May 2025 – Page 2 – RVing With a Purpose

2025 Spring Road Trip – Custer, SD

Saturday, May 24, 2025

After a stormy night of sleep on Wednesday night, Thursday night May 15th we all slept well and awoke ready to move on down the road to Custer, SD. Our campground, Big Pine, was just a short distance away from Custer State Park. After we got both RVs set up, we went to a recommended Mexican Restaurant in town, for a late lunch, early dinner. By then the sun had finally come out and it was a beautiful afternoon so we decided to do a trip around the Custer wildlife loop before dark. Max and Anne had been looking forward to this park since the visit in 2014 was so good. We began this trip by seeing lots of prairie dogs that we had not been able to see at Roosevelt due to the rain. Custer just does not disappoint. If you are ever anywhere in the area it is definitely worth your time. The badger we saw this trip was just icing on the cake.

We finally got to see prairie dogs in the wild.

The wild burros are sometimes called the “begging burros” because if you let them they will come right up to your window and ask for food. We didn’t let them.

When this one wasn’t eating, it was rolling in the grass.

In addition to the prairie dogs and wild burros, we saw more bison …

The abundance of wildlife is what draws most people, but the park also has beautiful scenery.

Saturday we first went to breakfast at a local diner and bakery. We had eaten their sticky buns in 2014 and knew we had to visit them again. Next, we had to do some of the mundane stuff you do when you travel in an RV. Anne and Debra did laundry while Max and Randy looked for some parts needed for a repair on Lizzy, Randy and Debra’s travel trailer. Now for more fun, we went to Mt Rushmore to take in the sculptures on the mountain and do some hiking around the park. Mt Rushmore was still on shoulder season schedule so there were no Rangers to give talks or share their knowledge of the park. We had to walk around and read the various informational boards. That’s one of the drawbacks of the shoulder season but the advantage is that we didn’t have near the crowds that will be there after Memorial Day. We all made a trip back to Rapid City to get the last needed part for Lizzy later in the day. It was a good visit to the Custer area.

Memories of these took us back to Baker’s Cafe.

The Presidential Trail is 0.6 miles long and has 425 stairs.

2025 Spring Road Trip – Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Friday, May 23, 2025

Wednesday morning May 14, we packed up and headed the RVs to Medora, ND. Almost immediately the winds whipped up to 30 mph with gusts higher. We also had intermittent rain. It was going to be a hard 328 mile day. Max and Randy were our drivers and did an excellent job handling the wind. We broke things up a bit with a stop in Jamestown, ND to see the “World’s Largest Buffalo” known as Dakota Thunder. Dakota is a concrete sculpture of an American bison that is 26 feet tall, 14 feet wide, and 46 feet long. He weighs approximately 60 tons and is visible from I-94. Dakota gets over 100,000 visitors each year.

An hour or two later we took another break to visit Salem Sue, also just off I-94 and visible for five miles. Salem Sue is a giant fiberglass Holstein cow sculpture in New Salem, ND. She was built in 1974 for approximately $40,000.00. Her dimensions are: 50 feet long x 38 feet high and she weighs 6 tons. Sue was sponsored by the New Salem Lions Club to honor the local dairymen in the area.

It’s hard for a picture to show how big she really is.

Next stop was the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Painted Canyon Visitors Center just outside of Medora. Max and Anne had fond memories of this stop from 2014 when they were on the way home from Alaska. It’s the first great look at the Bad Lands and makes such an impression. Beautiful scenery.

Painted Canyon panarama

Finally, we drove on to Medora, ND where the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located. We arrived at our campground just after it began raining again. We were able to get set up before the storm really kicked in. It was a long sleepless night for us all between thunder, lightning, and wind shaking the RVs.

Thursday morning, May 15, we slept in a little after the hard travel day and little sleep. However, there was lots to see so we began our visit to the national park about 9:00. We drove the wildlife loops, first in the south unit and then after lunch, the north unit. The scenery and wildlife were great. We were concerned the rain would keep the animals in, but the only shy ones were the prairie dogs. Otherwise, the two drives were a wonderful way to spend a gloomy, rainy day.

Statue of Teddy inside the South Unit Visitor Center

We saw many bison, some in herds …

… some with calves …

Even on a rainy day the scenery was beautiful.

Apparently prairie dogs don’t like the rain.

These are cannonball concretions. According to the information sign, no one really knows why they formed in round balls.

2025 Spring Road Trip – A Day In Fargo

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Debra and Anne are good planners. They had fully planned Tuesday, May 13th. We would begin the day with an Agricultural Equipment and Manufacturing tour. We like manufacturing tours. After God got through laughing, we realized that it was going to be too hot Tuesday afternoon for our planned visit to the Red River Zoo and for some reason the Agricultural tour couldn’t be done Tuesday so, Gumby visited, and we went to the zoo first thing Tuesday morning. In the cool of the morning the animals were active and so fun to watch. The two river otters were the most active of any we have ever seen. So darn cute. The Fargo Zoo is relatively new – opened in 1999. The collection plan of the Red River Zoo primarily focuses on species from around the world with climates similar to North Dakota’s. We think they were so smart to do this because it allows them to have animals that thrive in the bitter winters of Fargo. The zoo can have their animals on display year-round because they are cool/cold loving animals.

This cross between a tiger and a bison stands guard at the front door

We never could get this laughing kookaburra to laugh.

First of many prairie dogs for this trip

After lunch when it was hot outside, we visited a close by air conditioned air museum. It was well done and displayed many restored planes from previous wars as well as some that are a work in progress. Most of the planes are being restored by veterans.

Part of the collection of model airplanes

In addition to the aircraft, the museum displays this motorcycle built to resemble a stealth fighter.

Since it was such a warm day (one of just a few since leaving SC) after the air museum, we found some ice cream. Who needs a healthy supper? We had a good lunch. So… ice cream it was. It was a good day.

We walked by this really nice mural on the way to the ice cream shop.

The ending of another great day with family

2025 Spring Road Trip – Iowa to North Dakota

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

This is a road trip so we must keep moving. Monday morning (May 12th) after a nice walk around the campground (got to get our steps) we left Pulpit Rock en route to Fargo, ND. Since this route had us traveling through Minnesota we made a not so short stop at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. We will let the pictures tell that story.

The Lego store had these huge creations above it.

Of course we had to visit the M&Ms store. (They’re cheaper at the grocery store.)

After a good lunch and good time at Mall of America we drove on to Lindenwood Park Campground in Fargo. Lindenwood is nice Fargo city park with great places to walk/run/ride bikes and children’s play areas.