After getting up around 9:00, we ate our continental breakfast, packed up our stuff and hit the road. We wanted to visit the Prehistoric Indian Museum in Mitchell before we left. The museum was part exhibit and part a real archaeology dig. We studied the museum portion for awhile and then walked the path toward the archaeodome, an indoor facility where scientists are digging for indian artifacts. On the path, they had a sample dig area where the kids could dig for a plastic arrowhead that they could trade in for a real arrowhead. Rogan, a digger at heart, loved this and found seven of the hidden prizes.
While the skies and road were relatively clear, it was extremely windy today. It was so windy that I drove with two hands on the wheel at all times as the wind would gust strongly and push us sideways. The drive on I-90 across South Dakota is long, straight, and steep, but has many scenic views. As we chatted about the last time we had been in South Dakota, Jen hinted that she would like to stop by a giant concrete statue of a prairie dog that she had taken a picture by on her first trip to the area.
We pulled off the Giant Prairie Dog exit and filled up on gas. We posed for some pictures there and then went into the gift shop. Jen immediately made friends with a smiling young man running the counter who gave us some advice about things to see in the area. He told us that if we continued down the road, we would travel through the scenic road through Badlands State Park and end up in Wall just the same.
The kids bought some peanuts and fed the prairie dogs. They were hilarious animals to watch. They were pretty tame and would almost eat right out of your hand. There were scores of holes scattered throughout the property.
From this stop we continued on into the Badland National Park. The rock structures of eroded mountains in the Badlands were really incredible. While there, we saw mountain goats and big horn sheep climbing the rock bluffs along with jaw dropping views of the unique geology of the area. We tried to climb up one of the small mountains, but the gusts of wind were so strong you could barely keep your balance, and we didn't feel like it was very safe. We instead settled on so pictures from less windy spots.
Here's where things got interesting, in a bad way. As we were beginning to leave the Badlands Park, I read what I thought was a sign for the town of Wall to the left. As I turned I almost immediately realized that I had turned at the wrong place. The problem was that with the pop-up behind me on this narrow road, I didn’t have room to pull a u-turn anywhere. I decided in my boldness that I would attempt to reverse the camper back into the road and then we could continue on our way. The problem is that our camper is extremely short which makes it very tricky to manuever. On top of that, I’m just not very good at it. As I backed up, I started very well and then Jen told me there was a car coming the other way. I looked up briefly, and in a rush to get out ahead of that car I backed up a little too fast and....Wham! Jackknife!
Still, being out in the middle of the road, I quickly pulled ahead as I felt the camper was pulling okay. The first opportunity to pull off, we stopped to survey the damage. On first examination, everything looked fine. I was most concerned with the hitch and tires and everything there looked okay. It was actually Mikah who noticed a dent in the the rear quarter panel right by the back left tire of the van where the corner of the camper had hit it. It was nothing major, but it was noticeable. Rogan also noticed some small damage where the hitch had slid under the plastic underside of the bumper. I was mad at myself, but it was one of those, "oh well" moments.
From there we tried to forget about what happened and continued on to Wall where we did the expected touristy things. We took cheesy pictures with the plastic statues. We shopped for souvenirs. Rogan got fudge, an airplane made from metal scrap objects, and a bookmark. Mikah bought fudge, rabbit fur, a necklace, a bookmark, and the rock, mica. We ate dinner at a place on the main strip that had nasty water and a subpar buffet - very forgettable.
Then we drove the hour and a half to Custer State Park. Because of our detour through the Badlands, we were much later than we originally planned which meant we had to drive through the park at dusk. We did a self check-in at the ranger station and began driving the winding road through the park. In the dim light I saw what I thought was a large dark stump. Jen looked at the same thing and said, “That’s a buffalo!” We went on to see several buffalo as they would be grazing and moving right by the road, sometimes even in the road.
This is a picture of the road though the park on another day but it gives you an idea of the buffalo's lack of interest in passing cars.
At one point Jen spotted and shouted, "Deer!" as a couple deer leaped right toward us. I slammed the brakes as the deer's hindquarters kicked up just in front of our front bumper as they crossed the road. My heart was really beating now!
We finally arrived at Stockade Lake North and set out immediately for site 17E. There was very little light as it was approaching 9:30 and we did not want to set up camp in the dark. Jen was confused by the campsite directions and there was almost no signage to point you where to go. We passed by site 17 which had a vehicle in it and circled around to the camp host area. The hosts were out so we asked someone and they let us know that site 17 and 17E were the same, the E just stood for electric. As I talked to the helpful camper, I noticed the temperature had dropped considerably, I'd guess down to about 40 degrees - not too comfortable for me in my t-shirt and shorts.
So, we circled back around to site 17 which had a family of 6 tent camping. I could tell that they were in their tents getting ready for bed. I called to someone inside the tent and a man came out, and I asked if he had reserved site 17. He said he had, but they had left their paperwork and had to confirm with the rangers where they were supposed to be. I immediately assumed that either they or the ranger had a made a mistake. The only other option was that Jen made a mistake, and I didn't believe that could be possible. He asked me if we were supposed to be at Stockade Lake South, so I said no, as I had almost pulled into that campground first before Jen directed me to this one.
They were very nice people and seemed concerned that they had made a mistake and taken our campsite. I wasn't upset or anything, but I asked if we could share the site for the night and then sort it all out in the morning. Since they were tent camping and weren’t even using the pad, they kindly moved their vehicle over so we would have room to park and set-up the pop-up.
The kids pitched in as we frantically started setting up the pop-up. We were delayed a bit as I had to physically straighten the lock on the hitch that had bent in our earlier mishap in the Badlands. The rest of the set-up went pretty well and as soon as everything was ready we went to bed, probably around 11:00. It was another busy day, and we were all exhausted. In the chilly South Dakota night, we all fell asleep.
For more on the resolution of the campsite mix-up, read my next blog entry.
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