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Hi all, Dianne here. Our last event at Custer State Park was a fun jeep ride on the back roads, ending with a chuckwagon steak dinner. More on that later.
To get into the spirit of this place, we bought some buffalo steaks at a local grocery store, and Roger grilled them to perfection.
Just as a side note, one of the things I've learned from fellow RV'ers is an easy way to cook corn on the cob in an RV. For two ears (which is what we usually cook), you simply husk them, rinse with water to add moisture, seal in a Ziploc gallon bag and microwave. Turns out tender and delicious; no muss, no fuss, no clean-up. Microwaves vary in strength, but for mine I cook two minutes, then flip the bag over and cook two minutes more. (The recipe called for one minute per ear, but that didn't cook them fully in my microwave oven.) It wouldn't work for a large group, since you can only cook two ears at a time, but it sure is easy!
The back roads jeep tours are a popular attraction here. We started out on the same Wildlife Loop Road that Roger and I took on Sunday morning, then veered off onto some rough dirt tracks through the park.
More pronghorns and more buffalo babies. More beautiful scenery. We realized how lucky we were on Sunday, because the herd of wild burros were nowhere to be seen this time. There was a young family in our jeep, and we were disappointed that their two young children did not get to experience the burros as we did on Sunday. Ironically, the family was here on vacation from Columbus, Indiana, so we dubbed our jeep the "Hoosier Express."
Did I mention that Custer State Park is absolutely beautiful? Especially in the spring with the fresh, new grass.
The kids did get to see a cute prairie dog peeking at us from a culvert.
After riding through a large herd of buffalo (and waiting for them to vacate the middle of the road), we finally arrived at the chuckwagon venue.
While waiting for dinner to be ready, we enjoyed a cup of coffee in tin mugs and listened to live performers singing fun western songs.
A fun bit singled out three people from the audience (the only three who raised their hands when the question was asked "Who wants their steak cooked well done?"
When Roger reserved our spots for this tour, the choice was for burgers or steaks. He chose the steaks, and boy, were they ever good!
We were expecting "Ponderosa" fare, but these steaks were tender and delicious.
Some of the children in the large group were really "playing the role" at the chuckwagon dinner. They wore cowboy boots, chaps, holsters with toy guns, bandanas and cowboy hats. It was obvious how much they were enjoying the evening, with the way they "sidled up" to get their food. So cute!
More music and a large group dance of the hokey-pokey and chicken dance after dinner. Sometimes the hokey-est, cheesy-est activities turn out to be fun if you allow yourself to get into the spirit! After the two short dances it was time to get back into our "Hoosier Express" and ride back through the buffalo herd to the starting point, which was next door to our campground.
Today was cold (50s) and rainy. The first day in a long, long time that we've spent inside due to rainy weather.
Tomorrow morning we leave Custer State Park for a short trip into Wyoming to visit the Devil's Tower. From there we had planned to head into North Dakota to spend some time at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (north part). However, due to the terrible flooding in North Dakota right now, the campground there is closed until further notice. Our revised plan will bring us back into South Dakota to spend a few days near the Badlands National Park before heading east.
The pet photo of the day shows Bandido napping with his favorite toy. He has a whole toy basket full of balls, bones, Kongs and other toys, and he plays with them constantly. What a fun dog! Now if only I could teach him to put his toys back into the basket when he's done!
Roger here.... A disappointing morning, followed by the fun arrival of a new electronic toy....
The plan for the day was to load up the bikes, drive 15 miles to Custer, SD and do a five-mile (ten mile total) stretch of the (110-mile plus) Mickelson Bike Trail. The Mickelson Trail is part of the Rails to Trails program -- the conversion of old railroad lines into lengthy biking and hiking trails. I picked this particular stretch because it was nearby, and would afford us a view of the Crazy Horse Sculpture.
The day started well. It was sunny with a forecasted high in the mid-sixties. Rain was predicted later in the day, but not during the morning hours. As we approached the town of Custer, the skies clouded up and the temperature dropped. By the time we unloaded the bikes, purchased our $3 permits, and biked to the trailhead there was no sunshine and the temperature had dropped to 50 degrees. Oh, and a cold wind started blowing.
I brought a thin windbreaker, just in case. Dianne (being totally unprepared, in shorts and a thin t-shirt -- D.) donned a bright blue rain poncho that was in the car, that seemed to inflate like a balloon when we started down the trail. We figured that the exercise would keep us warm. (Believe it or not, the thin poncho helped a lot by stopping the cold wind, at least when the wind was behind our backs. It was a "Maid of the Mist" poncho from Niagara Falls. I have no idea where it came from, because I've NEVER been there! -- D.)
The trail was smooth and very pretty, after we got out of town. At the two-mile marker, we stopped to assess the situation. My hands felt like ice. Dianne was not happy about the gradual uphill ascent. (Why are bike trails always uphill? This was uphill all the way.) We decided it was not worth being miserable on such a crummy day, so we turned around.
