South Dakota Black Hills

My, what an amazing place!  Rode down the Wildlife Drive today and on other roads around the Black Hills area - just today, we saw lots and lots of buffalo, white tail deer, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, big-horned sheep, donkeys, prairie dogs, and turkeys....

We spent some time watching an operation that we were amazed by - all the buffalo that were rounded up last week were being put into chutes based on whether they were female (checked for whether they were pregnant or had been pregnant this year - and you REALLY don't want to hear about the woman who did all that checking....YUK!!), and other categories that I didn't quite understand.  These are powerful powerful beasts!  The heavy metal gates would shake when one or more of these guys got angry.  The one chute caused them to be trapped, then squeezed from the side and their head also trapped - the whole cage contraption would move as they struggled.  i did get some pictures.  Other, younger ones, were branded and innoculated.  I was facinated!

We also toured Wind Cave, the 4th largest in the world.  Pretty cool.

Buffalo are everywhere - from almost being extinct, they are a success story.  At one point (see picture) there was a herd of about 30 of these animals blocking the road.  one by one, our cars made the way through them until the last one.  For some reason, the big guy decided they should not go anywhere - he stood eye to eye with the driver for a few minutes while the others of his clan milled around.  Wow.

Weather's been great - wore summer clothes again.  We rode our bikes up to the Lodge this evening for a wonderful meal of elk tenderloin and filet mignon of buffalo - really good!

big guy by the road

pronghorn antelope by the road

pronghorns - didn't know what they were until we asked!

rounded up, ready to be inventoried, branded...

closeup!

little calf VERY close up!

I gave him some grass - he wasn't sure he should take it.

side of one of the chutes where the buffalo were sent

big female caught in the press, being checked out

done with this one - get outta here!

really pissed off - time to go!

young ones here were branded, innoculated

being pushed towards the chutes

Go on in, yes, just go on down the chute...

getting to the narrow part - no going back

another one going where they wanted

look at his eye - ooooh!

the buffalo decided this car should stay put.....

Tomorrow, on our way west out of this area, we'll go through Spearfish Canyon, by all accounts a beautiful place.

Sunday, Oct. 3 - Mt Rushmore et al!

Today we rode through the most magnificent vistas, toured Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorials.  Both were awe inspiring - we saw movies on the creation and history of the monuments, went on a ranger hike.  The tunnels on the roads leading to Mt. Rushmore were designed to frame the 4 presidents  - amazing feats of engineering.  (more narrative after the pictures.)

carved pumpking HIGH on a rocky crag

next to our campsite

us with Mt. Rushmore in the background

beautiful!

beautiful view

tunnel we drove through

Looking at Dan outside the tunnel

there's those 4 presidents!

distant view of another pumpkin!

and yet another pumpkin

On Needle highway, a road of twisting turning narrow lanes, there were a number of tunnels, not only one lane tunnels, but so narrow we were glad we were in my car!  And, with the camper on the truck, the 10-12 ft height of these tunnels just wasn't big enough!  And everywhere there was an opportunity to pull off, we did.  Some rock climbers had left carved pumpkins way high up on these 'needles' - we managed to get some pictures.  What a wonderful, joyful gift they gave to all of us traveling by today - every stop, there were people pointing and laughing because of those pumpkins!  And, we saw 2 bull buffalo this afternoon.  I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we did taking them!  Tomorrow, we're going to watch buffalo being branded and tagged!

Day Six - South Dakota!!

fisherman getting ready to go out for walleye!

sunset over lake Oahe from last night

sunrise

our home away from home.....

