OCT 11, Sunday, Sturgis
We had a new neighbour overnight but he left early this morning. I guess this weather is not for them!? It is a bit warmer today...-4*C and there is a light snow falling but nothing major as yet.
We spent the day here at home. We just didn’t feel like going out which was a good thing because it started to snow more in the afternoon. Val made Italian spaghetti for dinner then we watched TV.
OCT 12, Monday, to Hot Springs, South Dakota
I got up early and went to Sturgis to get an oil & lube done on the truck. I was a bit overdue. I came home after getting us a McDonald breakfast and we packed to leave.
We left around 11 a.m. and by the time we got to Rapid City, the temperature was at a “balmy” -2*C ( 29*F); we turned south on Hwy 79 and headed for Hot Springs. It was a 4 lane highway all the way to our turn-off and the country side was rolling hills with the Black Hills on our right. We turned West and North on Hwy 385 and arrived in Hot Springs around 12:30 p.m. We found our campsite, KEMO SABAY Campground just outside of town, paid our dues (a Passport America member) and set up. There is one other rig here from Washington. We have power and sewer but no water however our tank is full.
We drove back to town to do our laundry then did some sightseeing and picture taking. We stopped at a local pub for a beer and learned that they close at 9 p.m. every day! WOW!! All the restaurants that we saw were mostly all closed. We were told that not much is open on Mondays! NO KIDDING!!!! It is however a neat and clean town and most of the buildings are built with Clay Rock which makes them all look reddish/brownish Kind of unique in a way!
We went back to our site and got dinner ready and relaxed. Tomorrow we will explore Custer Park and city and Crazy Horse statue built in the mountain. It is still -1*C
We travelled 81 miles in 1.5 hours at 49MPH average
N 43* 27’ 03”
W 103* 28’ 23”
Alt: 3651 feet
OCT 13, Tuesday, Sightseeing
We left around 11:30 a.m. to go explore Wind Cave Park and Custer National Park. We followed 385 then headed north on 87 which took us through Custer Park. We climbed to 6400 feet via a winding road with lots of switch backs and at one point, the road rode over itself then made a circle and we drove under. Quite neat! We saw lots of wild buffalos, deer, one elk and wild turkeys. We zigzagged down to Hwy 16a (5300’) then tried Hwy 87 through the Needles but it was closed so we drove on 89 which took us through the back way and up to 87 but again 87 was closed on that side too so we gave up and came back on 385. We had just climbed to 6800 feet on 89 and the snow was not all that deep and the roads were bared but a bit icy at places.
We headed south to Crazy Horse Memorial, paid $5 each and visited the Interpretive Centre which was VERY IMPRESSIVE. It consisted of 5 buildings inter-connected and representing different display. There was an observatory deck, a movie theatre showing the history of the carving of the mountain, lots of Indian clothing and paraphilia, the living room of the builder, Mr Korczak Ziolkowski and his family, another room was the Native Cultural Centre where sculptors and artist could work (there was two when we visited) and a restaurant. Unfortunately, the main attraction, the carving of the mountain, was all fogged in and we never saw it but we did see the model that is being use for measurement purposes. It has been in progress since 1948 and the sculptor died but his wife and family are keeping the project going.
Our drive back was in the fog until almost our campsite. In the town of Custer, everything was closed due to late season.
It was cloudy all day and the temperature went up to +2*C (34*F) at our site by the end of the day.
OCT 14, Wednesday, to Nebraska
We got up at 8 a.m. and were on the road by 9:30. I dumped before leaving as it was above freezing...+1*C (33*F). We headed back to 385 via 18 and went south. It was cloudy and raining but we could see quite far. The land was rolling hills full of wild prairie grass and wheat field. At one point we climbed to 4500’ and into the fog and for the next 2 hours, we never saw anything around us. The temperature felt to -2*C! We crossed into Nebraska under these conditions.
Eventually, we descended into Alliance and the sky cleared enough to see again and the temperature went back up to +5*C. We continued south to Bridgeport and turned West on Hwy 26 for 14 miles to visit the Chimney Rock, a National Historic Site. This is a prominent landmark that indicated the place where the prairies ended and closing in on the Rockies as the immigrants headed west on the Oregon Trail via Wyoming. We had lunch here and visited the Interpretive Centre and watched a movie on the Oregon Trail and the significance of the Chimney. The sun came out, the sky cleared and the temperature climbed to 15*C but as we headed East again, we caught to the clouds and the temperature dropped to 5*C. We arrived in Ogallala around 4 p.m. and we will spend a couple days here. We are camped at a CAMP USA resort called Country View Campground.
We travelled 422 KM (262 miles) in 7 hours at an average speed of 48 MPH
N 41* 06’ 18”
W 101* 42’ 51”
Alt: 3263 feet
I downloaded more pictures in folder 44
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