After the long road trip, we slept in with no alarms set. I still got up a bit early but headed straight to my spot for my usual routine thus far: coffee, fire, post. I brought my coffee mug, which a friend gave me for Christmas. Amanda laughed at me for wanting to carry it with me; I reminded her that she brought her yeti, so what’s the difference? It’s the perfect size for lattes or just a black cup of Joe like this morning, and he’s already been with us on two other trips this year!
I made a couple of wraps before we loaded up to leave: buffalo tempeh, fermented soybeans—think dried tofu with texture—grilled zucchini, heirloom tomato, pickled red onions, and a slather of baba ganoush and hummus on a whole wheat tortilla. Amanda made coffee for both of us, too. The coffee was with oat milk, which we usually don’t drink at home. It was good, and I tilted mine back; it was gone quickly.
We hit a new section of road today and headed up Iron Mountain Road. This road was built with the views in mind and was designed just for that. It’s also designed to be driven south to north for the views of Mt. Rushmore from a distance. It was spectacular. I still liked the Needles Highway better, but the corkscrew curves were a particular favorite of mine. There were multiple single-lane tunnels and parts of the road where it split away from the opposing traffic. We enjoyed the drive.
It wasn’t that long of a road, but it took time with the slow speeds. Amanda’s coffee and diuretic were kicking in, and it was a dangerous time. We stopped at an overlook for Rushmore from a mile away. It was neat to see it from a distance. We took a selfie where you barely see the president just above Amanda’s head in the distance. By then, it was almost time for Amanda to hunt for a tree. Too many people were at the overlook, so I advised against it. Then, lo and behold, a trailhead with a bathroom appeared around the bend to save us.
We took a different route to Rapid City, saving a closer viewing of Mt. Rushmore for another day. I took us north, then cut east back to Rapid City on Highway 44. There was some commentary on our app that way, and I didn’t want to miss anything. It was a pretty drive with a couple of peaks flanking the road as well as a couple of lakes on the short trek north.
It was lunchtime, so we were hunting for a spot with a view for lunch. It was not a well-traveled tourist road, and there weren’t any picnic spots. We rounded a corner with a wide spot in the road just past a guardrail. I pulled over and stopped quickly, sending a few things sliding forward in the back, gaining a side eye and a muffled comment from Amanda! Then I backed up to the guard rail, where we had a good view of the creek next to the road. Lunch was fab; I’m getting good at the leftover sandwich thing. I typically loathe sandwiches, but I always have, even when we weren’t plant based. One of my favorite pictures of Amanda so far is a cookie picture! Taken with the creek in the background – the sun, her hair, and the color of her vest made for a fantastic shot.
We were headed to a shop in downtown Rapid City. I don’t remember how I heard of it, but it was the only shop on the list with so many different things. There were tons of Native American items. The cashier’s desk smelled of pot; I’m not sure if it’s legal here or not. It was so heavy; I hope I can pass a drug test when I go back to work! As I mentioned before, we don’t do much shopping on vacations. We save it for the next trip, so we didn’t get anything. Next was a bougie grocery store for a few things for Mediterranean night. We may not shop in the traditional sense, but we sure do buy a lot of food while traveling; we found a few snacks we couldn’t pass up!
The next stop before heading south was for StarBs for an afternoon pick-me-up. Once on the road, the cruise control didn’t work. I love cruise and will use it from town to the interstate whenever possible. Since the adaptive part of the cruise has to work for it to function at all, I stopped to wipe the sensors off, but that didn’t work. This was concerning and had me thinking of the long drive home without it. When we got to the next town, we went by a car wash to see if that would help. The Yukon was dirty from the dirt roads; sadly, that didn’t do the trick. Once we were back on the road after stopping at a gas station, it was back to working; praise the Lord!
The Mammoth site in Hot Springs was on the itinerary, but we skipped it to hit the wildlife loop again. First, we’d go to Wind Cave National Park. Once entering, we saw some of the prettiest scenery: rolling grassy hills with open fields, scattered trees, and buffalo. I knew the cave was closed for elevator repairs, but the visitors center was closed as well, closing at an odd time of 4:30, so we missed it by a few minutes. The cave gets its name from how it breathes. Depending on the pressure in the cave, it will blow wind in or out to match the pressure outside.
From there, we drove through the park to the south end of Custer State Park on the wildlife loop. It was a pretty drive that turned into a dirt road; there went the clean car! It was a good road, and we only met one other vehicle. I initially missed the turn to head north Because I was looking at all the scenery. Amanda chastised me for not paying attention; I don’t like the navigation to talk at all. I didn’t have my Apple watch on, so I wasn’t getting its vibration alerts for my turns either. I had also missed an exit on the highway because I was googling info on the cruise, so I deserved the beratement and vowed to wear my watch next time!
We were on the hunt for the burros again; we had a heart cookie with one of their names on it! They appeared not far from where we saw them last time. There was a van with kids in the back feeding them carrots. I wanted a picture of Amanda feeding a burro one of her cookies! She is so straight-laced and was worried about the no-feed wildlife signs we’d seen coming to the park. On the other hand, I did not care and would gladly pay a fine to feed these burros!
After testing the waters with the rest of our carrots, we found a lucky one to take a cookie selfie with. Amanda was so worried she would get bitten that she would duck and dive as they stuck their heads in the car with us! He enjoyed his treat, and the experience was priceless.
We made our way to another dirt road that cut across the park, hoping to see more wildlife. It didn’t pan out, but we ran into some buffalo once back onto the wildlife loop. Almost literally, they were in the road and not bothered by an oncoming jeer that was sitting in the road behind one. I eased up on them, close enough for Amanda to comment! They are like fluffy cows, and every once in a while on the ranch, you have to crowd them and maybe give them a bump so they will get out of the way!
Once back on the highway, we could make a short journey to the dirt road we were staying on, but instead, we went north on the pavement. It went through Blue Bell, the town not to be confused with the ice cream! The outlook we had missed our first day was on this route. It was dusk, and the sunset would have looked beautiful from there, but the road was closed. I’m all about taking the roads we haven’t been on, and this detour only cost us about 10 minutes.
Back at the cabin, we chilled. This was the first day I didn’t want to cook. Let me rephrase that: I didn’t want to cook right away but to chill for a bit by the fire. That is what I did. After making a firewood run for the umpteenth time, I stroll up the hill every night after dark and bring back a considerable arm full; I relaxed for a bit.
It was Mediterranean for dinner: sautéed asparagus, roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower, mushroom shawarma, sautéed zucchini with potatoes and onions, hummus, baba ganoush, cucumber pico and a tahini sauce. It was great, and even though I cooked the shawarma a little too long, the mushrooms were still delicious with a good texture. I didn’t know what to do with the trumpet mushrooms when I picked them up, but we’ll try that again.
