South Dakota
Original source: South Dakota.htm|
8/1 We made it into South Dakota late last night. We stopped at a Wal-mart to pick up some food for dinner in Worthington Minnesota, before heading into Sioux Falls. We continued on until we reached the town of Mitchell. There they had a 24 hour Wal-mart. We got there around midnight. The parking lot had about 15 other R.V.ers It was very humid out, but during the night that all changed. At around 4 a.m. a cold front hit, and it hit hard. The winds were incredible. It really cooled thing off though. The next morning Michelle and Nikole went shopping inside Wal-mart to get some food for the rest of the week. After they came back we headed to see a building they call The Corn palace. While getting ready to head in, we met a family heading to Massachusetts. They were heading there for a car show. They were with a whole group of enthusiasts. The Corn Palace by the way was a auditorium and the outside of the building was murals made of corn and grains. It was very neat to see and the murals are changed yearly. We then headed for the Bad Lands. We ended up staying for one night in the heart of the Bad Lands at a campground called Badlands Ranch & resort . It's located in Interior South Dakota. The kids thought the area looked like gigantic sand castles. After dinner we all went exploring, and caught a 9 p.m. show at the amplified theater. 8/2 The next morning the winds picked up again. It's been scary at times driving down the highway with the wind blowing so hard. We packed up got everything ready, and headed towards Wall Drug. We stayed in Wall Drug for a few hours and ate some lunch, before hitting the road again. We must of passed or been passed by over a few hundred bikers along the way to Rapid City. Rapid City, Mount Rushmore area is about a hour away. The bikers are heading for the Sturgis Rally not to far away. I'M REALLY MISSING RIDING MY OLD MOTORCYCLE !!! The campground we will be staying at for a few days is for free. We are staying at Rushmore Shadows resort. We were giving a complimentary 4 day 3 night stay from a fellow RVer. The place is nice and we have full hook ups, pool playground, etc. etc. Mount Rushmore is about 15 minutes away. There is some much to do in this area we plan on finding a campground for a week or so. The place we are staying at now would be to costly for us, at $30.00 a day. Later in the evening we went to see Mount Rushmore. The kids were in awe. If you have never experienced it, it is a awesome site to see. We explored the grounds. We went to the museum, the gift shop and even saw a movie. We then went to the lighting ceremony. We saw how it was carved, and why each of the four Presidents were chosen for the sculptors. After the lighting we all had some really good ice-cream before heading back to camp. 8/3 Today we spent the morning buying into a campground membership. In the long run it should save us some money. Later in the morning we headed for a place they call Dinosaur Park. It was just huge statues of dinosaurs, but it was well worth the price of admission. FREE !!! Another free place we explored today was called Storybook Island. It was a great place for the kids to play and have some fun at. It is kind of like storybook land up in New Hampshire. They had 128 fairy tale sets, and live animals. That also was a freebee. We will be staying at this campground until 8/12. Maybe longer if there is still more things to do. Riding around the city today we must of passed by a couple thousand motorcycles. Now I'm getting really sad and missing riding. 8/4 This morning we went to a great church. It felt like being at home again. We went to the First Assembly of God, in Rapid City. It was in a 2 year old building, that had a second balcony. They had a great worship team, with horns and everything. The Pastor Jeff Anderson is new there and we can tell he will be a blessing to that congregation. The Pastors message was titled "A BIBLE REVIVAL!" The Importance of the Written Word of God. He gave us 8 points on how the word of God helps us as Christians. 1. We grow by the word of God. 2. We are changed by the word of God. 3. We are cleansed by the word of God. 4. We are protected by the word of God. 5. We defeat the devil through the word of God. 6. We receive guidance & direction from the word of God. 7. We base our faith on the word of God. 8. We discover who we are in the word of God. They used a power point presentation every week and have the whole congregation read Bible verses as a way of participation. We really can't wait to go back Wednesday night and next Sunday. I'll try to get some pictures of the service and the building. After service we went out to eat at a all you can eat place called The Golden Corral. It was very good, a lot like The Country Buffet. When we got back to the campsite, I finished typing up the updates for the website. I went to the office to get on line. For once again we have no digital service for our phone, and we are on borrowed towers. Michelle and the kids rode there bikes to OLD MACDONALD'S