Day 14-June 12

Took a side trip to Harrison before leaving Fort Robinson.  The Pine Ridge area can be experienced on a 12 mile ride that is off the beaten path.  The entire trip is on unpaved roads that don’t see much traffic.  We didn’t even see another vehicle. It was a beautiful ride that was well worth the rough road.  The buttes jutting up out of the prairies were awesome and about half way through the trip we came across a picnic area out in the middle of nowhere.  Jess was thrilled to see so many trout in the crystal clear stream that ran through the middle of the park.  We started out on Sow Belly road and after making only one wrong turn we arrived back on the main road by way of Pants Butte Road.  Jess has learned that if I suggest going one direction he should just automatically turn the other way. Well, nobody is perfect.

After a quick lunch we packed up again and headed for South Dakota.  There is a geological site called Toadstool Park on the way out of Crawford, NE.  We couldn’t take the risk that we might miss something really great so here goes another side trip.  Of course the fact that it is another10 miles of dirt road may have caused anyone with weaker resolve to reconsider, but not us.  The ride out was not actually too rough although we do have a few more dings on the front of the camper.  Again we were not disappointed.  The mile hike around this amazing geological formation was great.  The opportunity to stretch our legs was appreciated anyway. Upon leaving Toadstool we had an option of going another 14 miles of dirt road into Ardmore, SD or back the way we came and then north to Ardmore.  We have this problem with retracing our steps so that meant another 14 miles of dirt road.  It is a good thing we didn’t need anything when we arrived in Ardmore because it is the closest thing to a ghost town we have run across. 

Just outside of Hot Springs, SD the weather took a turn for the worse.  We have decided that you can pretty much count on an evening storm around here.  Anyway it was getting really black and the wind started to pick up about the time we passed a guy traveling on his bicycle. There was no place to take cover as far as the eye could see so we offered him a lift.  His bike and equipment were neatly stowed in the camper just as the bottom fell out.  It turns out that our new friend is Toni Grierke. from Germany.  He is a recent college graduate who first spent time in New Zealand then flew to Los Angeles and took off on a cross country trip to see the States before he has to go home and find a job.  He has accomplished about 1/3 of his journey and plans to arrive in New York City by the middle of July. Then he plans to fly to London and bike back to Germany from there.  And we thought we were making a long trip. Toni was headed for Wind Cave and so were we so we gave him a ride to the campground.  It is a good thing we picked him up because the storm turned out to be one of the worst we have experienced since leaving home.  He joined us for supper and we enjoyed the evening talking about his travels, Germany, and of course the south which he is going to miss as he travels east.

Buttes on scenic trip outside of Harrison, NE

Toadstool Park

Out in the middle of nowhere!

Storm approaching.

Toni Gierke