The Devil Is In The Details

I spent five days in the Black Hills. I took some incredible pictures, it is one of those beautiful spots that Mother Earth gives us. Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties where my photos were not transferring to the blog. Being the Germanic, everything must be in the proper order of my brain, I have not been posting any blog updates as I tried to work through this technical issues. Unfortunately, I have yet to resolve those issues, so I will have to skip the Black Hills and move on. Hopefully, I will be able to come back to blog about this because of course I have some incredible photos.

I moved on to Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Tony and I had visited it sometime in the nineties, but the memory is weak. I don't remember it having the impact on me then that it did as I drove up to it this time. I strongly felt the need to go watch the movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' immediately. There was a campground down the road that actually showed that movie every night at 8:00 pm. My campsite was incredible, right out my front window I had a view of the tower. It was a powerful sight. The tower rises about 850 feet from it's base. About 4,000 people climb it every year. During my Junior Ranger quest here, I learned all about modern day climbing techniques.

The Kiowa people say:

“Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws, and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran and the bear after them they came to a stump of a great tree, and the tree spoke to them. It bade them climb upon it, and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were just beyond its reach. It reared against the tree and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the star of the Pleiades.”

Looking Up

LookingDown

This campground was primitive, meaning that there were no hookups of any kind – no water, no electricity. There is a marked difference between these type of campgrounds and the traditional RV park. To me, it seems like people are just more open and friendly. In the RV parks, generally everybody just stays inside their RV, watch TV and they do not interact with their surroundings at all. Devil's Tower campground was not very big, if you were walking around the campground, it might take you about 10-15 minutes. I found I could never make the loop in less than an hour. There were always people reaching out and wanting to chat. Once it took me two hours. What was also interesting was the number of solo women travelers. When I started traveling, maybe five years ago, I was sort of an anomaly. Not anymore. Women are out and getting it done. 

One of my neighbors.  I'm seeing many more of these roof tents.  

The little black structure contained his shower and toilet. Oh, and his trailer had his Harley.

My next stop was Buffalo Wyoming, a small town about a half hour south of Sheridan. I had a friend there that I wanted to visit with. Colleen and her husband Pete had recently left North Dakota, bought a ranch and retired out in the wilds of Wyoming. Bonus, they had a couple of Icelandic horses – Bokki and Skeesa. 

Google was directing me to their place and told me to turn down this tiny little gravel road. I had to cross several cow guards and the road was uneven and narrow. I was a little worried about the road so I went extremely slow. By the time I found their place, my RV had overheated and was red-lining. Those of you who remember my travels last January will remember that I had an overheating problem and had to replace the radiator and several other things. This could not be happening to me again. At least this time, I had a safe place to be, Colleen and Pete were so gracious. Pete knew several trusted mechanics in the area and I was not all on my own. 

Turns out that back in January, when Crain Buick did some massive repairs on my RV, they forgot to put my fan shroud back on. My engine would not overheat when I am going fast down the freeway, but on a 95 degree day when I am putzing along some little gravel road, a fan shroud is a necessity. I called Crain Buick in Arkansas and told them what had happened. Can you believe they said, 'send us the bill, we will send you a check'. They made a mistake and a whole nine months later, they are taking care of it. How incredibly ethical is that? 

So, instead of the one night I was planning on spending in Buffalo, I ended up staying five nights. I was fed, I was driven around, I got to ride Icelandic horses – how great is that? I even got to do a factory tour of a woolen mill which was fascinating. There were tons of pronghorn antelopes and mule deer everyday to watch. It was absolutely lovely and a very pleasant place to stay. A very special thanks to Colleen and Pete for putting up with Miko and me. 

Bokki, Colleen and Skeesa

Miko learning how to be a ranch dog from her Springer friend Tessie

Wool before it has been cleaned - rather nasty looking stuff.  

It has to go through five different vats of water before it becomes white and fluffy.

