TRAVEL DAY
From: Buffalo KOA Journey Campground, Buffalo, WY.
To: Custer/Mt. Rushmore KOA Holiday Campground, Custer, South Dakota.
Day 354 – Today we drive from Wyoming to South Dakota to another KOA Campground, staying at this one for 3 nights. Tomorrow morning we’ll be driving to Rapid City, SD to get our COVID shots. We’d wanted to wait until the government had approved shots that included the latest variants of the virus.
Our original intent had been to stay at Custer State Park using it as a base for visiting Mount Rushmore, and to be there for the annual Bison Round-up. Evidently, the Round-up is a HUGE event; they were booked up over Round-up weekend way in advance. We got reservations at the State Park for 4 nights beginning Monday, but had to find a different campground for tonight thru Sunday night – that would be the KOA where we were going today, 30 minutes from Custer State Park and the bison.
It rained during the night and was still raining lightly at 7:05 a.m., and it was 59 degrees. Rob took a sunrise picture this morning. We departed the Buffalo KOA in WY at 9:30 a.m. It was 60 degrees and still raining. It rained on and off for the earlier part of our trip.
We saw the standard Cows, Horses, and Antelope, also a Llama and some Goats. The terrain changed from flat to hilly and back again. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop before crossing from Wyoming into South Dakota. The scenery almost immediately changed. There were some fall colors. Bigger, more rocky hills, with tinges of red in the dirt gave way to forested hills. We were in Black Hills National Forest and it was beautiful. We also went by Jewel Cave National Monument. Really nice scenery except for when there’d obviously been a large fire not too long ago. We’re looking forward to seeing more of SD!
We arrived at the Custer/Mount Rushmore KOA Holiday Campground at 1:20 p.m. It was 70 degrees and partly cloudy. It’s supposed to rain here later. We were directed to site #201, a pull-through site with a patio that had a BBQ grill. We had full hook-ups. After unpacking, we started laundry. They had 4 washers and 4 dryers in their laundry room, but others had beat us to them. By the time it was dark, we’d finished our 4 loads, with 2 more to go before we leave Monday morning. The heat wave we’d encountered for a couple of days was over. It was comfortable. Fingers crossed that we don’t have vaccine side effects this weekend.
We used the Deadwood/Lead KOA as our hub when we were in SD. The Black Hills are beautiful. Mount Rushmore is amazing, and there is a cool trail that runs around the base of the mountain that gives you lots of opportunities for beautiful pictures. Crazy Horse Memorial is cool, but touristy. Wall drug is the biggest tourist trap of all, but they have the best food. The Mitchell Corn Palace is fun, but the town of Mitchell is the real star. Have fun and keep on posting.