"Life Part 2" or "Our Life Living on the Road": The Black Hills, Rushmore, Custer, Mammoths, and a tight squeeze.

Let me start by saying we love South Dakota. Everywhere we went was just more beautiful than the last. We should've gotten here earlier and stayed a month and a half instead of 3 weeks. But we travel with the weather so we needed to move south.

After the Badlands we headed to the Rapid City area. While here you could do just about everything in the area but since gas is our second largest expense, we try to cut down on the miles we travel from home. Having said that, we decided to go to Devils Tower in Wyoming. Why? Because it was there. It was a wonderful drive through some nice small towns, Sturgis being one of them, but since the bike rally was over there isn't much to do there, so we didn't stop. We ate at a very nice local restaurant in Sundance WY. and Devils Tower was worth the trip.

A neat old bank building

Our first view of Devils Tower. No space ships so far.

Big rock that fell off the tower as it was being formed.

A climber just left of the highest tree.

We took the hike around the tower and saw several climbers repelling down the tower. A fun side story; as we were watching these two climbers make their descent we saw a women sitting on the ground with food and a camera with a very large lens. I asked her if she was the ground crew and she said that she was. The climbers were her son and his girl friend. I asked her how long it took them to make the assent and she said 4 hours. She went on to say that they stayed up on the top for an hour and a half but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why they were up there so long. Lynn said "What happens on Devils Tower stays on Devils Tower". The mom did not want to hear that but by her expression she had already figured that out. We all had a good laugh.

Climber on his way down.

On your way in and out of the park there is a prairie dog town. These were the fattest prairie dogs we had ever seen.

One of our other stops was the animal reserve called Bear Country in Rapid City. It was really nice. At first we thought it was going to be like Jurassic Park. Drive through and see nothing, but boy were we wrong. Its wide open spaces with fencing only to keep the different animals separate. Don't want the bears, wolfs and goats all mixing together now do we. Here are some pictures. The little bear cubs were really cute.

Taking a nap on the side of the road.

This took awhile.

Wolverine!!!!!

See I told you they were cute.

After this we headed on down to Custer. We used it as a home base to see all the big area attractions. All were fascinating each in their own special way. Two national parks, Jewel cave and Wind Cave were full of great formations and all the pictures look the same. Over 150 pictures between the 2 caves and, well you had to be there. We looked at what we had and even we said,"What the hell is that". So if you want to see how great these caves are I suggest you go see them for yourself. It is worth the trip. If you really want to live vicariously through our photos then email me and I will send you a bunch.

Mt. Rushmore: One of those places that you need to see for yourself at least once in your lifetime. The pictures are great but we all know that they do not capture the feeling of the actual experience. Take the nature walk which starts on the left or right side of the main observation platform. You can get some unique perspectives of this magnificent achievement. Make sure you visit the museum which is below the observation platform and also visit the studio where Gutzon Borglum did a lot of his work, where you can see models of what it was supposed to look like. Did you know that they were supposed to be from the waist up, not just their heads? There is also a model of the vault that is located behind the sculpture that was meant to be a hall of records. It was never completed but there are some items in there for posterity sake. Also take note that it was completed in 14 years. Crazyhorse which is privately funded has been under construction for over 60 years! It is much larger and will be fabulous when it is finished but 60+ years. I will not live to see it completed. Here are some pics.

This next group of pictures is from the nature walk.

Here you can see the chisel marks from construction/sculpting.

What it was supposed to look like.

The Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway: Part of a Scenic Byway, The Iron Mtn Road is a 17 mile long narrow road with 3 tunnels, the narrowest is 13' 2", and numerous "Pigtail Bridges", switchbacks and gorgeous scenery. After driving it we needed to take a break to let it all soak in and let my hands and butt cheeks relax.

There were numerous areas where you caught glimpses of Mt. Rushmore.

Next came "Needles Highway". It is a very narrow, twisty 14 mile road with switch backs, single lane bridges and very narrow tunnels that were blasted through solid granite. The first tunnel we came across was 12' 9" wide and 12' 3" high, single lane and not too bad at all. The second and final tunnel by "Needles Eye" was a different story. Let me add here that at our rest stop I talked to a guy who said he traveled the highway with his dually all the time. So I was fairly confident that we would make it. After all the tunnel is 12' high and 8'4" wide. That gave me a whole 2" on each side of my rear tires.

The Needles Eye

The final tunnel

Piece of Cake.

I think the best part, other then saying that we did it, were the stares that we got while driving through. Even some bikers were impressed that we even tried to go through.

One day we decided to take a ride to nearby Hot Springs SD. As we hit town we noticed the signs for "Mammoth Site of Hot Springs". Neither of us had ever heard of it and the first thing I think of is tourist trap. But this is why we are on the road, to experience all that this country has to offer. The conclusion of our visit is 1) If you like fossils and archeology you will love this. 2) we will be back to volunteer to assist with the dig.

The story is,(short version), that they were clearing the land for a housing development and discovered some bones. The developer sold the property for what he paid for it and the dig began. To date they have dug down about 25 feet and have discovered 61 Mammoths. Most are intact and very well preserved. As you can see they have left a large portion of the fossils exposed. They can do this because 90% of the site is enclosed and air conditioned. So they chose to do this for the educational aspect of what they do.

A core sample showed that they have another 40 feet to dig and at the pace they dig it will take at least another 20 years. In addition to the Mammoths, most being Colombian with a hand full of Woolly, they have also found 85 other species of animals and plants. In addition to the dig site they are also a museum and research center. Paleontologists come from around the world to study here. And so can you! They are always looking for volunteers to help dig, sort, etc. We will be back.

That is a shin bone.

You can see the different layers of the dig.

That's how big the Colombian Mammoths are.

Custer: Custer itself is a neat little town. Interesting shops, museums and history. Yes it was named after George Armstrong, he led a scouting party in the area. All in all a nice town.

Like a lot of cities across the country they have street art. In Manistique Mi. they had moose, here the mighty buffalo.

Yabba dabba do!

Last but certainly not least is Custer State Park. It lived up to everything I had heard about it and what I imagined. The park is absolutely huge. Every time we crested a hill the vista's were absolutely beautiful. Rolling hills, forests, and plains full of buffalo. It just kept going and going. We will be back. Enjoy!