Black Hills in a Day

Wow, busy day today. Left at about 8:00 am and drove through Custer State Park and the Needles Highway. Saw more Pronghorn and a few Bison. Narrow and windy roads at heights are usually not my cup of tea, but today was great. The picture on the left is Lake Sylvan. One of the many unexpected finds on this trip. I have another 150 pictures from today. It's going to take me weeks to go through them all when I return.

I have no idea who this woman is. She was biking the Needles Highway with a couple other people and we talked briefly. She is on a 9 week trip from Seattle to Boston. I feel like a wimp. She wanted a picture of me in the Jeep as part of her story, so I needed a picture of her and her bike as part of mine. Every man needs a Jeep. Apparently chicks dig them.

Next stop was Wind Cave National Park. I took an hour plus tour of the cave. It was nice to get in a cool environment after all of the sun I can seen in the past few days. Very cool cave. I have never been in a cave this large. Lots of pictures. I hope some are good.

The afternoon drive back up to Crazy Horse was great. Another beautiful day to be on the road. Crazy Horse is massive. I have no idea when it will be completed, but probably not in my lifetime.

From Crazy Horse I drove north to Bear Country USA. Pretty cool and nice to get that close to the animals, but it doesn't compare to seeing them in the wild.

I am now at Perkins in Rapid City to get a warm meal and use their wi-fi. I have to make it quick as I want to get down to Mount Rushmore and see the daily lighting of the monument. I am really looking forward to Rushmore.

Road trip song of the day - AC/DC - Girls Got Rhythm

Learnings:

Apparently old couples buy Corvette convertibles and drive them to the Black Hills.

People are extra oblivious to the other 6 billion people on the planet when the are on vacation.

Buy gas when you have the opportunity out here.

The Illinois idiots packed camp and left this morning. That should make for a MUCH better night. It was hedonism central at camp last night. Some people need a box of discretion for their birthday.

Hahaha - my Perkins waitress is a trainee. I married one of those!!

I have to run. Need to get down to Rushmore. It feels good to be excited about things! I hope to send more when I have more time. For a guy with nothing but time I sure feel busy.

Take care all!

Tom