Long Drive to Custer, South Dakota - 100 Miles

We were awakened at 3:17 a.m. this morning with the blast of a gust of wind and the rolling rumble of thunder. The rain followed shortly. Thankfully, it didn't last long and we were able to get another hour or so of sleep. We took our time getting ready to travel today. We got underway at 10:45 for our 100 mile drive from Chadron State Park to Broken Arrow RV Park just south east of Custer.

The first half of the trip, once we left the park, was rolling hills and meadows. The weather was foggy, but at least it wasn't raining.

The South Dakota state line. This is "life state" for Jim, as he's never been in South Dakota before. I was here once as a child, but that was a long, long time ago!

We saw buffalo:

Hills and rocks:

And more rocks:

And picturesque old buildings:

We got here around 1:00 and got set up. Karon and her family are parked at a friend's property about 10 miles from here. She doesn't have cell service here, so I called her friend to ask her to pass along the message to Karon that we're here. About 40 minutes later, there was a knock at our door. Karon came in person instead of using her friend's phone.

We visited for a long time, and ended up deciding to run around with her tomorrow instead of fighting the crowds and rain showers at the Independence Day celebration at Mt. Rushmore. They have the big celebration with fireworks on the 3rd at Mt. Rushmore, with crowds estimated to be around 25,000 people. We would have to get there before 10 a.m. and plan to be there until after 10 p.m. We decided to forego that and take in a local celebration in Custer on the 4th.

The campground we're staying at for the next couple of weeks is Broken Arrow. It's fairly new, and the owners are absolutely the best we've encountered in our travels. The park is very basic, but quite adequate. The owners are very friendly and helpful without being pushy. The sites are roomy and the property backs up to national forest. It's out in the country, and has a nice feel to it. I'll post pictures in the next few days.

Another great day!