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