28 August 2015, Friday

Breakfast is “from scratch” oatmeal pancakes and black raspbery jam. We
study maps to plan our route after we leave South Dakota. O has
extended our stay at Custer State Park for a third night. In the town
of Custer we have much better phone reception and wi-fi so we can
check on the fires in Glacier. Campers we spoke with yesterday said
it was a bit smokey up there but not too bad.

We find a coffee shop and park at a table there for awhile. I find out that a portion of
Going to the Sun Road is still closed and now part of Route 2, south
of the park is also closed. We decide the best bet will be to head up
the west side of Glacier towards Bowman’s Lake. To accomplish this by
Tuesday, we will have two consecutive 300-400+ mile days of driving.
We decide to Motel 6 it. We make reservation for Billings on Sunday
night and for Missoula on Monday night. We hope to find a campsite in
Glacier that will get us through the Labor Day weekend.

Administrative tasks done, we stop at the Buglin’ Bull for lunch. Next we visit the Crazy Horse Monument, a work in progress. When completed, all of Rushmore will be able to fit within the side of Crazy Horse’s head!
The project is supported entirely by private donations. At this time
only Crazy Horse’s head and face are complete.

After Crazy Horse we drive south to Wind Cave NP. It’s yet another
beautiful drive through the  Black Hills. Unfortunately, we find out
that the last tour leaves at 5 pm. We arrive at 5:35. We chat for
awhile with the ranger and decide to return for the 9:30 tour
tomorrow. We do get a chance to walk down to the “natural entrance”
to the caves, a tiny opening in the rock. Although guide books talk
of its discovery by the two Bingham brothers in 1881, the Sioux have
been aware of the opening for centuries, in fact, it plays a part in
their origin story.

We return to Jazz and drive back to our campsite, passing more deer,
bison, pronghorn and prairie dogs on the way.