Hanging with the Presidents

Can't help but feel patriotic standing here!!

       Taking our leave from the Madsens, we headed out across western Wisconsin, Minnesota and into South Dakota.  I would love to share with you some amazing sights we saw along the way, but there really are none.  The sights are all vast farm fields.  It was also July 15th, which is a very special day for Cecelia and I.  This was the day we were married 20 years ago.  So, we decided to celebrate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

All that corn

     While driving across the farm plains of Minnesota that morning, Cecelia made arrangements for us to have massages.  So, we set the girls up with a movie marathon at a theatre that wasn't too far away from the masseuse's place.  It worked out perfectly.  Cecelia and I had our massages and went to dinner while the girls watched two movies.  We even managed to sneak in a sit down at a coffee shop before they finished.
     After all of us completing the anniversary activities, we drove about another hour and stayed in a nice little trailer park just outside Mitchell, South Dakota.  We stayed here, because friends told us to visit the Corn Palace in Mitchell.
    The next morning, we took off early so that we could get to Mount Rushmore, but we wanted to stop by the Corn Palace.  The Corn Palace turned out to be a performance and sports stadium.  This wouldn't be anything special except for the outside of the place.  The outside is decorated entirely in corn products.  Not only decorated, but in giant murals that depict cowboy and farm life in the area.  It is like the rose parade, but in corn.  It was a cool sight, but it couldn't compare to our next stop.

Tay still believes Jackalopes are real

    Starting in Minnesota we began seeing billboards for a place called Wall Drug.  This was some 359 miles away from the actual place.  So, along the long drive across South Dakota, we were entertained by signs that professed, things like free ice water, homemade donuts, fresh pie, souvenirs and so on.  By the time the town of Wall came close we were convinced that we needed to stop by, just to check out what was so special about Wall Drug.  When we arrived in the town of Wall, we were amazed by how many people were there.  The little town was packed and we barely could find a place to park the RV.
    Finding a safe place to park so that I could get out easily, we walked a block to find out what all the fuss was about.  We were soon to discover that Wall Drug is a combination of drug store, turned into restaurant, souvenir shop, art gallery, leather dealer and old west museum.  It truly is an amazing place, and their marketing campaign is awesome.  Their advertising draws people to the place like St. Patrick drew the snakes into the ocean.
    After fueling up on donuts, pie and fuel we jumped back on the highway for a short drive to our campsite near Mt. Rushmore.  Arriving at Three Forks, we immediately unhooked the trailer and embarked on an adventure to see George, Abe, Teddy and Tom.
    Arriving at the monument, we were soon be disappointed to find out that the public is no longer allowed to walk the 700 steps to the top of the Presidents; heads.  Apparently the park has had some security problems since 9/11.  There have been a couple of thwarted attempts at defacing and blowing up the monument.

From inside a small cave nearby

    It would be a real shame to deface Borglum's masterpiece.  The reasoning for this sculpture is very patriotic and the presidents that were chosen was well thought out.  I found this piece of art work to be absolutely mesmerizing, in its sheer magnitude and beauty.  My family and I spent a couple of hours staring at and photographing this awesome accomplishment of artistic fortitude.  I would equate the effort to Michael Angelo painting the Sistine Chapel.  Some may find this comparison a stretch, but if you just think about the commitment and passion that it takes to complete a task of such desire, you have to think it is divine inspiration that drives these artists on to success.
    Leaving with lasting memories of history and the grandeur of Mt. Rushmore, we left to go for a drive in Custer State Park.  Custer State Park is a wildlife preserve near Mt. Rushmore that has one of the largest free roaming buffalo herds in the United States.  Since we missed all the buffalo in the Central Plains, we figured we could get our fix here.  On the way, we drove a really cool road that had pig tailed turns on them.  You need to look pictures up on Google to get a good idea of the road.
    As we drove closer to the park, we had heard that there were free roaming buffalo, but had not seen any.  As a group, we began scouring the terrain with our eyes for any movement that might constitute a Tatanka(Buffalo) sighting.  We began to get very disappointed because we were meeting with no success, when all of a sudden a big bull stood up right next to the road.  I was so surprised, that I almost drove into oncoming traffic.  We then turned around and had to go back for a closer look.  When we arrived back at the original sighting, we found the big bull standing and looking at the traffic.  We got some great pictures and were excited.  Our party was to soon be more excited and get an unexpected Tatanka encounter.

Out on the plains where they belong

    Turning back around, we drove into the park itself.  The buffalo we saw before, was actually wild and roaming a different part of the park.  The ranger at the station directed us to the wildlife drive.  It is an 18 mile loop that travels inside the park.  As we drove along, we began to see Prong Horned Antelope and deer, but once again no Buffalo.  We were starting to get the feeling that we weren't going to have any luck, until I made the turn by the park's air strip.  As I rounded the corner I saw in the distance a large group of Tatanka on a hill.  As we got closer though the view began to be obscured and we lost sight of them.  We thought we were going to be limited to a view from far away until we came over the rise and found to our wondering surprise the entire herd grazing on the plain next the road.  It was an awe inspiring sight to see.  All 1400 of the animals were spread as far as the eye could see on the grassy plain.  Now this would have been more than enough to satisfy our thirst for the elusive creates, but the animals decided that this wasn't enough.

Getting closer!!

