Blogs from Rapid City, South Dakota, United States, North America - page 3

Geo: 44.0812, -103.231Weather: 90s and HOT Location: Rapid City to Sioux Falls, IA Highlights: Sunrise at Mount Rushmore, Tornado and climbing the badlands Lowlights: Lost wallet and Tornado #of Swearwords: I'm not going to lie, there were a couple of Holy Sh$%252525s in there Activities: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Bear Country, Wall Drug, Badlands Helpful hint: Wake up before sunrise to see Mount Rushmore (the best), never forget to do a room sweep, stay calmer than your kids when a tornado is in the fields beside the car and drive faster than the tornado. Restaurants: Badlands Bar and Grill (eh)Ok, so last night we had a family meeting of sorts where we discussed the plans for the next morning which included getting up at 445 AM. We cringed waiting for the response from the kids as ... read more

We started planning our new adventure. We needed to get our driver's licenses renewed in South Dakota. Drive through Nebraska and Kansas during tornado season? Or, go through the Rocky Mountains where the high elevations would challenge Tom's lung disease? We headed out from Arizona towards the Rockies. We first stopped in Meteor City, Arizona to see the largest meteor crater in North America, elevation 4,000'. Tom's portable oxygen weighed 15 pounds and we found out in that visit it wasn't a good travel companion...too heavy. Oh well, we got to see the meteor. On to Los Lunas, NM where our friend Nancy said we could find an ancient ruin of the 10 Commandments. We found Los Lunas but we were not equipped to hike the 2 miles back to the Stone, dated to about 1000 ... read more

Geo: 44.0812, -103.231So the inevitable is happening and the end is very near. We left Deadwood, and our cool little cabin and jumped on 90 East. Well, I am fibbing a bit. We headed to Mount Rushmore. One of te main rewards of this trip was the finale fireworks display at Mount Rushmore. About the time we claimed a campsite in the black hills, we found out they were cancelled due to the fire danger. Bummer!!So we did what anyone else would do. Went to see the amazing monument, left, since there was nothing else to do, went to the incomplete Crazy Horse, found out they wanted $20, did a uturn, and headed for Rapid City. Along the way we stopped at a bear preserve. So, let me try and build this up in the way ... read more

Day 6 15 miles This is our last day in Rapid City, SD, part of me is very sad because it is so beautiful here but I miss my fur babies so much I can't wait to see them all. We decided to stay in Rapid City for the day, we were going to go to Deadwood again but since we have a 12 hour ride on Friday we thought we would give our old and tired bodies a rest. Today I rode on the back of Steve's bike for the short rides we took around town. I don't do this much but it was kind of nice because I got to see more things. We ate at the hotel because we did not want to get dressed just to eat out and then come back ... read more

Total Miles: 341 Total Time: 12 hours We started out this morning at 8:30 a.m. and it was sunny, warm, humid. Today was the day of stops, so even though we did not travel as far yesterday it took just as long. We travled along I-90 W and stopped at a rest stop to take off our coats and get some tourist information. By the way, South Dakota has got to be one of the most windy states I have ridden in, again we were dealing with strong winds. We drove to Corn Palace which is listed in the 1000 Things to Do Before you Die book. It was interesting and we enjoyed looking at the pictures of years back. We purchased a few items to remember our stop and went on our way. The problem ... read more