Day 5

Once again we woke up and were amazed how beautiful it was where we ended up.

Sheridan Lake was lovely!

Bacon!

Of course, you just pour it in a porous chunk of wood, break of the chunk of wood and use it in the stove.   How else would you dispose of hot bacon grease in the middle of the forest?   :)  That's my brother!

And pancakes.  Boom!

Joshua packing up the tipi

Me loving my wool socks!

Feeding the restless natives

Gathering fuel for the the dinner fire.  How's that for thinking ahead!

The stove fire built and ready to be packed, then pulled out at a moments notice and lit!

Then we hit the road again.  This is the lake we were camped by:

They do that out here too.

Colors!

Harney Peak.  Highest point in the Black Hills.

Proof I've been there.

These rocks were really sparkly!  And the sparkles flaked off, sort of shredded, and felt like plastic.  Very interesting.

We took a Highway 87 up toward Needles Highway that had wonderful views and a tunnel!  They wanted $15 to drive through Sylvan Lake to Needles Highway, so we turned around and I got to take pictures of the other side of the road!

Some poor guy got his camper all the way up this mountain, around all the hairpin switchbacks and then couldn't fit through the tunnel.

They wanted $28 here at Crazy Horse, so we skipped it.

 We headed south to Hot Springs, SD, drove through the Wind Cave National Park with its miles and miles of rolling prairie.  The dirt around the prairie dog holes was red.

More bisons!

Hot Spring is a rather neat little town!  Spent some time talking to the gentleman at the visitor's center.  Got ice, gas, grapefruit for Mom, dog food, and stopped at the HeartSong Quilt Shop.  Very beautiful fabric selection in there.  Made me sad that I, as a habit, refuse to spend more than  $6 a yard on anything.

We decided to camp at Angostura State Recreation Area.  They have an odd reservation system.  You wander around, find a campsite, and then call the number to check if its available and pay over the phone.  The problem is we liked all the reserved campsites.  Lots of phone calls later, we found a nice site, near the lake, in the Horsehead Campground.  Jeremiah mumbled about the "shanty town" (summer homes) behind us on the hill, but it was close to the lake, faced east and had nice shade.  It has been in the 90's and I'd determined to stop at the first thrift store I cam to and buy another short sleeved shirt.  I'd only brought one.  After all, we're headed north, aren't we?

Angostura

It was a pricey campsite, with electric.  We charged up every electronic device we owned and determined to get our money's worth.  Our sourness over the price quickly changed when we went to the bath/shower house.  Oh my word.  Spotless.  I mean, immaculate.  Not a water stain, hooks everywhere, shelving in the shower stalls, and a hot fire hydrant of a shower.  It was lovely.

We got camp set up and most of dinner made before dark.  We had sausage hash and steamed cabbage.  It was pretty tasty!  We had to restart the stove fire halfway through the cabbage steaming and Jeremiah babied it through.  I really like cooking on it.  It gets hot fast and is fairly easy to manage.  It has a pretty short burn time though, so I've gotten good and having everything ready before it gets lit.  It requires some babysitting early on, but once it gets in the groove it's fantastic!

The tipi is working great!  The liners prevent condensation for getting all over us and our cots and  sleeping bags.  Mom got two solar lights (came free with something somehow) that work great as tent lighting.  They live on the dashboard of the minivan during the day to get charged.

 1,320 miles in.