The Journey Continues 8/28

The adventure continued east to Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park and Badlands NP.  Landed at the campsite ~1800 8/26 and got settled in. spent 3 nites here.  Took off early the 27th to tour Mt. Rushmore.  The new visitor center and grounds are impressive compared the the tiny one that used to be here.  I spent ~3 hours enjoying the views, trails and information. 
I then headed for Custer State Park which is just a short ways down the road.  The temps were climbing too and approaching mid 90's.   It took me ~2 hours to ride the loop thru the park.  All the critters must be hiding in the shade as I did not see one bison in the park.  The gang of burros were out though holding visitors hostage for any treats you had.  There were several colts as well being trained in holding up the unsuspecting guests.  There were ~12-15 wandering the holdup area snagging what they could.  After completing the tour I headed for camp and cooler temps.  It sprinkled a bit in the evening, just enough to leave dusty water splotches everywhere.  I went back to Mt. Rushmore for the evening events and lighting of the memorial.  the night view presents a whole different perspective glowing in the distance.
 Saturday I took off early ~0700 and headed for Badlands about 85 miles away.  I arrived at the park just about 0900 with temps in the low 60's, much better!  The landscape looks like the moon.  Very desolate and dry with minimal vegetation.  The various rock layers and colors play off the sun and shadows and produce very dramatic results.  Every turn provided another incredible view.  the 25 mile loop took about 3 hours to complete and by the time I reached the visitor center at the end it was ~90.  The ranger said it reached 107 yesterday.  No thanks!   
Headed back down the road and stopped at Wall Drug,  It sure has some odd and varied collections of all sorts form one extreme to the other.  There is also no shortage of stores trying to lighten your wallet.  I wandered thru the various sites had an ice cream cone and headed back to camp.  Got back about 5 with temps in the 70's.  There was a thunder and lightening show and accompanying rain that lasted 15-20 minutes and as I write this the skies are partly cloudy with many stars blinking a way.    Continuing east tomorrrow.