Custer State Park, SD

It was a cool start to the day and the threat of rain was going to be with us all day, so we had to make the most of the day before the rains came.  Our campsite at French Creek RV Park in downtown Custer :-) was muddy already and this next round of rain would only make it more of a lob-lolly.  We are so over this rain.

Buffalo and Pronghorn Antelope were everywhere.  And we ran into the neatest herd of burros/donkeys.  They were used to people.  How did we know that?  Take a look at these hilarious pics.

This old boy ate peanuts right out of my habd.  I had about a half-pound of old peanuts that were stale so we gave them to these poor hungry little burros.  Boy, did they have us fooled. :-)  There was about 30 of these little animals, some not do little, and a couple of very young ones.

The park also has a herd of about 1400 buffalo.  Each fall they do a roundup of the herd and the park/state puts on an auction and they auction off about 500 every fall.  The purpose id to keep the herd at a manageable number and also commensurate with the grazing acreage of the park.

Some of the antelope were rather indifferent to our presence.  They just went about their way as if we were not even there.

And they even had a "Praire Dog Town" section as well.  MOst of these little creatures were a little timid though and one had to use a tele-zoom to get an up-close shot of one.

I'll have some more of these little guys' photos in the next blog from Badlands NP.  We saw these horses late in the day after it had rained for an hour or so, and it still was drizzling a little, so I took these pics out the fron window of the Jeep.  So the pics are a little cloudy.  We actually spooked them and they quickly ran up the hill and into the woods.

Well, that just about sums up our two days at the RV park in Custer.  It was cold 50's and wet the whole time.  Our motor home was really muddy and nasty so we stopped in this RV wash about a block from the campsite, and we gave her a washdown with the wand power wash.  Not great, but a lot better than before.  It takes a lot of quarters to wash a 43 footer.  There was this huge sign that lit up at night, so I took a shot at it and it didn't turn out all that great, but here it is anyway.  The letters reminded me of the "HOLLYWOOD" sign in LA.  The tree limbs blocked a small part of the sign near the bottom.

Well, that's about it for this blog.  Next one will be about our time in the Badlands NP east of the Black Hills and Rapid City, and south of Wall, SD.  Till then, Joe & Nancy.

Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park

On the trip from Casper to Custer, SD, we took a "potty break" here and thought this intersting enough to share.  We didn't drive back to see the old house, though we wanted to.  Across the road was this old remains of a general store/residence.  Just a piece of Wyoming history.

On the road, out the front window of the motor home.

Crazy Horse Memorial, just north of Custer, SD.

From Wiki: 

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument that is currently under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial was commissioned by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to be sculpted by Korczak Ziółkowski.  The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is still far from completion.^[1] If completed, it may become the world's largest sculpture, as well as the first non-religious statue to hold this record since 1967; the last being Russia's Mamayev Monument.

The above was a model sculpted by Korszcak.  Below is the model and the real one about a quarter mile away.

The below wood image was carved by the sculptor on memories of Crazy Horse from several older Lakota tribesmen that knew him.  There are no known photos of Crazy Horse as he did not allow anyone to ever photograph him.  So Korsczak had his work cut out for him (pun intended).

Outside the museum is this of the fighting stallions.

We didn't take the bus ride to the base of the monument, so this a zoom shot with my 200mm from the gift shop/museum area.  This face is some 25 feet taller than the Rushmore heads.

Now, we were at the President's Monument at Mt Rushmore nearly 42 years ago.  It has changed.  Not the Presidents, but everything else.  WOW!  Nice digs at this Monument.  You can now walk right up to the base of the monument.  My pics reflect different locatons along the President's Trail.

Right outside the museum near the start of the President's Trail, were these two mountain goats.  Pretty neat huh?

One last shot of the Presidents.  Neat place!

Miss Nancy was born in Norfolk, Virginia.  So we had to take a pic of her with the State column here.

OK, I think I am going to close this bolg, and save my pics from the Custer Stae Park for the next blog.  It rained both days we were in Custer.  It's a neat little "one street" town, and we'd probably spend a little more time here if it were not lousy weather.  We did have lunch in Keystone, just down from the Presidents.  Here is a pic or two from Keystone.

So, till the next time, Joe & Nancy, RVing Beach Bums.





Pinedale to Casper, WY

This pic was taken right after we drove through Hoback Junction on the way to Casper, WY, with an overnight park-n-sleep in Pinedale.  We got a late start out of Jackson after church and lunch, so we didn't make it too far.  And here is another pic I took of the Diplomat and Jeep as well.  One of these pics will become our new header photo, as soon as can remember how to do it.

