November 16, 2006 - 2, Lovers Key

We left son Doug & family and our next scheduled stop was at Hart Ranch in South Dakota, near Rapid City.  Not only is it a favorite RV park, but Elmer and Ann work there during the summers.  We met and worked with them last year at Lovers Key and plan to again this year.

Talk about windy!!  No clue where these pictures were taken, but we were in a rest stop and this coach had pulled in just before us.  We saw more than a few awnings doing things they're not supposed to be doing that day (a good wind will "balloon" an awning that is not secured and destroy it in the process).  The people in the coach above had no ladder or knife, so I got to play "hero of the hour."

Two more days and 990 miles, and here we are for another little break.  In a phone conversation with friends Frank and Susie, Frank had suggested that we go to the Alpine Inn for dinner and praised it quite a bit.  Since we were planning on meeting with Elmer and Ann, we decided to just go wherever they wanted.  And to the Alpine Inn we went!!  Great food, decent prices, wonderful atmosphere.  Because we were looking for a used cargo trailer, Elmer was kind enough to drive by several places, but nothing was available that was right for us.

Yeah, it's a museum, and yeah we like museums a lot, so poor Elmer and Ann had to wait while we moseyed around a bit (they like the museum too, but they'd been there before).  South Dakota is famous for dinosaurs as you may know; however, the photo on right shows alligator skulls (or was it crocodile?)

One great thing about having friends who know an area well is that we get superb tours.  And besides the wild turkeys, there was this house with all the creative rock work.

While Barb was busily taking all these shots, she heard a soft noise behind her, looked, and nearly jumped out of her shoes.  These horses had quietly come up behind her to see what was going on and gave her a good surprise.

This is what there is, and what there may be in the future.  A monument to Crazy Horse (see the head  in left photo).  Huge thing.  Hope we live long enough to see the finished sculpture.

Had to take a shot at the prairie dog as we were in the middle of a huge "town" of them.  So many that the pests are about to cause real problems.

There were several painted bison too.

We liked the relationship between the art and the verse from the Bible, but didn't really understand what these painted bison were all about except that this type of "theme" has become popular in many cities (Norfolk VA has mermaids everywhere; one small town in Texas has horses, etc.)

This one I could relate to.  It was brown.  Well, except for that streak down its face where a bird apparently got it.  And somebody with a sense of humor managed to sneak a buffalo chip in there appropriately.  Got a grin out of me, at least.

AHA!  Now here's what I call a bison!  Big guy by the road wouldn't lift its head for Barb so she could get a decent shot.  Oh, well........

Gotta give it to Elmer.  He sure knows how to give the tourists a thrill a minute.  He knew where all the wildlife and birds were.

Some of the wildlife was less wild than others.  These donkeys (burros?) knew that cars meant food.  One fellow had a bag of what looked like corn he was feeding them with.  His wife elected to stay in the car, but it did no good.  One of the animals thought she might be holding out, and went to check.  Barb wanted to take that fuzzy little one home with her.....sort of.  I liked the twins with the white muzzles.

Through the hole in the rock, and TAA DAA!  Mt. Rushmore off in the distance.  What a great tour!  We'd never have found this on our own.

Leave it to Barb to find the flowers, eh?  This looks like it's going to be another nice hotel for visitors to Mt. Rushmore or Custer State Park.

Some tourist towns are more fun than others.  We tend to like those that don't take themselves too seriously and have lots of cooperation between the various competing businesses.

Hanging out with Ann can be interesting.  She knows a lot about a lot of different things.  Like this hedge apple (also called hedge ball)--strange looking thing--found it in the grocery store for 78 cents.  Seems if you have it in your cupboard you won't have any critters living there.  And we'll attest to that--so far, so good.  No critters living in the cupboard.

And then after staying two nights, we were off again, heading west on I-90, planning on stopping to see brother Ken and his wife Nancy.

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