Day Three spent in South Dakota

Hello readers,
Today our guys got up at 6 am and went for a bike ride along the road from Keystone to Hill City. But the best laid plan of mice and men...took the bikes off the rack and Kim realized that he only had one pedal...where did the other one go? Wynn rode alone into Hill City and Kim drove. They found a bike shop there and then started riding back together. Wynn turned around halfway and rode back to Hill City to get the car and then Kim finished the ride to Keystone. Crazy start to the day. Meanwhile, Karen and I enjoyed sleeping in, doing some reading and getting pretty for the day ahead. By the time the guys got back, we were ready to head to Custer State Park. You know I do not have much luck at seeing Wildlife and so I was praying I would see at least one animal today. We pulled into the Park and stopped at the Visitor Center inside.

We heard a couple of good tips inside. The ranger showed on the map wear the Bison herd sightings were that morning and another guy told us to watch carefully when we went through the tunnels and through the pigtail turns on the Iron Mountain Rd.
So we headed off and took the Wildlife Loop

We were told to take the first little dirt road by the Wildlife center and take a rectangular route to hopefully see some of the bison. We had only been a few turns down the road when we saw some young pronghorns playing and jumping around in the field. I took a ton of pics but will only share one with you.

Then a car stopped us and told us the bison herd was just around the bend. It was actually a couple of bends, but oh what fun to first see the herd and then watch for awhile.

There were so many little calves. At this same field we spotted our first prairie dogs. The more we looked, the more we found. Such cute little fellows!

As we kept driving we would see occasional animals laying in the long grasses. What a surprise to turn a corner and see these creatures on the road and more on the side. As usual the babies stole the show.

We finished the dirt road but still saw an occasional bison by the side of the road and even a wild turkey!

The views along the way were incredible. Kim wanted to go up Cooledge Peak. Wynn did a wonderful job driving up and up and around the road with only a few guard rails. My hands were sweating and I kept leaning in, as if that would help keep us from going off the edge. Wow! What a sight from the top. I will put up a pic but you really can't know how far we could see and how gorgeous it was-worth the sweaty palms.

The last surprise on this road into Keystone, was the series of tunnels with the surprise view at the end...

The views of Mt Rushmore peaking through the trees was beautiful, reminding me once again of how thankful I am to live in this great country where men stood for life and liberty, freedom and principles!
As we ended our day in Keystone before heading back to Rapid City for the night, we ate at Grizzly's and was it ever good! The sandwiches were tasty. We could see the chair lifts for the zip line and ate at a nice outside table.

Heading back to the parking lot, I saw how dusty the poor red van had gotten. Might need to hit a car wash tomorrow!

Back at the hotel for the night, Wynn and I took a long walk to get our steps in, and Kim and Karen hit the Best Buy to get a new camera with better zoom before we head toward Glacier. Tomorrow will be a driving day so I will say goodnight.
Thanks for reading along!