This is such an incredible experience for both of us. One of the things we have learned is that you really have to limit your choices -- yes, even with a year to see the USA, you absolutely cannot see it all.

Week 7

This is such an incredible experience for both of us. One of the things we have learned is that you really have to limit your choices -- yes, even with a year to see the USA, you absolutely cannot see it all. There are so many things we are interested in, and, yet, we find ourselves everyday, choosing how to spend our time. We are on the go from mid morning (after breakfast, showers, email, repacking/disconnecting the van) to early evening. We try to stop by 4 or 5 PM, but still cannot do everything we would like to.

Everyday we meet people of every walk of life from all over the US. Everyone is so nice. They want to share their experiences and any information they have about your next stop. Today we learned that the main road to Mt. Rushmore is closed! But a family in the KOA had just gone through there, and had the route scoped out on how to go! They even gave us their map -- highlighted with the changes! At Devil's Tower, Phil struck up a conversation with a man from Arkansas. Learned a lot about LA (Lower Arkansas). He is a John Deere dealer in a small town, and was talking about everything from Clinton to how the oil shortage has effected the price of the pipe they use for irrigation in their area. There is no shortage of things to learn on the road!

Devil's Tower is awesome! The scenery is, again, breathtaking. Red Rock Trail (3.2 miles) around the Monument takes you through meadows, rocks, and beautiful red rock areas. You could swear you are in Sedona. We really did the tourist thing last night, and watched "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" with Richard Dreyfus, directed by Stephen Speilberg. You may remember that Devil's Tower played a prominent role in that movie. The KOA showed it outdoors at dusk -- it was kind of errie looking up at the Rock as the movie played. Plus, it was a full moon, so this giant rock was really lit up. Wanted to stay up til the moon was behind the rockand get some pics, but sleep overtook good intentions.

We backtracked today to Gillette to take in the Good Sam Great North American RV Rally. Over 6,000 Motorhomes, plus an equal number of 5th wheels, trailers, etc. We are going to get day tickets Tuesday, and check out the scene. They estimate there are about 15,000 people in town for this -- more than the total population of the town! They are holding it at a big Convention location east of town, -- everywhere you look out there all you see is "rigs" of every type. Their are no hookups, so everyone is "dry camping" -- just using their own on board resources. We are in a motel, as there were no spaces available anywhere--dry, or otherwise!

Can you imagine Phil at an RV Rally?? We actually had a good time talking to the folks, and picking up a few supplies. We lost our pressure reducing valve, and a hose connection piece had developed a leak. Plus we found this neat fold up table that is just right for those locations that don't have picnic tables--or for extra cocktail room! We spent most of the day there looking at the booths (hopefully helped the Pleasureways guy sell a unit to a couple from Colorado!), eating, and listening to the music. It was very well organized -- just like a big computer convention, only mostly outdoors. We made it out of there without Phil buying a larger unit...

We've been in Spearfish, SD for a couple of days now. Really a neat little town. Took time to get some laundry & dry cleaning done, pictures developed, grocery shopping, etc. Took a beautiful drive yesterday afternoon up Spearfish Canyon -- another WOW place. Their most famous waterfall was disappointing, but found a neat resort tucked into the hills - Spearfish Canyon Resort - had a delicious lunch there, although there are many nice places to picnic. The road continues to Lead (oldest continuous operation gold mine in the western hemisphere), Deadwood, and on to Sturgis. Three more neat little towns. Deadwood is the most idyllic, but it has been ruined by too many tourists, and too many gambling halls. Great setting, neat old buildings, cowboys shooting it up in the streets, and a general fun atmosphere. Saw the location where Wild Bill Hickox met his demise while playing cards (holding a pair of Aces, a pair of 8's, and a lone 9 -- now called the dead man's hand!), and also paid our respects at his grave site, next to Calamity Jane (her dying wish was to be buried alongside Wild Bill). We wanted to take a look at Sturgis before the Harleys ride into town on the 7th of August. Expecting up to a half a million bikers that week -- we wanted to be no where near here by then!

I finally got my bouquet of wild flowers! Spearfish canyon had lots of great choices, and I am now enjoying a nice variety of purples and yellows.

Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt NP is the only National Park named for a person? It was established in 1947 in honor of Roosevelt's love of nature, his establishment of many National Parks, and his establishment of the National Forest Service. In addition, he owned 2 ranches in N. Dakota, where he spent a lot of his time, prior to becoming President. The Badlands of N. Dakota are ruggedly beautiful. This NP is mostly undeveloped, letting the natural beauty of the land speak for itself.

The town of Medora at the entrance to the Park is quite basic, but provides a real old west feeling to the area. Most of the town is owned by The Medora Foundation, and is well maintained. We heard people talking about "The Medora Musical" and inquired about it. Now in it's 35th year, this professionally done production is staged in a beautiful outdoor amphitheater, facing the hills. They have a variety of entertaining acts, but what impressed us the most was their reenactment of The Rough Riders, led by Roosevelt, charging the hill in the 1898 battle of San Juan (Spanish-American War). The set actually rolled back and the hills beyond revealed a fort. The boys on horseback and on foot "charged the hill", canons exploded in the night hills, guns fired, soldiers dropped. It was spectacularly moving. After the battle was over, the soldier on a white horse brought back the flag from the fort (followed all the way by a spotlight in the night). Definitely an even well spent -- yet another thing we just stumbled into!

I have to comment on their use of the word "River" around here. We would not even consider most of them a decent "Creek"! They meander everywhere, and barely contain water at this time of year. But, maybe they make up for it with their rain. The rain is very well behaved here -- it does it's thing quickly and moves on! And usually it happens in the evening or at night -- also convenient, doesn't ruin the days! At 6PM the night of the Medora Musical, it was raining like crazy -- we thought the production would surely be canceled, but by 7PM, it was done and the sun was back out. By 8PM, most everything was dry -- but the ushers hand us a wipe anyway, just in case the seat is still wet.

PHIL'S PHILOSOPHY

Who ever heard of a place where they don't get USA Today!? I mean, nowhere. After checking and checking--we went to 3 different towns--and becoming more and more frustrated, someone actually had the guts to tell me that USA Today is not delivered ANYWHERE in Northern N. Dakota. Are these people un-American, or what??

On the way back to civilization, we had front row seats to a huge weather cell moving through. Beautiful blue sky and puffy white clouds edged with pink on both sides of this ominous black cloud that towered high into the sky. For awhile we thought we were headed right for it, but the road turned, the storm moved, and we mostly missed each other. We got about 5 minutes of the edge of it, but even that was scary -- high winds blew us around, huge raindrops, and some pretty good sized hail. The lightening was quite a ways away, but still provided a spectacular show.

We found our way into Rapid City. A nice town of about 100,000. The rain moved in shortly after we were comfortably ensconced in a downtown motel. It was late, we were tired -- two long driving days in a row, and Phil had been without his USA Today for two days, and was also out of "NIPS" (his new nighttime candy fix) -- not a good combination. But we managed to smile our way through it....

Saturday came, and we decided we needed a breather. I had seen a cute looking lake lodge on the edge of town in the AAA book and guided us there. We both loved it -- and they had one cabin left-- even with a full kitchen, living room, and 2 bedrooms. We plopped ourselves down there for the day. Paddle boated on the Lake, swam in the pool, and made a nice BBQ dinner with steaks and fresh corn and beans. Got late check out the next morning to watch the end of the British Open. AHHHHHH.....