    While the herd was grazing along peacefully on the open plain like they have always done throughout history, I backed the tailgate of the truck up to a little knoll so we could sit on it and watch.  We grabbed some snacks and headed back to sit and watch.  The herd rolled out along the plain like a giant brown river flowing on top of the grass.  If you want to know peace, sit on the back of the tailgate of your truck and just watch Buffalo flow along grazing.  I was so surprised at the content feeling I got from watching these animals move along eating grass.  The scene was amazing!
    Little did I know that the peaceful feeling I had watching the Buffalo with my family was going to turn into an exciting adrenaline rush.  As I mentioned, the animals were eating peacefully and getting closer to us.  At this point we could hear some of the bulls making really deep rumbling sounds, almost like the growling of a lion.  While we were watching the females and babies, we didn't realize that the end of the herd was penning us in on both sides.  All of a sudden we were surrounded by Buffalo and the bulls that were making the sounds were standing in front of us, about 20 ft. from the tailgate of the truck.  At this point the bulls were bellowing louder and some of them were getting a little rambunctious.  We went from sitting on the end of the tailgate, to huddling inside the camper shell.  I had one hand on the camera and the other ready to snap the tailgate closed if anything drastic happened.  I did not want my family to become a viral YouTube video.  A moment later the animals moved on and we felt we were out of the woods, until we looked to our right and bringing up the rear of the herd was the largest bull we had seen so far.  The girls nicknamed him Mr. Fro, because the fur on his shoulder and head were so tall, it made him look like he had a giant afro.

Up close and personal with Mr. Fro!!!!!!

    We knew that Mr. Fro was the man, because when he came charging up from the back of the herd and bellowed all of the other Buffalo moved, Bulls, Females and Babies alike.  After Mr. Fro came our way, he decided to stop and stand right at the back of the truck and give us a stare and a bellow.  I was video taping the movements of him and the herd up until this point, but when I looked at the video later, there was nothing there but the top of my shoe and tailgate.  What do you think I was doing at the moment.  Moving farther inside the truck to huddle with my family of course.  I had to go back and protect them you know!!
    Mr. Fro then moved on without incident and pushed the herd up the road to surround a number of other cars and trucks parked on the side of the road as well.  At this point the Buffalo were starting to take over the road, so we decided to head out and see what else we could find.
    After our Tatanka experience, everything else was pretty anticlimactic the rest of the drive.  We did find a herd of wild donkeys that the park advertised were also on the wilderness drive.  Let's just say, their idea of wild and mine are not the same.  When we came upon them, there was a bunch of cars parked just off the road and people were out feeding and petting them.  They are about as wild as donkeys in a petting zoo.  Anyway, we got out and had a good time petting them as well.  The girls were infatuated with the baby donkeys.  They were very cute and fluffy.  I wouldn't quite say they were cuddly, because how do you cuddle a donkey.

Aren't they cute, and the donkeys are too!!

    We took our leave of the donkeys and drove the rest of the wildlife loop.  Here and there we saw more deer, Pronghorns and donkeys.  We didn't see another Buffalo until we were leaving the park.  It was standing right next to the sign for the park entrance.  It was a classic scene, because the entrance sign has a large stylized iron Buffalo cut out on top of it and the Buffalo was standing right next to it.  It was a bad angle for us and we didn't get a picture, but it was awesome anyway.
    Leaving the park, we headed for the town of Keystone.  Keystone is the town at the base of Mt. Rushmore and it has many restaurants and shops.  They also have a couple of really cool activities, two of them were an Alpine Slide and Aerial Adventure Course.  We went to check out the Ariel Adventure Course for the next day and ended up taking the girls down the Alpine Slide.  They had a great time.
   After the Alpine slide, it was time to get some dinner.  We went to a small cafe and had, guess what?  Buffalo Burgers of course.  Just because we admire them, doesn't mean we won't eat them.  We then headed back to the trailer for a good night's sleep.  Before turning in for bed, I was looking at the trailer and discovered that a couple of the tires on the trailer were not so good.  We were going to have to deal with them before we went much further.

Claire squeezing through the hoops

    The next morning dawned clear and beautiful.  The mountain air was crisp and clean with just a hint of cold.  It was just enough that I had to put on a sweatshirt for the first time on our trip.  There was even a Big Horned Sheep grazing on the lawn of the house that was next to our camp sight.  I called Cecelia out immediately, because she has been really wanting to see a Big Horned Sheep and a Mountain Goat on our trip.  This was her first opportunity.
    Cecelia took a couple of photos and then we settled in to have our morning coffee and breakfast.  While drinking our coffee, we decided that we were going to have to cut our visit in the area short so we could take care of the tires.  While I ran into town, Cecelia cooked breakfast and got the girls up and going.  We decided that we would do the Arial Course with the girls before leaving.

Tay climbing the tiny ladder

    The Arial Course turned out to be one of the best adventures we have had on the trip thus far.  It is a combination of climbing, zip lining and rappelling.  The company that came up with idea, has created a giant jungle gym 40 ft. off the ground in the pine trees.  They teach you all the safety features of the equipment and then turn you lose to climb around on six courses with different difficulties.  Everyone must do a yellow beginner circle course to prove that you can handle the equipment, but then once that is done you have an hour and a half to choose whatever you want to do.  Of course my family finding the green (already one step up from beginner) course to be too easy jumped right on the Blue Square which was a little more challenging.  Finally, to finish our time, we all did the Black Diamond Course.  The Black Diamond course was exponentially harder than the Blue Square course.  Of course everyone in the family finished, but not without some difficulty.  You need to be part gymnast and ninja warrior to finish all the obstacles.  Apparently we all have a little of both.  One safety pointer, try and stretch before you do this, because it is not good to get a cramp at 40 feet dangling from a rope.
   Feeling like we got some good exercise for the day, we grabbed the trailer and headed out to a town called Spearfish.  We met a really great guy named Mike that ran a small tire store and he took care of the trailer for us.  Four tires and $400 later we were back on the road to a trailer park in Billings, Montana.
   Paying for the tires was actually a good way to finish the day, because despite the cost, we could sleep well knowing that we avoided what could have been a major disaster if one of those tires blew out.