The Badlands .

Day 3 started extremely foggy in Murdo, SD and as we rode the 60 miles or so to the entrance of the Badlands National Park, I was sure we were going to get wet. But as is a frequent case out here, the sun came out and the weather cleared.

If you've been to this park before, you know that an apt description of it is "other worldly" as it has earned its name given by the Indians as a place to avoid (at least back in the day). Today it was crowded with bikers and other vacationers absorbing and enjoying the absolute beauty of the surroundings. The 20+ mile loop through the park was just enough to get the perspective on one of the nation's most beautiful national parks.

The Badlands National Park dumps you out at Wall, SD, home of the "world famous" Wall Drug. The neatest thing here was Badlands Harley Davidson, a nearby store that sold no parts, only clothes. A few dollars lighter from both stores and we headed, after lunch, toward Deadwood.

Rolling down I-90 toward Rapid City we saw an enormous black cloud on the horizon, clearly blowing up a massive storm full of lightning. Off an exit ramp we pulled and, again, donned our rain suits just in time to roll right through a very hard storm for about 20 miles or so. It cleared as we moved on into Sturgis and exited on 14A headed toward Deadwood. I think we were all pretty tired from dealing with the rain and just then the skies exploded again.

This time we were actually in Deadwood when not only was it raining but also hailing! It was so bad that we had a hard time finding our rental house address, but alas Cheryl and nephew Jim found it while Tom and I steamed right past in the rain storm. 2 or 3 miles up the road we turned around and headed back to find 8 Voigt Drive, Deadwood, SD.

After a brief rest, my nephews headed off to Sturgis and the Buffalo Chip to get their all-concert passes, so Cheryl and I headed into Deadwood to scout a dinner location. In about an hour, we all met up at Wild Bill's Steakhouse and had a nice dinner. From there, we managed to roll through a stop sign in front of a local gendarme, and on went his lights - and he zipped right by us and got the truck who did the same right in front of us.

In search of groceries, we headed to Lead, SD a few miles away (as Deadwood has no grocery store), and managed only a few purchases at a local gas station where the lady running it told us "store closed 7 minutes ago!" so perhaps tomorrow.

Game plan for Monday is the grand tour of Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park wildlife loop, Mount Rushmore, perhaps Keystone, and home! Should have some great pictures to share with you then. Thanks for following us.