Best Western Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center Rapid City

... He gave me some strong antibiotics so I hope to be back to full health in time for tea and crumpets on the front lawn.<br><br>With a new found respect for life coursing through my veins, I headed to Mount Rushmore to see four giant faces in a row. And I wasn't disappointed. There were four of them. They were giant. And strike me down if they weren't in a row. <br><br>Just down the road was Crazy ...

<br>Overcast and cloudy this morning looking out our window into the carpark of the hotel. Free Hotel breakfast was standard American buffet with the added interest of 'make your own waffles' &#8211; of course 3 of us had to try them (Kate wasn't keen). Hitting the road at 9am we hit a country road where we were the only vehicle for miles and miles. Stopping to use a restroom at a Wyoming gas station, Josh had fun counting out his allet full of pennies for a Hershey bar ...

... down veggies was also remarkable. I think I've also found the perfect home for our umbrella cockatoo if she gets tired of us - they have a lovely small aviary with macaws, another cockatoo and other parrots.<br><br>The one attraction I did not consider was the drive-through Bear Country Safari. Yeah, somehow I figured that it would be just too exciting to ride my Victory through a bear wildlife park.

... lands. Over this past weekend, there was a reenactment in memory of the anniversary. The site was VERY crowded with summer vacation crowds, and parking was so limited, particularly for RVs, that we had to go off site a mile and drop the trailer before going back. The ride on to Sheridan, WY where we stopped for the night was over rolling hills that are the Great Plains, lots of grasslands, and oodles of insects that met their fates hitting the ...

... and couldn't help but feel like we were all computerized and at the foot of the government. Walking through the airport looking at all the people being brainwashed by US media and the government and hearing that silly hyperbolic warning made me feel like I was in a movie. It was as though the government was trying to instill fear in everybody by all of its dire warnings so as to manipulate them. The Patriot Act came into my head, with ...

Day 52 I got up this morning feeling the desire to spend more time in Salt Lake City and to get to know Chelsea a little more. I had plans to drive to Rapid City and she was meeting her parents in Park City. When we were both up we got a chance to briefly talk about track and field. I learned that she competed in the NCAA National Championships. She was also only 3 spots off from making the Olympic Trials. I met an amazing athlete! She had to leave so I left a note for her ...

... the Buffalo Stew in a sourdough breadbowl. Sunday morning we drove the wildlife loop -- pronghorns, turkeys, whitetail deer, and plenty of bison. Stopped at Devil's Tower on our way to Sheridan WY--much better than Mt Rushmore, nice walk, views, and geologically interesting.

... 9 to trail #4, which also leads back down to the Sylvan Lake parking lot, but provided for a change of scenery. It cuts through some great sections of rock, with huge granite spires towering over head, towering over even the pine forest surrounding them. At the end of the day, we put on around 9.5 miles and around 1000 feet of elevation change. Without a doubt something I'd like to do again.

... the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail a little further on. I stopped a while at the visitor center then onto the Gullies Overlook and the Pinnacles. What a day. I even saw a veritical rainbow that went straight up in the distance. <br> I was back to civilization when I reached Grand Rapids, stopping at the Ruchmore Mall where I got a late snack and picked up a book, groceries at the Kmart-supplies for the next few days as I would be ...