Hill City, SD Elevation: 4,940 Population: 1,002
I am a little late with the travel day post. The last couple of days have been different, even for us.
The site we were in was a good site except that it didn't have a sewer hookup. That's fine for about 3 days, but we are staying 7 days. At the time (Thursday), the front desk said that if we wanted a spot with a sewer, we would have to change sites every day or 2. That wouldn't be fun. We started looking around for RV parks with space available, but the closest we could find was above Sturgis (of Biker Rally fame). The RV park does not have cell connection. They do have a mediocre wifi, but not good enough for wifi calling. We would have to go back down the hill to Rapid City to make calls.
Friday was Porter's vet appointment. He got neutered. The rest of Friday was not fun for us. He was not happy with the surgery and he was not happy with the Cone of Shame. He eventually learned how to peel the thing off his head. All this made him extra barky too.
We stopped at the front desk on the way to pick Porter up and asked again. This time, someone left early and cancelled his site for the next week. I got to the desk before anyone else and they gave me his site starting Saturday. Yay! We would have to move, but just to the other side of the park is not so bad.
Several thunderstorm rolled through on Friday. All have them and wind, rain, and lightning. One of them had hail.
Now, on to Saturday, moving day.
We spent the morning packing up really slowly. We couldn't leave the first site until at least 11am. I walked over to the new site at 10:45 and the person had already left so I walked over to the front desk again and checked out of the old site. Then we moved. Even though we only went about a quarter of a mile, we still had to do a full set up again.
After the set up, I went to the front desk again to check in to the new spot. The clerks at the desk had a wall size USGS map on the counter trying to find the name of a mountain behind the park. One clerk says it does not have a name so he gets to name it and it is now Mt. Couger. He was right, there was no name on the USGS official map. I guess that means he can name it. If he can get enough people to call it Mt. Couger, then that is the official name.
The rest of Saturday was a road trip through Custer State Park. That will be another blog. I have already added the pictures to the South Dakota photo page. Go take a look if you want to see them before the blog.
Beer news: I did not brew a new batch of beer yet. I was planning on brewing on Thursday night, but since we were talking about moving again, I decided not to. It turned out that we barely moved, but now it's too late. My next chance will be in Cody, WY.
Mt. Rushmore Travelogue: You can see Mt. Rushmore from the highway. We've seen it, but I haven't taken pictures yet. I was driving and the traffic was nuts. There is a little town called Keystone at the bottom of the mountain where all the touristy stuff is. We think it looks like Disneyland's Frontier Land down there. If you want a roller coaster, go to Mt. Rush, if you want animals, go to Bear Mountain, if you want more animals, got to Reptile Gardens. If you want to see movie stuff, any number of places has Dances With Wolves or National Treasure II props. Here is a suggestion for anyone who wants to visit Mt Rushmore. There is a split in the highway where you can either go to Mt Rushmore or go to Hill City. I suggest you go to Hill City and come back to Mt Rushmore from the back. You will miss most of the tourists and still see everything you want.
Crazy Horse Monument Travelogue: Do not waste your $30 going up into the monument. You can see it from the highway. It still isn't finished. It hasn't been worked on since the 1980's. It is just a head (no headdress) and the top of an arm. Nothing else
Custer State Park Travelogue: It cost's $20 and you can go into the park for a week. You can use the main highways for free, but if you want to see anything up close, pay the $20. More on that trip tomorrow.
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