We hardly pedaled on the two-mile return trip due to the gradual descent; however, the wind was in our faces, and it was cold. Here is a shot of Dianne upon our return. She is standing between a painted buffalo and a bust of General Custer. Notice the big smile -- very happy to be back.
Dianne dove into the warm car while I reloaded the bikes. We decided to salvage the morning by having lunch in one of the many restaurants in downtown Custer. We picked the Wild Sage Grill on the main street. It was a good choice. The hot salmon wild rice chowder was delicious and warming. I opted to try what I thought was a local dark beer named Buffalo Sweat. Despite the name, it was actually pretty good. I was disappointed when the waiter told me it was brewed in Kansas. He told me that if I wanted a local beer, I would have to order a Pile 'O Dirt Porter, bottled in Spearfish. After enjoying the Buffalo Sweat, I decided to wait for another time to drink a Pile 'O Dirt.
After lunch we dropped by the post office to pick up our general delivery mail. It was full of goodies, including a french press coffee pot for boondocking (camping without electricity), a new battery for our computer, and a new and improved GPS for the motor home.
We said a not-so-sad goodbye to Sacajawea, our old GPS, relegating her to possible use in the car. Like all GPS units, Sacajawea frequently made poor routing decisions. My nickname for her in those instances was Sac-a-sh__. I am sure that the new GPS will also have instances of bad judgment, but there were other problems with Sacajawea. Take a look:
1. Hard not to notice the scotch tape! The tether connecting Sacajawea to the 12 volt outlet no longer stays in the port located on the bottom of the unit. Without the tape, gravity causes the tether to drop out of the unit. The tape (lovely isn't it?) works most of the time, but fails on bumpy roads at least once per trip. This usually happens when I need to know what lane to be in, in heavy traffic. Shoving the tether back in the port and rebooting all over again is the only solution, and of course, you should not do this while driving.
2. The battery no longer holds a charge; therefore, it must always be tethered with the tape to the 12 volt battery.
3. Take notice of the left-hand side of the unit and the bottom right-hand side of the pedestal. If you look carefully, you can see two ends of a long piece of scotch tape. It is no longer possible to tighten the mounting mechanism, so the unit swings back and forth on the pedestal. It obviously does me no good if I can't see it. The scotch tape holds it in place.
4. We paid a bunch of money to have her reprogrammed last year so that she would know about new or reconstructed roads. She goes nuts when she thinks we are driving off-road. Unfortunately, the upgrade did not seem to make much of a difference, AND now I cannot mute her on the touch screen. When we don't follow her directions, we are forced to endure an endless stream of, "Make a U-turn, when possible," with no reasonable means to tell her to shut up. She does not listen to voice commands. If she did, she'd probably tell me to piss off.
4. The suction cup that holds the pedestal no longer works well. Sometimes she just tips over like R2D2 did in Star Wars.
5. Sometimes, when programming her, she misreads the letters that I press. For example, I press "S", she says "T". Arghhhhh!
6. Finally, I am beginning to feel sorry for her. It is time to put her to rest. The old girl just doesn't need any more of my verbal abuse. And, I also think that she is intentionally doing things to get back at me.
We have recently been reading about Rand McNally's new GPS system that is specifically programmed for RVs -- the TripMaker RVND 5510. Dianne read so many good things about it on the RV.Net message board, that we found money in our budget to order one.
It has a lot of advantages over poor Sacajawea.
1. You can enter the size and weight information for your RV and it will automatically avoid routes that don't accommodate it -- underpasses too low, roads too narrow, turns too sharp.
2. You can plug it into your computer to load road construction information that the unit will warn you about.
3. The screen is larger and easier to see.
4. You can request separate RV Points of Interest that include RV-friendly gas stations and restaurants.
5. It will warn you, in advance, of steep grades, sharp turns, and speed limit decreases.
6. It will show you a picture of the exit sign, before you get there enabling you to know for sure what ramp to follow.
7. The tether port is on the side, no more gravity disconnects.
8. The battery holds a charge.
9. The screen stays in place and does not tip over.
10. We don't have to buy more scotch tape.
I spent the afternoon entering our RV information and preferences, and programmed our first trip -- very simple and intuitive. I then mounted it on the window to the left of the steering wheel.
I know it will also have its flaws, but the fact that it will only route us where our RV can go is a definite safety upgrade. Can't wait to use it and find out what else it can do.
We did, of course, name it. Since I programmed it to have a male voice, we are calling it WALDO -- as in the comic strip, "Where's Waldo?" In our case, we will be saying, "Where are we, Waldo?"
(Here's a link to the discussion about the GPS if you want more info:) -- D.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25038544.cfm
The pet picture of the day shows Chaplin reluctantly sporting the bandana that Dianne tied around his neck. Look at those sad eyes.
Roger here... You may be wondering what you are seeing in the above picture. Is it a cave? A blurry geological formation? Another tunnel? One of my sunset pictures?
Actually, it is the head (specifically the teeth) of a wild burro inside our car searching to see if we had any more apples.
What a great morning we had. Our sole itinerary was a slow drive through the eighteen-mile wildlife loop through the southern half of Custer State Park.
We took both dogs with us, anticipating a hike through the prairie.
