We celebrated the Labor Day holiday by having our friends Walt and Maxine Schnoor over for a cookout.  Walt and Maxine had lived across the street from us at Palm Creek during our first two winters there.  They have since moved to another park in Casa Grande and they also spend their summers at Hart Ranch.  This year they decided to "get off the road" and reluctantly sold their quad-slide Travel Supreme.  They bought a travel trailer to keep stored at Hart Ranch for summers and are building a "park model" at the Sundance Resort in Casa Grande for winters.  Since they have spent quite a few summers in the area, Walt and Maxine were great tour guides for us and we enjoyed seeing the great things in the Rapid City area with them.  We'll be getting together with them soon in Arizona.
 
 

A combination tour bus/RV used by a group of about 25 German tourists.	The "Avenue of Flags" (one for each state) leading to the Grand View Terrace at Mt. Rushmore.	Our Arizona/Hart Ranch friends, Walt and Maxine Schnoor	Walt and Maxine's new "summer cabin," a Keystone VR1

 

Our last evening at Hart Ranch we drove back to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  We spent quite a bit of time viewing exhibits in the Native American Cultural Center, the Indian Museum of North America and the Sculptor's Log Home and Studio.  Korczak Ziolkowski had been a worker for a short time at Mt. Rushmore.  But he had won a prize for his sculpture at the World's Fair in New York in 1939 where the Lakota Indian Chief, Henry Standing Bear had seen his work.  Standing Bear invited Ziolkowski to carve a memorial to the great heros and spirits of the red man.  Ziolkowski accepted the challenge and after two years of planning, gathering tools and building stairs to the top of the mountain he began his work in 1947.  Being a firm believer in free enterprise and not wanting to follow any governmental guidelines that would compromise his purpose, Ziolkowski refused any federal funding, and to this day the project is supported by donations, sponsors and admissions ($10 each-or $25 a carload.)  Crazy Horse was chosen for the sculpture because it was felt that his spirit represented the Indian nation...that he had died defending his people and their way of life after he had witnessed their lives being ravaged and destroyed.  As Red Cloud, a Lakota Indian said in 1891, "They made us many promises, more than I can remember -- They never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it!"    Ziolkowski knew that the project would not be finished in his lifetime, so he and his wife, Ruth, wrote detailed plans and he made scale models to help those who continued his work.  They had ten children and since Ziolkowski died in 1982, his wife and seven of the ten children, along with others, have continued the project.  When it became dark on our evening vist, we watched the "Legends in Light" multi-media storytelling presentation which was shown on the face of the mountain...once again an impressive program.
 
 

The Crazy Horse Monument was begun in 1947 and when finished will be more than 60 stories high.  The four presidents heads from Mt. Rushmore would fit inside Crazy Horse's head and hair.	This model shows the goal of the sculptors at Crazy Horse Mountain.  When the defeated Indian leader was asked "So where are your lands now?" Crazy Horse pointed and responded, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."	Our wide, paved site at Hart Ranch had a nice grass lawn and a tree shading our dining area ...	where we could watch the many birds that came to snack at the several feeders put out by our neighbors who were "workcampers" for the summer.

Departing Hart Ranch on Wednesday, September 6 we headed west once again on I-90...but not far.  Our next stop was the "Rush-No-More Campground" near Sturgis, SD.  It is a small but pretty nice place about a mile off the highway.  There were about two dozen rigs here each night while many neighboring parks didn't seem to have too much business...must be because its a Passport America park.    We made this our headquarters for the next four nights as we toured Sturgis, Deadwood, Lead, and Spearfish.   In Deadwood we found the refurbished old west town that is in the National Register of Historic Places.  Restoration has been funded by the many casinos that now are at home in Deadwood.  We visited some of the casinos and shops and the saloon where, supposedly, Wild Bill Hickock met his demise while playing cards.    Nearby we were quite impressed by the attraction "Tatanka."  Film star Kevin Costner had commisioned a local artist to create a bronze sculpture depicting a bison hunt which he planned to display at a large hotel complex he wanted to build.  The hotel complex never came to be, so they created an interpretive and living history center depicting the importance of the bison to the Native Americans in the area, the Lakota, and the larger than life sculpture is part of the center.  The neat thing about the displays is that they are meant to be touched, felt and examined.  An excellent presentation about the life of the Lakota women was given by a native.  The sculpture is placed out among some of the smaller of the Black Hills, making it easy to imagine the hardship and desolation, excitement and danger of life in the area 150 years ago.

