Plans changing all the time...

***Miles travelled today: Only about 40...

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through: Still in South Dakota...

(Entry for yesterday Sunday 20th...)

So today we had every intention of making our way to Spearfish canyon... heading westwards... towards our destinations for this week... we headed off to Rapid City - as we needed to stock up on some road trip essentials from the handy 'Walmart'... although I do see time in Walmart as wasted when we have so much to see and do!!!

Things happen in amazing ways...

...as we are in a place where there is a great deal of Native American culture and heritage we had decided that we wanted to try and experience something of the culture... On Saturday I visited a 'Visitors Centre'... my favourite haunts of the moment... and the woman recommended that we look at a shop in Rapid City called 'Dakota Drum'... as we did not intend to stop at Rapid City i didn't mention this to Jay... however, having finally left Walmart - in order to get to the Interstate - Tam Tam directed us down the Main street in Rapid City... and Jay, as the navigator, said "Look - there's a shop called Dakota Drum... it looks good." As it was Sunday morning we didn't expect it to be open - but we parked the car anyway and were pleasantly surprised... on exploring around the shop - (the first pic is a painting on buffalo hide, made by the owner of the shop, Sonja Holy Eagle, a well known artist... Jay got chatting about the significance of eagle feathers... (How does she know this stuff???) and clearly Sonja was pleasantly surprised at what Jay knew... she asked how long we were in town for and we said that we were just passing through - and she advised that there was a National Conference of Native Americans taking place in Rapid city over the next few days, and that there was a Pow-Wow tonight... that visitors were welcome to attend... with that information, although we had only just started on our days journey - we decided to stay in Rapid City - so we booked ourselves into a hotel... we went down into the city to explore and look for an art museum and gallery that we had read about - specialising in the art of local Native American artists... we have added the website above - have a look at some of the works - they were amazing - (have a look at some of the prices and they were pretty amazing too... hence no art purchases were made!!!)

There was also a book/CD store in the gallery - so we were listening to music by local artists, one of whom came into the store whilst we were there - and signed the CD that we had just bought!!!

late afternoon we went down to the Civic Centre, as the Pow-Wow was to be held indoors... we were invited to join everyone for a meal, that was buffalo stew (for me...) and wa-ja-pi (A berry fruit soup for Jay, both served with fried bread!!! (Jay says they taste like donuts without the jam...)

We then observed the Pow-Wow for the next four hours... which was a gathering of various tribes, drumming, chanting and dancing... as well as paying respects to Native Americans serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars... which for us was quite surprising, in terms of the level of patriotism experienced...

The dancers wore phenomenal regalia - and there were times, due to the sacred nature of the dance/music that photography was not allowed... we wish that we had had a better camera for some of the other shots that were taken... but we still managed to capture the essence - and sometimes photographs cannot always do the moment justice and we simply have to commit it to memory... this indeed is a new lesson for me - who has always said, that if you cannot take a photo of it -it's almost like it didn't happen!!! Jay, naturally has disagreed with me on this matter...

...so today was all about our learning about a fascinating and intriguing culture...

Never Squat with Your Spurs On......

***Miles travelled today: ...just a few miles to the old town...

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through: ...still in Keystone...

Right-we've just got back from the 'spit & sawdust' saloon and boy, what an evening ! Talk about real macoy Americans in the Black Hills of South Dakota-the kind that wear their Stetsons all day and are able to 'Two-Step-Country-style' to bluegrass music. Trig and his wife Shelly (bar owners) made us feel very welcome and made sure we were fed and watered throughout the night. The locals (and a couple of tourists including the one who was wearing the cartoon t-shirt in the photo) were all friendly and only too willing to dance and have a good time. One of the guys kept on saying he 'I'm looking for a red-head (and Linz was the only one in the bar)' and kept buying Linz drinks throughout the evening whilst a youngster, at least half my age [he Actually arrived on his horse complete with chaps,boots, spurs and hat-with cigarette tucked into hatband-I kid you not :) ] thought his luck was in when he started chatting me up. He did say that although he arrived on horse, he could drive a car (he barely looked old enough to do so and Linz said he's probably young enough to be my son) as I keep reminding myself that I Am nearly 40 !

But now, to the music.....you could hear the roots of Ireland whilst listening to the fusion of country and jazz, with a unique Jolly Llama twist to it. One of them played a washborad with an egg whisk whilst another played base sounds on a 'washbasin and broom' - but these combined with guitar, fiddle, cello, banjo and Irish drum; made for good vibes. We actually bought their CD although we drew the line at the t-shirt. Everyone clearly enjoyed the evening and so did we.

