Custer State Park, South Dakota

The main reason we have come to South Dakota is to make it our domicile or our legal home. Since we are full time vagabonds now and live wherever the RV is parked for the night we can choose whichever state is most favorable for us to call home.

California is not favorable to retiree's since it is now the highest taxed state in the nation. We still have a house in California but rent it out. We will continue to pay income tax and of course property tax on the house, but our other income and registrations on vehicles can be from whatever state we choose.... As long as we do not stay in any state longer than their residency laws allow.

South Dakota loves retiree's. They do not have income tax and their vehicle registrations are very low. Their residency laws are also very lenient to allow full time travelers to become South Dakotans.  As a side note, their DMV employees are the friendliest and most helpful we have EVER encountered!

After completing our residency requirements, we took a day trip to Custer State Park. There are large herds of bison in the park!

Bison Herd

We also found some mama's feeding their babies.

Nursing Bison Babies.

When we were in Oatman, Nevada we saw wild burros. Who knew there were some here in Custer?? It amazing me that these people opened their windows and fed the burros! :(

Wild Burros

Just outside of Custer State Park is the Iron Mountain Road (US 16A). This is the infamous road that you can take a framed picture of Mount Rushmore through the tunnel. The were doing a lot of road construction on this day so we really couldn't stop to take a great picture but you can see Rushmore right in the middle of our picture.

Rushmore Tunnel View

There are also two corkscrew bridges on the highway. We couldn't take pictures while we were driving so I found these online so you could get an idea what the bridges were. The bridge corkscrews around on itself to make a quick elevation change.

Corkscrew bridge

Here is an elevated view of it so it makes more sense.

Corkscrew Bridge II

We didn't go to Rushmore on this day, but did drive through Keystone.

Keystone, SD

You could get a great view of Rushmore from Keystone.

View from Keystone!

On the way back to our RV it started raining as it did on most days. The next morning we went into Rapid City.

In the middle of downtown they have bronze life size statues of all the presidents on each street corner. To see all presidents it is a 2 1/2 mile walk. They have a self-guide book at the visitor's center that gives some information about each president. We got the book and took the 2 1/2 mile hike.

Here is our first president George Washington....

George Washington

And of course the father of the National Parks and Crystal's favorite Rough Rider, Teddy Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt

Here's our favorite president Ronald Reagan!

Ron Reagan with Patty

Our last President (Obama won't be on display until he is no longer in office) George W Bush. Because he was considered somewhat controversial (not by us) he is displayed being very optimistic giving the thumbs up and very happy carrying his Scottish Terrier Barney!

George W Bush

That's it for today...

Keep Praying for Avery and the whole Huffman family!!!

God Bless you,

Brian and Patty

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

In January 2013 we were in Casa Grande, Arizona. There was an aerospace museum nearby that we did not go to. Part of the museum was a Minuteman Missile Silo that I found out about after we left. We would have loved to have seen that but we were long gone before we found out about it.

We figure we will be back in Casa Grande eventually and will be able to visit it then. Because we are in South Dakota I found they also have a Minuteman Missile National Historic Site here!!

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

The Missile Site is open to see anytime and you just drive up to it and view it, but there is a launch control "capsule" that is 31 feet underground that you need to view with a ranger led tour. Free tickets are available at the above building with a limited amount of tours with only 6 people per tour because it is tight quarters!

The elevator that takes you down is open grate and you have to agree and be able to climb up this ladder in case the elevator malfunctions.

Ladder

More on the tour latter because the morning tours were already booked, we took an afternoon tour so we could drive through the Badlands National Park. The Park was immediately across from the Missile Site's building so it was very convenient! 

Badlands National Park

We stopped at many of the view points. This was called the Badlands Wall.

Badlands Wall

As we were driving along I happened to notice this bighorn sheep standing proud on this ridge! Wasn't sure as we went by that's what it was so we actually turned around and came back!

Dodge Ram??

It turned out that there was a whole herd of bighorns here. My truck felt right at home! LOL!

Herd of Bighorn Sheep

We took a small hike at Three Trails. This overlook is Castle Rock.

Castle Rock

At the visitor center they have an active fossil lab that is open to the public. You just walk in and the staff is actively cleaning and working on fossils. It's pretty interesting because they will interact with you answering questions and showing you what they are presently working on.

Fossils

We finished the loop and got back in time for our scheduled tour of the Delta -01 Launch Facility.

D-01 Launch Facility

This is how thick the sealed door is to the launch capsule. They were trying to protect the team from a nuclear blast.

Capsule Door

This was painted on the outside of the thick door. It was supposed to look like a Domino's Pizza box. It says, "Worldwide Delivery in 30 minutes or less. Minuteman II. Or your next on is free.". 

Worldwide Delivery

This is the Launch Capsule. There was seating for two with the seats about 12 feet apart so one person could not launch by himself.

Capsule

Here is launch key number one. As I said it would take two keys turned at the same time to launch a rocket and the keys were about 12 feet apart so one person could not turn both keys.

Key #1

Here is the launch key #2.

Launch Key #2

After we finished the guided tour of the launch facility we drove to the missile silo.

