Can we go Mining?

Ok, into Rapid City, just outside Mount Rushmore in a "campground" or parking lot but the only thing open now.   We have to keep all the curtains closed because the dogs will bark at a leave falling much less an actual person or another dog.  It is uncontrollable to them and even when Dora barks, Lupe will bark and not even know why.  Crazy.  So shout out to Spez for making it to 22 years old.  I do not know anyone who has more pride in their home state then this young adult.

Replaced the faucet on the RV and it works!   Pretty much have to fix one thing a day but I am getting good at it.  I now realize the RV industry is like the boat industry with the one exception that the motors don't fail (knock on wood) in the RV industry.

Packing for the day of hiking and Mount Rushmore, we brought a backpack, water, etc and I decided to wear my "property of my hot wife" t shirt given to me by Abby for my birthday.  I am not usually the guy to wear these types of shirts but wow did we get a lot of comments.   On the way out, we took our daily full garbage bag with us to the dumpster which is crazy that we produce so much garbage no matter where we are.  On the way to Mt Rushmore, Jen started with the billboard reading and wanted to go silver and gold mining.  She is acting like we did as kids when my parents would drive by all the attractions on the way to the largest ball of twine in the world and all we wanted to do was stop.  I told Jen she could mine on the trail when we were hiking.

Mount Rushmore was awesome and I remember coming as a kid (Thank you to my parents for dragging us all over the country to see the largest balls of mud.  I may not have appreciated it then but I definitely do now).  Hiked up the face of the mountain and behind where the lake from National Treasure is and found the cave where Nicolas Cage went treasure hunting (NOT-there is no lake and that was just a movie).

Hiking trail was Black Elk Peak (Harneys Lookout 7200 feet) which is the highest point in the US east of the Colorado Rockies.  If we would have known this or even looked to were we were going before we left, we would have thought twice but since we are so naive to the area, we started hiking as if we were walking 4 miles around a track at a high school.  Everyone and I mean everyone else had a pack, provisions, water, boots, hiking gear and here we are in shorts and t shirts with nothing.  We figured if we needed water we would go into zombie apocalypse mode and take it but then would have to actually kill the people or eventually they would come back into our lives and threaten us again (like in the walking dead).   9 mile hike all up hill but the view was unbelievable at the top of the tower.  Ali and Ty would have made it 3.8 miles and I will show you a picture of what they would have seen.  Jen did some mining on the trail but did not find anything but insisted I tell you that we saw snow.   A ton of comments on my t-shirt.  I ended up steam rolling Jen as I usually do and we walked another mile around the lake.  "why do you always have to push yourself to do more and work harder then you have to" (REALLY?)

We then had to get gas because the light was on and we are in the middle of nowhere.  Bad planning on my part.  I walked into an old saloon and ordered a shot (not but I did push open the doors like i was a bad ass)  Ate lunch (at 5 pm) in the town of Custer (pop 1800) and then onto the needles highway.  Very cool and I remember my parents fighting while driving it when I was a kid.  "Slow down Mickey, your going to fast."--"Don't tell me how to drive (accent)" "Shut up in the back seat (accent)"  I don't remember all of it because I was usually a sleep in the third seat of the station wagon (my parents left the back window open just a little so the CO could help me fall a sleep).

Saw buffalo, mountain goats, deer, and more.  Off the get dogs and our candy stop which ended up being our dinner (I feel sick as anything-Jen feels fine).  Had a few beers A+ and then realized it was pill night.  2 weeks went fast and I had to do pills for morning and night.  What a pain in the ass.  Leaving for Wyjoming tomorrow and I planned the rest of trip as much as possible (Very tight schedule).