September 9, 2011

Left Billings at 9:30 and arrived in Keystone SD at 4:45pm. Long but beutiful drive with small herds on Pronghorn Antelope along the way. The Black Hills National Forest is magnificent. On the way we stopped at the Little Big Horn battlefield memorial. It was very impressive. White headstones mrk the ground wherebthe soldiers and civilians fell in the battle. Custer's is near the top of the hill. The remains of the soldiers were relocated at the base of a stone monument and the officers' remains were moved to other locations. Custer is buried at West Point. Rose and I both remarked how quiet everyone was at the memorial. we made pretty good time given that we stop every once in a while tonged a drink or use the restroom or just to stretch. The speed in the three states we were I today, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, are all 75, which is nice. I am averaging almost 20 mpg since we left Anacortes, which isn't bad considering the Thule is causing some drag. the best gas prices we have see have been right here in SD, $3.66/gal for supreme unleaded. I told Rose I remembered stopping here in Keystone when we were moving to Washington and seeing Mt Rushmore on the way, and how surprised I was to have paid $1.50/gal. How times have changed... Tomorrow we will see Rushmore and Crazy Horse and take it easy as we are staying here two nights. It is nice to have a break from the car for a day. We should arrive in Oswego on the evening of Sept 14, plenty of time for Rose and Barb to get their hair done before we leave for WV. We are really looking forward to the time we will spend with Barb and Dick!