On the Road to Familiar Places

We've finished our third and final year as program hosts at Farragut State Park 

and are in South Dakota to renew our driver's licenses.  We truly enjoyed our time at Farragut - developing and conducting evening programs was enjoyable and fulfilling, the area was beautiful, and we made lifelong friends.  I doubt we'll ever spend a summer in a more enjoyable RV site than those at Farragut.  Huge, nicely landscaped, and shaded by Ponderosa and White pine trees.  
Wildlife was abundant, specially deer and wild turkey.  Our neighbor scattered deer corn behind their site each day, and as a result a Whitetail doe and her fawn were frequent visitors as were a small flock of wild turkeys.  We watched as the fawn grew larger as the summer went on,and even the turkeys grew into near-adults.  While the deer were pretty good about maintaining social distancing, the turkey, being stubborn and not very smart, refused to wear masks or stay six feet apart, a trait unfortunately shared by too many humans.

Our travel to South Dakota took us on a familiar route; I-90 through Idaho and Montana, then US Highway 212 from near the Bighorn Battlefield into South Dakota.  An early snowstorm made the the crossing of Homesteak Pass near Butte and the mountains around Bozeman seem more like December than September.  

 As residents of South Dakota, we need to travel back each five years to renew our driver's licenses.  This year, the pandemic required us to make an appointment rather than just visit one of the offices.  We chose Spearfish since it's closer than Rapid City and one of our favorite towns.  I've often said that if Hollywood was going to make a remake of "The Music Man", Spearfish would be the perfect locale.  It's picture perfect Americana with a well preserved downtown, a beautiful and extensive city park, and well kept houses and yards.  We stayed at Chris' Camp, a large and busy park just outside of town.  

We spent two summers (2011 & 2013) here, volunteering at the D.C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery.  During that time, we were able to explore most of the Black Hills, the Badlands, and Devil's Tower.  And of course Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument:

I doubt there's any place in America that has such a diverse beauty within a 100 miles radius.  From the green forests of the Black Hills, it's not far to the Badlands National Monument with what looks like the surface of another planet, and in the other direction is the eruption from the forest of Devil's Tower.

There is a lot of beauty in the Black Hills, but of all the sights, our favorite is Sylvan Lake; it has a magical look of serenity and calm.

We've been here longer than expected due to a problem with the hydraulic pump on our motorhome, but it's been repaired and we're ready to travel again.  We'll leave you with this image that reminds me of what has been our main activity during this pandemic:

We'll be traveling to new territory soon, so check back!