Friday June 28, 2013- Mother Nature's Amusement Parks and Resorts

Left: The Black Hills of South Dakota (Horsethief Lake) 8:40am MST (E)
Arrived: Rapid City, SD (RV Supercenter) (F)

Arrived: Buffalo Bill State Park, Cody, Wyoming 1:34am MST (G)

The Black Hills

Water and electricity is available. No sewer hookups. Clean pit toilets are available for tent campers and a dump station plus potable water for RVs. There are no restrictions on generator use.
Total time on road: about 7 ½ hours
Miles driven on this leg: 495.5
Total miles driven: 2408

First things, first. We’re stopping to get the generator fixed. See the Real Time Blog entry.

Before we approached Rapid City, we revisited the Minuteman Missile Silo to see if we could book a tour. The first available tour was 10am and that would interfere with our appointment at the I-90 RV Auto and Supercenter to get the generator fixed. Pete vetoed waiting for the Minuteman tour.

Downtown Deadwood, SD

After leaving the RV Supercenter, we stopped in Deadwood, SD, home of the assassination of Wild Bill Hickock. It’s a cute, Old West town that has real slot machines in many of the stores along Main Street. The children are welcome to come in before 8:30pm, as long as they stay 3 feet away from the slot machine. We visited the perfect place for families in Deadwood: an ice cream parlor/candy store on one side, a tiny casino on the other! Deadwood kind of reminds Pete and me of Central City, Colorado. I think we liked Central City better. Deadwood was a fun, quick stop. Allow an hour or two.

A new category we thought of is: Would you spend a week here? The answer for Deadwood is an unequivocal, “No.” Pete says we would spend a day or two there. There are lots of tours and other things to see on the outskirts of town. One or two days, sans children, would be even better for us. There’s just not enough to hold their attention, it would seem.

Follow Deadwood's Bar Rules and no one gets hurt...maybe.

On the way out in the morning, Isaac suggested that we plan and have meals ready to go in case we needed to pull over. I appreciated his proactive attitude and that’s what we did. It was a brilliant plan, really. We agreed on menus and that left no room for whining when the time came.

Even though Sturgis, SD is in between Deadwood and Belle Fourche (the lowest point), Wyoming, we did not stop. Home to Harley Davidson, right now Sturgis is hosting a Camaro Festival and in a day or so there is a simultaneous Blue Grass Festival. August brings their annual Harley Road Rally. To stop would have been too time-consuming and way too stimulating. Would I spend a week there? Probably, even if it was just to make some new friends and watch the people. We did see lots of bikers and Camaros along the way.

From Deadwood, we headed to Devil’s Tower. Our nation’s first National Monument, DT is considered sacred to the Lakota tribe and to several other tribes connected to the Black Hills. Summer solstice (last week) brings tribes to the base to perform the Sun Dance ceremony, a group ceremony of fasting and sacrifice that removes the suffering of nature and leads to the renewal of the individual, of the group as a whole, and of nature. Tearing of flesh is said to be part of this ceremony. Ouch.

Climbing Devil’s Tower is a goal for many climbers. Since 1996, a voluntary ban on climbing has been in effect during the month of June out of respect for the Native American cultural activities. One of our very dear friends Will has climbed DT. When we were talking about it last week, Will said, “When you get to Devil’s Tower and look up, think of me climbing that!”

My reply to Will (because I am a foolish neophyte) was, “Yeah, but you were harnessed in!”
And then I met the Tower, up close and personal. I already have so much respect for Will just because he’s a wonderful guy and he’s got the best sense of humor, but to think of Will (or anyone) attempting to scale Devil’s Tower, let alone conquer it, takes my respect to a new level. Harnessed in. Really, Jewels?! Thank goodness Will has such a terrific sense of humor and understands that many times I simply don’t have a clue. That’s a graceful guy for you.

Anyway, we took the trail around the base of DT. It’s about a mile and a quarter. Allow at least 2 hours. The walk is mildly strenuous and you also want to allow plenty of time for gazing at Golden Eagles and gaping at climbers. We did see 3 groups. When we observed the climbers we saw: a woman rappelling down the side (she probably had a partner, but we did not see him), a group of three halfway up and another group of three about 1/5^th of the way up. The time: 5:30-6:30 MST. Keep in mind that it stays light a long time in the mountains, but I can’t wait to ask Will to fill me in on what the back story could possibly be. If you have young children, the trail is navigable with an all-terrain stroller and a strong back.

BIRD BREAK- ABOUT THE BIRDS: Millie and I are beginning bird watchers. Before we left New Jersey, we took Peterson’s field guide for birds out of the library to bring with us. Great idea! We’re on the lookout! The first utter thrill I received was in The Badlands. I heard musical aviary trilling that made me gasp. I quickly sent Millie for the field guide and I picked up the camera with the loooonnnggg lens and quietly got as close as I could. Turns out that the bird is a Meadowlark. I may be wrong, but Meadowlarks could be as common as Robins are in our area. Nevertheless, they are beautiful and sing like, well, birds.

Friday night’s dinner: Happy Hour minus Steve, Andrea, Enid, and Rich (our usual Friday Happy Hour friends at home). We enjoyed Cheddar Cheese and Club Crackers (no wine, we’re driving!) and grapes. Believe it or not, everybody loved dinner. It tasted good, we had hours left to drive and we were hungry and tired. Enough said.

Return to Which Mountain?  Mother Nature’s Amusement Park

The ride to Cody, Wyoming continued quite uneventfully, for a while, at least.

Wildlife spotted: Whitetail deer, here and there and an antelope.

After a few hours, Ike agreed to ride up front while I took a nap on the sofa with Millie. The first time I was woken was when the RV came to a complete stop. Pete decided to scrub the bugs off of the front window. The next time, the breaks were slammed on because a female moose crossed in front of him. That also happened for a mule deer and then for a HERD of moose. They were moving kind of quickly, so he couldn’t tell if there were any bulls, but they were definitely moose.

The next time I woke up to the boys cracking up and carrying on. It was pitch black and we were climbing the windy Shell Canyon on the Big Horn Scenic Bypass (through the Big Horn Mountain Range). It was scarier than Return to Witch Mountain at Disneyworld! As I looked up through the window in the coach, I saw a humongous shooting star amongst the millions saturating the night sky.

We made it to Buffalo Bill State Park by 1:34am MST. Right to sleep for us. Good thing we have the luxury of sleeping in tomorrow! We have a "day off" and are staying in Cody another night.

Today was the best vacation day: because Devil’s Tower is amazing. Isaac and Millie really jived with the cheese and cracker dinner. Having no “moments” takes a huge weight off of my tired-I’ve-been-hiking-all-day shoulders. Plus, we made it through Big Horn in the dark, unscathed.