The Amana Colonies

Just a couple of lines about the Amana Colonies.

First - their history is very interesting. I'm not going to write it here, but if you are interested in knowing about the Colonies you can visit their website at www.amanacolonies.org

Second - the food is great, as long as you enjoy German food. We have had lunch, dinner and this morning, breakfast, at three different restaurants and they were all good meals.

Third - the shopping is OK if you are looking for "stuff" which we try to avoid. We did go to the Smokehouse for some "brats" and a few other things. The biggest problem is storage space. I would love to have stocked up on their bacon, ham etc., but just no room.

Forth - the campground is adequate. We have a full hookup site and it's fine. Right now the campground is almost empty - maybe at most 30 rigs in at the present time. I'm sure it will fill up more over Labor Day, but then, we'll be gone.

I guess you can tell by my writings on the Amana Colonies that I didn't get really excited about being here. Maybe I'm tired and am ready for a non-sightseeing stop. If that is the case, then next week will be great. We will be in Elkhart, IN at the Elkhart Campground with friends from the Escapee's RV Club. Should be a great time of sharing stories of our travels, food and just plain ole fun.

I did take a few pictures of Amana and they are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

Till next time - Have a Great and Safe Labor Day Weekend.

AVA - have fun starting out on your next adventure!

Little Town on The Prairie

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the TV series Little House on The Prairie. This morning we went in search of the Ingalls homestead in De Smet, SD. Yes, they did homestead there and actually lived there from 1879 until their death. Mary left after the death of her parents and Laura, Almanzo and their daughter Rose, left the area in 1894.

It seems that the Ingalls family did quite a bit of moving beginning in Pepin, Wisconsin, to Independence, Kansas, Walnut Grove, Minnesota (the one the TV series picked up), Burr Oak, Iowa and finally De Smet, South Dakota.

Although the buildings are re-production they were built on the very same land that "Pa" Ingalls laid claim to. It was neat to know that I was walking where "Ma", "Pa", Mary, Laura and Carrie had walked, lived and played.

After walking to several of the buildings including a dugout house, a shanty, a hay-roof barn, and Ma's little house which had been expanded, we rode a covered wagon from the livestock barn to the one room schoolhouse. This building was moved there from several miles away and is an exact replica of the school that Mary, Laura and Carrie attended and where Laura taught school for awhile.

At the school a "teacher" met us and rang the bell to summon us inside. The children in our group were given prairie dresses and bonnets to wear and the boys got straw hats. She gave us a great history lesson on the area and the Ingalls. She then got the children to stand up front and do a spelling bee and sing a song. Very cute.

When school was dismissed we boarded the covered wagon for the ride back to the livestock barn. This concluded our tour and we left the homestead for the town of De Smet in search of more Ingalls history.

After a quick sandwich at the Oxbow Restaurant we drove to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society building. There we found the Surveyor's House which was the first house that the Ingalls family lived in upon arriving in De Smet. You see, Pa had taken a job with the railroad and moved there to help with the construction. When winter came the construction stopped, but, they stayed in the little house through the winter almost starving to death. The following spring is when Pa laid claim to 160 acres of land just outside what is now De Smet, SD.

When the town started growing, Pa became very involved in the community, offering his skills both as the town carpenter and in local government. He even served as De Smet's first Justice of the Peace. He later built a house in town where he and Ma lived till their death.

There is so much more story here, but if you are interested, I suggest that you do a little research yourself. I bought a book called The Little House Guidebook, which tells about each place they lived and continues on with Laura, Almanzo and Rose and where they lived.

As a Little House on The Prairie fan, this day was especially exciting for me. I know that the TV series glamorizes the truth, but I could see a lot of what was on the shows happening there on the homestead. Now I will have to visit the other homesteads so I can tie it all together.

Just another plus to full timing - I would never have discovered De Smet and the Ingalls history otherwise.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Amana Colonies in Iowa with a overnight stop somewhere. See you when we get there!

Mitchell, SD and the Corn Palace

We've heard about it so this morning we went to see the Corn Palace for ourselves. I had read a little about it so knew that is was like a auditorium/basketball court inside. The big attraction is on the outside though, where they have murals that are made entirely of corn, wheat and other natural materials.

Our arrival here in Mitchell, SD coincided with the Corn Festival being held in town, right down Main Street where the Corn Palace is located. This made picture taking a little difficult because of the concession tents that are set up in the street.