Thinking about it, this is exactly what I had hoped for, that very real experience of just blending in (as much as one can when you're a tourist), of being with the locals and there being no 'frills and lace'. Here's to more of these experiences.

(PS: The buffalo in the first picture is not real... just all adds to the atmosphere of where we are!!!)

Into the Hills we go...

***Miles travelled today: Not very far although we went on a steam train...

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through: Still in South Dakota...

We decided to do a trip on a steam train today... so we got on at Keystone - just down the road from the hotel... and it was an hours journey into the hills, to Hill City... through the Black Hills where a number of miners had staked their claims!!! We had an hour or so in Hill City, where once again we were caught up in a motor bike rally... then we made our way back to Keystone... sitting on the opposite side of the train!!! Woo--Hoo!!! To anyone into trains, it was a good journey and they gave lots of information about the mining days... on getting back into Keystone we went to one of the museums and sat reading loads of books about the Native American Indians... as well as books about the Wild West and Pioneers... quite interesting looking at it from different perspectives...

We have had rather a quiet day today...

At the moment (about 6ish...) it is pouring down, just a quick thunder storm that will soon pass over, then ... (rest is added by me... Jay...) we're off to watch the 'Jolly Llamas' - a 'Blue Grass' band in this saloon that is THE Real 'spit and sawdust' gathering place of the locals... we were invited after they heard our accents and told us that Blue Grass has its origins in Ireland (although we're from England via South Africa with true Portuguese and English roots) oh, and beers are $2 a piece.....{so Linz just said "That'll be Jay gone....on $2".......maybe she's right cos I've just had a frozen margharita at the 'Red Garter Saloon'}.

What we also discovered today, that is rather funny, is that having stayed at a Hotel called 'Presidents View' for the past three days - is that we finally saw what they meant by 'President's View', we are able to see Mount Rushmore in the distance... amazing things happen when you look up...

So... we are now off to see the 'Jolly Llamas'... when we were planning our trip, I wanted to meet real Americans, and not just do the touristy thing... well, this is it!!!

11 hours...

***Miles travelled today: 101

***Total Miles: Will need to figure this out...

***States travelled through: Stayed in South Dakota...

What an eventful 11 hours they have been... leaving the hotel at 08h00 and arriving back at 19h00!!!

The question should be, not 'what did we do today?' but 'what didn't we do today?'

There are a number of scenic byways in the Black Hills, and we decided that we would do one today, that encompassed a number of different things... which meant that we had to be up early... I have discovered on holiday that I am up at 06h30 nearly every morning - which is totally unheard of for me... there is just so much to see and so much to do... I think we will need a break when we get home!!!

So after breakfast we were at Mount Rushmore before 09h00... before all the crowds arrived... Keystone, where we are staying is only about a mile away from the Mount Rushmore Memorial... well... how amazing to see the carving in stone... the sculptor must have had such vision, as the likeness to the individuals represented is amazing... we watched part of a DVD that had one of the carvers talking... he must have been a young man at the time that he was working on it, and when the DVD was made he was elderly... and he said that as the 'carvers' they could not see what Borglam (the sculptor) saw... but he would come up to the mountain and paint where he wanted more rock to be blasted away or carved... well the result is phenomenal... I read somewhere that he had intended for the finished work to be from their heads to their waists... it's a good job he started at the top... otherwise it would be a weird looking memorial!!!

We have some good photographs from the visit... but we are only putting one on the blog... (I'm trying to plan our scrapbooks as we go... but they are just getting bigger and bigger in my mind - as we do more and more...)

It seemed only fitting to then go to the Crazy Horse Memorial... that memorial was started in 1948... and it was worked on by one man alone for nearly 40 years until he passed away... he and his wife had ten children and they still work on it together now as a family... the monument and the museum to Native American history is really comprehensive... it seems odd somehow that the sculptor and his family who have taken it on as a family project are Polish in origin, not American nor Native American Indian... when you look at the proposed finished work, it will take another century, at least to complete...

From here we continued on our loop road, which took us through part of the Black Hills called the Needles Highway... WOW!!! The photo that we have included of this section is called the eye of the needle... the designer of this road decided that he wanted people to experience the Black Hills, and the road is simply for pleasure, it does not have specific destinations in mind... well, the road actually winds through needles of granite rock... and various tunnels had to be blasted through the rock... so there were no Winnebagos on our trip today as they wouldn't fit through the tunnels...

