September 30, 2010   9:33 p.m.

Day 8 was Sept. 11

We woke up in Rapid City, South Dakota.  The temperature was 49 degrees.  The odometer read 27,361.  We fed the van about $46 worth of diesel.

The day began with a yummy KOA breakfast at the outdoor pavilion, even though it was a chilly day.  We had the pleasure of getting to know, and being served pancakes by the cowboy poet and songwriter, John Horton.  This gentleman was friendly and personable as can be, and he could cook up the best pancakes.  He asked our kids what characters they liked --- Sponge Bob?  Spiderman?  Mickey Mouse?  But as our children cannot relate to characters, they said whatever, and Mr. Horton made up a really neat Mt. Rushmore pancake.  How 'bout that?

Pancakes in progress (incl. Mt. Rushmore pancake).

Mt. Rushmore pancake.

See the windscreens at the picnic tables?

After purchasing fuel, we hit the road for the Black Hills.  It is remarkable how different this landscape appears from what we drove through yesterday.  These "hills" are actually what we call mountains in the eastern part of the U.S.  The altitude has been gradually increasing as we have driven across South Dakota - from about 900 ft (in Iowa) to near 3000 ft in the western part of the state.  Now we are going higher still...from my travel journal..

Picnic on Iron Mountain Road.

We are on the Iron Mountain Road now -- did the first pigtail bridge - 15 mph! -- just caught a glimpse of Mt. Rushmore after the second pigtail bridge.  We just saw Mt. Rushmore as a straight view through a tunnel!

We also drove the Needles Highway, which was pretty neat, and we drove by the Crazy Horse Memorial, but when we found out the cost of going in there, we declined entrance and just took a picture from nearby.

The Needles Highway.

The Sprinter got through, but we had to fold in the mirrors.  Fun!

Self-Reliant Man, hanging with the bikers.

Needles - yet another notch on the Sprinter's belt.

Crazy Horse Monument.

We had a nice visit to Mt. Rushmore and the children earned their Junior Ranger badges there.  It is the Shrine of Democracy, and we felt it was extra special to be there on 9-11.  The flags flew half mast all week, culminating today.  It was a nice experience to stand there and see this famous monument in person.  I never would have guessed that I would get this chance at this stage of my life.  Yes, we've been there now.

Christmas card photo, perhaps?

 Then we drove on into Wyoming, although this piece of driving took longer than I thought it would.  The Wyoming landscape is very unusual to this eastern family with strangely shaped hills and buttes.  There were houses built in the middle of nowhere.  I have to say that we were a little disappointed in a certain k*mpground in this area (whose name I won't mention, since I've made my point by now), especially after such a good one at Rapid City, but you win a few and you lose a few.  It is more rustic than most, restrooms in some disrepair, and all the neat activities they describe on their website (nightly movie, cafe, hayride, gift shop, etc.) didn't happen.  Guess it wasn't their "peak season", although there were still plenty of campers. If you are going to advertise operating hours and activities, you ought to indicate on your advertisement when they end, and when your shop closes earlier instead of the posted hours.  I don't like when businesses think their post-Labor Day clients deserve less.

Making soup for supper.

Camping for the night, very close to Devils Tower.

The bright spot, though, was that we got to see so many stars in the sky that night!  The sky was perfectly clear and dry, and the Milky Way was quite evident.  Once our eyes got adjusted, we found we were able to track satellites across the sky and we saw several shooting stars.  When I got up at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom (I kind of did this on purpose just to see the stars again) I could see all the early winter constellations, too, including many of the faintest stars.  What a treat!  Will I ever get a chance to see this kind of night time glitter again?