Into North Dakota

We have been in South and North Dakota so WiFi has been far and few between so here is an update from the road. We first spent a week in Custer State Park in western SD. It is big park with the second largest bison herd in the states. We saw lots of bison, Prong Horn Antelope, Mule Deer, wild Burros and Big Horned Sheep. The campground was small and very nice and quiet after the crowds off Yellowstone. We did a 4-mile bike ride and a 6-mile hike, right from our campground, to a lovely lake on our ‘rest’ day.

We did a day trip to Wind Cave National Park. The cave is totally different than Jewel Cave as it is a dry cave so it doesn’t have all the water-formed features. It is best known for its box formations and it is a long narrow cave with out  big rooms so you really feel like you you are in a cave. Very nice tour and ranger guide.

We did another day trip to see The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. We really didn’t know much about this when it was recommended in the campground, but it is amazing! They discovered this site with a bulldozer making a new subdivision in 1974 when they struck a mammoth tusk. Fortunately they stopped construction and  called an expert and they have found over 60 mammoths and other skeletons including a rare Giant Short Faced Bear. They theorize the animals fell into a sink hole and couldn’t get out. The bones are not petrified so they have left rock around them to hold them together for display.

Another day we revisited Mount Rushmore and went to Keystone which is a typical town outside a national park so think tourist shops and lots of motels and restaurants. We  were actually looking for the Holy Terror Miniature Golf and it lives up to its name being on several levels with steps and impossible holes. Looks of fun and a good day off.

On Saturday we left SD and went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Southwest ND for three nights. It is mostly bad lands but the was quite striking in its ruggedness. We did lots of hikes and driving on scenic roads in the park. One hike was through a Prairie Dog town, yes that’s what they call them, with thousands of dogs. They will sit on their hill and yip at you to warn their group of impending trespassers. It was quite noisy but fun to watch.

We are on our way to Duluth to see the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and take the North Shore Scenic Railroad ride. More later… 

Monday September 17 - Since our last our post we visited Devils Tower which was made famous by the movie Close Encounters. The ranger at the tower told us when we asked about close encounters , "the Aliens don't stop here since they closed the bathroom" so no, no flashing lights our people building strange models. The monument is very impressive - we took several walks around the area and stayed in the campground.

On Saturday we drove east and added another state to our big trip - South Dakota. We then visited Jewel Cave National Monument. It is the second longest cave in North America and is covered entirely in calcite crystals and other cave formations. Very nice tour.

Jewel Cave Cave Bacon

We are staying at Custer State Park in western SD. After setting up the camper we took the Wildlife Road and saw antelope, wild burros, wild turkeys, prairie dogs and probably 1000 bison. 


On Sunday we rode the 1880 Train in Hill City to Keystone through the Black Hill National Forest They run a Mallet that is an articulated engine (it can bend in the middle to go around tight curves) used in the lumber industry in the 20's and '30's. The railroad has a 4% grade so the engine had to work on the trip. The trip was really enjoyable. After the train ride, we took the Needles Highway Scenic Drive. It was windy and narrow and really cool.

Today we visited Mount Rushmore. It is still as impressive as when we saw it as teenagers.They have  however, added many visitor center improvements.

1880 Steam Train Engine

Needles Highway Sylvan Lake

I am pleasantly surprised at the performance of our 2017 Tacoma 2x4 truck. This was the first real test of the trailer and tow vehicle up a steep grade. We went from 4900 feet to Powder River Pass at 9666 feet. On the steepest grade we had in third gear at 3000RPM and about 48 mph but had no lagging and was able to accelerate as needed. The trailer is weighing about 3800 loaded.

September 13 We are at the Cody Wyoming Public Library to update our blog. We just spent the last week in Yellowstone National Park. It is an amazing place when you think of all that volcanic activity barely below the surface of the earth.

We saw Old Faithful erupt 4 times, and lots of other geysers, hot springs, mud pots and steam vents. There are much larger herds of Bison from our last visit, 10 years ago, and

We saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone with beautiful waterfalls and yellow canyon walls.

one cannot drive anywhere in the park with out an "animal Jam" as they call it. We saw lots of Elk and some deer as well. We had a Bison visit our campsite munching on grass two feet from our camper.

 It is beautiful country, however, even in September the amount of tourist is unbelievable and often we could not find a place to park with many tour buses bringing thousands to the sights. Also the distances between the major sites is a long ways so we drove more than 600 miles during our stay. 


We went down to Grand Teton National Park one day with the Grand Teton Mts are so rugged and beautiful. We took a shuttle boat across Jenny Lake and hiked back 2.5 miles to the visitor Center - what views.

Laurie's cousin Ed Haukka found us on Facebook and since he is between jobs he decided to come over to see us from Salt Lake City. We were able to have supper 2 evenings and it was great catching up with him.

We have one of those RV maps on the side of the camper. We will be adding states as we cross the country on the Big Adventure. We of couse had Oregon and Washington from our early trip but we now added Idaho as we start East.

Left Portland 10:05 am Sept 4. Went as far as Farewell Bend State Park 20 minutes from the Idaho border. Yesterday we visited for 2 hours with Michele and Jim Connelly. Michele used to work with Laurie at the library. She lives in Nampa Idaho now. It was great seeing her. Then we drove across Idaho to Craters of the Moon National Monunment , getting the last campsite there. This morning we explored the the park.It is a very rugged volcanic area. Our next stop is Yellowstone (luckily we have reservations at a campground there!)