28 July 2024 South Dakota Wine Tasting

 

On the drive from Sioux Falls we noticed multiple signs for Firehouse Brewery. Each sign had an old antique fire truck parked by it. The signs said it was a brewery and winery. Intrigued, we headed into Rapid City to check it out and do some shopping while in town. The Firehouse is in an old firehouse from the early 1900s. They have a brewery with a restaurant, a gift shop and a Wine Tasting room. We stopped in the restaurant first to get something on our stomachs and to try their brews. The food and beer were excellent!  Then we wandered on over to the wine tasting room. We did a wine sampling of their reds and some of their whites and were very surprised! They were nice wines. Most of the wines are made with grapes brought in from the west coast since the Dakota winters are pretty harsh for grape vines. But they did have a couple of wines made only with cold hearty grapes from South Dakota that were interesting. So, we ended up buying half a case to take back to Texas.  

27 July 2024 Custer State Park

 One of the must do items in the Black Hills is to drive the Wild Life Loop in Custer State Park. We did it when we were here in 2018 and enjoyed being surrounded by buffalo! They have paved the loop since we were here last which cut down on the dust. We also did a few of the gravel roads to see if we could find the buffalo herd. We found several lone males lounging near the road and saw the herd of females up on a ridgeline in the distance. We also saw lots of prairie dogs. We stopped in the Bison Center to see the exhibits and walk through the gift shop. On the final stretch of the Wild Life Loop we found the wild burros with young up on the road. Leslie brought along some carrots just in case. We fed carrots to a couple of the burros that were willing to walk up to the truck. We eventually had to move on to give others the chance to see the burros close up. We then headed over to the town of Custer, where we stayed in 2018. We tried to stop at the Purple Pie Shop for some afternoon desert but the place was packed and there were no parking spots! Disappointed, we headed back to the Wanderer. 

Lone Male Buffalo resting in the shade

Herd of Buffalo on the ridge

Wild Burro Baby on the road

24 July 2024 Sturgis, Deadwood and Lead

 One of the things we did not get to do in 2018 was to visit Sturgis and Deadwood SD. Sturgis is famous for the huge motorcycle rally held in August every Year. Deadwood is famous for the outlaws that used to roam its streets. We really did not want to try and go to Sturgis during the rally since there will be hundreds of thousands of people and motorcycles during that week. So we went over early. There were a lot of vendors already setting up their tents. We wandered through the merchants, bought gifts and tee shirts, and had a late lunch at the Iron Horse Saloon. We then drove over to the historical mining town of Deadwood. Where Sturgis is definitely motorcyclist counter culture oriented, Deadwood is family oriented and surprisingly larger than Sturgis. We wandered through the stores and watched a reenactment of a shootout on main street. Since we were close, we drove through the small quiet town of Lead. Then took the backroads through the Black Hills to the Wanderer where we saw a large Big Horn Sheep down near the road. 

Sturgis South Dakota

Main Street Sturgus

Iron Horse Saloon

Deadwood South Dakota

Main Street Deadwood

Main Street Deadwood

Main Street Deadwood

Main Street Deadwood

Mountain Goat along the road to Lead

Mountain Goat along the road to Lead

22 July 2024 Salem to Hermosa SD

 Another long 324 mile day, straight west on I-90. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop overlooking the Missouri River with the beautiful Dignity of Earth and Sky statue. Then we stopped in Wall and went to the famous Wall Drug Store/mall to explore. We had heard about the Wall Drug Store for years. It is definitely a must stop tourist trap, even if you don’t buy anything! Then we swung on into Hermoza SD, which is halfway between the Black Hills and Rapid City, late in the afternoon. We are staying at the Heartland RV Resort (38.50 per night with the monthly rate). This is a huge RV Park with plenty of room. We’re not far from the Event Center where they serve breakfast every morning. David is definitely going to take advantage of that service! We are looking forward to staying in one place for a while after the last couple of weeks of traveling. 