You ain't nobody without a cowboy hat - Garrett and Pete

The Occidental Hotel bar - I think everybody in town was there

The herd and the view

Wide Open Spaces 

Badlands Ain't So Bad

I found this incredible boondocking site, overlooking the Badlands. it was in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.  With my solar, my full water tank and my empty waste tanks, I was all set to be out in the wild. There was lots to explore in the area and Nomad View Dispersed area was a perfect home base. I was six miles south of Wall South Dakota so if I decided to go to Wall Drug, one of the most touristy tourist traps there is - I didn't go.  I was a mile north of the Pinnacles entrance to the Badlands National Park. 

My nearest neighbor when I first arrived

And there I am on the edge

The wind was always blowing, one evening they said it was about 50-60 mph.  Thanks goodness it was always blowing away from the cliff.  If it had been blowing toward the cliff I might have been a little worried about going over the edge.

There was a herd of Big Horn Sheep who hung out in them thar hills.  They would spend the day down on the rocks and then come up to graze in the grassland. They were evidently very used to people. At one point, my car was about 5 feet away from them.. 

You Lookin' At Me?

There were plenty of other wildlife sightings in the Grassland.

This guy evidently thought my lawn chair was his kind

The one day there was no wind, there was a swarm of flying ants who hung out right outside my front window.  

They swarmed and then were gone after about an hour.  

Of course it was cocktail hour and I had to stay inside to protect the wine in my glass.

I did go to the Minuteman Missile National Site, but I found that it just didn't really interest me.  They had some old movies showing how they taught all of us to Duck and Cover under our desks, like that was going to keep us safe in the case of a nuclear attack. There were also maps showing how far the effects of a nuclear blast would radiate out. After looking at the maps, I can definitely say we are all just goners. They did have a disarmed Minuteman missile in a silo that you could go look at. 

An actual Minuteman Missile - not a good photo op if I do say so myself

I drove through the Badlands. I had been thru them before and I guess I really didn't see them before. I always thought I preferred the North Dakota Badlands to South Dakota's. Boy, was I mistaken. There were some amazing rock formations around every curve and turn.  My pictures just don't do them justice.

Doesn't this look like an RV commercial?

Just chilling

And then there are the obligatory sunset pictures

I think this camping site I had was one of the best ones that I have found so far.  I loved, loved, loved being out there in the wide open prairie.  It did my heart good.

Sculptures R Us

About 40 minutes west of Sioux Falls, right off of I90, is the most amazing Porter Sculpture Park. The Sculpture Park sits on 10 acres. You have to cross a couple of cattle guards to get to it and sometimes, as I did, you have to wait for the cattle to clear the road before you can pass.

Wayne Porter has never taken an art class. He learned basic blacksmithing from his father and any art skills he has are entirely self-taught. He also loves dogs and Miko was allowed to run free through the park. There are over 50 sculptures here and I took a zillion pictures. Following are the pictures of the sculptures that really grabbed and/or amused either Miko or me.

Perhaps not the most flattering picture of Miko

That road is I90 so you can see how close the interstate is

These guys were about 12 feet tall and sort of creepy cool

Scattered thru the property were Wayne's poems

The centerpiece of the park was the Bull's Head.  The Bull's Head was 60 feet tall which is as tall as the Mount Rushmore heads.  It is massive and took Wayne three years to make.

You can walk inside the Bull's Head and after dodging all the rubber hanging spiders, coiled snakes and sleeping bats, you look up and see this:

Creeped me out big time but also made me laugh.  Very very cool.

After exploring the sculpture park, I continued on my way to the next piece of sculpture that I had really been looking forward to.  This sculpture is called Dignity and was in, of all places,  the Chamberlain, SD rest stop overlooking the Missouri River.  It is 50 feet tall was put in place in 2016.  The artist is Dale Claude Lamphere.  I have to say, although it is a lovely sculpture and impressive in it's own right, after going thru the Porter Sculpture Park, Dignity seemed a little sterile.  

