Trade Winds Lodge Valentine

... of the van. It isn't that big of a park, so we made it through fairly quick. We got back on the highway and headed east again. For at least a hundred miles the only thing you see on the side of the road is billboards for Wall's Drug Store. Most of them were pretty funny, and offering free ice water and 5 cent coffee, they really know how to real people in, because obviously we had to stop and check it out.<br><br>The ...

Another sunny morning, around 64F when I left. Rolling from flat farmland to more rolling hills with wind. Not much of a problem until the road construction forced both ways to one side of interstate for ... miles. That meant nice gusty sidewinds combined with many strong gusts from semis and rvs. Lots of fun so not a surprise that I chose the first motel in Chamberlain. All ...

We stayed in a Hotel for the first time on our trip while we visited Mount Rushmore. The drive though the Black Hills of South Dakota is worth every moment. I would love to do it on my Motorcycle. Deadwood is a turn of the century town with all of it characters. <br>Our time spent at Mount Rushmore ...

... indian version of what happened there. The area still has a weird feeling, or is that just our imaginations, either way we were please we went.<br>Onward to the badlands,we set up camp at a very nice campground in the small town of Interior, there is a national park campground nearby, which looked real nice, but we wanted internet to plan our next few days. I will let the photos speak for themselves.... AMAZING!!!

... and wind was amazing, and the lightning added to the whole destructive scene, when it was over the water was inches deep around the RV and the kids were riding their bikes on the road in water that reached their axles.<br>Just before the storm hit we visited a welding shop and had a new bracket made for the bike rack.<br><br>At 7 pm , we were all at the rodeo, a corner of the arena was under water, so you can imagine the spray when the animals and ...

... but it was enough for me to stop. Why did the wild turkey cross the road? To make sure his butt didn&#8217;t wind up on my bumper. He got a cross in time and here is proof for the PETA people. <br><br>The more you drive , the more you will see the weathered barns in the open fields. I love this, especially with a mommy and baby barn. More of the windmills across the fields, these guys are humongous! And there are the length ...

... for tubing, so we toured the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge. We enjoyed seeing the bison, elk, wild turkeys, and prairie dog village. We also saw red winged blackbirds and Bullock's Oriole -- just like a Baltimore Oriole only yellow and black. <br><br>We hiked to one waterfall, but skipped a second when the rain started again.

Before I decided to write this second entry on my experiences in South Dakota I was surfing the web for some pictures that told a story about this state and like all good internet searches I got lost. Along the way I found this quote that I would like to share and that I think is especially true for this entry: "Sometimes the greatest glories in our lives, the greatest pleasures are in events anticipated or recalled. Those were the warm and beautiful times ...

... worked it's way down the canyon wall to the river below. Opal did not feel that she could make it down so Jeffery agreed to wait with her while Chris and I hiked down to the river. The hike down was not bad but it sure was rough coming back up. The falls were worth the effort. We then made a trip into Valentine. The fish hatchery was not really in operation so we just drove around the holding ponds looking at the fish. Many of the trees in the ...

... started seeing them after that. We saw 6 more antelope before arriving at Valentine Nebraska. We stopped at the local food market and stocked up on a few things and then gassed up the truck again. Gas was $4.079/GAL. YIKES !!! We then headed back south to Merritt Reservoir State Park. After looking at a few campgrounds we settled on Cedar Bay which only had a couple sites left. We found one with a lake frontage and took ...