After 10 days of travel and almost 1500 miles we finally reached South Dakota! Yahoo!
While driving the 35 miles north to the little resort town of Hot Springs we started to see the foothills of the Black Hills, dotted with the occasional pine tree ....

Hot Springs, named the gateway to the Black Hills for obvious reasons, is a pretty old town, made up of tall sand-stone buildings lining main street, which in it's turn runs along the Fall River. 

The area boosts several hot springs and their naturally warm 87 °F (31 °C) water was the reason to build Battle Mountain Sanitarium in 1907, for patients suffering from rheumatism or tuberculosis.

After a short coffee break we left, once again driving north, and than .... there they were .... the Black Hills!
From a distance the pine-tree covered hills look very dark, hence the 'black' in the name.

Driving north towards Custer you skirt, and actually drive into, the Wind Cave National Park, and eventually, after a couple of miles, you leave it again.
The cave the park was named for was the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world.

Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States.
There's no fee for this small stretch and if you're lucky,  you'll see some wildlife. Which we were, and did ....

Tatanka! The Wind Cave bison herd is one of only four free-roaming, and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America.

When we stopped to take a picture, prairie dogs popped up all around us. They were such fun to watch as they were watching us!

Although there seem to be a lot around, their numbers have been greatly reduced during the last couple of years, due to a plague-like illness.

Fortunately, they have rather big litters so their comeback will be fairly swift, once they beat the disease.

The skies started to cloud up when we finally arrived in Custer, where we were going to spend a couple of days, to see some of the many interesting sights around there.

We were staying at the French Creek Campground, another Passport America, and thus half-price campground, conveniently located only a block behind main street.

This again was a little run-down Mom and Pop place, in dire need of some updating. Good enough if you're self sufficient, like us, but not quite up to standard for what they normally ask for their sites.

Despite the rain that had started to come down, we walked over to main street to check out some of the shops. Quite a few were still closed for the season, and even the visitor center was closed for the weekend, so we called it a day and settled in early for a quite evening of TV watching.





The next day was my Birthday, and we went to the town's most colorful building, the Purple Pie Palace, for coffee and a piece (or two) of their famous pies!
The strawberry-rhubarb I had was excellent, and so was James' blueberry!
Since it was another rainy day we decided to stay out of it, literary, and to go underground. Like in, into a cave!

Jewel Cave is currently the third longest cave in the world, with just over 166 miles (267 kilometers) of mapped passageways
It gets it's name from the two types of calcite crystals  known as nail-head spar and dog-tooth spar that are found in the cave, which are the "jewels" of Jewel Cave. 



The guided tour route through the cave, by a Park Ranger, involves walking up and down 723 stair steps along a 1/2 mile loop, (equivalent to 40 flights of stairs).
The crystals have beautiful colors ....

.... and come in many different forms, like: boxwork, cave popcorn, flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, and a long ribbon drapery called the cave 'bacon':

The cave temperature is 49°F (9°C) so a 'light' jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt is recommended. I should have known, when the ranger showed up with gloves, that it was going to be cooler than that.

Although dressed fairly warm, we about froze our butts off, mainly due to the slow going and the many, long lectures given throughout the tour, during which we had to stand still too long for comfort!

Time to warm up! Which we did, in the funky sports bar the 'Bugling Bull', in downtown Custer.

We toasted my Birthday with a good beer and excellent meal, while watching a golf game on the tiny table-side TV, mounted to the side of every booth. We'd never seen that before!

 

That evening we changed our plans for the rest of the 'trip'. 

Due to the dreary weather we'd leave the next day and will come back to 'do' the sites on a sunnier day, somewhere (hopefully) in the near future.

It's really no fun to do any sight-seeing in the rain, and we'll end up staying only about 1 hour away from here anyways.

And so we did. After a nice, unhurried breakfast the next morning (like we ever hurry?), we first drove to Hill City and from there to the Walmart in Rapid City, where we had coffee and stocked up on groceries.

From there we had only 30 miles to go to Sturgis, just outside of the Black Hills, where we had made reservations for a month at the Days End Campground.
Being one of the only places already open this early, closest to the northern Hills, we will eventually end up in Lead, where we are confirmed for the rest of the season.

The Park was practically empty and we could pick any site we'd like.
It took us the rest of the day to set everything up. The dish gave us a little bit of a fit this time, but eventually we succeeded!

James searching for the right satellite connections .......

The next morning we woke up to blue skies and lots of sunshine! Murphy's law....

It was warm enough to have our coffee outside, although the wind was still a little frisky .....

I went for a walk on the, quite extensive(!), grounds of the campground and found welcome signs of spring:

It's funny to sort of get back in time, or more precise, back in season. We're going to experience spring all over again!

This Killdeer tried to lure me away from her nest in the meadow ...

In the next couple of days we explored a little bit of the towns in and around Sturgis, just to get the lay of the land. 

