Change of Plans

We enjoyed ourselves in the Black Hills so much that we decided not to go on to Montana and Wyoming. Instead, we stayed here for two more days and will head directly to Minneapolis tomorrow.

Well, that's not exactly the way it happened.

Remember my last whiny post? I was kind of surprised by my general weepiness, although a migraine can sometimes precipitate that kind of mood. However, I was sick again. On Sunday, we went into Rapid City ("the Rapid" as they call it here) to find an Urgent Care center. It turns out my pneumonia had flared up again and I had some kind of virus/bug that seemed to thrive in my throat and ears. I have been pretty sore and weak and miserable for a few days. Plus I had a chapter due yesterday, and I hadn't been able to get onto the internet at all in Custer State Park to do some of the background research I needed to do to complete things.

So we didn't leave town Monday and head for Wyoming and then Montana to see Little Bighorn, as we'd planned. Instead, we moved to a Koa campsite in Rapid City. Not nearly as pretty and wild as our site in Custer State Park, but good to wrap up my work and do a little healing in the jacuzzi. Oh plus some fun shopping at a couple of Black Hills gold shops. Will I ever get used to a man who enjoys shopping and likes to buy me things?? I got a new wedding ring! (The ring I was using as a wedding ring, an antique, broke and the jeweler told me I shouldn't be wearing it every day.) Plus we got some presents, including something for Amy for quitting smoking (you go girl!) and various Christmas presents.



Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) we are leaving bright and early and driving to Sioux Falls, then on to Minneapolis on Thursday. Friday morning we are having a steering stabilizer put on the RV (which I have tried to have done in...Orange County, Albuquerque, Kansas and Iowa; major frustrations and I will not believe it is really going to happen until it's done). Saturday morning (6 am!) we pick up Abi at the Minneapolis airport and then head down the Mississippi. Very, very excited to see my baby girl.

Custer State Park was incredible, by the way, as was Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands. Will's last post, while a bit on the melodramatic side, accurately captured the excitement of driving the Wildlife Loop. We saw hundreds of bison and honestly could have touched some as we drove along with them (couldn't get through the herd) for over an hour. I am attaching a short video I shot with my iPhone as we drove through the herd (I also posted this on Facebook).

As we were driving through our first small herd of about 30 bison, a couple pulled up coming from the other direction. The woman leaned out and said "There are THOUSANDS ahead of you! It's going to take HOURS to get through them!"

I was a little alarmed, because I needed to get some work done before noon. As they drove away, though, I realized that a) it was 7:30 and the sun had risen at 6:30, so they clearly hadn't been driving through bison for hours, and b) the entire park herd is 1,500 bison so there couldn't be thousands of them. Will laughed at me when I pointed this out and called me his "science thinky girl".