...we journeyed on to Custer State Park... and took a lovely walk around Sylvan lake, where we stopped for a coffee, and then carried on... we were looking for wild life... but all we got were donkeys!!! (The photo that we have included is especially for Suzi!!! Do you remember the last trip we took to the New Forest and the donkey was drooling all over me??? Well - this one was doing the same - with Tia Cinta trying to feed it!!!)

By late afternoon we were making our way out of the park, and towards another road called the Iron Mountain Highway...

...but before we got there we had another awesome experience awaiting us... coming up one of the roads, having rounded a bend, we came across a herd of buffalo, on the move... well... we journeyed for over half an hour and we kept stopping to let them pass us... we were in the middle of what seemed like hundreds of buffalo... there was just one scary moment... when one turned away from the herd and kinda looked straight at me... and I suggested to Jay that we should move on...

...we then got to the Iron Mountain road... (have added another link to the handy websites, all about the Black hills and South Dakota... these byways are referenced... as is the stunning scenery)... the drive on this road was spectacular... the hairpin bends and 'S' bends like none we have ever seen before as well as what they called Pig tail bends, that actually loop totally round on themselves and you end up going in a complete circle over a small bridge, over the road you just travelled on...

Jay is now fast asleep... completely exhausted from a day of doing some fantastic driving - there were a few what we are calling 'map flapping incidents' from the navigator... but nothing that we couldn't handle...

I am now planning tomorrow... although I think a quiet, restful day may be on the cards!!!

Keystone Cowboys...

***Miles travelled today: 120 miles

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through: Still in South Dakota

This entry is for Thursday 17th June (Daytime... previous entry is for night time - back to front we know!!! Just what had to be done as we were in the attic last night!!!)

So - we only left Wall mid morning as we didn't really have very far to travel today as we had decided to head for Keystone and base ourselves there for the next three days, in order to explore the Black Hills...

...the scenery in this area is really stunning, and once again quite different to the other states that we have travelled through...

we were on one of the roads quite close to Keystone and we passed a group of youngsters on horse back, with a cowboy riding alongside... we slowed down and asked him who they were and what they were doing... he said that it was a youth group of young native American Indians, from various tribes in South Dakota, and they were 'taking them home' to the lands of their forefathers, teaching them about their ancestry... we have included a photo of the cowboy, but not of the youngsters.

We arrived in Keystone, and went into the town wondering where we had got to!!! Talk about 'Wild West'... it is obviously very touristy, but very quirky... we ended up at a saloon, where they were doing a cowboy show in the afternoon, which was really funny... the streets are very much as one might imagine them being in the wild west days... we did loads of exploring about the town, deciding on what we wanted to do with our next few days... there is just too much to do....

...in the evening, back at the hotel... they had problems with the electricity, as the wind had done something to the electric wires... so we went off to a cafe we had seen when we first came into town in the old part... and - well, we have already blogged our experience of that last night... but as we were leaving, the guy who owned the store informed us that they were having a band playing at the store on Saturday night and suggested that if we were still in town we might like to join them for the evening... so that is exactly what we will be doing on Saturday night...

We have been able to add some of the photos of the store - and the photo referenced in the earlier blog about the flowers that remind us both of my Pops...

An evening in Halley's Store...

***Miles travelled today: Forgot to write them down...

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through: Still in South Dakota...

Well... it's Thursday night and we have left the hotel... as their electricity has gone down... due to the severe winds in the area... so it was going to be an evening in darkness... so we came into the little town of Keystone where we are staying, the old part... not the touristy part... and we are sitting in an old antiques store... that the owner has had for 40 years... we arrived, it looks like a cafe and general store from the front... but we arrived about 8pm... oh yeah... we forgot to add that we are now another hour behind... we are working on 'Mountain time'... so we are 7 hours behind the UK!!!

Anyway as we have been here an hour - updating our blog - we should probably be on our way... as when we asked for coffee, they simply said, "Help yourself... it's in the corner..." they won't take any money for it, and now we are sitting in the attic... using their wi-fi!!!

Jay has been talking to the gentleman downstairs... and has just come up and told me that the attic is haunted... Yeah... now she can't go downstairs until I am finished!!!

But... what is amazing... is that about 12 years ago Jay bought my Dad some 'Dancing Daisies' for Father's Day... that dance about to a Glenn Miller song... which my Dad just loved... well, my Mom still has the flower pot, and Suzi plays it every time she goes over... well - in all these antiques Jay has just found one... and is playing it... although my Dad is no longer with us... he is certainly with us... and how fitting as this weekend is 'Father's Day'...

