We returned to our "home state" in October where we had a 10 day reservation at our go-to campground "Rush-No-More". We planned our route to SD from MT to be able to stop at another ranch in Gillette, WY and also stop by the "Our Wyoming Life" Ranch again in order to do a little shopping in their farm store. (Editor's note: Again - if you want some insights into what life on a cattle ranch is like you should really check out their "Our Wyoming Life" YouTube Channel - we keep regular tabs on the happenings on the ranch and highly recommend it.)
We arrived in the Black Hills of SD on October 8th. After settling into camp and saying hi to our very cute next-door neighbors (a couple of hilarious llamas - or as I liked to call them "bahama mama llamas!"), our first thing on our "to do" list was to make a stop in Rapid City to pick up our mail. While there, we bopped around town and met up with some of the Presidents we hadn't gotten a chance to meet during our visit in June; l was very happy to finally find President Obama's statue! The next day we got to re-connect with our MT cohorts, Nick & Karen, who were driving through the area on their way to the East Coast. We were only too happy to meet up for dinner and I got to introduce them to the oh-so-addicting Mary's Mountain Cookies! Lucky for Nick and Karen they got on the road the next day because three days later we were in a blizzard in SD and all the roads closed down! We got about 10" and not too far from where we were got 27"...in mid-October!!!!
When we were in the Wyoming and South Dakota areas during the summer months we were always perplexed by the signs on the roads saying what to do when the highway was closed (aka "in case of road closure return to _____"). Well, witnessing the snowstorm that blew in and closed all the roads - we finally could comprehend how it's necessary! It seems they have a system where they simply close down the roads for everyone's safety as well as to allow the plows to (as Bill Belichick would say), "do their job"! They don't go salting the roads incessantly before/during/and after the storms, they just stay put! We had no problem hunkering down and we had met some nice folks staying at the campground that made it a fun community adventure.
Our next reservation was at Cedar Pass Campground which is IN (and, yes, I mean IN) The Badlands National Park!! This was Karl's (brilliant) brainstorm when asked where he wanted to spend his birthday! Given it was the off-season we were able to easily get a 3-night reservation and it was awesome! It was such a gift to be able to drive and walk around this place stopping wherever we wanted to because of the lack of crowds. Oh, and we also got to experience the prairie dogs like never before. Near one of the main entrances (where we posed with the sign) there was a mega concert going on! I was hoping to get a video to share but I failed in that attempt; and was also unable to get a good picture with the prairie dogs popping up out of their holes with Bison grazing in the far background!!! It was, again, Mother Nature at her best! The weather was pretty head-scratching-worthy as we had a sunny day where I was wearing sandals, followed by a day of snow flurries etc... I've included some pics of the views out of our trailer window to help you appreciate the thrill!
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