James found out that he had indeed a job with the contractor in Lead, although we hadn't heard from the guy for a while, and had started to doubt if he still did. Cool!

 

Of course we checked out Sturgis.
Sturgis is famous for being the location of one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world, which is held annually on the first full week of August. By all accounts, the town is a rural one with just 6,700 residents and, yet, the resources and infrastructure stretch each year to accommodate the 400,000 to 600,000 motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world, who attend the annual  Rally.

Most of the town is made up of saloons, casino's and motorcycle-related businesses.

The largest and most popular venue is the Easyrider's saloon, it takes up a full city block, houses over a dozen bars plus 3 concert stages and features the beefiest menu in the Black Hills.

A close second is the famous Knuckle Saloon with 7 bars, MMA fights, bikini bike washes and legendary food.



It's atmosphere is what you'd expect from a motorcycle bar & grill in Sturgis. Cool nostalgic items both outside and inside.
We decided to have dinner there and had the famous steak-tips with blue cheese, Yum!

A great beer from the recent addition to the saloon, it's very own Brewery, topped it all off.

This year will be the 75th anniversary of the Rally and instead of the 4 to 600.000 people they're expecting more than 1 million this year!
I don't know if it will be wise to visit during that time, 'just to have a look', it's going to be a zoo!
We're told they sometimes have to block of the Freeway exit, until enough people have left, to let others in. We'll see!

We drove to Deadwood and Lead to see how long James had to commute, which was a little longer than we'd hoped, and checked out Spearfish for some of it's stores and restaurants.

Deadwood

We also dropped in to Recreational Springs, the campground we were going to stay in Lead in about a month, when they'll open up. 
We introduced ourselves to the, very friendly and easygoing, owners, and picked out, and reserved, the spot we liked best.

The grass in the meadow of Recreational Springs is only just free of snow. It's the area they open up for the Ralley only.

At the end of the week we learned that they actually had turned on their water a little earlier than expected!
We were told that we're welcome to come over, anytime we're ready.

Since this means that James only has to commute for about 10 minutes instead of the 40 he is doing now, we jumped on the offer and decided to leave that weekend.
The Days End had no problem with us changing our month's stay into a week's one, and refunded us the difference in rate.

Cool beans! Other than having to pack everything up and setting up all over again, we were very happy to move.
We might miss this sunset though! What a gorgeous 'days end' .....

I've always wanted to say this, so here it goes: 

                      "I guess we're not in Kansas anymore!"

No, we're not, we're in Nebraska, Dorothy! Barely though, only 50 miles over the border, in Elm Creek.

We arrived early, and set up quickly at another Passport America campground, just off the highway, again not the prettiest, but OK for a one night stay.

I'd never pay the $30 fee, even the PA rate of $15 was high but it was very conveniently located, they had nice hot showers and the electric hookup worked, so we bit the bullet.

As planned, we drove the 17 miles to Kearney to have lunch at the Thunderhead Brewing Company.

                  

              

As we often do while visiting a local brewery, we ordered a 'flight' with 5 different beers, and a 'Thunder Pie', their signature pizza.

The beers were very good, as was the pizza which had a good filling (alfredo sauce, roasted chicken, bacon, jalapenos, pepper jack and mozzarella cheese, with a side of Thunderhead ranch) and excellent crust but it was on the small size for the price. 

Our next destination was the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument.

Spanning 310 feet over Interstate 80 near Kearney, Nebraska, The Archway presents 170 years of transportation history through detailed displays and harrowing stories you’ll hear during a self guided tour with headphones and audio, as you walk over one of America’s busiest interstate highways.

Inside, a tall escalator takes you up into a variety of displays and videos, that highlight the Great Plain, Platte River, and the pioneer trails, railroads, and highways that led to the American West. It gives a very personal feel to the experiences of past travelers, and the significance of their journeys to the West.

You start at Ft. Kearney in the 1840s where the Oregon Trail converged with the Mormon Trail and California Trail. From there you follow the historic trails while listening to the stories of the early pioneers.




You see the first stage coaches, the first trains and finally the first cars 
come into existence.

Going in, I thought that this may just be another touristy pioneer museum, remember, the ones that I was never going to visit again, ever. Wrong. It was actually a very good, and fun, educational experience detailing the movement west from the mountain men to the Interstates.  Very well done!

The next morning we followed the I-80 east along the Platte river.
Had we been a month earlier we would have stopped at various wildlife viewing areas with 'blinds' to see the dancing of the famous Sandhill Cranes.

For five weeks each spring, approximately 500,000 cranes stop to gain energy from the fertile lands along the Platte River. From mid-February to mid-April 90 percent of the world's cranes can be seen and heard for 30 miles along the Platte River.

Unfortunately, we missed it. Oh well, maybe we'll be back ....

All we saw were wild turkeys. I tried to take a few shots but it's not easy to do from a moving truck ....

