Monday: Forest City, Iowa. Heat index: 106. Sat outside for 9.5 hours. BUT got excellent, free service on the coach. They found and fixed things we didn't know needed fixing. All is well. Camped in Minnesota amongst buffalo at Blue Mounds State Park.
Tuesday: Had to wait out another BIG storm. We're getting good at this. (Who knew what a "gust front" is? We do now!)
From the back window of the coach:
Through South Dakota, stopping at a strange but wonderful sculpture garden along I-90. A very unusual man makes these signs and sculptures. Wished I'd have had the nerve to ask for his photograph. He wears googly-eyed sunglasses to greet visitors.... But I'm going to post lots of photos; hope the signs are readable (or I really will have to learn how to do the "click to enlarge" coding).
The cracked goldfish bowl (these little fish were all over the park):
The cow head was what had me pull off the interstate--you can see it from quite a distance. But, as you can see here, there are many more little jewels that aren't as big as the cow ;-) The sculptor made a point of running out to tell us to look for the bats in the cow's ear. We did. It was clear it wasn't real. I think he was disappointed that we weren't scared....
And of course Pandora's box:
If one can have a favorite amongst all these:
Or maybe this one, where the T-Rex is taking time to smell the roses:
This one makes a great desktop photo:
And of course the message on this one is one we should all heed. The sign says: "Dream Afraid to Be Ridden. The horse is looking back in fear, but can not run. It can only rock. It can only be free once it is ridden."
I can really relate to this one.
What's a road trip across South Dakota without a stop to Mitchell?
I so love making Lisa pose next to tacky tourist attractions ;-)
Since it was Tuesday, we stayed at a funky older private campground that had laundry facilities AND the added benefit of being just across the street from the Minuteman Missile National Monument. We didn't take the tour, unfortunately (it's quite limited in terms of number), but we did see the visitor's center and the launch pad. Yikes. The best part was the photo of their dark humor: a mural painted by members of the crew. I found a little photo. Since it's a government photo, I believe it's in the public domain.
Looking down into the missile silo. That little rocket holds a payload 16 times stronger than the WWII bombs. Mutual assured destruction, indeed.
Wednesday: Tourist day. Rapid City, Wall Drug, Badlands NP, Devil's Tower National Monument--all things we missed last summer. Boondocked in Keyhole State Park, Wyoming. A quick photo tour:
Badlands National Park--very green from the recent storms:
Reminded me of those crazy golf course calendar photos. Looks like a hole up there:
I was last here in 1976. Will have to scan a photo from that visit when we get home. This visit was very disappointing. I recall Wall Drug being in the middle of nowhere. Well, it's not anymore. Just awful. We fled in a big hurry, or actually, rapidly to Rapid City and lunch at a neat 1915 firehouse. Those photos are locked inside my dead iPhone, unfortunately....
Really, really loved Devil's Tower. Cue the music from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Thursday: Through Wyoming to boondocking in Curt Gowdy State Park last night, right on the water. A very goofy campground, even though we loved our site:
Had to be VERY careful at this site. We did lose Nick's favorite toy (a rubber saucer), which rolled out the door and right into the lake. Then at our 5:15 AM walk, there were probably 5 families of Canadian geese RIGHT outside the door on the water. Poor Nick just quivered with excitement, so I had to bribe him with cookies to not haul off and bark like crazy at them. The poor tent campers nearby would not have liked that. If you do go to this CG, be sure to make a reservation. There are primitive, unimproved sites ONLY for non-reservation people, even though the nice reservable sites sit empty all night long. Goofy. We took what looked to be a group picnic site, since it was relatively level. There wasn't a sign saying we couldn't, so we did. Take that, Mr. Gowdy!
Friday: To Colorado for early afternoon arrival at our friends' new home in Louisville. Got to see Pure Prairie League (with a few members of Poco and Little Feat playing along) at the free "Street Faire". Fun!
Wow! No wonder you haven't been posting--too busy doing!
ReplyDeleteLinda Sand