We toured the inside of the building which was interesting. They have pictures of the original and second Corn Palace each showing the different murals for the year. The current building is the third Corn Palace building. The outside murals are changed every year, but there have been two years that, because of the weather, the murals have not been changed - this is one of the two! But if you were not here last year, you would never know. There are also murals inside around the basketball court. The designs for the murals are laid out in kind of a paint by number fashion. I have a picture of one, as the murals on the side of the building are still under construction. We were told that the murals are always completed in time for the Corn Festival, but as mentioned earlier, the weather has been so hot and dry this year that they didn't have the materials needed to re-do them.

I'm also posting some pictures that I took from I-90 yesterday as we were driving from Rapid City to Mitchell.

Not sure what else we are going to do while in Mitchell, if anything. From here we will be heading to the Amana Colonies in Iowa.

See ya down the road.....

Back To Custer State Park & Deadwood

Even though the day started out overcast, we drove back to Custer State Park to drive the "Wildlife Loop". Upon entering the park, we saw several pronghorn deer, so we were hopeful that the wildlife would be plentiful today. We drove and drove and still only saw more deer. Where where the buffalo?


About mid point on the drive there is a visitors center so we stopped in to inquire about the wildlife. It seems the buffalo have moved "off road" to a more remote area. But, the good news was there were gravel roads open to the public, that we could take back to where they were. Off we went and after about five miles we rounded a corner and there they were, maybe about 500 buffalo of all sizes. We stopped along the road and just watched them for about 20 min. There were a lot of Mom's with their young along with many big males. Maybe it's their size but they sure do fascinate me.

We continued on the gravel road back to the main loop road. We spotted a few lone buffalo along the way, somehow separated from the herd.

Next we came upon some wild burro's that where blocking traffic, looking for handouts. We had seen some when we drove the Needles Highway, but I didn't know that we were going to see more. Had I known, I would have come prepared with some carrots for them. They are brazen - they come right up to the vehicles licking at the windows, looking for treats. They are kinda cute. There was one frisky one in the bunch as you will see when you look at the pictures.

Finishing up the loop we saw many more pronghorn deer and also passed the Prairie Dog Village. There where many of those little critters there, busy doing what ever it is that they do. It was on the local news a couple of nights ago that the local farmers where having quite a lot of trouble with the prairie dogs ruining their crops and they were working with the state to eliminate/move them. Seeing the mounds they dig for their home, I can see how they would be a problem to the farmers.

Leaving Custer State Park we decided to return to Deadwood to visit Kevin Costner's Tatanka: Story of the Bison. The pamphlet indicated that not only would we see the bronze sculptures but also interactive displays, tipis, cultural demonstrations, storytelling and music. Well the bronze sculptures where there and we watched a 20 min. video telling the story behind Kevin Costner building this attraction. Inside there were displays of some artifacts and costumes from Dances with Wolves and outside there were tipis and the sculptures, but that was it! Quite disappointing considering the price of admission, not to mention driving 40 miles to see this. To top it off, the sun was behind the sculptures therefore preventing me from getting good pictures of them. Costner's love for the native American Indian's and wanting to do something to make others aware of their plight is understandable. The story of the Buffalo Jump is interesting and his attempt to relay it through the sculptures is good, but, unless this attraction can provide what it says it will, I am afraid it will get a bad reputation and be by-passed by many.

All in all, it was a good day and the sky cleared to a beautiful blue.

Tomorrow we leave Rapid City for points east. See ya down the road....

Hill City to Keystone, SD by Train

Dean loves trains - I guess it's the little boy in him. But then I enjoy riding them also. Usually you get a different perspective on the countryside, see things that you sometimes don't see from the road. This ride was no different.

This ride was over rail that was used by mines in the area to transport various mineral from the area's many mines. If I remember correctly, the narrator said that there where over twenty different minerals mined in the area. There never where passenger trains on these tracks until the 1880's train started for tourists. I believe it was in the 1960's.

We boarded in Hill City on one of the morning trains going to Keystone, SD. Going this direction the train climbs about 600 feet in elevation with most of it right outside Hill City. At some points a 6% grade which for trains is almost unheard of. After the initial climb we leveled off in a meadow area and stayed pretty level until just before Keystone where we descended a little.

The countryside was very interesting as we passed some very old buildings that where left over from the mining days and some huge gorgeous new homes. We saw a lot of deer both coming and going along with llamas (on a farm).

We chose to stay in Keystone for several hours and catch a later train back to Hill City. We spend our time there looking through all the shops and having lunch at the Ruby House Restaurant, right on the main street. We opted to eat on the patio where we could enjoy watching the people and traffic going through town.

It was a very nice day and one where I didn't have to drive on a road with a lot of curves, hills and tight places - thank goodness!