     
                                

On almost every other fencepost or wire perched a Western Meadowlark. I guess when you're the State Bird you have to put in an appearance!

When we arrived at Bridgeport around lunchtime, our end destination for the day, we had a little trouble finding the state park we'd picked out online, but eventually found it.
Relatively small but very popular, Bridgeport State Recreation Area lies adjacent to the North Platte River on the north edge of the town of Bridgeport. The area totals 197 acres with 119 acres of land and 78 acres of water in several sand pit lakes.

It gets very busy here in the summer but right now we had the place, except for some fishermen, to ourselves.

That's us, there in the distance

After setting up and a quick lunch we set out to visit Chimney Rock, about 12 miles to the east of us in Bayard.

Chimney Rock is a prominent geological rock formation, rising nearly 300 feet (91 m) above the surrounding North Platte River valley. The peak is 4,226 feet (1,288 m) above sea level. 
During the middle 19th century it served as a landmark along the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Mormon Trail, which ran along the north side of the rock. It is visible for many miles.

"Towering to the heavens" is how one pioneer described the most recognized landmark along the Oregon Trail.
It was taller when it was first seen by settlers in 1827, but has been reduced in height since then by erosion and lightning.

 

The pillar consists primarily of clay inter layered with volcanic ash and sandstone. The harder sandstone layers near the top have protected the pillar from erosion.

You can’t walk up to the site, because it is private property but we'd at least wanted to visit the Ethel and Christopher J. Abbot Visitor Center, which features museum exhibits and a video about pioneers and the migrations in the West.
Well, wadda-ya-know? It was closed because of  .... Arbor Day!

It turned out that the first American Arbor Day originated in Nebraska, and this day, the last Friday of April, is a legal holiday so some state offices and historic sites are closed. Just our luck!

That evening and night we had some violent thunderstorms going through the area. The thunder and lightening were something else, it was quite a spectacle!  

Fortunately it had all passed us by morning and we continued our journey under nice, sunny skies.

 

What makes Carhenge special is that it's made of cars, 38 of them, rescued from nearby farms and dumps. Reinders noticed that the monolithic dimensions of cars from the 1950s and '60s nearly equaled the stones at Stonehenge, and he built his monument with a 96-foot diameter to match the proportions of the original. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2606#sthash.pU5mLS7z.dpu

Traveling North on the 385 we bypassed another Pioneer museum (you know why) but stopped at the site of this unusual road side 'wonder'.

What makes Carhenge special is that it's made of cars, 38 of them, rescued from nearby farms and dumps. Reinders noticed that the monolithic dimensions of cars from the 1950s and '60s nearly equaled the stones at Stonehenge, and he built his monument with a 96-foot diameter to match the proportions of the original. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2606#sthash.pU5mLS7z.dpuf

What makes Carhenge special is that it's made of cars, 38 of them, rescued from nearby farms and dumps. Reinders noticed that the monolithic dimensions of cars from the 1950s and '60s nearly equaled the stones at Stonehenge, and he built his monument with a 96-foot diameter to match the proportions of the original. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2606#sthash.pU5mLS7z.dpu

Carhenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge, located near the city of Alliance.

Instead of being built with large standing stones, as is the case with the original Stonehenge, Carhenge, conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father,  is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. 

Carhenge consists of 38 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 29 meters (95 ft) in diameter. Some are held upright in pits 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. The 'heel-stone' is a 1962 Cadillac.

In addition to the Stonehenge replica, the Carhenge site includes several other sculptures created from autos covered with various colors of spray paint.

Carhenge very nearly didn't survive. The residents of Alliance at first wanted to tear down Carhenge. Then the Nebraska Department of Highways wanted to label it a "junkyard" and erect a big fence around it. But the animosity passed, and now signs on the outskirts of Alliance proudly call it "Home of Carhenge." Postcards are readily available in town. - See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2606#sthash.pU5mLS7z.dpuf

The site very nearly didn't survive. The residents of Alliance at first wanted to tear down Carhenge and the Nebraska Department of Highways wanted to label it a "junkyard" and erect a big fence around it. But the animosity passed, and now signs on the outskirts of Alliance proudly call it "Home of Carhenge."

Not exactly worth a special trip, I'd say, but since we drove right by it, it was a fun place to stretch our legs and have a cup of coffee.

Still heading North towards the state border the road and scenery changed ever so slightly from barely 'rolling' ....



...... to  slightly more windy and hilly ....

 .... to definitely curvy, with the first pine trees from the upcoming Pine Ridge National Forest starting to emerge ..... 

It finally started to look like there could be some 'Black Hills' rising up from the plains, somewhere in the near future.

Only 20 more miles to the border and only about 35 to Hot Springs, the gateway to the Black hills of South Dakota!

Time to switch to my last 'traveling' post ..... see you over the border!