In Spearfish we visited the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery.  Fish Hatcheries were a big deal back in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  They were established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to help introduce various fish species to streams and lakes in order to promote fishing in all areas of the country.  In order to maintain the fish population in all the areas, the fish were transported across country in specially built railroad cars, with travelling "messengers" assigned to take the pots of fish from the railroad station out to the streams.  The messengers then had to travel to catch up with the train which kept on moving to its next destination with the fresh and fragile live fish.  The Fish and Wildlife Service eventually had a fleet of 10 of these cars which were kept in service until the 1930s when trucks and airplanes eventually became faster and more reliable.  A refurbished/replica car is on display at the Booth Hatchery, along with a museum of artifacts and equipment used by hatcheries and a large underwater viewing window in a trout pond.  A trip through the 18-mile long Spearfish Canyon was a scenic one with high cliffs, pine trees and a couple of waterfalls.  The road through the canyon replaced the railroad that had been built to service the mining operations in the area.

And then there was Sturgis....where about 500,000 cycle riders converge every year in August.  The day we were there we saw few motorcycles outside of the museums and very little traffic.  I guess it might be interesting to be there during the big rally, but our way was much less stressful!  The annual motorcycle rally (this was the 66th) draws riders from all over the world and started as a small racing event.  Over the years it has grown by leaps and bounds and now has races, concerts, road runs, equipment shows and of course lots of vendors and partying.  They tell us the average age of the attendees is about 50 and the streets actually do get quiet after 9pm and that people coming early and staying longer has extended the official 6-day rally into a two to three week affair spreading out into the entire Black Hills area.  We took a spin through the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame (housed in the old Post Office) and found an amazing collection of old cycles and memorabilia about the inventors, owners and culture surrounding them.  We stopped in one of the large "hangouts" the Knuckle Saloon, and shopping meccas, Turkey Graphix to get a flavor for the rally.  On the outskirts of Sturgis we drove through the Fort Meade Military Post.  It was established by the survivors of Custer's 7th Calvary Unit in 1878 to keep peace between the Lakotas and the prospectors in the area.  It also is known as the "home" of the "Star Spangled Banner."  Yes, we know it was written by Francis Scott Key at Ft. McHenry in 1814...but it was just a poem back then.  In the late 1800s the post commander at Ft. Meade decided that "The Star Spangled  Banner" was appropriate to be played at all official events and declared that would be policy.  The idea caught on, and in 1931 it was named our "National Anthem."
 
 
 

Downtown Deadwood, South Dakota - the street where Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane once wandered (before it was paved!)	Part of the "Tatanka" bronze sculpture depicting a bison hunt by the Lakota.  It is so lifelike you want to get out of the way of the thundering animals!	Bridal Veil Falls in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota	A section of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame

From Sturgis we headed on west into Wyoming and visited the Devil's Tower National Monument.  This is the place made famous by the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."  We didn't encounter any aliens, however.  What we did see was some daring climbers descending the face of the monument.  There are about 5000 climbers a year who make the climb to the top, which they tell us is a beautiful plateau with grass and trees.  They did show us photos, so we'll believe them.  The monument itself, which is a rock formation,  stands straight up in the middle of nowhere.  Indian legend says that it was formed when a bear was chasing some children and when they gathered at that spot trying to escape, the rock lifted them up away from the bear - whose claws made all the groves on the sides of the rock.  Scientists, of course, have a different theory having to do with heating and cooling of  the earth's layers about 50 million years ago.

Going a little to the north, our next stop was near Hardin, Montana at the Little Bighorn National Monument...the site of Custer's Last Stand.  The Visitor Center is at the foot of "Last Stand Hill" and the ranger presentation on the patio detailed the two days of battle in the area, giving you a feeling of what happened...and how outnumbered the 7th Calvary was!  There is a monument to the calvary regiments and another one to the four tribes of Indians who also suffered losses in the battle. The fatalities from Custer's Last Stand were originally buried here, but were later returned to their families.  Custer is buried at West Point.   There is also a National Cemetery at the site which is still in use by US Military Veterans and their families.  We were here on September 11 and the flag was at half-mast in honor of the Terror attacks.