Here's to you Pops!!!

(Jay has taken a photo of it...so it will get to go on the blog tomorrow!!!)

In terms of today's travels... we left Wall and made our way to Keystone... which we will blog about tomorrow... as we need to be on our way... as they are shutting up shop!!! (Thankfully they didn't forget that we were in the attic!!!)

Sunset in the Badland...

***Miles travelled today: As earlier entry...

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through:

This is the evening entry for Wednesday 16th June...

So, although we had spent the entire day in the park, we decided to make our way back to try and get some sunset photos... although we almost didn't go, as there was a huge thunder storm brewing, and there were some serious clouds forming...

anyway, we bought ourselves a pizza and some beer!!! and made our way to the Badlands...

the sunset was very different, as the dark thunder clouds were masking the sun... and it looked like the horizon was on fire... although looking in the other direction the sand stone formations were pink in colour...

as we were sitting having our dinner... another couple arrived, in their camper van... and we soon got talking... he is an American musician, and his wife is a social worker, from Germany, specialising in child protection...

...anyway, they too started a road trip 6 weeks ago... and have travelled nearly twice as far as we have... they have done over 9000 miles!!!

What was really amazing was that he got his guitar out and started to play some songs... obviously he noted the South African accents... and played a song that he had written whilst touring South Africa, sitting at the Cape of Good Hope...the song is called 'the end of the world'... how awesome to have a song about South Africa being played directly to us... on top of a cliff in the Badlands, at sunset... with thunder and lightening as the back drop... he has given permission to put his link onto the blog - so we have added it to the handy road trip websites... if only to listen to the song about South Africa... Fred and Duncs, you too will love the song... but how spectacular to have shared that moment with him and his wife...

(Yes... there is a cat in the photo of the camper van... it is doing the road trip with them!!!)

Peak Condition...

***Miles travelled today: 116

***Total Miles: 4517

***States travelled through: Stayed in South Dakota

This is for Wednesday 16th of June... (daytime - we have separated it into two entries as we have two sets of photos to upload!!!)

WOW!!! WOW!!! and WOW!!! again!!!

In researching this trip - there was something about the Badlands that really reached out to me... and it was somewhere that we decided to visit... well, we certainly were not disappointed... no words could ever describe the scenery... it is totally 'other worldly'... like nothing we had ever seen before... but really unbelievable in terms of driving along on the rim, with grasslands to one side, and then a drop off and these sand stone formations... we did a loop road trip... and we were fortunate enough to see a herd of wild buffalo... they were all the females with their young... which just made us stop and think about what this land must have been like years ago... we also saw prairie dogs... which look nothing like dogs at all, actually they look like a cross between a rat and a rabbit... if one can imagine what one of those might look like!!!

Our trip took us through two towns... one called Scenic... which as the guidebook says, someone who had a sense of humour must have named the town... our guide books are somewhat 'quirky'... and talk about things off the beaten path... not your every day touristy things!!! Well, Scenic was - to all intents and purposes - a ghost town... although there were still people living there - so I guess to the true sense of the word, it wouldn't be a ghost town... but we actually saw tumble weed as well!!!

Well, we carried on with the loop road... and came into the national park from a different angle, and at this point you were level with the sandstone formations, looking up at them... one can just imagine when the pioneers came across this land in their wagons... I bet there were a few choice words, that amounted to... "How on earth are we going to get across here?"

Well... it seemed somehow fitting that last week this time we were in Chicago - taking 300 photos of the most amazing architecturally designed buildings... and here we are a week later looking at architecture of a different kind, and the architect was mother nature!!!

After spending nearly the whole day in the 'Badlands', we made our way back to the hotel... where we spent some time relaxing in the pool... as we had decided that we wanted to go back to the 'Badlands' for sunset... as this would produce totally different photographs...

More miles on the clock...

***Miles travelled today: 354

***Total Miles: 4401

***States travelled through: South Dakota

Sorry to our regular morning readers... we have been in a hotel for the past two days that had problems with their internet connection... and there did not appear to be any rush to get it sorted out... but we are now catching up...

So, this entry is for Tuesday 15th of June...

On getting up this morning - you will be pleased to know... it was NOT raining!!! Still overcast , but not raining...

We went into the town of Sioux Falls for a healthier breakfast than the 'complimentary' ones offered by all the hotels!!! (Jay says she cannot look another waffle in the eye!!!) We then went off in search of the falls... Sioux Falls is a relatively low falls but the river spreads out considerably - the falls run through the pink rocks that South Dakota is famous for, and looks really lovely... what is also lovely is the fact that they have made the area around the falls into a park area, honouring the natural beauty of the area... which was one of the things that was disappointing about Niagara falls, the fact that everything had been so built up virtually right on top of the falls...

