When I last
reported, we were heading into South Dakota.
Our first night was
spent in Spearfish, SD. Actually, Spearfish and Rapid City are in the same
area, but our final destination campground, in Rapid City, was not available
until the second night. We stayed in a nice little place called Chris'
Campground. Spearfish has a few nice scenic drives, but suggesting another
scenic drive would likely have gotten me lynched at dawn, so we skipped
that. If you are ever in Spearfish, you HAVE to go see the fish hatchery
downtown. The City has taken an old fish hatchery and converted it into a
working fish hatchery/park. It is wonderful. Several large ponds,
fed by the local steams, with all kinds of baby Trout. They also have a
large pond with old folks in it...BIG trout.
The second day, we
had reservations at a place called Hart Ranch. We had 2 free nights in
exchange for a sales talk. Hart Ranch is simply, very nice. Curtis
felt it was "cheesy" He said it was so nice, it was not really
camping. Go figure, somewhere along the trip, he missed the Airstream
trailer, plugged into A/C every night, and a swimming pool at every campground,
some with cable TV. Campin, we ain't!!!
The trip from
Spearfish to Rapid City is only about 45 minutes (a short trip for this part of
the country), but along the way, the strangest thing happened.
A little background
first...While in Bismarck during the Airstream Rally, I had run into some old
friends of mine that I had met and installed a Hensley hitch for. Cliff
and Kim Langenbach are the nicest folks. They had just retired the year
before and sold their home and were full-timing it on the road. I had not
seen them in a year. We did talk at Bismarck, but I was so busy, we simply
never actually "got to together" during the rally. I was disappointed
because Kathy has never met Cliff and Kim. OK, back to the present, We are
trucking along the highway and I look over and there, in the rest stop is most
certainly Cliff and Kim's trailer and Suburban. I tell Kathy, we have got
to turn around and go back. We go to the next exit, flip around, back to
the next exit back, flip around and manage to catch them as they eat
lunch. How funny. We have both left the Rally over a week ago, done
a week of touring and we meet at a rest stop along the road. The next
funny thing is, they are going to Hart Ranch to stay for a week, so we make
plans to have dinner at Hart Ranch, which we did, which was wonderful. I
figured I would not see them for another year or so, it was an unforeseen treat
for all of us.
We got to Hart
Ranch, set-up the trailer and immediately headed to see Mount Rushmore.
The monument is very nice, the visitors center is all new. What was most
striking about the monument was the unbelievable task that was undertaken.
I was amazed that anyone even let the project start, based on the unlikelihood
that it ever could be completed. None-the-less, Mount Rushmore was
completed and is worth seeing. The original plan was for many of the
mountains in the area to have monuments carved into them. Fortunately,
that fell through. We did not get a chance to see Crazy Horse. Time
did not seem to allow it. We enjoyed the pool and putt-putt at Hart
Ranch. The second day, we visited a commercial drive through wildlife area
called Bear Country. As much as I would say the thought of driving in your
car, to see animals of the region, in fenced areas does not appeal to me, we had
been told it was worth the trip, and it was. We saw lots of bear up close
and personal, also deer, elk, wolves, and lots of cub bears. All-in-all, a
nice place to visit. That night we returned to Mount Rushmore to see them
light the monument. It was a nice presentation and the lighting of the
monument was impressive.
The following day,
we all slept in before horseback riding in the black hills. Marcus was
dying to ride a horse so we took a short 1 hour ride through the hills. It
was a nice time, lots of fun on a horse. Marcus is still talking
about. The Black Hills of South Dakota are as beautiful as anything else
we have seen. After that, we packed up and headed for Eastern South
Dakota.
But not before a
stop at Wall Drug, if nothing else but to have said you have been there.
It was the ultimate tourist trap, but we had a nice lunch and fun looking at all
the junk they sell. Wall Drug is an old (strictly in the academic sense)
drug store that started giving away free ice water to attract visitors (in the
40's I think) as they traveled West in the heat. It is now (I think) the
largest "drug" store in the country. They have animated figures, food
areas, ice cream areas, and more souvenirs than any single mortal could look
at. It was a case of "let's get out of here ASAP" It was the most
people we had seen in three weeks. We then traveled halfway across
SD. SD from the West goes from the black hills, to rolling cattle ranches,
to rolling farm land as you travel East. We stayed for the night in
Chamberlain, SD at a wonderful Army Corp of engineers campground, right (10
feet) off the Missouri River. We had a whale of a thunderstorm that
night. In SD when it thunderstorms, it
THUNDERSTORMS!!!
The next day, we
slept in again and then headed for Madison, SD. Kathy's brother Rich
teaches at Dakota State University in Madison. We spent the night in Salem
SD and had a long visit with Rich. We again had quite a hail storm.
The lady that owned the campground commented on how nice the town of Salem
was. She said that the reason the town is so nice, is because a couple
years back, they had cantaloupe size hail that destroyed everything in the
town.
Side note, as we
left Madison, we passed through Sioux Falls and can now say that we have been in
all the "big" cities of SD. It is not in too many states can you say
that in 2 days you have been in all the big cities. Our stop with Rich was
really the final stop on the trip. We traveled half way through Iowa and
stopped for the night, then on to Indiana for a night and then
home.
Sadly, the trip is
over. We could have stayed for a couple more weeks (heck, we could have
stayed forever). We found that the west (which we had never seen) was a
vast wonderland of scenic views. My friend Hunter said "I do not think
there is an ugly road in Montana". She is right, likely for Wyoming
too. The beautiful land just keeps going and going. We took
the advice of several friends who had seen the area, include a fellow
firefighter, Dave Norrod, and a fellow Airstream Owners, Hunter Hampton.
Thanks to all who gave advice, it was all used one way or
another.
The boys had a great
time. The trip must have worked out well because they never complained
about a single daily venture,and continue to talk about the non-video game
things they saw!!
Asher had a great
trip too. He turned 1 year old, and for a 1 year old Lab pup to travel all
that way, mostly in his kennel, he was a saint. He loved being in the
camper with us and loved sleeping on his bed in the middle of the room each
night. He did not get to see many of the sites, but I suppose that was
alright with him.
I will have a bunch
of photos posted on our web site in a few days. I will let you know when
if you want to take a look at them, there is nothing new there right
now.
Well, bye for now.
On the Road
with:
Phil & Kathy
Sinewe
Curtis, Marcus, and
Asher Too!!