A Memorable 4th of July

Our arrival in Custer, South Dakota was especially sweet when we were able to meet a fellow blogger, Judy Ross, better know as Meowmomma, and her husband, Everett.  I followed along on their yearlong travels last year in celebration of their 40th anniversary.  Judy's blog is Cathouse Adventures.  Click on the link to check it out!

Meowmomma Judy and Hubster Everett

Judy and Everett are staying at an RV park in the town of Custer, and Dave and I are staying in a park a few miles southeast of Custer.  They came over to our motorhome and after we talked for a couple of hours, we all decided to head to town for dinner and more conversation.  Judy and Everett, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting both of you and talking about all the many subjects that fellow RVers and bloggers talk about!

Dave and I have been touring the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Today was the day that we chose to visit Mount Rushmore.  We knew it would be crowded, so we left the RV park at 8:30 in hopes of beating the crowds and the heat.  We managed to do both, and got a good parking spot, too.  This was our first visit to Mount Rushmore and we were awe-struck.  Of course, we had seen it in  pictures, but there's nothing like viewing it in person.

Seen through a crevice in a little cave, George Washington's head pops through.

Since it was the 4th of July, we saw both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in "person".

After touring Mount Rushmore, we ate our picnic lunch looking at this view of  nearby Horsethief Lake.

Our drive back to the RV park led us along the part of the Peter Norbeck Highway and through Custer State Park.  The low tunnels on this road means that it's not a road for big rig RVs!

From turnouts along the highway, we saw several more glimpses of the presidents.

Custer State Park is a huge park and we will visit more of it in the days to come.

One of the highlights of today's drive through the park was seeing a herd of bison on the move.

THE END

Ellsworth AFB, Chapel in the Hills, and a Couple of Errands

Today was another busy day for Dave and me.  I had to get a blood test done in Rapid City, so I searched the internet and after a couple of phone calls, I found a walk-in lab.  This same blood test (ProTime/INR) cost me $14 in Central California in February, but it cost me $28 today in Rapid City.  I was told that I could get the results in about four hours, and we found plenty to keep us busy during that time.

The expensive lab in Rapid City.

We drove out to Ellsworth Air Force Base east of Rapid City and toured the Air and Space Museum and went on the bus tour of the base, which included a stop at a Minuteman Missile training silo.  I'll let Dave tell the bulk of that story, but I took a few pictures, too.

Left: Minuteman missile, Right: B1 bomber

Everyone on the bus tour had to have their driver's license checked to make sure no one had any outstanding warrants.  We were surprised when Dave's name was called, but it was because they transcribed an "O" and a "zero" on his license.  Whew...we could continue the tour.

Original entrance to the silo, but we tourists were able to go around back and go down stairs instead of ladders.

The top of the nuclear warhead

A model of the missile silo that we saw:

From Ellsworth we had lunch at Hardees which was memorable only because I used to eat at a Hardees when I lived in Illinois in 1974 and I remember that hamburgers cost fifteen cents each then.  We didn't realize until we saw the Hardees logo that out west we call the place Carl's Jr. 

After lunch, we drove across town to the Chapel in the Hills, a replica of a Norwegian stavkirche (wooden church).  I am interested in all things Norwegian since my maternal grandmother was Norwegian.

Our first glimpse of the church, as it blended into the surrounding trees.  The grounds of the chapel were a wonderful respite on this hot afternoon.

Front of the church

As we entered the nave of the church, we heard an audio tape playing the hymn, "My God How Wonderful Thou Art".  The music was beautiful and fitting for this occasion.  The audio went on to tell us some details about the church, which is still used for nightly vespers.

Side view of the church

Closeup of the entrance

The bell tower was located behind the church.

Back view of the church

The granary, with its sod roof, now houses a gift shop containing many handmade items.

A typical Norwegian cabin, now a museum, was also on the property.  Outside the cabin we saw Ole... 

...and  his wife, Lena, keeping Ole in line.

We had one more stop before returning to Labcorp to pick up my ProTime results.  Thimble Cottage is a quilt shop owned by designer Pearl Louise Krush.  Pearl was in the shop today and she autographed her Sunbonnet Sue Designs book that I purchased.

THE END    (of a B1 bomber)

Tomorrow morning we will move the motorhome to Custer's Gulch Campground in Custer, in order to be closer to all the activities around Mount Rushmore.

Deadwood, Lead, and Spearfish Canyon

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast in the motorhome and then set off for a driving tour of the nearby towns of Deadwood and Lead, South Dakota, and Spearfish Canyon.

Our first impression of Deadwood was scenic:

We had expected Deadwood to be a town of nothing but casinos, and it had some, but it also had a charming downtown area that we would have walked if it hadn't been so hot.

Post office and courthouse

The Deadwood Trolley

We followed Highway 14A south, and in a few miles, we arrived at the town of Lead (pronounced Leed).  This is a hilly town, and the downtown of this town wasn't as scenic as we expected, but we enjoyed the views of the Homestake Gold Mine open cut area.  We stopped at the visitor's center and watched a movie about the mine.  No tours were being help today because there was a car show in the parking lot--we didn't quite get the connection about why that meant that they couldn't have tours.

The mine buildings were located about a mile down the street.  The mine operated from around 1878 until 2001.  They began shutting down the mine when gold prices dropped in the early twentieth century. 

Next to the Lead visitor's center was an old Finnish Lutheran Church, built in the late 19th century .  It is now being used as an art museum and gift shop.

We continued on Hwy 16A to the south end of Spearfish Canyon, more of the scenic drive.  We were not sorry that we did this drive!

We stopped at Roughlock Falls.  We could hear the falls as soon as we got out of the car.  After a short walk, we saw the roaring creek and then the refreshing falls.

We finished up the drive with more views of the rock formations in the canyon.

We explored the town of Spearfish and liked its clean, wide streets but somehow we managed not to take any pictures except for this welcome sign.

We came back to the motorhome to eat lunch and we've been vegging out here ever since.