July 29th-July 30, 2014-Tourists-Arriving in Minnesota

Tuesday July 29, 2014 We're leaving this morning, so it's just a quick breakfast, then we prepare the inside of the bus to leave.

Otis prepares himself too. I don't know if he worries about being left behind, or if he just wants to make sure he has the "LAP SEAT"!?!

                         Hook-up & we're off!

We're taking off early,

I can probably get a picture of the sun rise....well maybe not that early, but early enough!!

Otis has already moved to the lap!

Our destination for today is Mitchell, South Dakota, but first we make a stop in WALL, South Dakota, home of the famous WALL DRUG Store, where everyone gets FREE ICE WATER!!!

Free Ice Water for everyone, &.....a FREE DONUT & COFFEE for ALL VETS!

We came to Wall Drugs 30 some years ago with our kids. Since then it has done nothing but grown! It's a fun place to walk around!!

or sit around.......

Back on the road!

Otis is ready to go, he may even be doing the                                                                                                                                  driving!?!

Heading to Mitchell, how 'bout that "FLAT"                                                                                                                            SCENERY!?!

We arrive at our destination, the R&R Campgrounds.

It's a nice campground, nice shaded spots. I was sorry we were only spending the night here!

Now for our 2nd tourist attraction of the day! The Corn Palace!!!Another attraction we went to over 30 years ago. Lennie & I learned a lot about the Corn Palace this time around! Tho it dates back to 1892, it transforms itself EACH YEAR---with real corn! It takes 275,000 ears of colorful corn to turn the outside walls into the beautiful murals, for everyone to enjoy. It's all done by hand by local artists.Each year the theme changes.When we were there this year, some of the new murals were up, but we could see a blank wall, which would become a corn mural

The best time to visit the Corn Palace, is in the fall of the year, AFTER harvest & the murals are complete! UNLESS you are here to see a basketball game! The Corn Palace is used for more basketball games than any other event! But.....any time you visit The Corn Palace you will have a good time!!

Since we are only spending the night in Mitchell, when we get back to the campgrounds Lennie connects us right back up again!

The campgrounds I thought was so great, I changed my opinion at bedtime!!!! There was a hidden set of train tracks behind the campgrounds.At bedtime it sounded like that train was roaring right through our campsite!?! Not really a problem, once my head hits the pillow I'm out!

                                                   Good-Night, Minnesota in the morning!

July 27th-July 28, 2014-Pancake breakfast-Keystone-Mt. Rushmore-Spearfish Canyon-Deadwood

 Sunday July 27, 2014 This morning was FAR from routine!!!! What a pleasant surprise, Lennie & I are going to ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES (for 99 cents!) at Hays Chuck wagon Supper! They also have dinner shows & tours you can take....we were just there for the pancakes!

They had a regular assembly line going!

It was all you could eat, but 2 pancakes filled                                                                                       me up! Lennie did go back up for seconds!

The parking lot was quite interesting!

I'd like to drive away in that!

A part of the movie,Dances with Wolves was filmed here, I                                                                                             wonder if this was one of the props!?!

We went back inside the breakfast/showroom because  Cowboy Church was going to take place. It was only going to be a singing sermon. The guy singing was a local & had been doing a singing ministry or over 25 years.

This was Earl, he was running the show, he may have even been the owner?

We take advantage of Otis NOT being with us, at the same time, we don't want to be gone too long since Otis isn't with us. It's a no win situation!!!!We drive to Keystone, a tourist city of less than 400 people & I think they all own a T-shirt shop!

We looked in several shops but didn't by                                                                                                                anything....not even a postcard!

We want to drive back to Needles Highway, the other end this time, we have to hurry before Otis calls! On this end of Needles Highway you can see the Mt Rushmore busts through the highway tunnels. It's cool how the tunnels perfectly frame the busts!

 

Having never been on a family vacation, by Jr High age, I thought places like Mt Rushmore, The Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, etc,etc, were just places you read about in books! I didn't know you could actually drive there & see them in real life!!! Therefore I have a tendency to take too many pictures of things that impress me!!!

I think Otis called, he must of because we're heading back to the RV now!!!! Don't worry Otis, we're home now, & we're not going anywhere the rest of the night!

                                               He's sooooooo spoiled!!!!

July 25th-July 26, 2014 Good-bye Buena Vista~Hello Rapid City-Custer Park-Needles Hwy

Friday July 25, 2014- Today our morning starts from routine, & quickly changes as we pull out of our RV Park. Our camping neighbor, Fred stopped last night to say "Good-Bye" to us! He was a real nice guy. Lennie will miss shooting the breeze with Fred!

We have a loooooong  road ahead of us, we're going all the way to Rapid City, South Dakota, 500 some miles....

"Oh Give Me A Home"!!!

Hello Wyoming....just passing through!

It shouldn't take us too long to get to S. Dakota, look at the speed limit in Wyoming!

                      

Big change in the scenery!

Finally we make it to Rapid City, South Dakota

& to our RV PARK. WiFi is free, good thing they don't charge for it, it only worked one night for me.....

Len checking us in,we stayed here a couple of                                                                                                                               years ago.......

Our new home for a couple of days!

Guess what!?! We arrived here at Heartland RV Park about 6:00pm. You know what that means, yep....just in time to start dinner. After the drive Len is tired. Otis loses some of his spunk too after a day of traveling. I don't know why, he rides on my lap the whole way!

                     Just going to relax the rest of the night, only here for a few days so we'll be busy!!!