FARM located right at the entrance to this campground. It was a lot like Davis Farm back home except you could handle everything there. They had a lot of fun. Later in the evening we all played a few games before heading to bed. 8/5 Today is our first real rainy day. Although it's not really raining it did during the night, and everything is wet. It's very foggy out also. A bad start to Sturgis Bike Week. There must be at least 250 to 300 bikers hear at the campground. All appear to be just normal everyday people, just like you and I. The only plans for today are doing laundry and going to find the library. We found the library. It was very nice, better than Fitchburg's or Leominster. As Michelle was talking to the youth librarian she found out that this library was in fact her old boss's job. Jerry Johnson was the youth librarian for this library in Rapid City. We found out that we have new neighbors when we got back. It's a group of about 18 bikers from El' Paso Texas. This park quickly filled with bikers going to the rally. There now must be over 400 bikers here. We are really getting used to the sound of a Harley Davidson. 8/6 Today was cool, and relaxing. We went into Rapid City to find a Toys-r-Us for the kids. Nikole bought a rock tumbler, and Zak bought some new toys and a new puzzle. They each had gift cards that were burning holes in their pockets. We ate lunch at Subway, and found out where to buy discount cards. The discount cards will get the kids into a lot of places for free. They were only $15.00 each and then the money is all donated to the American Lung Association. So either way it works out for all of us. We used the cards right away, and went to explore a cave. The kids got in for free. The cards almost paid for themselves already. Tomorrow we will use them at a place called Bear Country USA. It's a drive through wildlife animal park. The cave we went to is called Thunderhead Falls. It was a cave that had a underground water fall. In 1878 gold miners were working digging out this cave. They dug to just over 600 feet deep and they struck water. Water has been pouring in ever since. On the way back to the campsite we stopped at a place called Chapel In the Hills. It was a replica of a 840 year old Norwegian Church. The wood work and the carvings were incredible. Another freebee thing to do. We all went swimming in the pool here in the evening, before we ate dinner. Nikole and Zakary played with their new toys. Before sunset we went into Keystone to have ice cream. When we got into town there must of been over 4000 motorcycles lining the streets. It was a really cool thing to see. We have never seen so many bikes. We are now thinking on venturing into Sturgis. They say there is over 600,000 bikers there. HMMMMMMMMMMM should we dare? 8/7 Today we went to Bear Country USA. It was well worth the $19.00 to ride around the grounds. We did forget to take the camera again though. We saw Elk, Timber Wolves, Reindeer, Buffalo, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goats, a giant Grizzly Bear over 1100 pounds, and at least 100 Bears. The animals all roamed freely around, and you were within inches of them at times. After the ride through exhibit you got to walk through the wildlife center and see the offspring and smaller animal exhibits. There we saw baby Reindeer, baby Bears, Wolf pups, and a lot of others. Well worth it, to bad we forgot the camera. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Geology. It showcased local fossils, including skeletons of giant reptiles and fish from the ancient seas of South Dakota. It also had a collection of minerals from around the world. It fit right into Nikole's new rock tumbler. It was a really cool thing to see, and it was free. Rapid City has so much to do and see for free. WHO DOESN'T LIKE FREE THINGS. Then we went to the library the kids used the computers. They have about 40 computers all available for public use. Michelle checked the email, while I read the local paper. The motorcycle counters for the road to Mt. Rushmore registered about 17,000 motorcycles. And that is the road our campground is located on. I thought the traffic in Rapid City was extra busy yesterday. It's a very warm day today. When I checked earlier it was 98 in the shade. It doesn't seem as hot as back home though. Maybe because of the no humidity factor. Not to sure what's up for tonight, the pool right now looks inviting. 