Goodbye Wyoming, Hello South Dakota and Nebraska

 

A Jackalope.

  This mythical creature is said to have originated in Douglas, Wyoming where we stayed at a KOA on Sunday, September 11-12. I had no luck in seeing a real one, but we did see some Pronghorn Antelope and some cottontail bunnies.

A Cottontail 

Pronghorn in the field behind the KOA

Leaving Wyoming Monday, September 12, 2022

And entering South Dakota

Our destination for the day - we arrived by 12:30!

The natural entrance to Wind Cave.

A cool place to stand on a hot day as the cool underground air rushes out.

Rob inside the cave.

Looking across the prairie from a trail at Elk Mountain Campground, Wind Cave National Park, where we spent the night. It was a quiet, peaceful, beautiful place.

Sunset over the campground entrance station.

  From Wind Cave National Park we made the short drive north to Custer State Park, one of the biggest and most beautiful state parks in the country. Before going to Center Lake Campground for the night we drove the “Wildlife Road” and saw lots of Prairie Dogs and Bison - some Pronghorn too. The campground was beautiful and had trails to make me especially happy!

Beautiful rocks in the South Dakota Black Hills.

Between Wind Cave NP and Custer SP.

Pronghorn 

Prairie Dog

Bison - just a few of the many we saw.

Center Lake as seen from the Overlook trail I took.

The sky was a bit hazy from wildfires in the west.

Part of the trail that went steeply up.

The trails here were originally built in the thirties by the CCC. 

That would have been young men who would not mind going straight up!

A beautiful rock reflected in Center Lake.

  After leaving Custer State Park we headed east across South Dakota with a planned stop at Wall Drug. For some reason I figured Rob had to see it. Daughter Ruth and I had stopped there 25 years ago on our quest to see a lake bigger than Lake Tahoe - Lake Michigan. Ruth was especially unimpressed with Wall Drug, but I figured since we were so close Rob should see it - and bonus for him as a veteran was that he got a free donut.

At a road side rest stop on the way to Wall Drug.

This particular stop was very nice, with interesting history interpretation.

The famous Wall Drug - smaller than I remembered it.

But there were lots of other shops surrounding it.

The only thing we bought was two postcards and some groceries at a nearby market.

And of course some gas - we need a lot of that, but at least the price is less than in California!

We found a friend at Wall Drug.

    After leaving Wall we headed to Badlands National Park where we enjoyed the unusual scenery, went to the visitor center, and found camping for the night in a nearby KOA. We considered camping for the night at the National Park Campground, but it was hot (mid 90s) and there were no sites with hook-ups available so we'd have to run the generator to have AC. I also had two Zoom meetings, one Wednesday afternoon and one midday Thursday. The cell signal was good in the park so I could have had connectivity off my cell phone hot spot, but we opted for the KOA just 5 miles away. It turned out to be one of the best situated KOAs we've stayed in - a very quiet country setting and within a short walk from our campsite we could even see the Badlands.

Managed to get this sign - we're not always good at stopping to get the requisite picture!

Badlands through the windshield.

Looking into the eroded formations.

Us with the Badlands behind us.

Another view

Our campground for the night, and base for Zoom.

Pretty sky above the campground

Sunset from the levy trail around the KOA

Sunrise from across the road the next morning, Thursday, September 15.

A view of the Badlands from across the road from the KOA.

White River to the east.

White River to the north west with the Badlands behind.

Prairie grasses along the road across from the KOA

Entering Nebraska on Thursday, September 15.

    Because of getting a late start driving after my midday Zoom meeting and then crossing from Mountain to Central Time we didn't make a lot of miles on Thursday, nor did we get to our camping location very early. We stopped for the night in Valentine, Nebraska at a lovely city park that was on the outskirts of the town. The fee was only $5 for the night and our spot was right next to a creek that we could hear throughout the night.

The creek next to our home for the night.

LesThora parked for the night at Valentine City Park.

    Today, Friday, September 16 we headed south and east with our first stop being Dunning, Nebraska. We couldn't resist seeking out the little village of Dunning since it was basically on our way through Nebraska as we headed toward Omaha. When I looked it up on Google the pictures and description made it sound pretty dreary, but it was a nice little place and even had the regional high school and a post office.

The woman in the post office told a little of the history of Dunning - a railroad town with cattle.

She said her father used to work on the railroad when they transported cattle and his job was to ride in the train cars with the cattle to prod them to get up if they laid down - sounded pretty dangerous to me. The people we talked to didn't know anything about who Dunning was named for, and we don't have any family history to suggest Rob's Dunning ancestors ever lived in this area.

A display on a fence in Dunning, Nebraska.

    Today we drove about 250 miles total and are camped at another city park, this one in Osceola, Nebraska. The price is even better here - it's free! And it even has an electric hook-up which has allowed us to run the air conditioning before it cools down for the evening. These free and inexpensive city parks are something we sure don't have in California, but we enjoyed them in the midwest 2 years ago and are enjoying them again. We walked around Osceola this afternoon where the shop windows are cheering on the high school football team for the homecoming came tonight. We stopped in the library and had a nice conversation with the librarian and Rob found a book for a quarter. It's a very nice small town, but this park is next to the high way and a train track so it might not be as quiet as last night's park.

LesThora in a nice level spot in Osceola City Park.

Note the rail road tracks... but it the four hours we've been here no trains have come by.

Straus and Elsie enjoying the sunshine coming through the window at Angel Island.