October 16, 2021 : Crazy Horse and Custer SD

This morning we loaded up the car and headed through some mountain roads to the (still in progress) Crazy Horse memorial. On the way, we drove through the Black Hills National Forest and happened upon the lovely Pactola reservoir.

So Crazy Horse… what a concept with lots of controversy. It’s supposed to be the largest memorial carved out of a mountain; started in 1948 this is the goal:

So far they have the face and the top part of arm and hand mostly done. 

They have a meandering museum that covers indigenous people from around all of North America with lots of artifacts and old photographs. Interestingly, there are no known photographs of Crazy Horse - instead the Polish sculptor spike with people who had seen him and based it off that. 

Throwing snowball everywhere. Literally everywhere. 

After three, we stopped in the little town of Custer for lunch. It’s amazing how many businesses here close for the season. 

Next stop was Custer State Park - we headed straight for the Wildlife loop and were not disappointed! 

We saw buffalo, tons of prairie dogs, deer, mountain goats, and burros.

On the way out, we tried to take the Needles Highway, but halfway through the road was closed. Did we turn around?! Of course not! We took the dirt road to the left and hoped for the rest! As the sun went down, we bounced along the clay road with snow around. The views were beautiful! 

Clearly, we lived to tell the tale!

October 15, 2021 : Spearfish, SD

Today we went explore just around our new homestead. It was gorgeous in the early morning light.

The campsite is across the street from an old Fish Hatchery from the 1800’s. While the museum and such were closed, a kind woman made an appointment for us to go to the gift shop midday. The grounds are lovely, and we enjoyed walking across. We did have a small incident where a small toy of Elizabeth’s fell into one of the ponds, but one of the workers waded and in and saved the day! 

John had so much fun running in all the snow, even belly flopping! After he finished up class in the after, the kids, Laura, and Nana went for a walk along a trail next to the campgrounds. A well maintained trail that had been cleared, we went for a while enjoying the sun and views.

We ordered dinner from a local place and spent the evening giggling and cheering on Elizabeth as she practice walked back and forth in the RV!

October 14, 2021 : South Dakota

We woke up to a lovely sunrise; John’s teacher has noticed the changing back drop and checks in where he is at the start of each class. After his morning meetings and some playground time, we went to explore Fort Robinson. 

Still a semi-active fort in the summer, there is a ton of history here. This is where Crazy Horse was killed (some foreshadowing for a future day!) and they trained over 1200 dogs for WW2. 

On the grounds as well is a Natural History Museum where the have the only know skeletons of two large mammals (Woolley mammoths) who died engaged in battle. Their tusks became stuck and they fell in a ravine is the theory. Pretty cool stuff!

Time to leave Nebraska and head for South Dakota! It’s everyone’s first time in the state. Fifth wheel in tow, we, perhaps not rationally, head straight for Mount Rushmore. Snowy mountain roads curve their way up to the monument with picturesque views.

Zoom in on the mountains to the left!


Fun fact: Mount Rushmore was mostly carved by dynamite!

John earned his 6th Junior Ranger badge just before it closed! Then it was back in the car for a little over an hour drive to Spearfish SD. They had over a foot of snow, and we arrived at dark to find someone else parked in our spot. After unsuccessfully attempting a different spot, we (read: Richard) managed to get the trailer parked into yet another spot. 

John is THRILLED with the snow! Finally we are all snuggled under electric a blankets and ready to sleep hard!

October 13, 2021 : Oregon Trail Surprise

The original plan for today was to head to Spearfish SD. However, they got surprise foot of snow yesterday with 5-8 more inches possible today. It was expected to all be gone by 6pm. We had about a 5 hour drive to get there. 

So after morning classes, despite some crazy winds we decided to head north and see what happens!

We get a little ways on the road and these strange rock formations appear in the distance. A quick internet checks tells us they are Courthouse and Jail Rocks - one of the landmarks on the Oregon and California trails. Only 2 miles off our route we had to stop! 

The boys went climbing.

As you can see, we were the only visitors!


Now that the rabbit hole had opened, we realized Chimney Rock (“Jedidiah has died of dysentery”) and Scott’s Bluff were close by so with our wagon hitched we followed the path of the old travelers.

Chimney Rock

Our new camper! 

This girl makes a slide out of anything - even a Pony Express memorial.

Happy 13th to us! Always an adventure!

At Scott’s Bluff, John sent a letter via pony express and got his 5th Junior Ranger badge. It’s fascinating to drive these fairly empty roads and imagine what it must have been like for those early settlers. 

As we move forward in life, sometime a quick peak into the past can guide your future.

On the recommendation of the Rangers at Scott’s Bluff, we decided to head to Fort Robinson instead of trying to battle snow closed roads in Spearfish. We got to the Fort at sunset and marveled at the scenery because settling in for the night. 

October 12, 2021 : Four States in one Day

Today we will drive in four states in one day! (It’s like being on the east coast!) After taking a while day to get to northern Texas, we are heading for the Oklahoma border, quick drive through its panhandle and along the western side of Colorado before we (hopefully) make it to Nebraska. 

We got up just in time for sunrise over the canyon this morning; it was cool abs crisp out.

John was a little chilly after that so he warmed up by the fireplace with some hot chocolate and pop tarts before we picked up and headed out. This kid is always living his best (RV) life!

We headed up to the Oklahoma border and quickly passed through to colorful Colorado! 

The upcoming weather reports kept getting worse… snow in South Dakota, thunderstorms in Nebraska. It looked like we were racing the clouds there.


We finally pulled into the Cabela’s in Sidney NE, got the RV parked and made it inside before the storm unleashed!

I call this picture by John “A Texan in Nebraska”

It’s supposed to rock and roll tonight… our plans for tomorrow will be figured out later!

October 11, 2021 : RV Adventure #2 South Dakota

And we are off! It’s the start of our second big RV adventure - a little shorter this time, just 12 days. This begs the question, what makes a trip worthy of writing about (and posting on the internet for all). Currently, I think the trip needs to be more than a week and more than 1000 miles traveled. 

We are doing this a little differently than last time. First, we are hauling it to our destination, staying for 5 nights, then slightly more slowly making our way back a different route. Second, Nana is going. Third, we are attempting virtual school on the road for John. Wish us luck!

Day 1 began with a 7am departure… followed by a 9am flat tire. Luckily, we were at a gas station across the street from a dealership so we were able to get back on the road quickly. 

We stopped in Lubbock for a late lunch with Trey’s cousin, Brandon, then finished out the drive to Palo Duro!

We made it to Palo Duro Canyon just in time to drive through and see a gorgeous sunset! Now we need to get these kids settled (how?!) and get some rest fbefire a long drive day tomorrow!