Saturday, June 24, 2023

Starting Mileage: 4666, Distance Traveled: 247

We woke up today to find everything soaked outside including some of our own shoes. Turns out the KOA has all you can eat pancakes for just $3.50. It was a deal we just couldn’t pass up so we walked down to the pancake tent to eat while David stayed back to make something he could eat.

After eating one of the best breakfasts yet Brady left early to go take a shower with David. The showers at the KOA turned out to be really great and after a quick wait while the cleaning crew washed them, three out of four people were clean. I bet you can guess who wasn’t.

After getting all cleaned up we drove 15 miles to Crazy Horse Memorial and spent an hour or two checking out the museum and going on a tour. The tour guides were practicing giving tours with their teacher from the Indian University of North America. They were both from local tribes, Lakota and Aglola Sioux.

After learning about Crazy Horse we drove 27 miles down to Wind Cave National Park where we had a tour booked. We still had an hour before the tour so we decided to see the natural entrance and then take a short hike.

The tour we went on was amazing and none of the pictures we took can really capture it, but we had a great guide that led us through the caves while explaining the history behind them. We saw cool cave formations like boxwork and popcorn.

And just to show you the sheer size of the caves here is the map:

We knew we had a LONG drive to the Grand Tetons the following day so we got back on the road to kick out another 3 hours or so before bedtime. Circumstances left us eating dinner in the county seat of the least populated county in Wyoming, the least populated state in the U.S. We had found a great-sounding pizza joint, only to find it closed due to family illness. That left only one choice, a “family friendly” pub, full of smoking locals, but with really delicious 3/4 pound burgers and a decent local beer in a can.

We got to see the sunset on the road and landed at a Casper, WY KOA at about 9:30pm, just in time for one quick ride on the playground spinner before bed.