Dignity of Earth and Sky statue

Wall Drugstore

Wall Drugstore

Wall Drugstore

Wall Drugstore

21 July 2024 Layover in Salem SD

 We did not plan much for today. We did drive into Salem to get fuel and a few grocery items. Then to Canistota to get a couple of items we could not find in Salem. Lots of cornfields and tiny dusty towns!

20 July 2024 Waukee IA to Salem SD

 The drive was pretty benign 322 miles first west on I-80 then North on I-29 to Sioux Falls to pick up I-90 west. The roads were in good shape. We did not see any flood damage along our route like we expected we would from the early summer floods in this area. We are staying at Dakota Sunsets RV Park and Campground ($54 per night). We stayed here back in 2018. It’s a quiet RV park, surrounded by corn fields about 2 miles off the interstate. Lots of rabbits that Keira wanted to chase after!

18 -19 July 2024 Iowa

 David worked most of Thursday trying to finish up some of his assignments. After he finished, we headed out to find a better grocery store than the one in West Liberty. We ended up at the HiVee. It reminded us of Central Market in Texas. Our most important purchase was Keira’s dog food! She did not like what we had picked up in West Liberty. David worked a bit on Friday as well. Then, out of curiosity, we looked to see if there were any winery/vineyards nearby. Surely if there are wineries in Illinois, there would be some in Iowa. Sure enough, we were in the middle of the Heart of Iowa Wine Trail! We headed out to the nearest winery with good reviews, Covered Bridges Winery. As we headed down the road, we saw a sign for John Wayne’s birthplace! We had never associated John Wayne with Iowa! Then we saw a sign for the Cover Bridges Scenic Drive with a sign for Madison County. Only then did we associate Madison County Iowa with the Clint Eastwood movie “Bridges of Madison County”! We always love to find surprises like this in our layover spots! After tasting Iowa wines (with only Iowa grown grapes) and picking up a couple of bottles to enjoy later, we headed down to Winterset. There we stopped at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum and gift shop. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to tour the house he was born in. But we did tour the free parts of the museum and picked up some John Wayne memorabilia in the gift shop. Then we walked around the Iowa Freedom Rock before going over to the house Where John Wayne was born. Such a modest beginning for such a patriotic famous American movie star. So many of our brightest Americans started from such humble beginnings in the Midwest! We then drove down to the Rosman Covered Bridge south of town. It was built in 1883, and although no longer used for traffic, it was in great shape. Then we drove back into town to see the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge that is in a park in Winterset. This bridge was moved to the park and restored 1970. Being dinnertime, we went to a restaurant on the town square, the Urban on the Square. It was surprisingly upscale and good for a small-town café. The town square reminded us of some of the small town squares in Texas. On the way back to the Wanderer, we also stopped at the Hogback Covered Bridge. 

Covered Bridges Winery Sign

Covered Bridges Winery tasting

Covered Bridges Winery

John Wayne Birthplace Museum

Iowa Freedom Rock

Iowa Freedom Rock

Iowa Freedom Rock

Home where John Wayne was born and raised

Roseman Covered Bridge

Roseman Covered Bridge

Interior of Roseman Covered Bridge

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

Interior of Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

Hogback Covered Bridge

Interior of Hogback Covered Bridge

Hogback Covered Bridge

17 July 2024 West Liberty to Waukee IA

 Today's drive was pretty smooth and short (136 miles) on I-80. After three straight days of driving, we are ready to sit in one place for a while. We are staying at the Timberline Campground ($66.50 per night) just west of Des Moines Iowa. 

16 July 2024 Joliet IL to West Liberty IA

 We left out of the casino RV park around 11:30. We arrived in the Little Bear Campground ($36 per night) behind a truck stop a little after 3pm. After getting set up we drove up to West Liberty to pick up some supplies. West Liberty’s claim to fame is the birthplace of president Herbert Hoover. We stopped at a farm stand and picked up some fresh, straight off the farm, vegies. Delicious!