Custer State Park, SD:

What incredibly beautiful weather. It's cool at night so we sleep with the windows open. Very refreshing to breath the cool fresh air as well as be able to look outside when you wake up in the middle of the night.

Oh yeah, as I enjoyed the view out my bedroom window, the entire area behind my RV was lit up so brightly, I thought one of my neighbors had his outside light on for some reason. When I got up to investigate and looked outside, I felt just a little foolish when I realized that the full moon was so bright everything was illuminated and visible.

This morning the great weather continued. The air simply warmed up and since there is no humidity, instant beautiful day. Most RV parks do not allow you to wash your RV so I did the next best thing: I gave it a sponge bath. Simply dip a sponge in a bucket of clear water, wash the lower part of the RV (where most all of the dirt is) and dry with your chamois. Did my motorcycle first and then the RV. The motorcycle looks great and the RV is sparkling like a diamond, at least the front and right side. Had to do the front first to get all the bugs that are accumulated as you drive. Tomorrow I'll do the left side and rear cap.



This afternoon we drove the motorcycle into Custer State Park, about 5 minutes away. Park attendant tells me that the charge is $10 and the pass is good for a week. Sounds great so we buy the pass. I then tell him I'll be coming back in the moring to get some wildlife photos. He tells me "You'll have to buy a different pass for the car".

Craziest thing I've heard in a while. I mean, it's not like my motorcycle will go for a drive in the State Park while I'm driving the car through the park. I know it's only $10 but its the principle of the thing. I used to get very frustrated by ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense; now that I'm retired I (usually) shake my head and laugh.

We drove about 1 mile up a dirt road to the top of Mt Coolidge; from there you could see forever, including the following sights: Crazy Horse Memorial, Mt Rushmore (more correctly George Washington's profile, the Badlands (about 80 miles away; day trip!), and a huge portion of the Black Hills.



Afterwards we resumed our trip on the wildlife loop and we found a great little lodge where we had dinner. It was a log cabin lodge built in the 1920's and it looked almost new. Great design and very well kept. I know we'll go back since it's on the wildlife loop where you have the best chance of seeing deer, buffalo, eagles, etc. There are also mountain lions here however I'm told you rarely if ever see one of those; they stay pretty well hidden. Just as well with me...


On the way home we stopped at the Gordon Stockade. This area was a part of the original Sioux Reservation: ~ 1/2 of South Dakota, 1/4 of North Dakota, 1/4 of Wyoming, 1/6 of Montana, and most of Nebraska. A huge area reserved just for the Native Americans in this part of the West. Then gold was discovered in the Black Hills and the treaty was renegotiated. Renegotiated isn't the right word since the Native Americans had no part in the process. The original agreement was simply re-written and congress eventually approved.



Anyhow... the Gordon Stockade was built by one of the first groups of gold seekers, to protect themselves from some very upset Indians. The stockade was 40 feet by 40 feet and had 8 cabins built inside. These gold seekers were hiding from the Native Americans AND from the US Army, who was enforcing the original treaty. Turns out there wasn't much gold here but that didn't stop the huge influx of people to the area...


See Ya!