We rolled out of the campground in Rapid City about 10AM this morning. Our destination is Devil Tower National Monument. The first National Monument about 120 miles away. By the way the difference between a National Park and a National Monument is a NP requires an act of Congress, while the NM is designated by the President. We arrived right around lunch time, reserved a site at the KOA right at the entrance of the park. We parked the RV and went to the cafe for...

I forgot to get a picture with my phone of the sites today, so the pictures will have to wait with the rest until I have time to sort through all the files. We got up early again to make the hour dive to Jewel Cave National Monument. The Cave is near Wind Cave where we went yesterday. Tickets sell out for the day tours by early morning. We arrived just as the park opened and the first tour was almost full. Since the group in front of us had a party of 4 they we...

Today we had an early wake up call. We were going to Wind Cave National Park and needed to get there early. The cave can be visited in ranger led tours which have specific schedules and sell out. The park opened at 8 and the first tour is at 9. We had an hour drive and arrived there by 8:15. We got tickets for the first tour and watched a film about the park in the visitor center. The tour takes you down a path to see the natural cave entrance where it was dis...

With the forecast for partly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s, we decided it's a good day to go on a scenic drive today. Custer State Park was our destination. At one time the largest state park in the country and known for its beautiful views and wildlife. We are staying at Rushmore Shadows Resort south of Rapid City and near many of the attractions we came to visit. We headed out of the park towards the start of Iron Mountain Road at the intersect...

I am not sure why I am still functioning on Eastern Time. I am up at 5:30 here which is 7:30 back home and by 8pm I am struggling to stay awake. My head is bopping as I write these posts. I did manage to fall back asleep this morning, so it looks like I may make it to 9:30 today. The sites today were all about history which I have to admit I was not into when I was younger. As it turns out I married a history buff, Gil just soaks it all in and I have enjoyed lea...