Day 12 - May 22

Lazy morning...slept in and awoke to the sound of rain on the roof (that was after getting up with the pup at 6:00 am). It was a good morning to pull up the covers and snuggle down for a little more sleep.

As part of my visual imagery experiment I will call on you movie buffs to visualize a scene from "Walk in the Clouds" but with trees rather than vineyards. Our camp site was apart from the other camp sites and surrounded by towering Ponderosa Pines and large out croppings of rock. When we stepped outside the trees were bathed in fog (actually low hanging clouds) and the tops of the trees were swaying in the wind and making that whispering sound that those of us that live in the trees come to know. The affect was almost ethereal and movie like.

As we left Custer in the wind and sideways rain, we pulled into the National Museum of Woodcarvers (don't look for it on any real National Museum register). Interesting but I am not sure I would spend the $7 (with senior discount) per head to do it again. We once again entered Custer State Park to traverse that wonderful highway 16A (the good part this time) and then onto highway 36 and eventually onto highway 90 headed east. We made our stop at Wall, SD to satisfy our curiosity about the bumper stickers that we had seen saying "Where in the heck is Wall Drug". Think of Mall of American on a small scale and set to a country and western theme. The wind still blowing and unpleasant.

Leaving Wall, we ventured east along highway 90 until we came to the the "240 Badlands Loop". The winds were very stiff which made the drive a little "white knuckle" and rocky. We stopped for gas and the evening in Kadoka, SD. A virtual paradise of the prairie states. As I am penning this edition of the blog we are experiencing thunder, lighting and a torrential downpour. We just stopped for the night in time to get set up before it started.