"You can't always get what you want..."

Day 5

Badlands National Park in Interior, SD to Spearfish, SD  (173 miles, 1,825 total)

We hustled in the morning (not our usual mode of operation) to catch the sunrise in the Badlands at 7:08am. We were not disappointed.





Following a breakfast looking out at that view from the cabin of the rig, we continued down the Badlands Loop Road to see the rest of the park. Those vistas were garbage too.



















Next on the agenda was a quick taste of another piece of Americana.


 And then it was back on the road for a two hour drive to one of the highlights of the trip for Jon, a stop at Mount Rushmore.


Rarely have I seen him so disappointed in all of the years we've been together. At least we were able to see this version of the monument, thoughtfully provided by a fellow visitor. 


Given the appalling visibility, we made the difficult decision to cut the balance of that day's itinerary, a drive to the Crazy Horse Memorial. With some extra time suddenly available, we arrived early into Deadwood.


The historic gold rush town in the foothills of the Black Hills salvaged the day for Jon, for whom the stop had been another anticipated highlight. After wandering around the streets of the downtown area (packed with political novelties), we navigated to the Mount Moriah Cemetery so we could track down some of the more famous figures who'd been buried there, including Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.






With the sun setting and temperatures dropping, we hopped back into the RV and drove the short distance to our Airbnb in Spearfish for the night. Tomorrow would be another big day of driving to head into the Yellowstone area and into colder weather yet.


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