8/8 Today was cool, we had a lot of fun. We went to Flintstones Bedrock City. It was like going on a tour of Fred's home town. We got to explore all the different buildings, and props. We even got a ride in the Flint Mobile, and the Iron Horse Train. We meet Fred and Barney also. For lunch we went into Hill City. We ate at a 50's style diner. It was a new diner with 50's decor, and the food was pretty good. After lunch we headed for the Needles Highway. It's in Custer State Park. It's a twisty turning road high up in the mountains. It has a few tunnels that were blasted right through parts of the rocks. There must of been a few thousands bikers exploring the area also. About half way through we took a short cut down a dirt road, to get to another part of the highway called Iron Mountain Road. The last two tunnels we went through you could view Mt. Rushmore at the end of them. That was really cool it was like putting them in a natural frame. The skies quickly turned nasty and we headed home. Later in the evening after we ate dinner, Michelle and I played a few games of horseshoes. She won two games to one, but I let her win. Before showers and bed we all went into Rapid City to do some food shopping. Tomorrow I think we will go explore more of Custer State Park and try to find some buffalo. 8/9 Today was great. We started the morning by going to Cosmos Mystery Area. It was a place where everything seemed crooked. You walked crocked, you leaned sideward, and balls rolled up hill. It was fun to see and do, but it really messed your equilibrium up real bad. The kids got to participate in a few of the demonstrations and I got picked to be in the last one. Even after we drove away and were on the road for a half hour we still felt messed up. We drove to Custer State Park in search of some wildlife. This park is one of the Nation's largest State Parks. We drove the Wildlife Loop, which guaranteed us close up encounters with some wildlife. They were absolutely right. First we encountered Mules. The were walking right out in the road. People were feeding the crackers and fruit. We just had to get in the action, so we pulled over and played with them for awhile. Our second encounter were Bison, you know Buffalo. There were hundreds of them, just roaming around. In the streets, on the sides of the road, laying in the fields. They were neat to see. Then we saw Whitetail Deer, Prairie Dogs, Mountain Goats, and Mule Deer. We even pulled over and had a picnic next to a crystal clear stream. You could see the fish floating around in it. Although the ride was a few hours long it was well worth it. We drove back to the campsite by way of Mt. Rushmore. We drove in the back way and saw what was behind the famous hill. That was a really neat area to see also. Then right before we got to the campsite we saw some Wild Turkeys standing on the side of the road watching traffic. I made some beef stew with Michelle's help for diner. And it was delicious, if I do say so. A great way to end the day. 8/10 Today was a relaxing day. We all slept late, which was needed. Before lunch we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up Zak's pictures. We ate lunch at the Golden Corral again. It Filled us for the whole day. After lunch we went to the Journey Museum. It was all on the history of South Dakota, and how the land was taken away from the Indians. It was very nice and the displays were great. We went to the library before it closed, to read some email. And after we headed home. The kids went swimming, while Michelle and I plotted out our next leg of the journey. We are heading in to Montana before going to Yellowstone National Park. After the kids went to sleep Michelle and I planned out the next three months of campgrounds. The ones we chose are all free for two weeks each. Some will be only a few days, and others we will be staying the full two weeks. It all is depending on the area and where we are. We should be to the west coast of Washington by the end of August. September and October will mostly be spent in either Oregon or California. Most of the campgrounds are located right on or close to the beach. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to get back home for Christmas. We were thinking of high tailing it from California to Florida. And that's only so we can afford the airline tickets. After Christmas we would start heading back out west. Who knows we just have to wait and see. 8/11 We had another great service today at the First Assembly of God Rapid City. Pastor Jeff's message today was another for me. It was entitled FAITH THAT KEEPS GROWING! It was from JOSHUA 23:3,5,6-8,11. He explained to us four ways to keep your faith growing. 1. look back with thanksgiving 2. look ahead with anticipation 3. look inwardly but carefully 4. look away to Jesus This church is really great, and the congregation is in for some great things about to happen. I don't know if I mentioned last walk that Pastor Jeff plays guitar during the worship service. We will miss this area when we leave After lunch we headed to Reptile Gardens. They had snakes, lizards, komodo dragons, alligators, and other trained animals. They boast that they have the world's largest reptile collection. It was a cool place to see, but Michelle and I agree that Bear Country was better. So we will be heading out in the morning and leaving South Dakota behind us. We really enjoyed the time spent here, and we will be back next spring. Nikole's favorite thing was Old MacDonald's Farm, Zachary's was The Flintstones. Michelle's was Custer State Park, And mine I think was Bear Country, and the night lighting of Mt. Rushmore. Goodbye South Dakota see you next spring. ONWARD TO YELLOWSTONE ! |