Some pictures of this trip are posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

Correction

It was brought to my attention that you cannot zoom a picture in Picasa. My fault, as I thought you could. Since you can't zoom in on one of the Mt. Rushmore pictures, I'm posting one here that I did zoom in on and save. I believe you can see what I was talking about in the eye....





Sorry......

Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, Needles Highway & Iron Mountain Road

I guess the title kind of says it all. We have had two busy days.

Deadwood came first - yesterday. I'm not sure what I expected, maybe another Virginia City, NV. but it wasn't meant to be. To me Deadwood is absolutely a tourist town. Yep, we found another one of those tourist traps. I have to say that the ride home from Deadwood back to Hart Ranch was the best part of the day and sadly, I took no pictures.

Deadwood - this is where Wild Bill Hickok met his fate while playing poker at the Saloon # 10. He never sat with his back to the door because of all the enemies he had, but this night it was the only seat available at the poker table. Well one enemy, Crooked Nose Jack McCall saw his chance ended the life of the legend with one shot. Wild Bill's final hand in poker was two black aces and two black eights to be forever know as the Dead Man's Hand.

The Main Street now is almost nothing but casino's. There are a few gift shops and snack bars thrown in. One of the newest is the Midnight Star which is at least partly owned by Kevin Costner. Throughout the casino there are many costumes that have been worn by him in various movies. They are behind glass, so picture taking is difficult.

Driving home from Deadwood we took to the back roads which afforded us a lot of pretty scenery and many sightings of deer.

I'm not sorry that we went to Deadwood but the one thing that I wanted to see, we forgot about until we were about half way home. That was Tatanka: Story of the Bison. We have heard the story of how the Native American Indians would chase the bison up a hill and over a cliff - easy hunting - but I really wanted to see the sculptures. Oh well, maybe if we come back to Gillette, WY for the Escapade next year we can stop then.

Today we drove to Keystone, SD and made train reservations for tomorrow. We are going to take the train from Hill City to Keystone and return. We will have about 3 hours in Keystone to shop and eat so we didn't spend any time there today. We did, however, continue on to Mt. Rushmore.

Your first glimpse comes just before reaching the entrance. I didn't experience the awe that I did at the Grand Canyon, but then this is man made and who hasn't seen numerous pictures of Mt. Rushmore? That's not to say I was disappointed, I wasn't. The ohhhh, just wasn't there.

We spent a good bit of time at the Visitor Center where we watched a movie on the construction and one on the "Other Side of Mt. Rushmore". The facts and information on the construction were fascinating. I'm not going to divulge everything here but one of the bits of information concerns the eyes. Look at the pictures I've posted. Look at the eyes. Do you wonder how the eyes were cut into the rock? Well the answer is - the pupil is a large piece of granite cut square and placed in the middle of what is the eye. If you zoom in on one of the close ups of Mt. Rushmore you will be able to see it. Another thing to look for is Roosevelt's glasses. Do you see them?

Leaving Mt. Rushmore we decided to drive the Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain Highway - both designed by Peter Norbeck. This drive was awesome even though there where times that I wondered if it was a good idea to be doing it in the dully. Most of the road is wide enough for two vehicles but there are portions that are much narrower and then there are the tunnels. I have pictures of a couple of them. Unfortunately our windshield was dirty and I also got a lot of reflection of light in most of the tunnel pictures so I didn't keep them. But, the ones that I did post will certainly show you how narrow they are, especially the Needle Eye.

We also saw wildlife, not sure what they are - deer, elk, antelope and some wild mules (and three not so wild ones). There where also squirrels, chipmunks, and wild turkeys. Oh, and I can't forget the buffalo.

Driving this road is a must do, if you find yourself in the Black Hills of South Dakota!

We returned home mid-afternoon tired and I'll have to admit, I had a few white knuckles since I did the driving today. But hey, we're retired so we have nothing to do but rest up for tomorrow. See you then.......

Pictures will be at the picasa web site soon.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

Rapid City, SD - It's Hot

We arrived at Hart Ranch just south of Rapid City, SD yesterday afternoon after a long boring drive from Buffalo, WY. Talk about a lot of nothing! Miles and miles of hills, valleys, desert looking landscape with some farming thrown in. It sure would be a long drive to the closest Wal-Mart- LOL!

Hart Ranch is a RPI Preferred park and is really nice. Paved roads, paved sites, full hookups, cable TV and wi-fi in the park. I haven't taken a picture of our site yet, but I will. We are situated between two rental cabins. The actually are not cabins but small park model RV that look like log cabins. The sites here are large with plenty of room between sites and lots of space in the back. Our site backs up to the fields. I've been watching for deer but haven't seen any yet. We did see some on our drive here so I'm keeping watch.