Then it was back south again, returning to Wyoming and to Cody.  In Cody we made our headquarters at the Ponderosa Campground and set out to explore the area.  We visited Tecumseh's Miniature Village and Museum where two men have collected enough little characters, etc. to set up a 7000 square foot diorama showing 66 scenes of Montana and Wyoming history in the 1600s to the 1800s.  It took them two years to just put it all together and they don't even charge admission.  They do hope that you will spend money in their gift shop. (We did!)   We also made stops at the Cody Murals which are located in the Mormon Church and just west of town at the Buffalo Bill Dam.  Buffalo Bill, while living in Cody was involved in the early days of irrigation systems and the dam is named in his honor.  The biggest attraction in Cody is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.  The center has five separate museums and the admission price is for a 2-day ticket.  On our first visit we toured the Whitney Gallery of Western Art,  The Cody Firearms Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History.  The art museum has wonderful art works in all mediums depicting life in the west from both the Indian and white man's perspective.  The firearms museum has the largest collection of American firearms in the world...we never have seen so many guns in one place!  The natural history museum displays the plant and animal life as well as the geology of the area.  On our second trip we visited the Plains Indian Museum and the Buffalo Bill Museum.  The Indian museum showed all sorts of artifacts from the hard and fascinating life of the native Americans, and the Buffalo Bill Museum had lots of memorabilia of the unique career of Buffalo Bill...a soldier, scout, rancher, entertainer and family man..depicting his importance in the history of the American west.
 
 

Devil's Tower National Monument stands 867 feet high and is a "volcanic intrusion."	Last Stand Hill is where General George Custer and the 7th Calvary met their end in the Battle of Little Bighorn.	William F. Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, was a military scout, Pony Express rider, and entertainer as well as being interested in conservation.	The Buffalo Bill Dam west of Cody, WY was finished in 1910 and at the time was the tallest dam in the world.  It had to be built in below zero temperatures in the winter because of summer flooding on the Shoshone River.

 

Next stop...Yellowstone National Park.  This was the first US National Park, established in 1872.  Work is underway to refurbish many of the roads and buildings within the park and to create new and exciting exhibits.   As luck would have it, our arrival coincided with the first snow of the season.  (SNOW!!!  That's a "four-letter word! We had to dig out long pants, winter coats and the window scraper!)   The area is very dry, so they needed the rain and snow that helped contain a forest fire on the north edge of the park.  We had heard that camping in the RV park would be difficult, but we had no problems getting a reservation just a few days in advance and no problem getting our big rig into the spot they assigned us...although we did see some that might have been far more difficult.  As we drove through just some of the 2.2 million acres of the national park we could still see major evidence of the 1988 forest fire that touched about two thirds of the park.  It almost looks as though someone had planted a Christmas tree farm in some places as there are plenty of new growth trees, but they are all the same size with the charred remains of the past sticking above them.  In spite of the cold, drizzle and snow flurries there were plenty of tourists in the park and we joined the parade of cars moving from each scenic overlook and point of interest to the next and adding our vehicle to the traffic jams whenever there was wildlife along the road.  Those bison have a mind of their own!!  The volcanic activity in the park is amazing...boiling water just bubbling up out of the ground and geysers spewing.  The cool weather made all the steam even more evident.

Leaving Yellowstone we drove out the south gate and into Grand Teton National Park.  Just a few miles away and the scenery changed dramatically...majestic mountain peaks and colorful trees mixed in with the pines.  The dusting of snow added to the beauty.  We were driving the motor home at this point and were able to pull into most of the "stopping spots" easily and found the roads easy to drive...even the "scenic loop" around Jenny Lake.  Many of the services in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton were to close on Monday, September 18 - the day after we visited.  One of our tennis buddies from Palm Creek, Natalie Aaron, was among the departing summer workers.  She had worked at the registration desk of the Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone and we stopped in to say hi just in time.  Natalie had squeezed about 150 miles of hiking into her schedule over the summer.  She'll be in much better shape than we will when we all get back to the tennis courts in a few weeks!
 
