On the Road in 2000

Thursday, Aug 31 - Saturday, Sept 16 - Black Hills of South Dakota:
We were up at 8 AM to head for South Dakota. The Caldwells are leaving us here to go home.
It's been fun, but we want to see SD. In Rapid City, we stopped at a Chevy place and got a lube job and oil change on the M/H, then went to Ellsworth AFB to camp. We got sticker shock at their main FAMCAMP at $19/night, then discovered they had an overflow area at the "old" campground, with water and electric for $7/night. We considered the choice a "no brainer". Joe went to the base library to do email. Friday and Saturday, Sep 1-2, were rest days. Sunday, we drove through the forest service campground and visited Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. It has been under construction since 1945 and is 1/3 done. That do not accept any state or federal money and depend on entry fees and donations. Crazy Horse is being carved out of a whole mountain and is MUCH bigger than the Mt. Rushmore figures. Monday, Sep 4th - Saturday, the 9th, we rested and relaxed. Joe worked on email and read. Sue rode her bike and watched US Open tennis on TV. The Caldwells called at 6 PM on Tuesday to say they were home and it was HOT. Sure glad we're still in the cool country. We are not using A/C during the day and wear jackets to sit out at night. A couple of days the winds were so high we stayed inside. Sunday, we moved to Elk Mtn. CG at Wind Cave National Park and Sue watched the finals in the tennis tournament. Monday, we went to the Mammoth Site, which we enjoyed, passed a pretty waterfall called Cascade Falls, and drove through a Corps of Eng. CG, which we didn't like. Tuesday, we took a lunch and drove to Custer State Park. We saw a lot of wildlife on the Wildlife Loop road . Wednesday, we drove to Deadwood, Lead and Spearfish, saw a couple of pretty waterfalls, stopped at the Deadwood visitor center, did a simulated tour of the Homestake Mine. They are closing down the Homestake Mine after 124 years of operation. They are down to 8000 feet and the operation has become unprofitable, but due to the EPA regulations, it'll cost them $65 million just to close it down. Thursday, we drove back to the AF base to do laundry, check email, fill prescriptions and shopped the PX and Commissary. We returned by the wildlife loop in Custer SP and saw more animals. Friday and Saturday, we were mostly kicked back in camp but did take the Wind Cave Tour, Friday, and Saturday night, went to the ranger talk, on elk, and the ranger walk out into the prairie to listen to them bugling. We leave, tomorrow.