Last night there was the strangest cloud in the evening sky. It really looked like a mushroom cloud on the western side. It was beautiful with the sun setting. I'm posting a picture of it if you want to check it out.

Today we decided to drive to Wall, SD and visit Wall Drug Store - a real tourist trap, but interesting. Of course, it isn't the small drug store that it was back in 1931 but has grown into a building that covers a whole block. Shops, shops and more shops inside full of the "made in china" stuff. Everyone has told us not to miss Wall Drug Store and we didn't. I've posted some pictures from there as well.

One more thing - IT'S HOT HERE!! The temperature today was 104 degrees. I haven't been in temperatures like that in, well, I can't remember when. Sure hope it starts cooling off soon. That was the reason we decided to do the drive to Wall, SD today - inside a air conditioned vehicle to a air conditioned building. There are several out door things we want to do, but sure don't look forward to doing them in the heat. We have nine more days here before we move on, so my fingers are crossed for cooler weather.

Check back as we will be going to Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood and more and I'll be posting about them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

An Update On Where We Have Been

I've updated the map showing the states that we have actually camped in. We are making progress toward all lower 48 states. Maybe next year we will make them all! I didn't count Alaska since we cruised there and didn't make it in our 5'er this year.

On The Road From Billings, MT to Buffalo, WY

OK, I know my next post was going to be from Mt. Rushmore, but we made some stops along the way and we are heading in that direction.

Our drive yesterday from Billings, Mt to Buffalo, WY was certainly not a boring one. The first thing we noticed as we left Billings was that we were getting back into hilly country - not mountains, mind you, just big rolling hills. It was strange because we have had no problem with the engine overheating going up the mountains, but some of these hills were so long a climb that the engine was getting a little warm. Not to the danger zone though, thank goodness.

One of my biggest gripes has been that Dean would not stop anywhere when we were traveling between stops, but yesterday I convinced him that it was OK because I wanted to see Little Big Horn battlefield. I had also been told that there was plenty of RV parking - HAH! When we arrived around 10:15 am, all the RV parking was full. The ranger told us to go ahead and do the 10 mile drive through the battlefield and till we got back there would probably be some spots. I'm so glad he suggested that because if we had just stopped at the visitor center, we would have missed so much.

I'm not a big history buff, but when it is forced on me, I find it very interesting. Of course I've heard about Custer's Last Stand, but never really gave it much thought - until yesterday!

I'm not going into a history lesson here, but I can see how foolish the US Army was back then, thinking that they could defeat the Indians when they were outnumbered by at least 10 to 1.

The drive through the battlefield runs along a ridge with many plaques along the way telling the events that happened there. It is a nice drive and would have been even more so if they had parking at these pull outs for RV's. Most didn't. One highlight was the wild horses. They roam freely throughout the park and instead of bison jams, we experienced horse jams. Yep, they stood their ground, right in the middle of the narrow two lane road. Come to find out that they were protecting a foal who was laying along side the road. We thought at first that it was hurt or worse, but after a few minutes of waiting, the foal got up and started running, as did the others that were blocking the road.

One more note on Little Big Horn National Monument - they have a nice museum that has a lot of artifacts that have been retrieved from the battlefield. If you are a history buff then this is a not to be missed place if you are in Montana.

As we approached Sheridan, WY I noticed smoke in the sky, coming from the Big Horn Mountain ridge. Well, the closer we got, the more obvious it was that there was a wildfire happening. When I first saw it, it appeared small, but as we traveled south and got closer it seemed to grow bigger and bigger. It is so dry in this area that wildfires this time of year seem to be the norm. We never did see flames, as we were to far away - thank goodness - but the sun shining through the smoke made it look almost like flames. Fortunately for us, Buffalo is about 25 - 30 miles southeast of the wildfire. We could see the smoke last evening while out driving around the area, but it was way off in the distance.

We are camped at Deer Park in Buffalo, WY until tomorrow when we will continue on eastward to Rapid City, SD and Hart Ranch. We are staying there for a week and it will be good to sit in one place again.

I'm posting some pictures from the Little Big Horn, the countryside and the fire so be sure to check them out.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

Oh yes, we arrived in Buffalo just in time for the county fair/rodeo and the big parade this morning. Yes, we are going so I may have more pictures later...

Catching Up - Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons

Wow, I can't believe I've let myself get behind again! Guess we are having to much fun.

