Badlands National Park ...August 31 - Day 5

(Kim's Perspective)

Today was our 18^th wedding anniversary and, like most years, we spent it doing the things we love to do together.  It started out with an early hike to the top of a small butte to watch the sun rise above the campground.  We brought coffee and our backpacking chairs and sat in the early morning sun soaking up the rays and the beautiful view.   

 Bill settled in for the long haul while I wandered off to investigate the trail.  

We eventually headed back to the trailer and watched a buffalo roam into camp.  We were awed by his power and beauty and just as awed by the sheer idiocy of the woman who thought it smart to walk over to him for a photo op. Clearly, she's not watched enough "When Animals Attack" videos. 

After a quick breakfast, we geared up and took the bikes to Sheep Mountain.  This was a highly entertaining ride.  Gravel roads led to some 4x4 trails that were a lot of fun and ended in some amazing views.

"18" - Our Annual Tradition

 

  We exchanged our anniversary cards at an amazing overlook...

 ...and stopped often to take pics.

 

 

Motorcycling Selfie

After a great morning of riding, we headed back to the campground and stopped along the way so I could get some pics of the sunflower fields.

 

We ate lunch and then headed into Wall with the Sitts.  Naturally, we went to Wall Drug and spent a couple hours shopping and entertaining ourselves with the bizarre exhibits. 

 

We had dinner across the street at some sad little restaurant that didn't have much going for it.  Menu items were scratched out on some of the menus and 3 of the things we tried to order were not available.  Not the best dining experience, especially on our anniversary, but options are pretty limited in Wall, South Dakota so I guess you just have to make the most of it. 

After dinner, we headed back to the campground and were rewarded with some great shots of a couple of buffalo and the remnants of a rainbow.

 

 

 

We returned to the camper, loaded the bikes, and prepped for our short travel day to Custer State Park.  It quickly grew dark and Bill and I took some time to do some stargazing.  We stood outside for awhile before we realized there was a buffalo nearby snorking around and scratching his head on a sign post.  Bill and Shele had already turned in for the night, but I texted Shele to come out and join us for a few minutes.  Today was special for her as well - it was her birthday! - so I thought it would be a great way for us to end our celebratory day together.  We had a fantastic day and watching the stars twinkle in the night sky with a buffalo by our campsite was an awesome way to have it end.

Badlands National Park...August 30 - Day 4

(Kim's Perspective)

This morning we woke up early so that we could scope the campground out for campers who were vacating.  We got lucky and ended up with a site by the horse camp that was large enough to accommodate both campers.  It turned out to be a great spot.

So, we moved from here (parked along the side of the road)...

 ...to here....yes, that's MUCH better.

 

The Sitts' electric jack was malfunctioning so while Mr. Sitt was tinkering with it, I took Shele for a ride on the bike to check out the buffalo.  We headed back after a bit and ate some breakfast before heading out on the scenic tour.  Bill and I rode the bikes and Bill and Shele followed in their truck.  I brought my small camera along so it would fit better in my MC bag, but somewhere along the way... on I-80 in Iowa no doubt...the lens or aperture got messed up so I was left with cell phones for picture taking.  Grrr. 

 We stopped at all the touristy overlooks and I was quite pleased that Bill and Shele were really awed by the views and just the experience in general.  They've been really great sports about this whole trip.  When I would ask Shele what she wanted to see or do, she always replied with something along the lines of "it will all be new to me so anything you come up with is good".  This makes it sound like it would be simple to plan a 2.5 week vacation with folks that are that easy to get along with, but it's still surprisingly difficult.  I wanted to make sure that they had a good time but we generally have very different ideas of what "fun" is as far as outdoor adventures go, so I was feeling a bit nervous that they were going to hate it.  Fortunately, my worry proved to be for naught and, apart from the endless driving, they are now seeming to really enjoy themselves. 

At one of the trail head parking areas, we tossed our gear into their truck and we all headed out to one of the trails and walked for a bit.  We didn't go far and weren't gone for long since Bill and I weren't really geared up for hiking, but it was nice to scramble along the rocks with them and give them a taste for some non-East Coast hiking. 

