Week 5, mostly in beautiful Custer State Park

Sat., 10/12.  This is the day we dropped Joe off at the Calgary airport for his flight home to Detroit.  Now, it's back to just John and me.  Today, we drove from Calgary to Billings, Montana.  This was a long, nine-hour drive, but we had a nice surprise right in the middle of it.  My cousin, John (I'll call him Johnny, to avoid confusion), and his wife, Dawn, have a home in Conrad, in northern Montana.  They also have a condo in Missoula, in western Montana, where he and his wife work.  They spend most of their time in Missoula.  As luck would have it, Johnny had arrived in Conrad Friday night, to spend the weekend.  On Saturday morning, he went pheasant hunting.  I was able to talk to him on the phone after he was done hunting.  We were going to be driving right by Conrad.  The timing was perfect, and he invited us for lunch.  Can you guess what he fixed us?  Pheasant tacos!  They were delicious.  Also, the home he and Dawn built is beautiful.  It was so nice to visit with him.  I can't imagine why I didn't take a picture of him and us.  I do regret that.  However, here's a picture of lunch, before it was cooked.

As I said, we spent the night in Billings.  We stayed in a motel called "C'mon Inn."  Cute, right?  This was a great motel.  The room was nice, and the indoor courtyard was outstanding.  It had a waterfall, creek, and pond.  Plus, a pool and five hot tubs.  It would be a great place for a family get-away.

Sunday, 10/13.  From Billings, we drove 8 hours across the rest of Montana and a part of Wyoming, eventually arriving in South Dakota.  We'll be staying here in beautiful Custer State Park for a few days.
This evening, we drove on Wildlife Loop Road, and saw lots of buffalo, some burros, pronghorns, white-tailed deer, prairie dogs, a coyote, and a mountain bluebird.

The burros are not shy.

The buffalo are completely unafraid of cars.

We spent the night in an almost-100-year-old cabin.  It was lovely on the outside; not quite so charming on the inside.

Can you see John, standing on the porch?

Monday, 10/14.  Today is rainy.  In fact, the forecast is for about 36 hours of rain, with the possibility of up to 12 inches of snow.  I've seen no sign of snow, and the temperature is about 39 degrees here, so we may luck out.  Although the snow would be beautiful, 12 inches is a bit much for maneuvering the twisty, hilly drives around here.  In four weeks of traveling, I think this is just our second rainy day.  We've decided to take the day off from sight-seeing.  We've moved into a very nice lodge room where we can relax and connect to the internet.  We have no phone service, but what do I expect, being in the middle of the woods? We'll check out the park visitor's center, and that's about all we have planned for today.  On a short drive we took today, we saw some female bighorn sheep and white-tailed deer grazing together.  

There are deer on the left, bighorn sheep on the right.

 Tuesday, 10/15.  We spent the day driving around the Custer State Park area.  Specifically, we drove to the snowy northern hills.  We wanted to see Sturgis (infamous for its annual motorcycle gathering), Deadwood (the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane), and Spearfish, a pretty, little town with a beautiful nearby canyon.  That northern area did, indeed, get about a foot of snow yesterday.  They handle it quickly around here!  I heard someone say that the schools were delayed two hours--just two hours, after a snowfall like that!  The Spearfish Canyon drive was like a winter wonderland.  Later, we took a drive on Iron Mountain road.  It is a very twisty road, with many sharp turns, switchbacks, pigtails, and one-lane tunnels.  The tunnels are astounding, because they are positioned to perfectly frame Mount Rushmore through their openings.  We also went to Mount Rushmore this evening.  At sunset, the sculpture is lit up, which is a beautiful thing to see.  It was cold and windy while we were there.  We'll go back again tomorrow, when the day is warmer and we can stay longer.  By the way, Mount Rushmore just re-opened yesterday, after a 14-day government shutdown.  

This mountain goat is so cool.

This deer was walking in the stream, maybe to avoid the foot of snow.

I like the look of these snowy houses in Deadwood.

Spearfish Canyon

It's impressive to see Mount Rushmore lit up after sunset.

Here's one of the one-lane tunnels on Iron Mountain road.

Wednesday, 10/16.  Today was completely sunny, with a high of about 50 degrees--much warmer than yesterday.  We wanted to see and explore two things today--the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore.  The construction and creation of Crazy Horse have been ongoing since 1948. It is far from completion, but is very impressive.  The size of it is remarkable: the head of Crazy Horse is 87 feet high; by comparison, the Mount Rushmore presidents' heads are 60 feet high.  We saw the memorial fourteen years ago, and we could see the progress that has been done in that time.  The pavilion there includes a beautiful and impressive Native American museum.  We then went to Mount Rushmore.  We took a walk that passes just below the rubble that lies on the mountain below the sculptures.  It's pretty amazing to be able to get that close.  We took lots of pictures, of course.  We drove, again, on the twisty Iron Mountain road.  Just before sunset, we took another drive on Wildlife Loop Road, where we saw lots and lots of buffalo and deer, but no elk or big bucks.  We've had such a nice time in this beautiful Custer State Park.  

The impressive Crazy Horse Memorial

Mount Rushmore, up close

We came back to our lodge, to find this huge buffalo grazing right in front of our room's window.

We drove around a bend in the road, and saw this remarkable view of Washington's profile.  

Thursday, 10/17.  We left Custer State Park early this morning, driving east across South Dakota to the small town of Wall.  It's a town that has made itself famous by its self-promotion since 1931.  Back then, it became the place to go for a free glass of ice water.  Vacationers on their way to the newly-opened Mount Rushmore would stop for the water and stay to shop.  Later, they could get coffee for 5 cents a cup.  The water is still free, and the coffee is still 5 cents.  What started as a drugstore has expanded into a large mall-like place, with many shops.  It's very much a tourist attraction, and about a million people a year arrive there.   We then drove through nearby Badlands National Park--about an hour after they opened from the 16-day government shutdown.  Lucky us!  The Badlands is a remarkable and difficult-to-describe place.  The canyons and spires of rock resemble a mini-Grand Canyon; or, not-quite-like-Bryce Canyon hoodoos; or, in some places, giant sand castles; or, a colorfully pastel moonscape.  As I said, it's difficult to describe.  

We then drove east for the rest of this mostly drizzly day, finally arriving at our motel in Iowa, just south of the Minnesota line.   

This looks like a mini-Grand Canyon.

Here, I see giant sand castles.

This looks like a moonscape to me.  

I look a little uncomfortable, sitting next to my new pal at Wall Drug.

Friday, 10/18.  This was our last long day of driving, from northern Iowa to home.  Here's a summary of our trip.  This was a fun way to break in the new Explorer.  We drove exactly 8,762 miles over the 33 days of travel, through 17 states (a few of them twice), plus British Columbia and Alberta.  We had remarkably good weather, both warm and chilly, with only two full days of rain (besides a couple of rainy drives). Also, remarkably, we went to Grand Canyon before the national parks were closed; and, then, the parks opened just in time for us to go to Mount Rushmore and Badlands.  We were so happy to be able to include one week of travel with the Rachs; one week of travel with Joe; one week of time with most of the Hutchison family in southern California; and a week at the beginning and end of the trip with just John and me.  We were awed by the Redwoods and the beautiful and rugged northern Pacific coast, and thrilled by the Canadian Rockies.  In our last week, it was perfect to be able to slow down and spend three days in Custer State Park and the Mount Rushmore area before the drive to home, sweet home.

A reminder of our route