First thing this morning, I got up and shot about 40 pictures of the beautiful dawn at Lake Oahe, with the mist rising from the lake.  There's some type of weed that is ubequitous here that, when stepped on, smells wonderful!  Asked a fisherman/local guy and the state park ranger - they don't know what it is (and probably don't even smell it anymore)!  Our drive this morning took us across a bridge over what the sign said is the Missouri River/Lake Oahe (which??).  We see rolling hills, the distant ones are brown mostly.  Today, we're heading first to Wall, SD (Wall Drugs, the famous store), and then to  camp at Custer State Park.
Driving south in South Dakota, we started to see higher hills (mountains?) and more rolling countryside, cattle.  The fuel light came on, meaning we had about 50 miles to go until a dry tank - next gas station/civilization we saw was about 30 miles in Isabel!  Of course, we've got my car in tow with a full tank...plan B.
In every low spot in these rolling hills, there grows lovely golden leafed trees - so pretty to see them glow in the sun. In one spot, we saw a few head of cattle outside the fence - then, we noticed that the grass WAS actually greener on that side of the fence!
Stopped at Wall Drugs (which sells pretty much everything BUT drugs...).  Been there, have the coffee mug and magnet...
Tonight, we're camped in Custer State Park. Can't wait to see all the sights around here, including Mt. Rushmore, Sitting Bull, Wind Cave National Park, the wildlife scenic drive.  Monday, there will be buffalos being branded - should be something to see!
These pictures are almost all from our camping place on Lake Oahe in Mobridge, SD.

Day five - North AND South Dakota!

North Dakota has its own beauty.  Blue blue skies, with white clouds that could be drawn by a child on construction paper!  We saw lovely ponds along the road, blue as the sky, surrounded by beautiful tall grasses and fields with golden trees and grasses and that black dirt.  On the Garmin screen, the ponds are shown, looking like a Giant scattered them with a very large hand - thanks, God - they're beautiful!

Trees are in the distance, around homes or at the edge of the fields.  Stopped in Michigan, ND (!) for breakfast, where 'blueberry pancakes' means plain pancakes with blueberry syrup!  Where they sell something called "koozies", which turns out to be what I might call a "cozy" for your beer, and ice cream called "squish cones'.  Friendly people, huge breakfast - Dan, skinny thing that he is, has a hollow leg - that's the only way I can understand how he can eat like he does and look like he does!  We set the Garmin for Minot, ND (pronounced like "why not"), and Gladys (Dan's name for the Garmin) said we should turn in 150 miles....!!

More impressions of ND: Gargantuan grain elevators, with mile-long trains lined up waiting to be filled; trucks with 5th wheel trailers AND a boat behind;,  colors are golds and greens(rarely any of the reds and oranges we see in Michigan and Wisconsin); fields of (now) dying sunflowers as far as you can see; huge 1-ton size bales of hay, in fields and even on the road right-of-ways; one hillside of green and red grasses with black Angus cattle; combines and other farming gear, sized for these enormous fields; large (hundreds) groups of windmills (note, ginormous!), blades slowly turning, with normal farming activity happening on the ground.  Once on US-83, south of Minot, the terrain turned to more rolling hills as we approached the Missouri River.  We went through Bismark, the capitol of N.Dak, and ate at the Space Alien (Earthlings welcome). We passed a huge coal-fired generating plant, that had a 4 mile (!) conveyor belt for the coal that stretched across the highway in a large black tube.
On US-2 today, passed Grand Forks, Larrimore, Michigan, Devil's Lake, Rugby (geographic center of North America), and Minot.  (more narrative past the pictures)

Alien Planet Restaurant in Bismark, ND

view from CCC shelter, Turtle River, ND

CCC shelter in Turtle River State Park, ND

an Ash tree (ND is concerned about emerald bore)

Michigan, ND (who knew?)

More from Michigan, ND!

I just loved this spot

pretty church in historic village in ND

central spot in North America (Rugby, ND)

Why are the telephone poles so short in ND??

thousands of these in North and South Dakota

At Minot, we're turning away from Hwy 2 for a while to go south On US-83 to the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park and other attractions.  We're going to park the truck/camper in Rapid City, South Dakota, and tour the area in my car, returning at night to our camper home.
Tonight (Friday) we are one of two campers in what has to be one of the most beautiful spots in this part of the world.  Lake Oahe, near Mobridge, South Dakota - the campground is on a sort of peninsula, so every campsite is lakeside.  New-looking bath house - had a wonderful, long hot shower.  I'll get some spectacular pictures in the morning!