We finished the drive and headed towards Wall and stopped for gas along the way.  Shele walked up to us while we were filling up and said they were going to get some ice cream.  A) She loves ice cream.  B) She said she had never had ice cream in South Dakota.  Reason B was really just her excuse for Reason A.  :)  While they were eating their ice cream, I did a little mapping to get us back "home". 

We jumped on 90 to slab the 20 miles to Wall and then took 240 to Sage Rim Road to the campground.  I picked up an Annual National Park Pass since the entrance station was closed when we arrived last night and we slowly made our way back to the camper by 5pm. 

We pulled our lawn chairs out and lined ourselves up along our trailer which was providing some much appreciated shade.  We kicked off our shoes and socks and passed around some snacks while chillin' and looking at the view surrounding us.  We eventually got up and made dinner and then Shele and I went for a brief walk around the campground to burn off some of those "snack calories".  The evening's entertainment came in the form of two thunderstorms off in the distance that put on quite an impressive light show. 

We all sat and watched the skies light up with jagged, intense bolts of lightning and then finally turned in for the night.  I showered and made it to bed by 9:30.  Wooohooo!  I think we're all very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and having a nice, wide open and as yet to be determined schedule. 

En Route to Badlands National Park...August 29 - Day 3

(Kim's Perspective)

We woke up at 5 this morning so we could have a somewhat leisurely morning departure.  We had coffee, arranged the camper and truck for another long drive and hitched up by 6 am.  We had to dump our tanks but we were on the road by 6:30 as planned.  Our destination was Sage Creek Campground in Badlands National Park.


Things were going really well and we were able to make pretty decent time considering the weather and road construction. The only issue we had for the first part of the day was the washboard road they call Interstate 80.  Are you kidding me?  We had the snot beaten out of us for hours on end.

We finally had enough and jumped off on Interstate 35 and headed towards Minnesota.  Over and up, up and over - all the states are big squares out here so it really doesn't matter one way or the other....unless you're desperate to get off of a particular highway.




At any rate, we stopped for gas and added a few more ratchet straps to our makeshift belly pan repair and continued on.

Thanks, Mr. Bill!

We rolled into Minnesota...

  and continued on our journey to...

There's not much to look at out here, but I do love the cool, old barns and the beautiful rolling farms.

 

 We didn't have time to stop for lunch so all of us, Lane included, had to eat on the road.

Adventure Kitteh Overcomes Adversity

 Along the way, we discussed a side trip to see the Corn Palace.  Hokey as it is, we were going to be SO close that it would have been a traveling shame to just drive by without stopping.  It IS the only Corn Palace in the WHOLE WORLD after all.  :)  So, my dear husband and our friends accommodated my request - albeit begrudgingly, and we swung by to take a look.  When I say we swung by, that's exactly what we did.  We didn't have time to stop so we literally drove past to snap these photos and hopped back on the highway.

 

 

We encountered a few nasty storms that were quickly followed by an incredibly blue sky and white poofy clouds.  

 

 The scenery changed up a bit and the topography started to change as we headed West towards Wall.

 

The sunflower fields were AMAZING!!  Absolutely beautiful!

In an attempt to occupy myself, I counted all the roadside billboards for Wall Drug along the way.  

I ended up counting 80 but I think I may have missed a few here and there.  Anyway, we made it to Wall without any drama and stopped to get gas at the Wall Drug Auto Livery.  Before we even had time to notice, a motorcyclist pointed out that we had a flat tire on the trailer.  Wow.  Unbelievable. We finished filling the tank and pulled the trailer to a large open area on the parking lot and proceeded to change our second tire in 2 days.  We're starting to get a little paranoid that we're not supposed to be on this trip or something.  We left Wall and headed to Sage Creek Campground only to find it completely full.  What?!?  This park rarely fills to capacity - even on holiday weekends.  What is going on?  We were able to park along the campground loop for temporary accommodations for the night and just prayed we'd be able to secure two spots in the morning.  We were all very tired, but we ended up staying out for awhile star gazing and listening to the buffalo grunt and bellow and the coyotes yip and bark.  The stars here are spectacular.  Sadly, our exhaustion took over and we headed to bed.  It was a very long day of driving.  We made up some time over the last two days as we crossed the time zones, but it was still a 15.5 hour driving day today so we were all more than ready to turn in for the night.