As I have stated before, can anyone
actually be “home” when you full-time in a RV and your
“residence” is a mailbox?
Nevertheless, we have finally brought
Jace to our home state of South Dakota, specifically to the Rapid
City area. Barbara and I have yet to explore parts of South Dakota
much outside of Rapid City, and one of these days we'll schedule a
trip to other portions of the state, but Rapid City has a lot to
offer a young lad of 9 years, and after all, it's HIS vacation.
However, our first morning there was
taken up with legal issues at our lawyer's office, so exploration had
to wait. The campground we stayed at, Spokane Creek, was
unfortunately for me at an elevation above 5,000 feet, so my High
Altitude Sickness was still a problem, and would be for the next
week. The recommended drive up to the campground consisted of a 1 ½
lane local road with a series of switchbacks and inclines that
challenged this seasoned driver for almost 20 minutes. Fortunately,
no car came down in the opposite direction! We later found out that
their website doesn't mention that that particular route was not
recommended for motor homes, but for cars. We did manage to find a
more suitable route on our way out that was much more RV-friendly,
thank goodness!
The campground was located on Iron
Mountain Rd, which locals proudly proclaim consists of “17 miles,
314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 2 splits and 4
presidents”. And it was all that. Iron Mountain Road was our gateway to Mt.
Rushmore, Custer State Park and the nearby tourist trap of Keystone,
SD. Fortunately, the campground also had a world class playground for
Jace's enjoyment, however, their heated pool was NOT heated, with the
water coming in somewhere in the mid-to-low 60 degree range.
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| Great sign in front of our campground advertising the wonders of Iron Mountain Rd. |
The weather was comfortable, so we
decided to hit Mt. Rushmore early in the stay, just in case bad
weather moved in. Jace enjoyed the end-of-day ceremony where veterans
were recognized by park rangers.
Keystone, SD, is a small town nestled
in a valley below the Mt. Rushmore area. It features quaint shops,
small eateries, and the typical tourist traps you find in small towns
everywhere. It is a VERY conservative town once you see some of the
merchandise being sold there. It's also home to Ruby's House, a very
nice restaurant that features their signature Bison Stew served in a
sourdough bread bowl. So naturally I had to continue my quest to
reduce the bison population of SD, right? Yummy!
We never stay in South Dakota without a
day visit to the town of Wall. Wall consists largely of the world
famous Wall Drug Store, a sprawling multi-building one-stop shop for
just about anything, including a bison burger (there I go again) for
me. The reason we always stop there on every visit is because in one
of their shops, they have a supply of those brass Christmas ornaments
representing each state, and we're trying to get an ornament for each
state we've visited to put on our little half tree that's set up in
the RV. This year we picked up another 4 ornaments to add to our
collection.
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| Jace found his jackalope! |
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| The closest Jace will ever get to a bison if we have any say in it | | |
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| Bronco buster! |
I've mentioned in previous installments
of our desire to spend at least one night at “The Wall at Wall”;
a section of Bureau of Land Management real estate rising more than
300 feet above the Badlands. It's a spectacular sight, and the
weather looked good for a one-night stay on our way to return Jace
back home. Unfortunately, as we were taking a short reconnaissance
drive through the area, the single road in and out was severely
rutted, with a couple of deep holes that I felt couldn't be avoided
with the motor home. We barely got around them in the Jeep! So once
again, we bypassed the Wall at Wall with hopes for another chance on
a future trip.
Custer State Park is always a great
part of any visit to the Rapid City area. There's always a herd or
two of bison working their way across the main access road to block
your path, and this year was no different. The herd we encountered
was smaller this year, but the speed with which the bison moved was
incredible! Those beasts can move!
Our one disappointment this trip was
the wild donkeys were missing entirely. Usually they are parked by a
particular area next to the road, but they were all gone. We had
bought 2 bags of carrots to feed them, and Jace was pretty
disappointed we didn't get to use them.
The most stunning part of any drive
through Custer State Park is the Needles Highway. Narrow, winding
roads, a couple of low one-way tunnels, and rock formations that are
simply out of this world. It looks like aliens came down and formed
rock spires soaring hundreds of feet in the air for miles. Barbara
and I never get tired of the view, and Jace was pretty impressed with
the needles and the tunnels.
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| Needles from a distance |
Since our animal adventure was a bit
more limited at Custer State Park than in previous visits, we took
Jace to Bear Country, USA, a drive-thru animal sanctuary about 20
minutes away from our campground. You pay your fee, keep your windows
closed, and take a leisurely drive hoping to see some wildlife. It's
not bad. We spotted elk, and bighorn sheep, and there were plenty of
bears to see up close and personal, but due to the hot weather they
were all pretty lethargic except for the bears in their pool or the
bear cubs in their enclosure.
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| Baby bears! | |
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| Big bear! |
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| Swimming bear! |
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| Goofball! |
With the days getting closer to Jace's
return to school, it was time to break camp and head back to Georgia,
but not before we introduced Jace to Barbara's and my good-luck charm
when driving through South Dakota; 'Dignity of Earth and Sky'. After
first seeing it on our initial trip to establish residency, we have
made it a point to stop by – even for a moment – to pay our
respects to her. Day or night, it doesn't matter. She resides in an
I-90 rest area heading eastbound overlooking the Missouri River so
she's easy to get to, and it was time on our way out to introduce
Jace to our very special lady.
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| They grow them prairie dogs big in the Dignity Visitor's Center! |
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| Jace meeting our very special lady - Dignity of Earth and Sky |
We were able to hotfoot it back to
Georgia in 3 day's time, with one memorable stop in southern Missouri
where we were able to have dinner at Lambert's – Home of the tossed
rolls. Yes, they really throw dinner rolls across their dining room,
and they are fresh and hot and delicious. Their drinks also come in a
huge mug which will have your bladder floating by the time your meal
is over. But it was good food and good fun, especially for Jace who
was able to catch his own roll!
The 3-day drive kind of wore me out,
but we got Jace home with plenty of time to get ready for his new
school year. As for Barbara and I, we got to stay at Yonah Mountain
Campground near Helen, GA with full hookups and a pool for an entire
month without having to worry about anything.
And I could recover in a lower altitude
for a while.
Not exactly the vacation we had all
hoped for, but Jace got to see everything we planned on him seeing,
and then some. Over 3,000 motor home miles, nearly 5 ½ weeks, stops
in 5 states and dozens of new memories with our grandson. Life
couldn't be better.