Day 15 - Buffalo, WY

Yesterday we left Deadwood and drove only 76 miles to Devil's Tower. The weather was much cooler and spectacularly clear. We visited the monument and were in awe:

We walked all around the peak on a paved path, about 1.3 miles. I took dozens of pictures and the different angles are interesting but it takes a while to upload so I'll just include this one.
We had a lovely fire and watched the stars at the campsite:

In the morning we cooked breakfast for the first time. Delicious scrambled eggs with cheese. We drove 130 miles to Buffalo and had lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant and sat outside, then moved to the campsite.

It is much warmer than yesterday, about 85 but very low humidity and an occasional breeze. The picnic table is in the shade but the van is in the sun, which is good for the solar panel but makes for a toasty nap. It should cool off by sunset.
We'll lay low for the rest of the day and head to Cody, WY in the AM. We'll be there for 3 nights and then on to our Yellowstone adventure!

Day 14 - Deadwood, SD

Here we are in Deadwood, SD. If you get HBO you might know about this  frontier town. Very gritty but lots of character. We are on Main Street in a Holiday Inn Express.
Backtracking since the last post...
Our Cedar Pass Campground(in Badlands) experience was wonderful!
This was our view:

I'm a bit disappointed in my new Canon camera, colors are not as vibrant as in real life. But we felt cradled in the amazing rock formations.
The Park Service programs during the evening were outstanding. Expert guides told us about the local wildlife as well as the astronomy above.
As short walk from our campsite, it really added to the experience.

After a lovely sunrise:

We left Badlands and proceeded to Custer State Park via Mount Rushmore.

 Wow! A nice view. Better than Will remembered. They were doing a lot of construction around the memorial and parking area so we couldn't go any closer but when it is finished the view is at least 100' closer.

 Then we went to Wind Cave but couldn't see the cave because the elevator was broken, but we knew this ahead of time. We walked to the natural entrance of the cave and a cool breeze was coming out of it. I neglected to take any pictures here.

Next was Hot Springs, SD to see the Mammoth Dig. An amazing display of the active site. This pool where the mammoth got trapped had slippery sides so they couldn't get out. Eventually the pool filled with sediment and then the surrounding earth eroded away leaving a mound instead of a pit. In 1974 they were going to remove the mound to make way for a housing project but the head of the project saw the bones when they started to bulldoze and all work ceased and they began to dig. Now there is a building covering the entire mound and they give tours.

We spent the night in Custer State Park which is a lovely park in the Black Hills.  We stayed in the Legion Lake campground and it was very relaxing. Here is the lodge and the lake. The campground is behind me.

On my way to the shower in the morning, I saw a bison beside the road right in my way! Upon encouragement from the neighboring campers, who had seen this guy just about every day and were standing outside, I proceeded cautiously to the shower and crept by the giant, unpredictable beast, keeping as much distance as I could(~25ft), and only moving when he was actively eating grass, hiding behind a truck while he moved. When I was finished with my shower, I proceeded carefully back to the campsite, peeking around corners and keeping my eyes peeled for where the bison was now.
As it turns out, the bison was in our campsite, rubbing against our picnic table!
I wondered if Will knew it was there as he was inside making coffee. Our neighbors, Robin and Tom from Colorado, took me into their camper while I waited for the bison to move away so I could access the van.
Will said he heard a huffling noise and looked out and was quite shocked! He managed to grab his phone and get this picture before the bison moved on:

Wow! What an interesting morning!

There was rain overnight and a little in the AM but it cleared up and we had a great ride through the Wildlife Loop of the park. We saw varying terrain from mountains to meadows as we drove.

We saw lots of bison as well as two pronghorn deer fighting, prairie dogs and a very low level of traffic. This would be a great place to return to and enjoy more.
And thus we ended up in Deadwood on Monday night.Here's the view from the hotel room.

