On The Road Again...and again, and again!

To my Petite Ya - Ya, L.M.,  I know this is out of sync with this blog page, but this one is for you!  This is me, 'taking out the trash' at the cabin.  We were instructed to drop our trash off at a nearby campground's dumpster.  It was a 3 minute drive or a mile paddle.  No contest!  Miss you, darlin' girl and looking forward to 'taking out the trash' at Allatoona soon!
This marker indicates where Custer probably fell at the Battle of Little Bighorn.  This is another place that evokes a lot of emotion and Mike just finished reading Ambrose's "Crazy Horse & Custer...The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors," so he got a lot out of this visit.  It is a place in which all Americans need to spend some time reflecting.  For us, The Trail of Tears Museum in The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma had the same effect.
We decided to try Mt. Rushmore one more time, after being turned off two years ago by the high price of parking in a national park for which we had just bought a yearly pass!  We spent a whole day at the Crazy Horse Monument instead that day.  But this time, we camped at the nearby KOA which had a shuttle so the whole 3 hour evening trip was only $4!   It was impressive....we hiked the base of the mountain walk, visited the sculpture's studio, and the ranger talk, movie, flag lowering ceremony in which all veterans in the amphitheater audience were invited down to the stage and asked to touch the folded flag after they were recognized and were leaving the stage.  We all sang 'God Bless the USA' a cappella, led by the ranger...it was a moving evening.  And the full moon iced the cake.

Today we spent an hour in an RV service bay, wondering if the leak in the fresh water system was going to be a big deal.  So far, not really.  Bill and Rich, at Dakota RV whipped that sucker into shape in no time flat and didn't charge us a cent because they weren't sure that was the only problem.  Looks like it was, since we're now using our water again and it's nice and dry under the Wee Hoose!  After that delay, we hit the road for a little over an hour and then stopped at the world-famous Wall Drugs in the Badlands.  This was a little one-horse drug store that years ago, hit upon the strategy of offering free ice water.  From that bright idea, grew four blocks of arcades, souvenir shops, western art shops, Black Hills Gold jewelry, eateries, giant dinosaurs and jackalopes, etc.  Google Wall Drugs and learn the rest of this quirky story if you don't already know it!