From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com
Tim and Linda BunyanWe've 10 days to explore with Mike G & Sherry. they have been here at the KOA at the foot of Devils Tower for a couple of days.
KOA full services, two nights at $64.00/night
Mike and Sherry greet us with a cold one.We are nestled into our site with this huge tree for shade! Devils Tower out our back door!
Once home to vast bison herds hunted to near extinction, the habitat changed to ranch lands. Cowboys drove the wild cattle of West Texas and New Mexico into this region. Cattle ranching continues to be a primary industry here.
Mike and Sherry's new rig; are on their way to Middlebury, Indiana for factory work on their
Grand Design.
Sherry greets us with a delicious and delightful caricature platter of meats, cheeses, and grapes.
Rose is only a couple weeks old and already pals with her very own kitty cat: Chicken.
We move on to Rapid City, South Dakota at Rushmore Shadows RV Park.
We do a Drive-By to Sturgis. This is 'off-season so plenty of places to park! There is a Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame.
We arrive from the KOA at Devils Tower to Rushmore Shadows RV for 6 nights. This is one of our ownership RV campgrounds so there is no charge. Mike and Sherry, as our guests, received one night.
Here we are here at the entrance to Mount Rushmore!
Sculptor's studio we see the original 1/12" scale model of Mount Rushmore.
The beautiful Scenic Drive: Needles Highway thru
the remarkable Bad Lands; one of nature's striking landscapes!
Our Black Hills driving tour includes a Rest Stop and the Blue Bell Lodge and Resort
Our stop at the Blue Bell Lodge; absolutely beautiful! enjoy a cafe latte on the back patio.
Carvers' Safe 4-star Certified Green Restaurant.
Mike takes a stroll for a view of the Lake.
An interesting feature on the Needles Highway road!
Mike gets out of the truck to film our entrance into this tunnel.
Back at the RV campground: Rushmore Shadows. Mike and Sherry prepare dinner. They are located up the hill from our rig.
Sherry has knitted this exquisite sweeter. Soft and many different stitches.
Custer State Park
This Jingle dress originated in northern Minnesota with the Ojibwe people. Made of cloth, velvet or leather and adorned with jingles made of shiny metal from the lids of snuff cans. It takes anywhere from 400 to 700 jingles to make an adult jingle dress. Our friend, Karen Hansen's background is Chippewa which is the Ojibwe people. She knew of this dress on display here at the Indian museum. The shiny 'bling' sure makes me think of our friend Karen. One of an extensive collection of art and artifacts.,
North American Indians perform and share their knowledge of music and dance at Crazy Horse Memorial at the Indian Museum of North America and The Native American Educational and Cultural Center.
We meet up with Peter and Pam Tellier and Bob and Pam Lygren and Mike and Sherry ...... all very important people! 
Time for a bike ride. Time for a bike ride to learn how to handle our new SYKL electric bikes.
Michelson Bike Trail - historic and oh so pleasant! Our very first bike ride on our new eBikes.
64,000-acre Badlands Wilderness Area with mixed-prarie grassland. The Sage Creek area houses Roberts Prairie Dog Town, the largest colony of blacktailed prairie dogs.
I wish for many more days like this!
Sherry is happily whipping up some creme she happens to have in her new residential size refrigerator in their Grand Design. Whew! We almost had to have pie without whipped creme!!!
Now that mixer is a keeper (circa 1950 - very grand indeed!)
We did a drive about to this very special Velkommen Chapel nestled at the foot of the Black Hills, This retreat is a special ministry of the SD Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Back at Rushmore Shadows
The last evening in the Rushmore Shadows RV Park, we sang and danced to some old 50's music. Just outside this picnic building is the frosty truck serving ice cream every night!
We depart the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and Custer State Park to arrive:
Cedar Pass RV State Park in the Bad Lands. The landscape is quite opposite of the wooded and mountains of the Black Hills.
The State Park is protecting (a type of squirrel) the prairie dog and other small animals. They are extremely important in the food chain being to the diet of many animals and their mounds often used by other species. and their mounds encourage grass development and renewal of topsoil.
We pull into our RV Camp spot which is a turnout in the CampGround. It is for one night and it has electricity for $40.00/night.
Mike and Sherry are just about 5 miles away at the KOA but we join up for a drive-thru in the National Park. We also had to stop for the reported must dine on authentic Native American Indian Fry Bread.
We drove the scenic road; rather than a hike.........the temperature was near 90 degrees!
We depart South Dakota for a special ride to Valentine, Nebraska. On the way, we drove through Dakota Reservation with a CheckPoint for Covid. We stopped and were asked where we were going. Upon telling them we were continuing to Nebraska we were able to move on. The tribe is protecting their College students and all their population from covid. They do not allow visitors to stay and visit on the reservation. College students waving and going to attend class.
Onto to Valentine, Nebraska (to Smith Falls State Park) located in Cherry County with a population of 3,000.
