Well, with Sioux Falls behind us, we headed on to Muscatine, Iowa.

We had Sasquatch and Lock Ness on our minds so we routed our trip to hit Spirit Lake and Okopoji Lake only to find no monsters other than the thousands of retired people.  We love retirees, but we were looking for some Squatch pics and only found moth balls and lots of dentures.  While quite scary in their own right, not what we had in mind.  We thought about calling in the local BFRO, but just kept on moving  Check out Finding BigFoot on Discovery for more on the BFRO. 

Hunger pains got the best of us as well as a few missed exits so we ended up running aground on Jethro’s BBQ Island just outside of Des Moines.  Bevery Hill Billys and Gilligan’s Island collide.  I highly recommend Jethro’s to anyone looking for BBQ in the Des Moines area.  It was soooo gooooood!  The BBQ French Dip was amazing!  The MacNCheese was great!  It was all good other than the gaining of ten pounds.

Best BBQ in Iowa!

Onward ho – Muscatine was a bit boring.  The Mrs. Pippy river was rocking as usual, but that was really all that Muscatine had to offer.  Sorry, Muscatine, you just didn’t have much going on.  People actually live on the Mrs. Pippy river which was a bit odd as that just does not seem like  a safe place to live.  Anyway, that is it for now.

Well, it was sad to leave the Black Hills, but we had to move on.
We drove all the way across South Dakota to Sioux Falls.
Along the way, we stopped off to see the World’s only Corn Palace and had a cheap meal at Taco Johns.
The place is made of corn cobs.  The first Corn Palace was built back in the late 1800s.
The currently place basketball games in the building.
Check out the pics.

Corn Palace

Hanging with the corn

acting corny

Well, after waiting for three days, we finally went fishing and boy was it fun.  We caught rainbow trout in a stream just a bit down the road and across from the Coolidge General Store.  We used homemade stick fishing poles and shrimp flavored marshmallow bait.

Fishing in the black hills

By the way, the Coolidge camp ground is very nice, but quite close to the road especially if you have little kids that like to run out in the street.  It has a beautiful stream that runs through the camp and lots of fishing spots.

After our big fishing trip, we stopped by the Peter Norbeck visitor center to show our work to earn our Junior Naturalist status.  We were awarded our Junior Naturalist badges and certificates in a small ceremony.  We were very proud of our work and all that we learned in the process.

Junior Naturalist Awards

The Peter Norbeck center is where you should stop first when visiting Custer State Park.  You can get a schedule of the programs and make sure you do not miss anything.  The programs at Custer State Park are really nice if you have kids that are cub scouts / girl scouts.

Donkeys, donkeys, and more donkeys – if you visit Custer State Park, take the 18 mile wildlife loop and take corn or carrots to feed the donkeys.  We saw tons of Buffalo, Prong-horns, and Deer.  Animals are everywhere on the loop – they come right up to the car as you can see from the pics below.

Donkeys Attack

Up close Buffalo

After our amazing ride through the wildlife, we stopped off at Badger hole to see the home of Badger Clark.  What a cool house and way of life.  The Badger Hole hike is only one mile, but it is very steep and quite a workout.

We woke up and went gold panning. I didn’t find any gold but I did find some quartz.  I got lots muddy and had a blast washing the rocks in the ice cold river water.

Gold panning in the black hills

Next, we  caught water insects for the junior naturalist  program.  The Junior Naturalist Program is great and most all state and national parks have some kind of program like this.  We learned all about bugs and were given nets to use to catch the bugs.  We put the bugs in jars and had the chance to really look at them closely.

Learning how to catch bugs

Then, we went to Sylvan Lake up on top of the Black Hills.  We drove down Needles Highway.  It was a beautiful drive.  Lots of interesting rock formations to look at on the way.  The lake was really cool.  Part of National Treasure 2 was filmed at Sylvan Lake so it was cool to see the lake up close as we like to watch that movie from time to time.

Tough guys at Sylvan Lake

After Sylvan Lake, we drove over past Custer to see Jewel Cave.  We completed the junior ranger program at jewel cave and received our Junior Ranger badges.  We drove to Wyoming after we were done just to say we did.

Wyoming - duh!

We drove back to Custer to eat dinner at the purple pie place that was, you guessed it, purple.  This place has awesome food, pie, and ice cream. If you are ever in Custer, the Purple Pie Place is the place to eat!

We had a great meal after a long day of hiking and learning. Whewwwww!  What a long and amazing day!

Well, it was a bit chilly for the first night here in the Black Hills.  The temp dropped to about 45 degrees which was a bit cold in our tent.

All of the boys in the tent.

First thing after unfreezing ourselves was to trek to Mt. Rushmore.  Ben says it was “just a big mountain with four faces on it.”  We all thought it was a neat thing to see, but really like the mountains in their natural state just as well.

