American diary part 9 South Dakota

Well - it's been over a week since my last blog and I'm now in San Francisco! There's too much to write about in one hour (which is about all the time I have) so I'll try to cover the highlights since Chicago.... May 26th We left Chicago on a grey day (we had the best weather) and headed west again skirtin Lake Michigan which we couldn't see. This was a long day of driving for Dan and hours of sitting on the van reading books, ipod listening, sleeping, or staring out at the scenery. To be honest there wasn't much to see! We crossed 2 state lines: Minnesota (home to the movie FARGO and very scandinavian) and Wisconsin where we stopped in Milwaukeee for lunch. a city known for 4 things 1) Beer (lots of breweries) 2) socialism 3) German based culture 4) The tv show Happy Days (I may have got that last one wrong). It was raining hard so we stayed inside a covered market and had some lunch, then back on the van. More driving took us to the Mississipi river where we camped for one brief night - I cooked on the ground (no table) and in the dark (no lights)but it turned out OK! May 27th The Great American Prairie covers a number of mid western states including Idaho, which we crossed for a short while before entering South Dakota and many hours of endless grassy plains. I found this scenery fascinatin - old style farms with grain silos and wooden barns, white picket fences, small copsed trees. It was not unlike parts of the south of England. Other states further south in the great plains are more bleak and known as The Corn Belt for the endless acres of corn which grows there. Anyway, our destination in South Dakota was the Badlands. This region of rocky hills rises out of the plains as a result of geological happenings millions of years ago, so called by the French and Indians because it was bad to cross through. Once a sea bed, it contains fossils of dinosaurs and other creatures, and has coloured stripes within the rock giving it a strange appearance. We spent 3 hours in the heart of the rocks to walk several trails and view out across the plains where many of the indian wars took place, and Dances with Wolves was filmed. A highlight here was to see herds of wild buffalo roaming the plains. Before the white man came there were millions, which were hunted almost to nothing. Reintroduced last century they are making a comeback. We also saw several huge 'towns' where Prairie dogs live in burrows and pop their heads up to see what's going on! Our camp that night was incredible at the Badlands Ranch and Resort. A storm was brewing and we were offered the use of a cabin with 24 beds for just $10 each. Of course we took it! It was home to a ranching couple who live there in the winter and hire it out in summer as part of the camp services. It was filled with wacky photos, stuffed animals, trinkets and wierd furniture, but it was comfy and dry! Before sunset we took a ride on horses along the white river and saw the den of a Mountain Lion and the Badlands as the sun went down. Magic. We then had a massive storm, lightening, thunder, rain which lit up the plains. The early pioneers who settled here must have been tough! May 28th Leaving the Badlands we stopped at Waldrug - a shop famous for having over 500 adverts along the I90 interstate and built up over 60 years. It's just a tacky souvenir stop. South Dakota has a lot to offer. We visited the famous Mount Rushmore monument to see the 4 US presidents carved into the granite, each head 20ft high. the mountain itself is stunning, granite peaks covered with pine forest. The monument seems smaller than expected but is still impressive. A short film told us about how they used dynamite and 17 years of smoothing the rock to arrive at the final images. This attracts Americans from all over and I can see why it generates national pride. However, it was not at all tacky and the visitor experience was very dignified. The weather again turned bad and we had rain and cloud. Arriving at our campsite, we realised that there was a long, long walk to the loos and showers and with SNOW on the ground we decided to hire a cabin and share the cost between all of us. So, like The Waltons, we all slept in a log cabin in a meadow for the night! It was my turn to cook, so I warmed everyone up with a sausage casserole - a Grant family favourite!!! May 29th Close to Mount Rushmore is Thunderhead Mountain. The Native American Indians wanted a memoral to show that their culture had great heroes too, so in 1941 they invited the same sculptor to create a statue to Crazy Horse, a warrior who led many battles including Little Big Horn - Custer's last stand. This is HUGE. His head is the only part completed after 60 years, since they are relying on donations and will not accept money from the government who broke so many treaties with the Indians. All 4 heads from Rushmore would fit into Crazy Horse's head! It will take them a long time to finish this and the original sculptor has long since died, his family are continuing. It's still a good place to visit. After both monuments, we visited Custer State Park. This is not the site of his last stand, but a park named after General Custer from his prescence here to scope the land and look for gold, whilst controlling the indians. We did a nice walk around a lake, and saw an original stockade. The park also has plentiful wildlife, including more Buffalo! Our next stop was something I had looked forward to ever since booking the trip..... Devil's Tower, Wyoming.