Day 10 Oahe Downstream Recreation Area Campground, Pierre, SD

• This lovely campground is on the Missouri River just below a hydroelectric dam. We are alone in this section of the campground. There are a lot of mosquitos but a short walk away is the river where a strong cool breeze keeps the bugs away. This is our second night here and we just relaxed the whole time. Tomorrow off to Cedar Pass campground for 2 nights. This is the gateway to the Badlands. We plan another relaxing couple of days.

Day 8 - Ingalls Homestead, De Smet, SD

We are camping at Laura Ingalls Wilder's father's homestead in De Smet, SD.

We set up the tent to mark our spot in the field at the end of the parking lot where we park the van. There are many exhibits and buildings to visit in town and out here on the homestead. Lots of hands on things for kids to do.
There is also a tour bus that takes you to all of the various sites around town including the cemetery. It took nearly 2 hours. There were only 2 of us on the bus. We really got our money's worth as we had Ann's(the guide) attention the entire time. Got many questions answered including the fact that her family runs the tours and the Homestead. Yesterday when we arrived here on the Homestead, I took the entire tour which took me about 2 hours. Highly recommended for Laura fans and families.
Later we hung around and had a campfire and stayed up to watch the moon rise.

Here I am Big Girl on the Prairie

To backtrack, we left Sandusky intending to camp in the Indiana Dunes National Park but it was Friday and like trying to go to the National Seashore on a weekend in summer with no reservation. We decided to press on and continue past Chicago hoping to beat traffic but we got caught in some so we decided to go to a Holiday Inn Express in Rockford, Il which was well past Chicago. We got to do laundry and sleep in a big bed. We also had the brake light come on and the fluid was quite low. We got some and kept going but it continued to leak slowly.
Next day (Saturday Aug 17) I made a reservation before leaving the hotel for a campground in Austin, MN. It was on a big peninsula on a lake and had great walking trails right from the campsite. We met a nice woman in the next site and had a chat with her in the evening.
We'd actually made up a lot of time and were going to come here next but decided to stay in Brookings about 50 miles away because it was bigger and would have more places to help us with the brake problem on Monday. So, another Holiday Inn Express.
Monday we found a place to help with the car in Brookings and it turned out to be a loose fitting from when the brakes were done in July.
So we felt confident about that after worrying about it since Friday.
Then we came here to De Smet. We'll stay here again tonight then move about 150 miles West to a State Park near Pierre. I've already booked the site.
Then we plan to camp near the beginning of the Badlands for 2 nights. Again I already made a reservation, because it will be the weekend. Then we'll go through the Badlands and Mt Rushmore and to Custer State Park.
That's as far as I've made reservations for but I've planned out the following week as we snake our way through Wyoming.
Saw this sign in the restaurant where we had lunch:
BElive
THEre is
GOOD in
the world.

Day 3 - Sandusky, Ohio

Here we are at the beautiful Bay Shores KOA Campground in Sandusky, Ohio

That's Lake Erie in the background. A lovely breeze is blowing through the back doors. Should be some nice sleeping weather.
Everything has gone well so far. The first day plans worked out fine. Second day also good. Hiked at Riddell State Park then ate at the Belvedere in Burnett, NY. Good food and friendly folks. We camped at the Evergreen Trails Campground.
A little bit of a late start today and went to Cuyahoa Falls National Park and walked there. Dodged thunderstorms and got to the Bay Shores campground around 5:30.
Comfortable in the van so far.

Ready

Hello folks,
Well the day is finally here! We're getting ready for our cross country trip.
We anticipate about 20 days of driving, about 250 miles per day 4-5 hours.
We have 20 days or so to accomplish this, so we'll be able to take time to see some sites as long as we make good time.
We're not planning on taking any extra time for the first week. Just the daily walk. So much more to see Out West!

Yesterday we finally caught a mouse in the van and packed most everything except the food so it shouldn't take long to finish up.
We're leaving one day later than we said we would but are much better prepared.
There are showers in the forecast but we anticipate a walk in Chickapee, MA, food at Maple on the Lake in NY and camping at Thompson Lake State Park Campground. Let's see how it goes!