June 24, 2013: Yangton to Badlands, South Dakota

It poured during the night and still looked threatening in the morning, so we decided to again postpone golf due to weather.  The woman in the South Dakota visitor center had recommended we play in Hot Springs in the southern Black Hills and that is where we are headed, so we made a tee time for Wednesday.

Today was a long day of driving.  We left our lakeside campsite and drove across Gavins Point Dam to the Nebraska side of the river to a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and the lakes.  We returned to the South Dakota side of the river and headed west on route 44 in southern South Dakota through rolling hills, corn fields and cattle grazing fields.  The lush plains grew drier the further west and this is where the two Indian reservations are (Red Bud and Pine Ridge).  The eastern Red Bud reservation had rich green farmland, but that quickly changed to more arid land with scattered groups of pre-fab homes and trailers.  They did have an attractive looking casino and hotel, but the parking lot was nearly empty.

We reached Interior, South Dakota, a very small town on the edge of the Pine Ridge reservation and the southern boundary of the Bad Lands.  We drove one mile down a dirt road in poor condition to a campground in my camping directory, but when we got there, it was gated and looked abandoned.  No wonder they had not returned my phone calls when I tried to make a reservation earlier in the day.
We then tried the campground right in Badlands National Park, but all the electric sites were taken, so back to Interior we went and got a site at a combination motel/campground that was fine. 

We were within a mile of the entrance to the Park, so we headed to the visitor center to view the exhibits and watch their 20 minute movie.  Then we drove up the north scenic route to an overlook, hoping to get some good photos with the dramatic looking stormy skies that were around us.  Unfortunately, the clouds never moved (isn't that against nature?) and the dark stormy skies made the sculpted rocks a drab gray.

We took a minute or two to ride around downtown Interior, home to 60+folks.  One home's front yard decorations caught our fancy.
 

We returned to the campground just as the wind picked up and what a wind it was!  The RV was faced into the wind and a building was in front of us, but still we were rockin and rollin.  No rain, though.  Nearby, a tent collapsed and the internal supports snapped, but that was the only damage we saw.  Apparently, these winds are not uncommon here.

 Jack was able to get only one tv channel (PBS) and no internet or phone service.  Spent the evening playing our version of 500 Rummy with jokers,and early to bed since our body clocks are still somewhere between eastern and central timezones and we are now in the mountain timezone.