Soon after turning onto the loop we encountered a
pronghorn. Bandido let it be known through growling and low- volume "woofs" that he would not allow the pronghorn to hijack our car.
A few miles later, we drove by another pronghorn that was grazing within a few feet of the car. Pretty animals. More "woofing."
Bandido's machoism soon faded. We rounded a corner and found ourselves in the midst of a herd of wild burros.
Bandido quickly became Mr. Chicken Dog when the burros approached the car and begged for food.
Bandido here... "Hey guys. Don't worry about me. I'll just sit here in the middle of the back seat until we move on. I bet mom and dad brought a bag of apples or something for you to nibble on. No problem for me!"
I have to say that this was the most fun I have had in a long time, and I have been having a lot of fun lately. We did indeed bring a bag of apples, anticipating some good times with the burros. They did not disappoint. Whenever we stopped the car, they quietly pushed their heads through the open windows, sometimes startling us because they were so quiet. Dianne hooted (I refer to it as the Grandma Robison hoot) more than once, when burros nudged her, demanding another apple. We went through a dozen apples in about ten minutes. By the way, Chaplin stayed frozen in his normal car-traveling position, his head between Dianne and me with body on the floor of the back seat.
Bandido here... "Hey dad, why are you petting that burro? He looks like an ass to me. Not that I care. I'll just sit here, quietly, in the middle of the back seat."
Dianne could not resist taking a couple of shots of the little ones.
Time to move on... A few miles down the road we encountered a prairie dog colony. Bandido regained his courage and woofed at the little buggers every time they scampered along the prairie. Dianne went into the field, trying to get a good picture -- a difficult task. Every time she approached camera range, they dove into their burrows. She did get one decent shot -- not sure how.
When we arrived at the trailhead for the three-mile loop hike, we discovered a warning sign. Beware of ticks. NO THANKS. We took the dogs on a long walk on a paved (non-tick) path when we returned to the campground.
Just before exiting the wildlife loop, we hit the mother lode -- more buffalo (bison) than I have ever seen at one time. Hundreds of them on both sides (and the middle) of the road.
Bandido here... It was fun trying to intimidate the prairie dogs. However, these big cows (buffalo/bison) are the biggest animals I have ever seen, and they are right next to the car. I'll just sit quietly in the center of the back seat."
Hard to decide which pictures to show. Here are a few.
Bandido here... Well, I am back at the campsite now and very happy to be chasing the occasional robin that gets too close to our motor home. Not sure I want to see any more of those hairy, monster cows.
The pet pictures of the day shows Chaplin resting on my lap while Bandido guards the motor home.
Hi all, Dianne here. Back in the early '80s we first saw Custer State Park on a trip with our two little girls in our pop-up camper.
(Sorry, Girls, Mom couldn't resist) At the time we vowed to come back. Now's the time! On that trip, we made it all the way to Yellowstone and back to Indiana, with all the food prep, kid-tending, and short schedule that went with it. Makes me tired to remember it! This time we've allowed ourselves six full days to really experience all that this wonderful park has to offer.
Custer State Park is so unique that we have to keep reminding ourselves that this is not in the national park system.
We are in the Game Lodge campground, which affords us 50 amp electric, but no water or sewer. Out come the paper plates this week! Here's the view from our front windshield:
Here's a shot of our camp site:
Best of all, there is a two-mile paved hiking/biking trail (The Creekside Trail) right from our campground that winds along a small stream.
Great for walking the boys and for riding our bikes.
The trail goes right past the picturesque State Game Lodge, which served as the "Summer White House" for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, and also was visited by President Dwight Eisenhower for several days in 1953.
Our first full day in the park was spent driving the spectacular 14-mile Needles Highway. The road winds through pine and spruce forests, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen and rugged granite mountains.
There were interesting tunnels and formations all along the drive.
I wish the photos had smell-o-vision, for the crisp, cool air was fragrant with pine.
We stopped to hike around lovely Sylvan Lake. Wow, what jaw-dropping scenery!
Bandido enjoyed the day with us, but Chaplin stayed behind because he does not enjoy twisty-curvy roads in the car. We took so many photos on this hike (all are beautiful) that once again I made a slide show of them. See link below if you have time to check them out (it's worth your time, these are especially pretty!):
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DianneN/Custer%20State%20Park%20Needles%20Highway/?albumview=slideshow
After our hike we enjoyed a picnic lunch along the lake shore at yet another beautiful spot.
Once we completed the scenic drive, we drove on to Mount Rushmore. We had taken our girls there during our '80s trip. Since we have a national park pass, we thought we'd duck in for a quick re-visit and to get my National Park Passport stamped -- That is, until we realized it would cost $11 just to park the car. Since we'd already "been there, done that" we drove right on by, and I snapped a quick shot from the road.
Check back soon, for we have some awesome photos of the wild burros, pronghorns, and buffalo taken on the Wildlife Loop Road this morning.
The pet photo of the day shows Bandido enjoying our campfire with us last evening. We lovingly call him the "Big Lug," but he still thinks he's a lap dog!
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