...anyway, we wanted to try and get as far towards the Badlands as we could today... so we were soon on the road... and on our way... we spent the first two hours on the Interstate 90... but then decided to come off and travel on the quieter roads... we travelled through an Indian Reservation called Crow Creek, which somehow seemed quite desolate... we only passed through one or two small towns, and there was very little there... we were following the course of the Minnesota river for a great part of our journey today...

... we carried on with our journey... not really sure where our ultimate destination was going to be for the night... and as we passed through little town after little town, there was nothing there... so we would just carry on - to the next town... well, we ended up in a little town called Wall... what a place... there is some interesting history behind this little town, in that a couple bought the general store in the 1930's... and after a number of years the store was not doing very well... as who would actually visit and why??? But then they came up with an ingenious idea, and that was to advertise 'Free Ice Water' to all of their customers... but in order to advertise this to travellers, they needed to put billboards up on the roads and the interstate... well, the rest as they say is 'history'... the store is now the biggest shop in the town, and actually covers a whole block and has everything that you could possibly need... they actually do tours to the town simply to visit the store!!! It is still in the same family, three generations later... and the advertising is still on the interstate - and is first advertised some 350 miles away!!! Well - this is where we are staying... what a town...

Initially we had decided to simply check in for one night - but on closer inspection of the maps - we are actually only 8 miles away from the 'Badlands National park'... so we have booked ourselves in for another night...

...and the skies were blue this afternoon!!! We're hoping the weather has lifted... as we so would like blue skies for the next part of our trip...

Serious 'Road tripping'!!!

***Miles travelled today: 375 (We did some serious travelling today!!!)

***Total Miles: 4047

***States travelled through: Started off in Wisconsin, crossed over the Mississippi River into Minnesota, although remained on the interstate, and we are now in South Dakota!!!

So yesterday we decided that we would cease our travels in the early afternoon as it was seriously raining - but we had also hoped that we would be able to do some exploring of the sites around the Mississippi River... in the sun... and we had hoped that it would be sunny today...

Unfortunately it wasn't... and the weather looks like it is set in for the next few days... I guess when we live in England and it rains through summer you kind of think that it's the only place in the world where that happens... well- it isn't!!! We couldn't be on a three month road trip and not get some lousy weather... so we used the opportunity today to get some mileage in...

We did get to travel Northwards for nearly two hours... from Prairie Du Chien where we stayed last night, virtually straight up the river, which was a great drive... we took photos, even though it was raining... we stopped at a little place called Lynxville, known as 'Where the River Bends'... to fill our coffee cups... at the only place that was open, as it was only 09h15... 'Lynxville Bar'... it was the busiest spot... whilst I went across the road to take some pics, Jay went in to get the coffees... most of the patrons were having their breakfasts, of scrambled eggs and whiskey!!! Also today we came across loads of little wild flowers growing along the banks... so we took photos of those too... on days like today, everything becomes a photographic opportunity!!! When we arrived at La Crosse, where we were hoping to do a boat trip along the river, it was pouring with rain, and the boats were not running... we had planned to do some exploring around this town, but opted not to in the rain, so over a coffee in a little diner, armed with maps and road trips books, we decided to carry on with the next part of the journey, which was to get as far along the road to Sioux Falls as possible... well - we're here - having arrived at about 6ish... having set off at 08h30 this morning!!! There was probably a lot along the way that we missed, but in this weather it was better to do some mileage...

We stuck to the interstate 90... which actually runs all the way across the country from Boston to Seattle... a distance of about 3200 miles... so had we started at Boston on the interstate... we would have been in Seattle already and making our way back!!! But when you are on the interstates you really do miss a great deal... it is interesting however how so many towns have been developed alongside the interstates!!!

We passed by farm after farm after farm... everything being very flat... and we have included a photo of what we saw in front of us for about an hour or so of our journey - fellow travellers in a Winnebago!!! (Until they turned off!!!)

We are not even hoping for sun tomorrow - just for it to be dry... the weather man suggests that the sun should pop out on Wednesday - we are hoping so, as we are planning to be in the Badlands on Wednesday, and one needs sun to really get the landscapes!!!

We are both having an early night tonight - after a very long day... we will be exploring the town of Sioux Falls tomorrow - and hopefully find the falls!!!

Suzi... you need to put a sticker on a place called SIOUX FALLS for today...