You never know when home sickness will catch you, but it
eventually does when you’re away long enough.
As we approach the last stretch of our journey, the kids are starting to
get anxious about getting home even after trying to get them to focus on the
cool adventures we take on a daily basis.
Some of the days of driving are long, though, and they get tired of
sitting in the truck.
I would like to say that the Black Hills are cool and there are
some really neat things to see, but my experience wasn’t the best. We left the Badlands relatively early so we
could get to your campsite in Custer State Park and do some exploring around
the area after we set up camp. The drive
was pleasant enough since we were taking back roads and didn’t even touch I-90
the entire way. I also failed to mention
that this week is biker week in Sturgis, ND so the bikers were definitely out
in force. I don’t have a problem with
bikers, but they were everywhere. Clogging
up gas stations, riding in your blind spots, and just generally making as much
noise pollution as humanly possible. The
average age of a biker is about 50 years old, 90% white males, and most have
some sort of facial hair that almost runs longer than the line of tattoos that are
displayed on their arms. Once again, I’m
not judging just observing what I’m seeing.
We arrived at our campsite in Stockade Lake South Campground which
was probably one of the best sites there.
It was above all of the other campsites and butted up against the forest
of the Black Hills which gave Drew the opportunity to explore. After setting up camp, we headed out to drive
through the state park ($20 entrance fee good for 5 days, though we were only
going to be there 1) and make our way to the Wind Caves at the southern
end. Unfortunately, the Wind Cave and the
subsequent Jewel Cave were both closed as both elevators were broken. As Drew pointed out, “Why can’t we just take
the stairs?” Oh well. We did manage to see quite a few buffalo and
prairie dogs as we headed back to the campground along with the first school
house (shack) built in the area. 
The next day was supposed to be one of the most exciting days of
our trip since the plan was to visit Crazy Horse Monument, Mt. Rushmore,
Deadwood, Sturgis and finally end up at Devil’s Tower to camp. It was exciting, but not altogether in a good
way. We headed out early to try and beat
the crowds and found Crazy Horse Monument fairly empty so there was no trouble
parking and watching the 20 minute presentation about this crazy Polish guy who
was commissioned to build a monument by the local native Americans after he had
finished up work on Mt. Rushmore. He
pretty much spent the first 20 years or so working on it by himself until some
of his 10 children were old enough to help out.
Crazy Horse is still a work in progress, but I advise anyone to visit it
in about 30 years after it gets closer to be completed. 
I hurried the kids along through the gift shop since I wanted to
beat the crowds at Mt. Rushmore.
Unfortunately, the crowds were there along with a Park Ranger who
thought that I cut him off as I was trying to enter the park. I’m pretty sure there was a bit of profiling
going on as I saw him following me up to the entrance almost tailgating me the
entire time. After receiving a ticket
along with a nice field sobriety test in front of the kids and all of the entering
tourists, we headed into the park. If
nothing else, it certainly took the wind out of my sails. The kids were still freaked out so we got our
obligatory picture and got the hell out of there. There is no way any one of us will ever hold
Mt. Rushmore in a good light. Never again!
Once we left, we drove down to Deadwood and I was lucky enough to find
decent parking outside of town so we could walk in and see the sights. I was still bummed after the Mt. Rushmore
incident so we stumbled through the streets avoiding biker tourists and trying
to keep a low-grade headache in check due to all of the Harley mufflers. We explored a couple of shops and I treated
the kids to their first pizza in about a month before we escaped the mayhem. I kept quoting the Grinch in my head, “All
the noise, noise, noise, noise!” I asked
the kids if we could just skip Sturgis and head straight to Devil’s Tower to
which I received no objections. Piece of
advice: Don’t go to the Black Hills
during biker week unless you’re a biker.
Olivia made the observation as we were waiting to make a left hand turn,
“The bikers look like ants scurrying around going every which-way.” Yep.
Devil’s Tower was a pleasant surprise after we got settled into
our KOA and were somewhat distanced from the mechanical noise blowers (i.e.
Harley Davidson bikes). I set up camp
and tried to relax a bit while the kids jumped in the pool. I started making dinner and the kids came
back so I asked Drew if we could kick the soccer ball around while dinner was
cooking. After awhile a KOA employee
came over and he joined us in some juggling.
I asked where he was from due to his accent and he said that he was from
Ghana. I made the guess that he hadn’t
kicked a ball around in a long time considering he was working in the middle of
nowhere in NE Wyoming. Not a lot of
soccer players out here. You could tell
by the look on his face that he was truly enjoying himself and after awhile he
reluctantly had to leave and go back to work.
I think we both made our day quite
a bit better.
After dinner, the kids and I walked up to the park and hiked up to
the bottom of the Tower which is truly magnificent. Olivia complained about hiking uphill through
the tall grass, but I continued to encourage her and I think she got a real
sense of accomplishment when we were able to touch the side of the tower
together. We had fun watching deer
around the base and even got a show as we observed a climber ¾ of the way up
get frustrated and yell at her partner who was already at the top. They couldn’t see each other, but we could
all hear what they were saying! I told
Drew, “At this point she only has two options.
Suck it up and keep climbing or head back down.”
We headed back down the hill and Olivia and I took showers while
Drew headed over the “theater” to watch the daily showing of Close Encounters
of the Third Kind. I eventually wandered
over to the showing and found Drew and he decided to cuddle up with me since it
was starting to get chilly. That is not
a bad way to end somewhat of a shitty day.
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