Black Hills Mount Rushmore

We roasted weenies up on top of the black hills on the way back from Mt. Rushmore.  The views and rocks were spectacular.  What an awesome place.  We stopped off right after the pig tail bridges on hwy 87.  You can’t miss it.  The crew also found the most amazing natural rock playground.  They found slides, platforms, and lots of rocks to climb.

Eating hot dogs in the black hills.

Black hills rock playground

Next, we took the 18 mile wildlife loop.  We saw more Buffalo, Prong-horns, Deer, Turkeys, and Burros.  The burros like to eat corn and stick their heads all the way up your grill – literally, they will run head first to your car and run their heads all of the way in the car with teeth out looking for food.  Sam says “it was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my entire life other than snakes and bears.”

Black hills Buffalo

Well,  the drive from Nebraska to South Dakota was somewhat uneventful.  We stopped off and ate a sandwich by a lake with a cool playground and 45 mile per hour winds, but that was about it.

We arrived at the Black Hills and before we ever entered Custer State Park – bam – Buffalo were everywhere!  What a sight!

We reserved site 21 at Stockade Lake North and it was beautiful.  We had a rock fortress behind our campsite and a view of the lake just beyond that.  We camped up on a hill and could see everything and were protected from most of the rain.  It does rain in South Dakota in the summer and nobody will tell you that!  The site was huge and our tents are way in the back up on the hill.  There was enough room at most all of the Stockade North sites for multiple tents.  Lots of space between the sites.

The park is gorgeous and animals are everywhere.

More to come later.

A day or so back we hit Boot Hill and saw the coolest horses ever.  Check em out.  The sasparilla ( or however you spell that was pretty good as well! )

We made it here by stopping in Garden City and monument rocks and [thanks to ben ] caught some hawks on video.

After a brief stop here in Nebraska, we head to Custer SD… in the black hills!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scotts bluff  is on the side 0f a mountain that looks like it has been cut in half.

On one side is the North Platte river,on the other is the Badlands.

7 Nation Army Couldn’t Hold Me Back  -  Cool White Stripes Song

Sammy – We are hanging at the most awesome-est HomeWood Suites ever!
Sammy – It has a basketball court, putting green, running/biking  trail, free movies, popcorn, tea, and lots of pillows.
Ben – I had a blast watching Dirk in the NBA finals at a hotel ( that has a hoops court  ) while wearing my Snuggie wrapped in a cool wool blanket!
Sammy – I love the hoops court, the pretty geese, and watching Despicable Me!
Willeee – I love trying to cook popcorn in the VHS player ( yes, the hotel room has a VHS / DVD player combo), unloading the cooking utensils and eating everything I find on the floor or in the trash.

Hog Wild! Pit BBQ is Wichita is really good!
The ribs and pulled pork were unbelievable!
Mom – catching up with old friends was the coolest ever.  Rock on ( stick your tongue out and flash your gang signs / horns / whatever ) !!!!

Kansas is a really pretty state – lots of hills, lakes, and trees!

On to Dodge City and then to the edge of the earth!
We are going to run through some corny fields along the way, so stay tuned.

Happy trails!

The A-team Midwest US Tour is beginning.  We plan  to visit Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas.  There may be a little Georgia in there along the way as well as a splash of Florida.
We will be camping in Custer State Park in just a few days.
Check back for lots of awesome picks and travel tips if you plan to hit any of these spots in the future.

By the way, the Chicken Express rocks chicken strips like nobodies biness!

Well, it is has been some time since I last put up a post, but here it goes.

Camp Site #33 at Pedernales is the BOMB!
It is right next to the trail that goes down to Trammel Crossing and not to far from the Bano!

On friday we hiked down to the river and built a dam to make the current stronger ,then we went back to the campsite to make dinner. After we ate, me and a few friends went searching for bigfoot down by the bathroom because we figured he had to go at some point.  Then we went to bed.

When we got up, we went over to another campsite to make breakfast . I helped with pancakes ,tortillas and ,bacon. Then, I went back to our campsite to ride my bike ,but as soon as I got on ,my mom said we had to wash the dishes and I had to dry them. After that , we went hiking down to the falls.  The water was low, but there was lots to look at and we saw a snake. After having some lunch, we packed up and biked over to the Indian bath tubs which are part of Bee Creek.  The bike ride was brutal, but the water was cold and refreshing.  Jumping off the cliffs was pretty fun as well.  On the way out, it started to rain and the rain turned to hail.  That was quite scary.  We went down and made an even bigger damn once we got back to camp. When we went back to the campsite, we made silver turtles. By then we were starting to hear thunder. Then, the emergency broadcasting system came on and said there was a severe line of thunderstorms headed our way and anyone outside should take cover. At that point everyone went into panic mode.All of  the sudden  everyone  started throwing stuff in the car. We helped someone else pack up before we left. on the way home we got food and went to sleep.

What a gret camp out!