May 14th – Left Illinois to head to Missouri to pick up my mom. She and I are going to explore a few states on our way to my niece’s wedding in Bozeman, Montana! Mom and I hung out for a few days in Windsor, I still had to work, but was taking the following week off for our adventures to and in Montana.
May 17th Wednesday - We got up bright and early and took off. Our route was north along the Iowa/Nebraska boarder, across South Dakota and into Wyoming, then up into Montana. I drove us through Kansas City then Mom took over as I still had to work on Thursday. We stopped and had lunch in Omaha, then spent our first night in Sioux Falls, SD.
Sioux Falls, SD - I had no idea how modern, “green” and pretty this city was. They have nature everywhere. I got the impression that they were trying to cut down on their carbon footprint. There were bike paths everywhere. The Big Sioux River runs right through downtown, with a very cool waterfall and everything. Cute little riverwalk-like concept.
Mom I don't think was used to walking so much and had to ice and elevate her swollen legs. Of course, Kylee was all about it, someone to lay with her on the couch!!
May 18th Thursday - Mom drove most of the day, while I worked. We went straight across the entire state of South Dakota on highway 90, for miles and miles and miles... We happened to see signs for 1880 Town 1880 TOWN in Midland and thought we’d stop and stretch our legs. What a treat! It was a replica of what a town would look like back in 1880 with several historical buildings relocated here from all around. So cool and it was a great stop!!!! I suggest this detour to anyone driving through SD.
Rapid City, SD – Well, not exactly, we stayed south of there, in Hill City, at an awesome campground called Rafter J Bar Ranch. South Dakota Camping & Resort in the Black Hills at RafterJ. I was afraid it was just going to be a wide-open field for campers, but WOW, what a surprise. It was partially forested with the Black Hills in the background. Plenty of room between sites and just so, so very pretty!!! Nothing like the website showed. Mom said, “nice choice Vicky” 😊 (I've since looked at their website-they now have better pictures/videos that better represent this awesome campground)
May 19th Friday – I took the day off of work, so we did a driving tour through Custer State Park. Lucky us, state parks were free the weekend before Memorial Day!! We drove the entire circuit, including a detour to some hot springs, that weren’t exactly hot nor were they what I was expecting, so we didn’t stay long ☹
However, because of this little detour we were able to see buffalo/bison right on the edge of the road. Such majestic, massive animals!
Needle Point - as in the rock formation as well as the tight squeeze between the rocks to get to the other side
Once on the other side, I stopped to take a picture. Mom wouldn't let me pull all the way into the parking space - she was scared & made me stop 8 feet from the curb!
We thought we were so specially in spotting the first bison, with a herd off to the right with 3 little babies. Little did we know the others would be closer!
Mom and I played a little game while driving through Custer Park - Who can spot the most animals along the way.
Mom-spotted Pronghorns and Prairie Dogs
Vicky-spotted Bison and Coyotes
Vicky thought she took the lead with the critter below, thinking it was a Mule Deer, but a stop at the ranger station confirmed it was just another Pronghorn. Boo! It's still a tie 2 to 2.
The sun was getting lower in the sky as we were heading to Crazy Horse, we rounded a sharp corner and Mom yells "Deer!!"
I took this shout to mean: 'Stop-it's in the middle of the road-don't hit it!!'
HOWEVER, Mom claims she gets credit for the animal because she yelled its name....
Hmmmm - what do you think? Did we end in a tie or did Mom win 3-2??
Crazy Horse - They have his index finger done and some of his knuckles. Given new technology, progress should speed up.
May 20th Saturday - We headed out to Mount Rushmore in the morning, before we had to check out of the campground. We didn't spend a lot of time there, no tours or anything like at Crazy Horse. Still amazing to see the details in these rocks, sculpted with only dynamite and jack hammers!
After we grabbed the camper and dogs, we had lunch at a cool little steakhouse in Hill City. 1885 Restaurant 1885 Steak House & Saloon | Restaurant in Hill CIty. I had an elk/bison burger. Not bad! Part of this building is the original wood, both inside and out. Owner is trying to replicate the same type of planking with newer wood. So much character in this place. It was very cool and food was good too!
The plan was to see downtown Deadwood, given we were driving near it, but there was absolutely no parking for an RV. We just imagined what it looked like and kept driving.
Stayed at a KOA, right at the base of Devil’s Tower, which was pretty cool, but other than that, not super excited about this stop. The scenery along the way, well, that was awesome!
May 21st Sunday - Cody, WY – Stayed at the Ponderosa RV Park. Again, nothing spectacular, but they did have a great gift shop where we bought A LOT of stuff and the owners were super nice. Mom wanted to see some wild horses but we were having a hard time finding a place that was open and would actually guarantee we’d see them. Plus, it was a Sunday and a lot of places were closed or not open for very long. This included Old Trail Town, given it was before Memorial Day, they weren’t open either. So, back on the road again…
May 22nd Monday - Bozeman, MT – We arrived at the campground the afternoon on May 22nd Bozeman Campground | Your base camp for Montana adventure. What an awesome place. Included in our stay and our first agenda item, was the Hot Springs themselves. It was cloudy, chance of rain, but we went anyway and oooohhhhh was a relief for stiff muscles from driving for 5 days…so, so nice. They have 9 different ‘pools’ of various temperatures and sizes, outdoors and indoors, a little something for everyone. It was a little piece of heaven!
To be continued as Bozeman, MT 2.0
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