Perfect. This was because we got to do the driving in the rain and wherever we stopped there was a rain break. I do have to say on a side point Roy is getting to drive more curvy and single lane roads then ever before. I on the other hand am looking for the motion sickness pills. (just kidding) I only bring the point up because we decided to head to Hot Springs on a rainy Saturday to stay away from any crowds in the Park.
87 is a mostly two lane paved road that takes you through the northern end of wind cave, supposedly elk and buffalo hang out in the area or at least that is what the signs say. We did see some buffalo but no elk. I say mostly 2 lane except for a one lane bridge this was a short one. At the junction where 87 joins 385 there is another prairie dog town, however they were not as hyper or active as the other ones we ran across. So on down the road. The actual Wind Cave visitor center is off of 385 so I had to at least go shopping. Unfortunately due to the popularity and the limit in available tickets I did not go into the cave. (this year you had to be in line for tickets at 7 am and then come back at your tour time. I did however hit the gift shop, I got 2 t-shirts, a hat and one small stuffed prairie dog affectionately named ‘Sticks’ from ‘Live PD’ fame. I figure with the number of dogs we have seen it is all good that I bring one home. After the side trip to Wind Cave we headed down to Hot Springs.
This is a town that has a story to tell, almost like it is stuck in time and that it has an old time small town feel. The town is famous for their Mineral Springs and The Mammoth Site outside of town. The town also has the South Dakota Veterans Home and Veterans Hospital with restored old buildings. The town also had a lot of the old buildings fixed up. Roy had a craving for a corn dog because he saw the sign for it at the local craft fair. I decided then to walk the craft fair it reminded me of small town America. In the middle of town there is a waterfall that you can see the mineral build up of the water, the flag at the top of the waterfall was placed to honor Veterans by the local VFW. All in all the rainy day trip turned out to be the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow.
On the Road with Buki-6 