Day 65- Custer, SD

 August 15

Custer State Park, Legion Lake

A shorter travel day today.  Only about 3.5 hours of driving today.  

Since we didn't have far to go we took our time getting ready to leave.  Davan and Summer wanted to ride with Heidi so it was just Libby and I in the truck.  

It was another uneventful drive.  Nothing but pasture land.  I did see a few herds of antelope.  

Just outside of Custer we saw a sign for Jewel Cave.  We decided to stop and check it out, maybe go for a tour.  Unfortunately all the tours were full for the day.  Grabbed some info and headed out.  

We beat the other girls to the park and got all set up.  They arrived shortly after.  Custer park has many campgrounds.  Just circle drives without about 20 slots.   I'm not sure of the others but this one has a lake across the street with a walking path around it, swimming and kayak rentals.  The camping spots are large and paved.  Really nice after tracking in gravel and dirt for the last 2 months.  It could be more level though.  The front of the camper is practically on the ground and I had to drive up on blocks to get it high enough so the door would shut with the stairs out.  It's a really nice, quiet place to camp though.

I was tired and ended up falling asleep on the couch.  Heidi made dinner.  We had taco's.  Summer wanted chicken nuggets.  Normally I wouldn't make two meals but the more we use up, the less we unpack at home.

We had talked about going to Mt. Rushmore to see the nightly lighting ceremony.  Not a lot of interest in doing it tonight.  Normally I would have been annoyed but I was kind of in the mood to just veg out so I didn't push it.  

The lake has a little snack shop and store so Heidi went and checked it out.  That's how we found out about the path.  I took the hint when she came back and told us about it.  Surprisingly the girls gave no push back when I said we were going.  I'm glad she mentioned it as we all had a great time and it was a quick little hike around the lake.  We talked about going for a drive on the wildlife trail, but it was getting dark by the time we got back.  We would not have seen much unless it was just standing on the road.  

The girls have been wanting a fire for a while now so I made one and we roasted s'more's.