South Dakota

Thursday, June 21 & Friday, June 22

Thursday

We got up early AGAIN and were on the road by 8. Steve kept mentioning the pink roads (they were even PINKER near the end of Iowa) and I started noticing them more and more. So I did what every curious person does: I googled it! Seems they use quartzite to make the roads out this direction and quartzites natural color is...you guessed it: PINK. So as the roads age and the materials they use to stick it all together wear away, you see more of the color. Googe also mentioned that railroad beds would be even pinker--which they were, but I couldn't get a picture taken fast enough as we passed by one. Just a quick useless bit of information there for you!

There was a LOT of standing water and flooded areas alongside the road. They've undoubtedly had their share of the rain out this way..

The countryside out here is just beautiful. I'll probably say that over and over. I'm just absolutely awed by what the views are in this part of the country. Steve and I have both said that pictures just can't do it justice. Beautiful.

More flat land as we started out. Still pretty though. Just can't deny it.

 We crossed the Missouri River AGAIN! I think this may be the third time,

This is a sample of what we saw as we first made our way into SD. The "rolling hills" were pretty tree-less. Just seemed like miles and miles of pastureland.

Bees! We saw several groupings of bee hives out in the middle of nowhere. Sort of unexpected but it a cool use of all the land.

We stopped at a rest area and saw this huge teepee frame. At first, we thought it was under construction but then realized it was a sculpture. Every rest area had the same thing.

                                               
Tonight we stayed at "Al's Oasis" in Oacoma, South Dakota. Nice place.

Friday

This morning we got up and were on the road again by 7. It was a pretty morning. We are SO enjoying the cooler weather. It was 70 and my weather app said if  'felt like 70'. We're just not used to seeing that in SC. It's nice to open the window while we're driving and it being bearable.

We started to see more hills this morning. And more trees. Still pretty.

Then we started to see rocks in the distance. 

Steve and I got a good giggle out of talking about the westerns we'd seen where the cowboys were on the plains and that big long line of indians on horseback were on the top of those rocks. Can't you see them?

We drove out of the rocks  and we staeted to see mountains coming into the background. Black Hills maybe?

 

This was one of those strange things we saw. We could see this bull head from a looonnnng way off. We thought it may be at the gate of some place but as we got closer, we realized it was a pasture of weird sculptures. I got this picture of the bull head and a hammer. There were many more but I couldn't get them as we drove fast.

This photo was taken as we passed near Sturgis. If you look closely on the right side you can see "Sturgis" spelled out in white rock on the side of the hill. This came up quickly and Steve was clipping along.

For miles and miles we kept seeing advertisements for Wall Drugs. The signs would say it was "as seen on the Today Show" and "as seen in Time Magazine" or Readers' Digest. We had no idea about what to expect since we'd never heard of the plaee. But with all the ads it got our curiosity up, so when we came to the exit, we had to take it. Turned out to be a one-street tourist stop kinda like a Western Gatlinburg. They advertise as 76,000 square feet of gift shops, eateries and amenities. We drove by and looked but didn't get out. Maybe we'll regret that one day when we see it on the Today Show!

This was Kona's thoughts about our drive today. She's a good little traveler.

Tonight we're staying at Elk Horn Ridge Resort. It's in a beautiful valley. It has cabins and campsites facing a creek, a prairie, and the mountains. We can see the prairie and mountains. SO PRETTY!

There are several Newmar motorhomes here, all heading to the same place in Gillette as us. Our neighbors are from Wisconsin and are really friendly. They too, are heading to Gillette in the morning. We only have about a hundred miles to drive tomorrow before reaching our destination for the week.