Wide Open Spaces, Wildlife & Mount Rushmore

Monday and Tuesday were fun, hot, and very busy days.  This post will include both days so I can catch up on the blogs. The temperatures here remain in the very high 80s to mid 90s.  I think we saw 95 yesterday. Now that's getting to be a little much!  Despite that, we've put on about 300 miles in the past 2 days and I've survived.  :)

We turned right around and did a second loop through Custer State Park and the Needles Highway on Monday.  We absolutely love the wide open spaces and beauty of it all.  Went to one of the Iakes in the park, scouted out a few campgrounds, drove to Hill City for dinner and came home around 10:00 pm pooped.  

On Tuesday we headed south and drove through Wind Cave National Park towards Hot Springs.  We saw a huge herd of buffalo on the way.  That's what I wanted to see!  Then just down the road a bit we saw a coyote.  He was quite close to the road and we got a great look but no pictures. Just not fast enough.  Lots of pronghorn antelope today and of course, a stop at Prairie Dog Town.  It was so hot in Hot Springs we decided to do something inside. We had been told a few times to make sure we went to the Mammoth Site. Sounded a little odd to me but I was up for anything to be cool. What a pleasant surprise.  It's a  site (actually a sinkhole) where they have found the remains of 62 mammoths (and other animals) from late in the ice age 26,000 years ago!  It's an active dig and world renowned. Who knew? We both thought it was very interesting.

Our next stop was Mount Rushmore.  We saw it in 2005 but never got to see it at night. That was another thing I really wanted to do and it sure didn't disappoint.  Very patriotic, moving and beautiful.  What an awesome country we live in...

Happy trails.

Custer St. Park & Needles Highway

We left the town of Interior at the foot of the Badlands Sunday morning.  Back to the amazing geology and ferocious wind.  Arrived in Rapid City late morning and set about finding a place to stay for the next few days.  I won this round.  Found a very cute cabin. :)  They are experiencing a heat wave out here (high 80s, low 90s) so I really wanted air conditioning. We ended up at an elevation of about 4600 feet so that helps a lot.  Rapid City was much warmer. The nights up here are comfortable. We hopped on the trike (now without the trailer) and headed for Custer State Park and Needles Highway.  They are so beautiful!  We were surprised at how high we were on the Needles Highway. We reached 6400 feet in elevation.  Put these two on your bucket list if you haven't seen them.  In Custer we saw a buffalo here & there but not the whole herd.  They were way up in the back part of the park.  We also saw several antelope and of course, the burros.  We'll definitely come back here with our 7 day pass!

Sunflowers, Wind & The Badlands

Saturday was an amazing day, but before I get to that, we have been without internet or phone service for two days. I'm not sure how writing a daily blog is going to work but I'll give it my best shot. We headed out across central South Dakota and once we crossed the Missouri River, man oh man....the wind was phenomenal!  Almost blew my helmet off! I give Rick so much credit for driving that whole way.  I just hung on!  The prairies were beautiful and I loved the vast fields of sunflowers.  I thought of my friend, Alice.  :)

We got to the Badlands, found a spot to stay for the night and headed right for the hills. It was early evening and we hit the jackpot.  Along the roadside coming toward us were two Bighorn Sheep.  They became extinct in SD many years ago and were reintroduced to the Badlands. We were lucky enough to see them.  We also saw a whole family of mountain goats.  They walked so close to the front of the bike, I could have touched them. So fun. Happy trails.

South Dakota...Here we Come!

Life is good....I survived a second night of no running water, non-electric, out in the boondocks, camping.  I must say, in all honesty, it isn't bad; it just makes everything more difficult.  From brushing your teeth to having to walk a block early in the morning to you know what. While men just naturally have it a little easier, Rick was truly born to do this.  I mean live outside. He is loving this so much it makes me laugh. It's definitely an adventure for me!
We left Iowa and crossed over into South Dakota around noon today.  We ate lunch at a little local cafe and had fun conversations with people.  Three different tables were involved and wanted to know where we were headed and about the motorcycle camper. That thing really seems to intrigue people.
It was cool and cloudy most of the day today but we only got a few sprinkles of rain.  We're headed into a hot spell out here and, of course, that makes me nervous.  Everyone knows I don't do hot so well.  :)
I'd like to say "Happy Anniversary" to Dick and Bonnie, my big brother and sister-in-law today.  They sure got the marriage thing right.
Love to our friends and family.  Happy Trails.

Iowa Cornfields

Hi Friends & Family,
Well, Day 2 is under our belt already.     Sorry for the delay in yesterday's post to Facebook. Not sure what happened. We left Wyalusing State Park this morning about 10am.   A late start because of me. I think I had "helmet head" or "swivel neck" or something. Took a couple of Advil and was fine.  Then on to the beautiful farmlands of Iowa. Huge farms and endless fields of corn!  I was glad we were on the motorcycle.....might have been a little bored in a car.  We drove until about 6pm tonight and found a campground in Spirit Lake. It's a popular recreational area in northern Iowa.  Between yesterday and today we've put on just short of 500 miles and we're happy with that. Rick is doing a great job driving and getting me comfortable with this camping stuff.  We'll finish off Iowa tomorrow and get a good share of eastern South Dakota behind us. Thanks to those of you sending comments.  It's always fun to hear from home and people you love.  Happy Trails.

...And We're Off!!

Departure day for our trike trip finally arrived!  We left Colgate this morning about 9AM and had a beautiful day of riding across the state of Wisconsin.  Wildlife spotted included 1 turkey and 4 deer.  Two bucks; one quite large, one small, one doe and one fawn.  All crossed the road in front of us but thankfully no need for quick stopping.  We arrived at Wyalusing State Park in Bagley, WI about 4PM.  It's a beautiful park in the bluffs along the Mississippi River.  We're sitting in front of a warm campfire as I write, enjoying the cool evening. Tomorrow we start the trek across Iowa.  Happy trails.

Trial Run

The trike was ready, the trailer was loaded and away we went for a four day "trial run" motorcycle camping expedition to Wildcat Mountain in Ontario, WI.  It's a State Park about 150 miles northwest of where we live and Rick thought it would be a great place to test how well we actually prepared for our trip out west.  I wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but now I can say I'm very grateful we had this four-day, three night camping experience.  Some of it I loved and some of it I didn't, but I knew that would be the case when we left. We did learn a lot, though, and would like to share some of the most important things.
1.  Raccoons can open coolers even with bungee cords wrapped around them.
2.  Weekdays are great days to camp.  We pretty much had the park to ourselves.
3.  You can survive without electricity for a few days.  Not always easy....but doable if you're married to an ex-boy scout.
4.  Raccoons love sirloin tip steaks. Broccoli.....not so much.
5.  There are still a lot of different bugs that I've never seen before.
6.  A campfire without a million mosquitoes is one of life's greatest joys.
7.  Motorcycling on the back country roads of an Amish community proves that some people do just fine without electricity.
8.  If our trial run is any indication, we have an amazing trip ahead of us.  We look forward to having you come along.