So, we made it down the backroads from Pinedale to Casper and about 300 miles later we rolled into the Fort Caspar RV Park.  When we arrived, Iwasn't feeling too well AGAIN!  I am so over this.  Anyway, we ran over to the Wyoming Medical Center (Hospital) who have noted Cardiac Care systems in place and a renowned group of cardiologists.  In short, We spent the night there.  I did a stress test and they took three sets of nuclear images of my old ticker and all is well.  So, thank the Good Lord I have a few more days left.

At church Sunday we met the folks who drove this from Missouri, and live in Alaska.  They ordered this specially built 4-wheel drive RV from a Missouri company and were on their way back home to Fairbanks.  The top lifts up six more feet to reveal bedding areas for their three children.  Interesting!

After the orientation film in the visitor's center the curtain opened up and revealed the Tetons.  Neat!

And just outside this is what it looked like.  Neater!

So, our time in Casper wasn't very enjoyable as we were kinda stuck in the hospital.  We didn't get the chance to do any exploring Casper or the surrounding sights.  The town seemed to have a lot going for it though.  So we will return hopefully next year and see our friends at the hospital (they all were so nice there) and explore the area a bit more, and get some memorable photos.  So, we'll leave Casper and head towards Custer, SD and hopefully take in Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and other neat stuff.  So, till then, Joe & Nancy.  PS:  I'm feeling just fine!  :-))

Grand Teton NP Jackson, WY

I guess we should have realized after just visiting Yellowstone, that GTNP wasn't going to be much better.  So, we were a little disappointed to see all this snow still on the ground.  Even at the visitor's center, there snow all around.  And the farther we drove north, say, to Jenny Lake, it got deeper and deeper.  The above photo was around Jenny Lake.  Three feet of snow.

And, it was cool, around 55, and overcast, not too breezy.  So we were able to get out and see some of the snow shrouded Tetons.  They are unique mountains.  One of our first stops was Mormon Row. 

From Wiki:  Mormon Row is a line of homestead complexes along the Jackson-Moran Road near the southeast corner of Grand Teton National Park, in the valley called Jackson Hole. The rural historic landscape's period of significance includes the construction of the Andy Chambers, T.A. Moulton and John Moulton farms from 1908 to the 1950s. Six building clusters and a separate ruin illustrate Mormon settlement in the area and comprise such features as drainage systems, barns, fields and corrals.^[2][3] Apart from John and T.A. Moulton, other settlers in the area were Joseph Eggleston, Albert Gunther, Henry May, Thomas Murphy and George Riniker.^[4]

Small stream runs right through the Row.

From Wiki:  Menor's Ferry was a river ferry that crossed the Snake River near the present-day Moose, Wyoming. The site was homesteaded by Bill Menor in 1892-94, choosing a location where the river flowed in a single channel, rather than the braided stream that characterizes its course in most of Jackson Hole. During the 1890s it was the only homestead west of the river. Menor's homestead included a five-room cabin, a barn, a store, sheds and an icehouse on 148 acres (60 ha), irrigated by a ditch from Cottonwood Creek and at times supplemented by water raised from the Snake River by a waterwheel.^[2] Menor operated the ferry until 1918, selling to Maude Noble, who continued operations until 1927, when a bridge was built at Moose.  Here a few pics of the Menor buildings and ferry works.  The next pic is his house which was built in three phases.

The old privy on the Snake River.

Looking at the west side of the ferry landing.

The replica pulley system.

Standing on the east side looking west across the Snake.

Here a couple of pics of the replica ferry boat, which could a wagon and several horses/riders.

Caught this Golden Eagle in the tree top.  He had just chased a rabbit across the barn yard but the rabbit ran under one of the buildings I think, and the eagle will just have to wait till he comes out again.

This buffalo had an itch that the log was satisfying apparantly.

Beaver house up around the Jenny Lake area.

And here are a few pics of the Tetons from the Jenny Lake area.

So, at the Menor Ferry, there was this big stack of firewood and we "borrowed" a few pieces and made us a fire back at the Jackson Hole RV Park (which we were disappointed in, don't stay there) and roasted us some marshmallows.  The lady (Dorothy Heim from Washington State) from the Airstream next door stopped by to enjoy the camp fire and chat for a while.

Well, our time in the Tetons were limited, mostly because the snow on the ground prevented us from staying longer and going to other parts north in the park.  We did stop by the visitor's center and viewed he exhibits and the 22 minute neat film.  So, guess we'll close for now and head for Casper, Wyoming in the morning, after church and lunch.  Till then, RVing Beach Bums.