May 24, 2008 - Riverton, WY to Rapid City, SD

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Today we traveled a long ways. We left Riverton, WY early this morning and traveled across WY and into NE and turned north. We made our way up to Custer, SD and through Hill, SD and on to the outskirts of Rapid City.

The drive from Riverton through most of WY was not very interesting. This area is what is called "high desert". It is mostly flat, with lots of sagebrush. The towns are tiny and far apart. One town had a populations of 44 and another had a population of only 1. I'm surprised it even rated a sign. I took a couple of naps during this part of our trip.

As we got closer to the NE line, the landscaped started to change. The land started to roll softly and the sagebrush gave way to green grass. Mike says that this time of the year is the prettiest in this part of the country because there is enough moisture to make the grass green. Not too far into NE, the land flattened out. There were a few homes dotting the countryside, but very few. We saw lots of deer and antelope and cattle. This is big cattle country. I was shocked at how beautiful this area is. I fully expected it to be desert country.

We turned north toward SD. Our journey took us into the Black Hills area. We did not realize that we were going to drive through Wind Caves National Park. We had no idea we were going to pass through this park. It is an interesting place. It is a buffalo refuge above the ground, and under the ground are 116 miles of caves.

We also passed by the mountain carving of Crazy Horse and the turnoff to Mt. Rushmore. Tomorrow we are going to visit these places as well as a short drive into the Bad Lands and along Needles Highway.