Rapid City, Sd

Had a rainstorm come through last night and we fell asleep to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof.  It's times like this when we're glad we not back in the tent camping stage of our travels.  That's been a long time ago.  A little muddy when we left the campground, but the ground drains well.  Started off on I-25 South (again to go east), then got off after twenty miles to wend our way north to the Black Hills and Rapid City.  Mostly prairie land and easy driving across the rolling countryside in Wyoming.  Whether you're on the interstate or US highway, it looks like a brown ribbon across the green landscape and you can see for miles.  Neat seeing the antelope sharing the grassland with cattle.  Unlike Nevada and Utah, the rest areas in Wyoming were open and made for good stops.

 When we hit the Black Hills, it was the start of tourist-ville!  Most of the places are closed now, but we can imagine what it will be like during the summer when all the visitors arrive.  Helicopter tours, campgrounds, museums, restaurants, etc.  We were on US 16 and headed north through the heart of the Black Hills.  Saw the Crazy Horse profile (similar to Mt Rushmore).  Of course, it started to rain as we were traveling on the winding, hilly highway.  The RV handled well and we have been very pleased with how it performs - both camping and driving.  Beautiful countryside, granite outcroppings, lots of trees, all interrupted by the signs for tourist activities and signs tempting you to stop and explore the area. Signs of the fires which have burned through a lot of the countryside.

Made it to Rapid City and, by a stoke of good luck and Vi's registration efforts, we were given a beautiful campsite which overlooks Rapid City in the distance and the prairie spreading north.  This is the view from our campsite.

After setting up and having dinner, we took a drive around Rapid City.  We have decided to stay for two nights and do some shopping as well as visit Ellsworth AFB.  We would have tried the FamCamp at Ellsworth, but the office was closed over the weekend.  They did have a recording saying that they were booked solid from June through August (high tourist season in this area).  Guess you really have to plan ahead in this area.