First thing this morning I sent a text checking in on our favorite SC granddaughter, Ashton, who moved into her dorm on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, SC yesterday starting her freshman year in college. It seems just yesterday when we saw her for the first time when she was born 18 years ago. Wow! Where has the time gone? She is a beauty, both inside and out. We are proud of her and look forward to seeing what she makes of her life going forward. She texted back that she is doing fine and having fun. May it always be so. Yay, Ashton!!

I forgot to post a "selfie" of ourselves that we took at Mt . Rushmore yesterday afternoon. We decided it wasn't TOO dorky looking...see what YOU think!

This morning was one of those perfect blue sky, comfortable temp kind of morning. Last evening we had decided two things: one is that we would take our breakfast with us and have it in a scenic spot, and two, that we would go back over the Wildlife Trail in Custer State Park again as we left the area this morning. Our hopes were that we would see more buffalo than the lonely only we saw yesterday! Before going into the park, we stopped for fuel for which we paid $3.69/gal.

Shortly after going into the park, we did indeed see some wildlife...a small herd of prong horn antelopes were munching their breakfast in a meadow along the road. Since breakfast sounded like a good idea by this time, we found a lovely place to pull over and have ours. We had a 360 degree view. Along with all the blue, blue sky, we had chosen a wonderful stopping place .

Continuing on our way on the Wildlife Trail, we stopped at a ranger station and asked about seeing buffalo. He suggested that we drive a mile up the road that was right across from the station (ROCK road!!) and he thought that there were buffalo in the area. As it turned out the rock road wasn't too bad at all, and we did indeed see buffalo. They were a fair distance away from us but it looked to be a herd of less than 100. Couldn't see them too clearly, but hey, they were buffalo!

Continuing on with our drive through the park, we once again saw the mischievous burros just a little past the point where we saw them yesterday. They are beggars for sure...always wanting a hand out! Several folks were next to them petting them and giving them forbidden (by the park service) snacks. The burros didn't seem to care that they were breaking the rules at all!

We left Custer State Park at 11:25 with a temperature of 75 degrees...PERFECT weather! And then, just as we went around a corner after commenting on the amount of buffalo...umm...excretement there they were! A really and truly herd of buffalo! There were at least 75 of them and it appeared that 1/3 were calves. What fun! Traveling further along we saw more prong horns and a large village of prairie dogs. Well satisfied with our wildlife count, we continued on our merry way .

As we turned southward on State Road 87 we once again saw a solitary buffalo wandering along the side of the road...and then we went around the corner! Another herd! This one appeared to be the biggest of the three herds that we saw today. This herd was on the move. Several had the road blocked, and it was very exciting to watch them. We tried to imagine what it must have been like when herds of millions used to roam these prairies. It must have been an awe inspiring sight.

Again, there were a lot of babies with this group. Suddenly a group of bikers on the other side of the herd coming our way apparently decided that they had waited long enough for the buffalo to do their thing and, disregarding the fact that the animals had the right of way, they started gunning their motors and pushing through the herd. This started off a mini stampede and was a ridiculous thing for them to be doing. If anyone had been outside their car taking pictures they could easily have been badly hurt . Also, one of the buffalo might have taken exception to the noise and plowed into one of them. It makes you wonder about people sometimes.

After the mini-stampede we continued to Hot Springs, SD and the Mammoth Site that Steve B. recommended that we stop and see, arriving there at 11:25. We were certainly glad that we did stop. It was amazing. It is billed as America's greatest Ice Age treasure and I have no doubt that it is that. It is a registered National Natural Landmark.

As the brochures says, "At the center you time travel to the Ice Age and walk the edges of a sinkhole where Columbian and woolly mammoths, camels, wolves, and giant bears became trapped 26,000 years ago leaving an ancient treasure trove of fossil remains. This indoor excavation site features the fossils of 61 Columbian and woolly mammoths. The Ice Age exhibit hall displays full-sized replicas of mammoths, a giant short-face bar, and a walk-in mammoth bone shelter ."

The site was discovered by accident in 1974 as the area was being prepared as a site for building houses. A mammoth tooth was found and the landowner agreed to further investigation. More bones and skulls were discovered with the end result being that the owner sold the land for what he had paid for it to a non-profit organization and work has been going on there ever since. The actual excavation site is under roof and we were able to walk around the work site and see what is coming out of the different layers of sediment. It was a very interesting stop for us. If you are interested in learning more, Google Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, SD.

From the museum we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant just down the road from the museum. Even though we hadn't gone very far milage wise today, we HAD traveled back in time 26,000 years and so we decided to make a day of it and stop. We pulled into the Hot Springs KOA at 3:45 with a temperature of 90 degrees. I suspect our temperatures are just going to get higher the closer we get to home. Sigh. At any rate, our site is level, the electricity is good, and the wifi appears to be nonexistent at our site. I think my hot spot may work OK here. If not, I will trudge up to to office after while and take care of posting this.

We drove 69 miles today.