May 14, 2009 Sundance, WY to Rapid City, SD Custer State Park

After the snowin' and blowin' of yesterday, today was beautiful. The wind was blowing softly, the sun was shining, it was mid-60s and a great day to travel. We broke camp and headed east on I-90 from Sundance to Rapid City. The terrain along this route was hilly, rocky and the trees were a dark pine. From a distance the pines look black, hence the name The Black Hills. We dropped about 1,000 feet at one time and ended up back up half or so of that. The wind was blowing from our rear making the gas mileage much better. Carol photographed what looked like a smokey flying saucer. Driving in this kind of weather sometimes makes me more tired than more difficult driving. Today was one of those days. We are at Rushmore Shadows RV Park in Rapid City, SD. This is a very clean park and we were greeted by a very friendly and helpful office staff. We were able to obtain full hookups again and have a view through the trees of the mountains in the background through our picture window. Tired as we were we decided to grab a burger and take a look at Custer State Park. We have heard stories of the wildlife here and wanted to take a quick peek and then go to bed. We were advised of the "Best burger in Rapid City" by the office staff at the Campground being served at the Gas Light Saloon in Rockerville, SD, just south of us. This is a stereotypical western saloon and the burger was one half pound of great beef that was fixed 'just right.' We then traveled to Custer State Park and were amazed at the wildlife we saw in our short zip to only a small portion of this mamouth park. We were first greeted by wild burros, then saw Bison, Pronghorns (Antelopes), Deer and Wild Turkeys. We will return here many times in the time we are here to see this great display of God's creatures. We have yet to see some of the other wildlife, including wild sheep and who knows what other animals. The Bison are HUGE!!! They are all along the way both in and by the side of the road. The Burros almost dare one to drive up to them. One tried to lick his way into Carol's window, looking for food. On the way out of the park was a field with Long Horn Steers that make us wonder how they could hold their heads up with all the size of the horns. Gotta go now because the bed is calling me by name.