I visited the Atka-Lakota Museum, which had a Wounded Knee exhibit. There was also a lot of beaded articles- clothes, weapons, horse tack.  Those Sioux must have had incredible eyesight because the beadwork was so intricate and tiny.  I had thought I had heard that Sioux was not a PC term anymore, but evidently it is.  I  learned that Sioux is sort of an umbrella term and that there are three different bands - the Lakota, the Dakota and the Nokota.


I found a place to camp that was right on the Missouri River.  It was actually a boat ramp and best of all, it was free.  The waves were big and Miko had a blast trying to catch them all.

View out my door

The Falls In Sioux Falls

I spent the morning lounging, walking the dog and cleaning out my black and gray tanks. I had a big drive ahead of me – a whole 56 minutes to the great metropolis of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I was on my way to try to pass as a sociable person – to practice trying to carry on an actual conversation. It is good to practice new skills.

I was actually going to visit an old work buddy and his wife who recently moved to Sioux Falls. I've known Dave for probably about twenty years. He has helped me several times when things on the RV have broken because I have fallen afoul of the RV gods. Dave and Sandie graciously offered their place to moochdock (park the RV). After fixing me dinner, they took Miko and me down to Falls Park to see the falls from where Sioux Falls got their name. I had planned on going during the day but there was something magical about going after dark. It was quite stunning.

This is what I thought the falls might look like - lovely falls but not all that stuepndous

Little did I know that there were many waterfalls in Falls Park

Sandie and Dave - Thanks for the hospitality

And The Journey Starts Again

It was a dark and stormy morning.....

Ok, ok – it was morning and it was raining when I left the old homestead. I had done my usual over packing, made sure I had enough food to feed an army because Lord knows, there are no grocery stores out on the open road. Miko was sufficiently drugged – I know, that sounds terrible, but the poor little dear really seems to get anxious when the RV is moving and it just seems like the nice thing to do to help her get by.

Today was the first day of the Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings. I was listening to everybody's opening arguments, working hard at becoming an informed citizen. After an hour or so, I had to turn it off – I found that I was getting totally angry at the whole proceedings. I was extremely angry with one side who did nothing but lie and obstruct the process and I was extremely upset with the other side's depressing statements of the state of the USofA. I'm on the road, I want happy talk. 

The problem with turning off the radio is that I had not hooked up my iPod yet so I was facing three hours of my own company. The horror!!! I decided to sing. Anybody who knows me, knows that my voice, on a good day, has a range of about three notes. This means that I am pretty much limited to only singing children's songs. There are only so many renditions of Mary Had A Little Lamb that one can sing. I then decided that I should sing the ABC song, but do it backwards. If you haven't done that, then don't. Not only do you have to learn the letter order, you have to get the cadence right. It might have been easier if I wasn't doing it all in my head and also because of the rain, visibility was only a few blocks. It hurt my head big time. As a public service you may use this little crib sheet:

ZYXW

VUT

SRQP

ONMLK

JIH

GFE

D C B AND A

Now I know my Z, Y, Xs

Wont you come and sing with me.

I had come to Pipestone MN in search of yet another Junior Ranger badge. I had been here once before in the early nineties and remember not being all that impressed. The joy of the Junior Ranger program is that you have to really get into the national site and actually learn something about it. Once you start knowing something, it becomes much more interesting. This time having learning about Sioux Quartzite and Pipestone and how this site was a very sacred site for many First Nation tribes made Pipestone very interesting. 

Minnesota has Red Rocks - Take that, Sedona!!!!

And there was a waterfall - 1st waterfall of the trip - a very nice waterfall

Many of the buildings in downtown Pipestone are built with Sioux Quartzite, which is supposed to be the second hardest stone in the world. It is a very red town.

Calumet Hotel - quite the fancy hotel

Disregard what you actually see - These buildings were actually a dark red

Side note: I heard a story about a radio DJ who was perhaps not the brightest bulb on the block. He constantly misspoke words. When talking about Pipestone, on the radio, he called it Pay-Pest-Own-EE. I tell you – some people's children.