Lewis & Clark Trip Day 39: The Dakotas (6/15/2021)

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

We are now headed home. No more Lewis & Clark sites or sights. Today we will do the last of the planned homeward-bound stops of our 2017 Alaska Trip.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Visitor Center:
Wooden sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt wears objects (bridle,
saddle, vest, chaps) that belonged to him (KSS)

Teddy Roosevelt's first cabin at the Maltese Cross Ranch,
where he came in 1883 to hunt, and stayed to start
his own Elkhorn Ranch; the park pays tribute to his
contributions toward conservation of natural resources

Bison bison silhouette (KSS)

These bison are comfortable among the prairie dog mounds

Driving into the badlands of layered rock formations

Must be Meleagris gallopavo merriami/Merriam's
Wild Turkeys that are found in South Dakota

Bison were gathered in several spots throughout the park

Bison crossing the road

A Cynomys ludovicianus/Black-tailed Prairie Dog
changed his mind about crossing the road

These prairie dog youngsters are\practicing the guard stance

Wow! A smoldering pile due to exposed lignite coal
catching fire (from lightning or grass fires)

View from Boicourt Overlook; because the last four miles
of the loop road was closed to traffic, we had to drive in
and then back out over the same route

Oh, these guys were not here when we came in!

A black stripe had us thinking we found some lignite coal,
but it was just a shadow of a tiny ledge! (KSS)

Very sandy sandstone (KSS)

Sandstone with erosion below harder elements

A vista towards the Little Missouri River (not seen) at the base of the bluffs

Another Black-tailed Prairie Dog

Painted Canyon Overlook

Hours later we passed through Sturgis, SD

The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame (est 2001)

Despite it being 100 degrees, we visited all the presidents
in Rapid City, SD; Kent sits with Martin van Buren

Main Street Square: The Sculpture Project: The Passage of
Wind and Water (2013-2017, by Masayuki Nagase)
was created on site over five summers (KSS)

Franklin D Roosevelt and Kent

Tamiko with Benjamin Harrison (KSS)

William McKinley and Kent on their 'phones

Tamiko with George H Bush (KSS)

Lyndon B Johnson and Kent

William Howard Taft and Kent

Tamiko and Zachary Taylor (KSS)

Kent and Franklin Pierce

And here's Teddy Roosevelt, with Tamiko (KSS)

Kent joins Abraham Lincoln and his son, Tad

Harry S Truman and Tamiko (KSS)

William Clinton and Kent

Richard M Nixon and Kent

Barack Obama and Sasha with Kent

George Washington and Kent

Tamiko and Thomas Jefferson (KSS)

Our motel room wallpaper treatment!

Next: Lewis & Clark Trip Day 40.