Delta-09 Silo

There were hundreds of silos right next to the interstate highways hidden in plain site! The Russians knew were ours were and we knew were their's were, They were a deterrent. You could take out one or two, but not thousands of them all at once!

Minuteman II 

This missile has been decommissioned. The warhead has been removed. This is self guided but if you call a phone number that is listed at the site it will give you information for each area of the site by pushing #1, #2, #3, etc.....

Minuteman II Missile

One of the Roadside Attractions must see's is Wall Drug in Wall, SD. It's kind of like the Burma Shave signs in that all over the midwest there are Wall Drug signs. In the "old days" they were famous for offering "FREE" Ice Water to weary travelers! 

Wall Drug

Since we were passing right by Wall, SD coming back from the Missile Site we needed to stop by and get some of that 'FREE' Ice Water!

Wall Drug Store

They also have self pay 5 cent coffee. Although Patty doesn't drink much coffee anymore, and not this late in the day, hey it was only a nickle!!!

5 Cent Coffee

Here we are with my 'Free' Ice Water, Patty's 5 cent coffee and our $2.00 homemade donuts! The donuts were pricey, but sooooo goood!

Homemade Donuts

After drinking the coffee and eating the sugar Patty needed to take a trail ride. We found this wild Jack-a-lope for her to ride!

Jack-a-lope rides!

They only had one Jack-a-lope to ride and I didn't want to be left behind so I was made an honorary Lakota and was loaned a horse so I could ride along with Patty!

Honorary Lakota

After a 3 hour ride we drank more 'FREE' Ice Water and headed back to our campsite at Hart Ranch.

A big storm started bearing down on us coming from the Sturgis area. There was reports of tennis ball hail in Johnson Siding which is about 13 miles from us. The storm was heading our way. That large of hail will cause severe damage to vehicles and roofs as well as cause injuries to animals and people. 

Thankfully before the storm got to us the hail had stopped or what little hail we got had become pea sized and slushy.

Big Storm

A little scary with the thunderstorms and scare of hail but all turned out OK. God was with us!

That's all for today. As you can see today was a very busy day for us!

Let me remind you to continue to pray for Avery Huffman. To follow her progress you can follow her parents blog Here!

Thank you for reading and following our blessed lives!

God Bless you,

Brian and Patty

Avery Huffman Strong!

I'm going to skip the travel blog today to tell you about a very courageous young girl named Avery Huffman. You can go  to Avery's Caring Bridge link to read exactly what is happening and any up dates, but Avery has been diagnosed officially with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).

Avery Huffman

She is the granddaughter of a very good friends of ours Olivia Huffman and John Huffman, daughter of friends Brandon and wife Amanda Huffman, and niece of Jeremy, Natalie and Alyse (and spouses)!

We are just heartbroken because in the natural this has a 100 percent mortality rate. The average life expectancy for a child with DIPG is 1-2 months (usually with no treatment or radiation), to 9 months to even between 1-2 years, the 9 months to 2 years usually the result of radiation.

Avery

Please pray fervently for Avery and the Huffman family! Even with insurance there are many costs involved and there has been a GoFundMe account set up for the Huffman family. It has been very successful but there will still not be enough so anything will help. The link for the Avery's Go Fund Me is HERE!

Above all things, please pray! Pray for healing for that which is impossible! Pray for peace of mind in this wonderful family of God, Pray that all will draw closer to God through this terrible situation because we know that through God all things are possible!

God Bless you all,
God Bless the Huffman Family!!!!
We love you so much!!
Brian and Patty

Deadwood, South Dakota

We took a day trip to Deadwood, South Dakota. The famous motorcycle rally town of Sturgis was on our way. Although the BIG rally is not until late July we had to at least drive through Sturgis!

Here is the Indian Motorcycle dealer.

Sturgis Indian Motorcycles

There is a lot of South Dakota history here in Deadwood. Wild Bill Hickok was killed here and is buried at the Mount Moriah Cemetery. More on that later. Calamity Jane also is buried right next to Wild Bill. There are casinos in Deadwood and Gunslinger shows! This is the ultimate in the wild, wild west!

Deadwood Sign

You can see a horse and buggy in this picture. All the hotels are also casinos. We got a great hamburger lunch at one of the casino cafe's.

Downtown Deadwood

Wild Bill was shot in this Saloon in August 1876 by assassin Jack McCall.

Saloon #10

Everyday they perform a shootout on the streets of Deadwood. Actors portray Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and others of the era.

Shootout at Deadwood

We went up the hill to the Mount Moriah Cemetery. This is where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried. 

Mt. Moriah Cemetery

The grave stone is fairly new, but we saw old original photos of the grave and the fence around it is the original fence. Pretty amazing.

Wild Bill's Grave

Jane wanted to be buried right next to Bill as seen on this sign.

Calamity Jane's wishes

Notice that Jane got her wishes to "Bury me beside Wild Bill". You can see Hickok's grave stone just to the left of the picture.

Jane's Grave

We took this picture of Deadwood from the Cemetery. There was actually a guided tour book we took of the cemetery, but nobody you would have heard of so I will not expand on that.

Deadwood from the sky!

We had a great day in Deadwood. Now that we are where we have Internet I will start catching up on our travels. 

Thanks for reading. 

God Bless you,

Brian and Patty