in his letter: ""My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes also." Ziolkowski was a self-taught artist, born in Boston, in ... read more

A beautiful day in the Black Hills. Spent relaxed morning and visited Jewel Cave just ten miles west of our camp site. Apparently Jewel Cave is the second largest cave in North America with over 155 mi of carted passage ways. We did just a half mile in 80 minutes. The pictures do not do it justice. We visited the Museum of Woodcarving after lunch and then spent some time shoping in down town Custer. Tomorrow morning we leave for Utah and will be on the road for the next two days. We expect to cover 700 miles with our overnight tomorrow somewhere around Denver. We don't expect to post any updates untile we reach Moab, UT.... read more