An Unforgettable Outing
As we get closer to Wind Cave we enter into the thriving community of Prairie Dog Country. And by that I mean on both sides of the road was a dusty grassland and everywhere you looked little prairie dogs were poking their heads out, looking around; wrestling with other dogs; diving in and out of tunnels--it was a sight to see!
Finally we get the Visitor Center of Wind Cave and while Michelle whips up a lunch of barbecue, beans, mac 'n cheese, and chips, the rest of us went to get our tickets for the tour of the cave. If I haven't said it enough, PLEASE take advantage of the Every Kid in a Park program. We were able to get into four National Parks for free, and were also treated to a free tour of Wind Cave. Amazing!
We asked the Ranger which of three tours would be a good fit for our group and the one she suggested was not my first pick, solely because of the name, "Fairgrounds Tour." It didn't sound like much of an underground experience, but I came to learn that the many open spaces that could hold lots of people deep underground were known as "fairgrounds."
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| The "boxwork" found only in Wind Cave |
The original tour guides would bring down 100 people at a time dressed in church clothes (!) on a tour using only candlelight! Luckily there were only 40 on the one we were a part of and back in the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps installed electric lighting, concrete walkways, and an elevator. Wind Cave has the only known "boxwork" in the world, a kind of honeycomb formation in the stone. Something else we learned in that Charlie gets claustrophobic in caves. This may be his last visit underground.
Leaving Wind Cave for Mt. Rushmore we drove through more dying forests. The trip out West was so lush and beautiful because of the thousands of trees. It was hard to believe that this southern route going East was being decimated because of a bug. As awful as the destruction was, I'm glad we came this way because we got to drive through a buffalo herd!
It's funny to think back to when we were in Lamar Valley, all standing on an overlook taking pictures of fuzzy brown creatures a mile away. Now, I had multiple families so close to me I could spit on them. I didn't, but they did , as well as many other things. They did their business, wrestled among themselves, and cared for their calves. This was so much action and we were right in the middle of it all! Usually, when we'd see a buffalo it would be laying in a field and it would take a few minutes for us to determine whether it was a big rock or not. Finally, the flapping tail would give it away.
With this little hurdle out of the way we were on our way to the Mt. Rushmore KOA. Our original plan was to take the campsite's shuttle to Mt. Rushmore for the evening's lighting of the monument. Getting there a few minutes after 7pm we missed the shuttle, which was fine because we needed to set up and get dinner started. Besides, this was the Disneyland of KOAs--there was free putt-putt, basketball, a jumping pillow, a playground, a swimming pool, a game room, volleyball, and they even had a shelter house that showed nightly movies. That night's was National Treasure II, which was significant because it was filmed in the area.
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| They collapsed upon exiting Wind Cave |
Kevin grilled pork chops and we had stuffing, vegetables, and watermelon with it. We had a large, grassy lot with a big rock in it, which I realize doesn't sound nice but with the mild temperature (it stopped raining by the time we got there!) and mountains in the background it was just what we needed. The kids were thrilled with all there was to do at the campground and I was pushing for us to stay another night here.
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| Mt. Rushmore KOA |
One of the hardest things about this trip is the constant moving. Most places we only stayed on night, and even when we stayed longer we needed to move the RV each day so it felt like we were always on the go. Even though Kev, Mark, and Michelle all agreed that it would be great to stay one more day, in the end we would leave otherwise it would make the trip to Sioux Falls that much longer. We ended the night with the perfect fire and a great night of sleep.
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