Moving on to South Dakota

June 20 – So sad to be leaving Fort Robinson.  Great place for any age group and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We left about 9 after hitching the car up.  This was to be another short driving day, which I’m really liking!

Skeletal Rancher

It was short drive to South Dakota.  In the town of Oelrichs we stopped on the side of the road for a photo or 2 of the Skeletal Rancher.  Since I was actually on some of the highway I put on the flasher and sent Bill across the road for the photos.  The things a woman asks of her man!

We then headed on to Hot Springs, SD to the Mammoth Site.  This was another very interesting and informative stop.  A man bought this vacant land with a hill on it to turn into a housing sub-division.  As his worker was bulldozing on the hill to level it out a big bone was discovered.  The owner

Most of a Mammoth

contacted several experts from several colleges and museums to come take a look.  Boy, what a find!  We first viewed the movie which provided an excellent overview of how the mammoths ended up in the area and then in the pit.  Then a host took us on a walk through with headsets and explained what we were seeing at the site.  The entire hill is inside a building and is continually being excavated.  They have gone down about 20 feet already and due to a core drilling they have another 45 feet to be excavated.  These bones are not petrified due to the type of soil and conditions; therefore they are much more delicate than what you see in museums.  They currently account for 62 mammoths, only 1 is a Wooly Mammoth, the rest are Colombian Mammoths.  There are also a number of other animal species found, some that are still in existence and several that are not.  Once the tour ended we could take photos and go into another exhibit room and of course, we were exited into the gift shop.  You can volunteer there and they teach you to excavate the bones, wouldn’t that be fun?

We finished up about noon and decided to go on to Hermosa, SD and settle into our campground and have lunch there.  We are staying 3 nights at Heartland RV Park which is just outside of Custer National Park and close to Mt. Rushmore and Rapid City.

Once we were set up and had lunch, we headed out to Custer State Park.  We’ve been here before and in 10-11 years, things change.  We thought the fee for the park was high but once we spent 4 hours there, we decided it was well worth it, plus the pass is good for a week. 

We opted to start with the “Wildlife Loop Road” and we certainly got to see the wildlife!  On the mild end was we saw a number of antelope.  On the wild side, well, we got more than we bargained for.  The herd of burros was great to see but not so great once you were ready to move on.  They crossed the road and walked along the side and really were in no hurry to get wherever they were headed.  They have no fear of traffic.  We felt fortunate that we encountered 3 large herds of buffalo. They also have no fear of traffic, even motorcycles.  I guess since it’s a daily thing they are accustomed.  At least the cars had the good sense not to nudge them along but they also have certain areas they cross over from one field to another and dead stop in the center of the road.  With one herd we had one stop in front of

our car and face us.  Bill was not liking it at all as you never know when someone else will spoof the critters.  Because I made a slight directional error, we came back thru the last herd again and this time it took forever.  Most of it was due to idiot drivers who would not go around a buffalo when the other lane was free. 

We really had no interest in the rest of the park, although they

have numerous campgrounds that can accommodate pretty much any size RV.  The lakes are pristine and everything was lush and green so it was a very pleasant drive.  With horse trails and rentals, there is plenty to do there for vacation.

We drove into Hermosa to “see” the town but it didn’t seem to really be a town.  We did find a drive-movie with 2 screens and discussed the possibility of going one night.  We also found the Big Heads roadside attraction that was on my list.  It’s former Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Bush (the son).  They were right along the road, way too big to miss.

It was dinner time when we got home and I raced in to get started while Bill washed the front of the RV AGAIN!  It’s been so buggy (not muggy)!  I made a wild rice mix, broiled steelhead trout and a small salad.  Either it was really good or we were really hungry!

We both spent time on our laptops working with photos and I managed to get 2 blogs posted and start writing today’s post before I worn down.  It’s nice to have 3 nights in one spot.  Bill met the neighbors on one side and they just went full time in May.  I had mentioned to him they sure have a lot of “stuff” along and under their RV, so that’s why.  I think they’re still adjusting to full time and haven’t paired down enough yet.  They will winter in Homestead, FL.