During our stay in Yellowstone we took a day and drove to the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole, WY. Unfortunately, the day we picked was overcast with very little sunshine and I guess that is the reason that my pictures did not turn out very good. I certainly hope it is not my new camera going bad already!

The Grand Tetons - I'm so glad we took the drive south to see them. It's like massive rock mountains arising out of no where when you first come upon them. It almost looks like an artist painted them against the sky. First glimpse is surreal.

We stopped and visited with some Escapee friends that were camping in the area and had a very nice time visiting and having lunch. After lunch we drove on to Jackson Hole, taking the scenic drive. I just couldn't take my eyes off the mountains and I was driving! Jackson Hole, to me was just another tourist town. Of course in the winter it's a great place to be if you like to ski.

On our drive back to Yellowstone we took the highway instead of the scenic route. You can still see the mountains but it's a quicker drive. We saw more elk (female) in the fields, had a coyote run across the road in front of us and saw a female moose. She had a baby with her but kept it hidden in the brush.

Once back inside Yellowstone we stopped at another pretty waterfall that is on the south end of the park.

We had an enjoyable day in spite of the lousy weather.

On our last day in Yellowstone we drove to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and back through Hayden Valley to see the bison one more time.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is beautiful and would have been more enjoyed if the weather hadn't turned stormy. We made two "overlook" stops and then the last one at the waterfalls, which is the Lower Falls. It was raining till we arrived there, but I got the umbrella out and walked to the overlook, determined to see the falls and get a picture or two, rain or no rain. What I didn't bargain on was that it would turn into a thunder storm with gusts of wind up to 50 mph! Well, I'll tell you, standing out over the gorge on a cliff isn't the place to be when the lightning and wind pick up, especially with a umbrella in one hand and camera in the other. I did manage to get in a couple of photos and bet a hasty retreat back to the truck - soaked! On my way back to the truck, I passed some oriental tourists all huddled under a tree - I guess they have never been taught that you don't stand under trees during storms. Guess they were lucky this time as I didn't hear any news about anyone being struck by lightning.

Of course, coming back through Hayden Valley we saw tons (no pun intended) of bison. Mostly off the road this time, but there is always a traffic jam in this area because people stop in the road to take pictures. I pulled off and watched them for a little while - they fascinate me - I guess it's their size.

On Monday morning, we departed our wonderful friends Garry and Jenny and new friends Sandy & Ken, and a great campsite heading for Livingston, MT for the night. The drive there is mostly downhill, dropping close to 2000 feet in altitude. It took us back past several of the sights we had seen previously but we enjoyed seeing them again. It was just nice, after arriving in Livingston to be able to walk and breath normally.

Tuesday morning found us back on the highway, this time heading for Billings, MT. This brings me to where we are now, Billings Trailer Village and RV park. It is a very nice little park with full hookups, cable tv and wifi for a small charge. While here we are catching up on laundry, truck oil change and cleaning. We will leave on Thursday for Buffalo, WY for two nights then on to Hart Ranch in Rapid City, SD and Mt. Rushmore. Until then, we will just relax and enjoy the down time.

New pictures have been posted with a few more to come, probably later today.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

See you at Mt. Rushmore......

Yellowstone National Park

We have had five days so far in Yellowstone Natl. Park and have seen so much but yet so little. I would love to say that by the time we leave here next Tuesday, we will have seen it all, but that just won't be so. There are so many different geysers, hot springs, pools, streams, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and wildlife, that one just can't see it all, even in a week. But trust me, we are giving it a good try.

It has been great renewing old friendships with Garry and Jenny and making new friends with Ken and Sandy. We have shared some good food and good times with them and will hate leaving them behind when we leave. Not to worry though, we will meet up somewhere again.

I'm not going to write a lot about what we've done here in Yellowstone as in case the pictures will tell the story better than me. I will say that this certainly has been one of the highlights of our travels.

We have been so blessed to be able to travel like we are, and be witness to so much of God's creation. Of course, some places we have like better than others, but everywhere we have been has had it own beauty, even those areas that I thought were stark, barren and brown. The sights we have seen so far, most people will never get to see in person, so I want to thank God for giving us the opportunity.

I hope that you have been enjoying the pictures I've posted on Yellowstone National Park and all the others. I know that some have been better than others, but I'm still learning the in's and out's of my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TC3. It has been fun experimenting with all it's features.

Tomorrow we are going to drive to the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole, WY. We are also going to visit with Jim and Sherry Reed while there - they are camped at one of the Teton Natl Park campgrounds. We haven't seen them since Feb. at Casa Grande, AZ.

I'll be posting more pictures today from our drive to Gardiner, MT yesterday. They will be at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos

More later,