Category Archives: South Dakota

Sandhills, Bison, Pelicans and History

I woke up at 6:00 AM with great intentions to do some writing. It had rained for the majority of the night, so the earth of the group campsite we were occupying was the consistency of lard. Sticky, greasy, nasty. I was looking for a place to set up and write, as the picnic bench was very unsuitable, when the guy from the next campground, John, walked over. He’s in between consulting gigs. He decided to take some time off between consultations. The last gig was a very successful consulting job, and he decided that he needed to take a look at the world before the next one. It was a great wandering conversation, filled with stories about each of our lives. Told with respect, illuminating, no braggadocio, snippets of achievements we were proud of in an effort to describe our individual lives. Suffice it to say, that after reaching an agreement, I would trust him with everything I own. A spiritual man, possibly religious, but nothing on his sleeve, everything in his actions. Continue reading

Black Hills to Devil’s Tower

devils_towerIt was a very busy day the day before, but we woke up early again at 6:15, had a cereal breakfast and were on the road by 7:20.  The day did not get off to a good start.  I was putting away a frying pan from dinner from the night before, and I couldn’t close the damn pot drawer.  I burned up almost a half an hour messing around with the drawer, which I was unable to fix, but did manage to close. Continue reading

The Black Hills

We got off to an early start by way of not sleeping in. For some reason, I was up and ready to go at 6 AM, probably because I’m still on East Coast time – vacation mode will do that to you.

We had a great breakfast of Taylor ham, egg and cheese on a hard roll, a New Jersey treat.  The hard rolls we found were good, an unexpected surprise. I’m sure that today that we were eating the westernmost Taylor Ham and Egg sandwiches in the United States. Continue reading

The Badlands to Mount Rushmore

We slept later than we wanted, as it was a cool foggy morning. I’d been up around 6 and there was some haze to the west of the campground and I took a picture and closed up the RV.  We had left everything open and it was more damp than cool rushmoreAs we were leaving, I discovered that the group of men camping next to us were recently commissioned Officers in the US Army, having some fun before reporting to their individual duty stations.  One was in Armor, one in Communications and the other was with the Military Police.  Fortunately, the MP second Lieutenant was the stockiest of the three, it will suit him. They had some good stories both about their service thus far and their adventure in the Badlands with some rain mixed in. I wasn’t thinking, and didn’t get any of their names. They all were very fine men, and everyone should sleep sounder knowing that they are serving the country. Continue reading

Grasslands to the Badlands

prarie

Our RV on the Prarie

We slept in because we could, for we reached the portion of the trip where all pressure is off.  We have no schedule, no deadlines, no one to see, until we get word from my daughter that they are settled in, and ready for visiting grandparents.  We have, at this time, only potential destinations in a limited time, but the duration is almost two months. As a strange twist, we didn’t realize until the end of the day that we had crossed into Mountain Time Zone and were actually an hour ahead.  Early without realizing it, what a concept! Continue reading