Black Hills









































Tuesday morning I was on the hunt for a new fantastic fan.  If you’ve been following along with us, ours was acting up last summer.  All of a sudden it started working again and was good until two weeks ago.  In my short time in Montana, I  could not locate one.  We also hit a new state in the RV.  

My first call was Dakota RV in Rapid City.  Not only did they have the fan at a decent price, they said they could get us in if we got there by one.  We arrived at 11:30 and they got us in right away.  We dropped the trailer and headed into town for lunch.  Long story short, the rig was done and the caulking was set up before 4pm.  If you need work done in or near Rapid City, we highly recommend Dakota RV.  

While the rig was being worked on, we walked around downtown.  It’s a really cool area with some nice shops and restaurants.  We had lunch and a wine tasting at Firehouse.  The food and beer were OK, the wine was good though.  It’s also a decommissioned FireHouse so that is cool.  After getting the trailer back we went to our campground, got set up and had leftovers.  The wind was gusting to 40 and is supposed to be that way til Friday.  

Yesterday we had brunch at Tally’s Silver Spoon which is downtown.  The food, service and mimosas were really good and we think it’s worth a stop if you’re looking for breakfast/brunch.  While we were walking to the restaurant a large sheet of insulation blew off a nearby roof and landed in the roadway near us.  It was a bit of a surprise.  

After eating we headed south then west into the Black Hills.  Our first stop was at Wind Cave National Park where I booked the last tour ticket.  We had some time to kill so we took a drive through the park up to Custer State Park and turned around at Blue Bell Lodge.  The lodge was pretty cool and had a nice local Chardonnay.  

I made it back just in time for my tour and really enjoyed it.  Wind Cave is not like any other cave I’ve been in.  It has some neat limestone formations and boxwork on the ceilings. Our tour guide used to be in Theatre and put on an entertaining and informative tour.  The cave is considered a barometric cave which causes air to rush in or out depending on the weather.  This is why it’s called wind cave.  

After the tour we headed north up the 385 through the heart of the Black Hills.  The fall colors are great right now and the lack of tourists is nice.  We drove through Custer and saw the cabins we stayed at over 6 years ago, drove past Crazy Horse Monument and stopped for a snack in Hill City.  

Great day overall.  

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