June 11-18, 2022
We try not to travel more than four hours when we're driving the motor home. It's easy to drive, but it's a bit of a production to break things down in the morning, drive to another campground, and set everything back up. We definitely don't want to do any of that in the dark so we can drive farther in one day. We were in La Crosse, Wisconsin and we needed to get to Rapid City, South Dakota. That was too far for one day, so we stopped in Luverne, Minnesota for one day. Then we made it to South Dakota on Sunday.
Along the way, we stopped for lunch near Champlain, South Dakota. We took a big bridge over the Missouri River and saw lots of boats and people enjoying the clear water. It was a lot different than the Mississippi River, and we had a new destination to add to our list. Awesome!
We were going to see all of the South Dakota sights with Heather and Mike, and we found a campground where we shared a common area with a covered section. That part of the campground was pretty cool, but we were really packed in there with lots of other people. It wasn't our favorite campground, but we still enjoyed our stay with our buddies. Lacey had a tree over her pen, so she could play with her bungee toy we can hang above her.
On our first touring day we went to Mount Rushmore, right down the road from where we were staying. We went in the late afternoon, which turned out to be a great decision. We found a fantastic parking spot, and there weren't too many people. We meandered around the walking trail, checking out the scenery and solitude. It was pretty awesome, and we had a great time while we were there.
We were there for two hours, and we barely saw any of the museum. Next time, we'll plan on about twice that much time.
The next day, we headed east to tour a big circle. We started at Wall Drug (it's tough to resist with all of those road signs!), and then did the northern road into the Badlands. It's very scenic, and we enjoyed the tour and the Visitor Center.
We cut out of the park at that point and went to see the Minuteman Missile before it closed. It turned out the Visitor Center isn't all that close to the actual missile, so we didn't have time to go see it. We watched a movie and bought a bunch of stuff, though, and it was an enjoyable time.
Then, we headed back into the Badlands. We did a short hike in the blazing sun, and then we did the long, remote tour around the southern part of the Badlands. It turned out to be very interesting and gorgeous, though it was very long. We stopped at the Red Shirt Table Overlook and hung out there for a little while. It was such a relaxing area, with very few other cars that went by. It was very peaceful.
It was pretty hot during the day, so the next day we were happy to visit two national parks that featured caves. We started at Jewel Cave, which was really interesting. It was a lot of stairs that you could see through to far below where you stood. Monica wasn't crazy about that, but she made it. It was nice and cool inside, of course, which was perfect for the hot day. They did a really good job lighting things and pointing out cool stuff along the way. Of course, they turned off all of the lights at one point so we could experience how dark it really was.
After the tour we went for the short drive to Wind Cave. We took a wrong turn and ended up going way out of our way, but it was worth it. Our accidental trip into Custer State Park took us close to bison. We had to sit in the truck for a while to wait for them to pass, which was really cool.
Even though both caves are parts of national parks, and they are very close to each other, they are drastically different. Jewel Cave felt modern and expensive, while Wind Cave felt like it was left in the past and didn't get a lot of funding. Both experiences were worth it, though. It was definitely a good idea to do them both in one day.
It was a whirlwind in Rapid City -- it feels like it always is when you're there. It's because there is so much to see and do. Still, we found time to relax with our friends, and it was awesome to be able to hang out and enjoy everything together. And then we headed off on our own, separate ways. Heather and Mike went back to Denver (and experienced a blowout and damage on the way home), while we took the long way home via a couple stops in Wyoming. Thanks, South Dakota!
