TWG :: vol 38 :: Kemps Kampground

Kemps Kampground Rv Park :: Keystone, SD :: KS -> WA Trip

We let everybody sleep in today, the trailer was all nice and cool from the windows being left open.  It felt so good!   So, we didn't get on the road until after 8:30, without much of a destination other than to head NW!  My mom and I had looked over atlases and maps the night before, and we talked about stopping at Custer's Last Stand because June 25th was the anniversary of the battle, and they were doing reenactments and had Custer Days going on.  Could have been totally fun, but with last minute plans most of the RV Parks were filled up.  So, we hit the road and quickly crossed over from Nebraska into South Dakota!

We get to Rapid City and 1 mile from the exit to Mt Rushmore, my mom says, "I've always wanted to go to Mt Rushmore!"  So I say, "Well, we could go if you want.  We loved it there."  And she says, "Well, it seems a shame to be this close..."  So, I tell Papa to take a quick exit!  And I call the same RV Park we stayed a couple summers ago!   We only traveled about 200 miles today, which is pretty short, but we figured we stopped early enough that we could go see the National Monument in the afternoon and be back on the road again tomorrow.  We got a great campsite, right next to a stream, which we were told to look for bears on in the morning!  Awesome-sauce!

They've been getting a ton of rain here and the stream is super flooded and running hard!

But Jayden said he wanted to try fishing anyway, so we pull out all the fishing gear and then we see a huge bolt of lightning and about a second later and huge crack of thunder.  Papa and I send the kids back inside while we put it all away.  And as soon as we got inside the trailer, it started pouring down rain and blowing wind so hard we had to shut the windows because all the rain was blowing inside!

While I might be the black cloud of mechanical issues, my mom has always been the rain cloud.  We go someplace with my mom that's suppose to be sunny on vacation and it rains.  We go someplace that is suppose to be cold and snowy and it rains.  So, why I am surprised that we drive in lovely weather all day long and then make an early, impromptu, stop for the day to see some sights, and instead we are stuck inside because of a rain storm.  It's alright though, we just listened to an audio book and took naps until the storm was over.  :)

I kept checking the hourly report and found an opening in the weather and then we were out of there.  We decided to check out Bear Country first, since it was a drive thru park and if it rained we could still see all the animals.  :)  Even if I had to take pictures through a closed, rain splattered window....

We did get to get out of the truck for a section that had baby bears and smaller animals.  How else would they be able to get us into their gift shop????

Angry Badgers!

Willow wrote down the name of every animal she saw in her notebook.  I did a lot of spelling.  :)

After buying a bunch of souvenirs, we ventured onto Mt Rushmore.  The sun had come out and we had to take advantage!!!  One nice thing to traveling with your own personal rain cloud is that they clear out all the crowds.  There was hardly anyone walking around the monument.  :)

It is still one of my favorite things to see.  It is so great to be driving along and then all of the sudden there are 4 huge heads poking out of the side of a mountain!

I wanted to stay for the light show they do around 9, but Jayden was starting to not feel well (turns out he's spiking a big ole fever and coughing....the flu while on the road...we shall see who it hits next...). And if we have a long day in the car tomorrow, it would be better for everyone to get to bed early.  Farther west tomorrow, Light show next time, if I ever make it back here again!