 
 

Lightning started the big fire in 1988.  This is just one of the still quite barren areas.  Natural re-seeding has created new growth.  (Note the dusting of snow!!!)	It was snowing and cold, so these guys decided to walk across the bridge rather than through the river below...it was a parade led by a small herd of bison.  We waited when they crossed the double yellow line into our lane.	Boiling mud at the "Mud Volcano."  Don't get too close!	A peek at Yellowstone Lake.  The lake is 20 miles long and 14 miles wide...North America's largest mountain lake.  It actually drains into the Atlantic Ocean through the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The volcanic geyser, "Old Faithful" making its appearance on a cold Saturday afternoon.  It errupts every 90 minutes or so, averaging 130 ft. high and spewing 4000 to 8000 gallons of water at 204*.  It is just one of over 300 geysers in the park.	The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is about 1000 ft. deep.  Hot water reacting on the volcanic rock created the colors.	There are some lakes and meadows in Grand Teton National Park, but the mountains dominate the view.  The peaks of the Grand Tetons range from 10,000 feet to over 14,000 feet.	John D. Rockefeller provided funds to preserve and enlarge the Grand Teton National Park, which was established in 1929.

 

From the National Parks we headed south through Jackson to an over night stop at the Star Valley Ranch Resort in Thayne, WY and then on across the corner of Idaho and into Utah.  We had spent quite a bit of time in Salt Lake City several years ago, so we continued on south of the city and spent several days at the Antelope Valley RV Park in Delta, UT.  This was just a rest, relax and catch up on laundry stop before heading on to the St. George area.  Our stop there was at the St. George RV Resort, a Western Horizons Park, about 10 miles north of town...on the side of a mountain with a beautiful view.  In St. George we were able to run errands and the park allowed us to wash our vehicles.  We haven't been this clean in months!

On Sunday, September 24 we drove from St. George south into Nevada and to Las Vegas.  We checked in for a two week stay at our Las Vegas home, the Thousand Trails Preserve on Boulder Highway.  We were able to get a site in our "preferred" row which, thankfully, gave us minimum sun exposure as our daily temperatures were now nearly 100*.  What a difference a week can make!  Then it was on to the usual Las Vegas activities...making the rounds of the casinos and checking out the changes since our last visit, feasting at the buffets, and trying our luck at the slot machines and the blackjack and poker tables. (results not bad, but not great!)   We also got together with our friends and former Toledo residents, Bonnie and Don Wolfe, having dinner at their house one night and at a buffet another.   We last saw them in Toledo in July and its always fun to share our travel stories as they also travel in an RV when away from their beautiful home in Las Vegas.

One of our first outings when we bought our first motor home, our beloved Bounder, was to a weekend rally of the "Tri-State Brigade" chapter of Bounders United.  Most of the members of the chapter live in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and in West Virginia.  The rally was held in Pennsylvania and we arrived late on a Friday night, in the dark, without a prior resrvation.  This wonderful group of people welcomed us immediately with hugs and friendship and we have enjoyed being with them at several rallys since that time (even after we bought the Dutch Star!)  As luck would have it, the Bounders United International Rally was being held in Las Vegas at the same time we were there, so it was a "no-brainer" that we got together with the group several times.  We even took a look at all the new Bounder models on display at their rally (sorry, but no sale!).  Some of our Bounder buddies will be hanging around the southwest for a while, so we are looking forward to seeing them again in the next several months.
 
 
 

Hanging around with some of our Bounder buddies...Doc, Jeff, Judy M., Tom, Judy L., Lorraine, Vince, Ed and Sue.  Others were off earning money in the casino :-)	The Las Vegas Poker Dome...home of the "Poker Dome Challenge"...a TV studio, not a casino...is in the Neonopolis Entertainemnt Center on Fremont Street in downtown.	The "Fremont Street Experience" as seen from the bridge at Neonopolis.

The legendary "Downtown Las Vegas" was our destination on the last night of September.  We did our share of people watching, a little gambling and we were in the audience at the Las Vegas Poker Dome for a taping of the television show "Poker Dome Challenge."  We haven't seen the show ...  its on the Fox Sports Network, which we don't often watch, but it was fun to see what goes on in the real world of such a show. This was a "semi-final" game and the players were flown in from all over the world.  We had to practice "reactions" before any cards were ever dealt, be super quiet during the actual play (as we could see all the players' cards), and spend a LOT of time waiting.  They took a break after every two hands.  There was a comedian to entertain us during the breaks and they gave away some candy and T-shirts, but we left after a couple of hours...we'd waited long enough!

We have another week here in Las Vegas before we move on to Arizona...still time to fill our pockets with winnings!