We left the Ingalls homestead at about 8:00 am.  It was raining, and cold.  And windy. Really cold. About 45 degrees with a wind chill factor making it feel like, oh, I don’t know – maybe , like 5?

We drove slowly through town and stopped at the De Smet Cemetary.  We found the family plot where most of the Ingalls family are buried:

2017-09-16 SD 00 Ingalls Cemetery

And we are back on the road.  And it is still raining.  Harder and harder.  It rained for about two hours until the sky finally began to lighten.

The countryside was beautiful:

2017-09-16 SD 01 Clouds

2017-09-16 SD 02 Clouds

We stopped to take in the threatening black clouds over the Wide Missouri River:

2017-09-16 SD 15 Missouri River

2017-09-16 SD 13 Missouri River

2017-09-16 SD 12 Missouri River

2017-09-16 SD 11 Missouri River

2017-09-16 SD 14 Missouri River

The drive was uneventful, along two lane back roads.  When you visit places such as De Smet you spend a lot of time on two lane back roads.  We eventually merged with the interstate and continued west towards the South Dakota Badlands.  We took the “Badlands Loop”, a 35 mile long road through Badlands National Park:

2017-09-16 SD 38 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 37 Badlands

We took time to take a selfie:

2017-09-16 SD 33 Badlands Selfie

These formations are the remains of an ancient salt water sea.  These rocks are sedimentary sandstone that have been eroding for a long, long time… The formations are striking…

2017-09-16 SD 29 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 27 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 26 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 23 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 22 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 36 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 30 Badlands

2017-09-16 SD 34 Badlands

We were able to see some funny looking animals; turns out they are female pronghorn antelope:

 

2017-09-16 SD 50a Badlands

And a Bison:

2017-09-16 SD 51 Badlands

We stopped for a late lunch at Wall Drugs, in Wall, SD.  Really excellent buffalo hot dogs! Then we walked around the tourist attraction that is Wall Drugs.  I took a moment to ride the Jackalope:

2017-09-16 SD 61 Wall Drug Jackalope

Wall Drugs is even a bigger waste of time than The House on the Rock…

So we move on.  We arrive at Crooked Creek RV Park, in Hill City, near Mt. Rushmore. We were given a nice pull-through site, with good power to run the furnace (it will approach freezing overnight…) and we able to get satellite TV and internet access.  It is Saturday, and there is College football!

Texas lost!  CAL beat Ole Miss!  LSU lost!  A good night all around.

Happy Hours ensued and an enjoyable time was had by all…