Tuesday, June 7, 2011 Great Falls, Montana

Met with Madeline, the Tail Gunner's wife, and Carol Adams, Wagon Master's wife in our RV.  They went over everything we needed to know, plus gave us jackets, pins, etc.  Very nice ladies and most informative.  Spencer, the Tail Gunner, inspected our RV and went through a checklist w/us.  Gave us a clear bill of health as far as the RV went.  Around noon we drove the RV to Fleet Service in Great Falls.  Had trouble finding it and pulling into the parking area.  Very muddy, full of potholes and no room to navigate the RV.  They weren't ready for us so we left.

 Drove to the Great Falls of the Missouri River.  Quite spectacular.  Since it was raining (all day) we stopped at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  Once we saw it and were so impressed, we decided to go back the next day, as it was getting ready to close for the day.  We picked up the RV and set it up again in the park.  Went to dinner at MacKenzie River Pizza Company.  Very nice.  The food was good as well as the service.




Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

Monday, June 6, 2011 - Billings, Montana

Left Billings about 9:45. Traveled 376 miles through Bozeman and Butte to Great Falls, Mt. Had stunning scenery of animals grazing in lush green fields and snow capped mountains. Arrived at Dick's RV Park at 4:45 PM. Met George and Winifred who were parked next to us. She took me over to introduce me to some of the group that was already there. I thought I'll never remember anyone's names. Bruce wiped down the RV in the rain. It rained all night.






Saw the Statue of Our Lady of the Rockies at the top of the Continental Divide in Butte, Montana.  90 foot statue.  A nondenominational tribute to motherhood.  Took 6 years to build and airlifted into place in l985.   Would have taken a special bus to the top but ran out of time.

Sunday,June 5, 2011 Sundance, Wyoming

Left Sundance at 9:45 a.m.  Saw a lot of beautiful countryside especially the snow capped mountains.













Got to Little Bighorn Memorial in Montana about l:30.  Roni drove the 250 miles.  Need the practice before I forget how to handle the monster rv.




Took a one hour bus tour to the Rene-Bereen battle site.  Heard about the killing of Custer as well as all his men.  They intended to kill all the Indians at this reservation, only to find out that they were out numbered.

The markers showed where Custer's men were killed.














Arrived at our campsite, setup and found a Peacock roaming around.  Took a dip in the pool and met a very nice couple from Ontario. 

Traveled 300 miles ending at l7,l20.

Saturday, June 4, 2011 Sturgis, SD

Left Custer State Park at 8:05 a.m.. Fueled in Rapid City and arrived in Sturgis, SD around 10 a.m. We checked out the Harley shop and walked a couple blocks around town. the town was very quiet w/several shops closed. The town wakes up during the big ralley in the summer. We did see a lot of Harley's crusing the streets.



Arrived in Sundance, Wyoming around ll:30. After lunch we drove to Devils Tower National Park. We hiked two trails around the tower for a total of 5 miles.


Thousands of people climb this rock formation. If you look closely, you can see a hiker in a blue shirt in the middle of this picture. They are all crazy if you ask me. There were maybe 6 or so climbers while we were there. The top of the rock is about the size of a football field.









We drove to Aladdin, Wyoming - just NE of the tower. The town only has 15 residents but does have Cindy B's Cafe which is visited by all passerby's as well as locals. We did have a freshly cooked meal and talked w/the owner - a very nice lady.













While our meal was cooking at Cindy B's, we walked down the street and visited the 118 year old general store. It wasn't lacking a whole lot. The owner of Cindy's called the store when our meals were ready.

Friday, June 3, 2011 Custer, SD

Went to the Peter Norbeck Museum in the a.m. Tried panning for gold in a creek nearby - needless to say, we were very successful. We then hiked the Lover's Leap trail - about four miles with creek crossings. They had plans set for the crossings - thank heavens. We also saw deer along the trail.



After lunch, we tried hiking the French Creek trail but after about a half mile, came to a wide creek w/no crossing in site. We found a country dirt road and decided to take it. After 5.5 miles, came to a place called Badger Hole. It's where Badger Clark lived in a cabin he built. He was the first poet laureate of SD. the cabin had all of his original furnishings and clothes. The lady tour guide, was very pleasant and enjoyed telling his story. We hiked the one mile trail around the cabin. Afterwards, we went to Leion Lake and hiked another mile around the lake. A neighbor lady caqme over and told us about her nephew getting bit by a rattle snake two years ago and almost died. He is fine now, but the scary part is that Bruce was hiking near that same area just the day before. We put over 200 miles driving around Custer and vicinity.

Again, saw more buffalo just walking around the park. These guys were licking the salt alongside the road as they use salt in the winter time to help clear the roads of snow. They certainly weren't bothered w/people driving the roads near them.

Thursday, June 2, 2011 Custer, SD

Finally went to Mt. Rushmore to view the statues. Took a short guided park ranger tour. Watched a very good video on the construction of the faces.







Had lunch at the Firehouse Brewing Company - an old converted fire station. Very good food and beer - Bruce checked it out.




Walked around Rapid City - known as the City of Presidents. Have a stature of every president on the corner of the two main streets. Here you see Harry Truman and below is President Kennedy w/John.

Went to the Berlin Memorial Park - also in Rapid City - and read some of the displays. Below is actually a section of the wall.

After dinner, Bruce climbed the hillside near the RV then we went to the Lodge, spoke with Michael, the Manager, again to hear more stories.

Wednesday June 1, Custer, SD 2nd Page

This is a better picture of Crazy Horse.  It will be completed on three sides.  They are using the hole now to move trucks and equipment from one side to the other.

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Wednesday June 1, 2011 Custer, SD

Took the Wildlife Road Loop Road around to Custer, SD. Had breakfast and also fueled up the Jeep.


Drove West to the Jewel Cave Park. Bruce took an 80 minute scenic tour of the cave.
It went as low as 379' below ground. Roni walked around the paths above - no way was
she going to have any part of caves.



We drove to Crazy Horse Memorial Park. Saw a movie about the development of the park and sculpture and took a short bus ride near the work. To the right is a statue of how the real work will look like. Might never see it done in our life time.  In the background is the real stature.  The hole is the beginning of the section under his arm.










We stopped for lunch at Sylvan Lake Lodge which gave us the energy to hike up
Harney Peak. It's about a 6.25 moderate to strenuous hike. Started at 4:15 and got back in under 3 hours.  This is the highest peak in this area.  Driving back to Game Lodge we went through three very narrow tunnels in the rock. Roni did 10 miles of walking today.