One, take a family photo in our Mariner's gear.
My side of the family will appreciate this photo, I tried to use my timer so I could join in the photo. (We have many family photos of my father looking the same way as me.)
Two to stop by "Prairie Dog Town" so Jo could get up close and snap a few photos.
(This is the ground at the base of Devils Tower, Prairie Dogs everywhere!)
No zooming in to get a close up as some of those little dogs came running right up to Jo and posed for her.
Headed to the stone faces today but first stop would be North Dakota. Why do we want to go to North Dakota?
1. To get a geocach.
2. So we can all say we have been there.
Is there any other reason to go to North Dakota?
But then the conversation turned:
Jill: You know we are going to be very close to Sturgis?
Me: What? REALLY?
Jill: Yes, what if we set up camp near Sturgis, drive into town and then jet up and back to North Dakota in just Lucy?
Me: REALLY? We can go to Sturgis?
Yes we can and yes we did.
We took the kids to eat at One Eyed Jack's
Both kids were quite uncomfortable sitting at the outside bar with the ladies dressed in not much other than leather, fish nets. More skin showing than clothes.
But they powered through and the food was good.
And WE GOT TO GO TO STURGIS!
The town was/is setting up for the 76th annual event so everyone in town was quite busy. Jo bought a shirt and Mom got a new hat.
AWESOME!
Back to the town of Spearfish to set up camp and head North. The temperature was quite high and no one was really moving quickly after getting Ethel set up for the night.
Oma took the kids to the stream that was close to camp so they could cool off and even Doug got in the water. Did I say it was hot?
We decided to pass on N.Dakota and just "be". So we did a little laundry, got some fresh produce at a market and tasted some local ice-cream, showered and called it a night.
It's Hot...I really mean it's HOT! (Although Jill ins't suffering too much)
Stone Faces on day 12 I guess and no North Dakota this trip.
Day 12: All refreshed and ready for a very long day, as it did turn out to be.
Stone Faces here we are!
Again, Doug was not allowed to enter so Oma stayed with him in Ethel while the rest went to see our Fathers.
I have heard others state that they were not impressed with this as they thought they might be, but I was extremely impressed as was Cole. With the technology of the time to measure, blast and sculpture this is very impressive.
And I have heard for days and days now that we must get ice-cream at Mt. Rushmore.
So these two did.
Conversation has turned a little to "is this all we are going to do? See that tree, see that rock and ooooh and ahhhh?" A little force behind this conversation. The confinement of the truck has caught up to us.
We did a turn off at Crazy Horse, was given a pamphlet for the history and did the "Ooooo....Ahhhh" and kept driving without getting out of the car.
What is Wall Drug?
Well after seeing all the billboards Oma finally said, "We must stop".
Life is grand when you see something and it makes you think of someone special in your life. It has happened often on this trip. This one however is for Connie. Jackalope, baby!!
Fun place to get out and stretch legs and they let Doug in all the stores but the cafe which was great! The kids seem much happier as well.
Badlands were neat. It's amazing to see how different terrain can be from one mile to the next.
We drove through a good chunk of this but only made a few stops for viewing.
Big Horn Sheep! We have kept our eyes open this whole trip to see one of these and we finally found two grazing on grass in the Badlands.
Happy people in Lucy, this was not a rock or tree to look at!
West = Home.
Not many places or any to pulloffs for dinner so we pushed onto Wounded Knee knowing we could grab a little history and eat dinner.
It was not a comfortable spot to stop at 8:30pm as we were immediately approached by locals asking to buy dream catchers or just donate to them (over and over). We quickly ate and left without truly appreciating what this area was about.
Nebraska! Another state and another Walmart for the night in Chadron, NE.
Cooler weather helped with sleep along with it being almost midnight when we were in bed.
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