Custer State Park

August 3

Buffalo Bernie gets Stampeded!

We left the Badlands early Wed morning, and after stopping for supplies, arrived in Custer State Park, SD in time for lunch and a nap. Our plan was to take a late afternoon ride through the park to spot wildlife, but just as we started down the road, a severe thunderstorm struck, high winds and hail! So, back we went to the RV for dinner. After that terrifying driving experience, Grandma was content to sit with tea and novel, but Grandpa decided to go into town. Lucky fellow spotted some elk.

But after dark, coming back to camp, he found himself surrounded by buffalo! One bull bison must have been distracted by the headlights, and bashed headlong into the Saturn!! In the morning, we went to survey any damage and found gobs of buffalo snot on the grill….yuk!...and the Saturn is now sporting a permanent souvenir dent….we’ve decided to call it the BBB….Buffalo Bison Bruise!!!

Aug 4

200 Mile Loop

Thursday was an adventure all on its’ own. We began on the Wildlife Loop Road, and soon came upon bighorn sheep strolling along.

Next we saw a herd of about 300 bison, meandering across and along the road. As it is rutting (mating) season, things were pretty active! We watched as bulls competed and jockeyed for position among the cows, while youngster frolicked and played.

White tailed deer, not unlike those around WNY, are plentiful. This one, however, is a mule deer stag.

We came across a lone pronghorn. Later in the evening we saw a few more.

Next, we met the wild burros. These were originally pack animals taking tourists up the mountains, but were abandoned in the park when that business closed. They were so friendly that we had up close and personal encounters.

Now we proceeded to Mt Rushmore, by way of a winding mountain route with majestic scenery all around us. We met a nice couple traveling from CA to Niagara Falls, while we are going in the opposite direction! They took this great photo of us and the sculptured mountain, through the third tunnel on the route up.

From MT Rushmore, we took the next loop to another sculpted mountain, Crazy Horse. This sculpture is incomplete, and it will be interesting to see it in another 50 to 100 years when it’s done.

Seeing so many bikers, we decided to expand the loop to include Deadwood and Sturgis. In Deadwood, blocks of restored Victorian buildings on Main St have earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places. Kevin Costner, of Dances with Wolves, owns a Casino there, but we didn’t see him in town.

Grandpa describes Stugis, during this time when the 500,000 or so bikes and riders rally there, as what Quartzite AZ is to RVer’s….a vendor’s paradise.

After arguing with Miss Righteous, our GPS, we finally found the route back to camp the Granma wanted, through Needles. After squeezing through the Needle’s Eye, we wound down and around more mountains and through more tunnels back to camp, where Grandma collapsed in exhaustion for driving 8 hours! But, true to our spirit of “let’s see it all while we can” after a light dinner Grandpa took the wheel and we explored back roads of the park to find pronghorns, bison, mountain goats and mule deer.