Day 5 (Badlands to Devil's Tower via Rushmore / Custer State Park

When I woke up on Day 5, my foot hurt. From the fall on day 4, my foot just felt terrible. So, we packed up and headed off to Mount Rushmore, stopping along the way for Naproxen and Fuddruckers.

Mount Rushmore was, as always, incredible. We took the loop trail and heard a talk on the construction. The detail and scale just astonish every time I see it. Mt. Rushmore is however, a strictly complementary destination, more than a roadside attraction, but it is absolutely worth the 3 hours out of the way to see it – especially because the Black Hills are worth the trip.

Iron Mountain Road, with its Pigtail Bridges, and tunnels built to frame the statue is an amazing achievement as well, and the drive is about the most fun you can have in a car – missed the convertible there. One of the rangers told me that during Sturgis Iron Mountain Road become littered with drunken idiots who think their bikers. It was said as though recounting a pleasant anecdote, but also with a venom that said that work comes again in 10 days.

We wandered through the Black Hills to the Crazy Horse statue. The sculpture is slowly taking shape, the museum was interesting, but too often, it feels like they should just be carving a giant middle finger facing Mount Rushmore instead. Not that it wouldn't be warranted, and not that the sculpture won't be amazing, and appropriate, it's just the feeling I get.

From Crazy Horse, we drove through Custer State Park. We saw our second Bald Eagle here. A pretty state park full of Antelope and Buffalo, I picked up a walking stick here. A lot of naproxen and patient sons had gotten me through Rushmore, but my ankle HURT.

From Custer we tried to get to Jewel Cave National Monument, but it closed before we got there, so we headed into Wyoming and toward Devil's Tower.

Approaching the tower is amazing, because it just doesn't seem like it should be there. Coming in as we did at night was wonderful because the kids got to see the outline as we came in, but didn't get to fully appreciate it until the next morning.

Day 4

We took in dawn as we drove through the Badlands. We stayed at Sage Creek campground, which is a primitive campground, but just wonderful in so many ways.

We put up the tent and I collapsed for 2 hours.

Badlands in August - beautiful, but HOT! And grasshopper covered. The grasshoppers made each step through the campground adventurous as the grass around you exploded.
After waking up, I made breakfast and then we headed into Wall for showers. We found a little RV park who was willing to sell us some showers.

We wandered through Wall Drug for a few minutes and then went to the Wounded Knee Museum (link). After touring the small museum for about an hour, we left depressed.

We made it back to Badlands as the edge was coming off the day's heat. We wandered took a short hike through some rocky cul-de-sac, until I hurt my ankle. I slipped on some loose dirt and started to fall. I caught my balance completely with my left foot, sending all of my momentum through the bonespur on my left ankle and into the fascia. So, ow.

So, we drove through the park, took a few less primitive walks, saw the gift shop, then made our way back to the campground. On the way, we saw baby mountain goats, tons of prairie dogs (the cutest infestation EVER*) and the buffalo herd is the distance.

I cooked up Brats for dinner, and we went to sleep under the amazing sky.


*I get that the prairie dogs are not an infestation. I get that they were here first and have lost ground, that they are to predators what grass is to deer or Subway is to Jared. They just look like an infestation - and the plague signs don't help.

Day 3

Day 3 (Saturday) Started with such promise. Or not.

A horrible night at the Jellystone park led to a mercifully early waking. We crawled noisily through Wisconsin Dells. Along the way I noticed 132 different Water Parks. Each one better than the last and all of them able to speak directly to Jeffrey's brain with soothing visions of days and days of gravity-based watery fun.

We finally found the car repair place (hovlandtire.com‎) and met the incredibly nice, but overly optimistic mechanic who hoisted the car up on the jack and announced that our car was not suffering from a frozen caliper, but a seized bearing that had led to a ruined rear axle. After watching him work the phones and hearing estimates of Monday, it became clear that, at best, parts would be in on Monday and the car would be on the road Tuesday, but the more likely scenario was Parts ordered on Monday, arriving at the earliest Tuesday, with the car on the car on the road no earlier than Wednesday.

Rather than wait for the car, we decided to rent something and get back on the road. It meant changing our return route, but waiting for the car meant changing the route as well. So, we called Hertz and by around 1:30 we were in a Honda and on on our way once more.

To get back toward our schedule as best we could, we drove the 600 miles to Badlands Np that day and night. But, it was still the trip, and that meant not stressing too much that we missed the bits we shouldn't miss.

The bigs finds of the day were:

Great River Bluffs (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/great_river_bluffs/index.html). About a 3 mile (round trip) hike to a beautiful overlook of the Mississippi just across the River in Minnesota.

The Spam Museum (http://www.spam.com/museum/)
As surreal as the words "Spam Museum" are, they don't prepare you for the greatness.

Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, Minnesota (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2127)
Huh?

Sadly, the demolition derby next to the statue had already begun, and looked packed to the gills.

Chief Joseph plaque larger