Thursday, May 30, 2024
Today, we leisurely prepared to leave and were the last ones to depart this spacious but largely vacant campground. Fortunately, the friendly hostesses didn’t mind. We topped off the propane tank at the campground’s convenient station before departing, hoping that this would be our last fill-up for this trip.
—— Douglas KOA Journey Campground ——
To start our 180-mile long journey, we first backtracked a few miles south on I-25 then turned onto US-18 East for most of the remainder of the trip. This rural route rolled through beautiful Wyoming lansdcape. It appeared to be a favored route for oversized vehicles. We saw trucks going both directions hauling super-long “missile silos” as well as other large strange equipment. We pulled over at a public rest station at an intersection to eat lunch in the RV. Shortly after our lunch stop, we entered South Dakota, a new state for both of us. Soon the terrain became more hilly and the prairie vegetation changed to forests of pine, spruce and aspen.
After changing roads in South Dakota a few times, we eventually, turned east onto US-16 and passed through the town of Custer. We then entered Custer State Park and turned off into the South Stockade campground. We drove around until we found our campsite adjacent to the campground host. We touched bases with the hosting couple, then unhitched the car.
—— Along Our Route —–
Because we only have electric hook-up at this state park, we drove the RV to the nearby water station to fill our freshwater tank. While doing so, a taxi-colored Prius drove up. It was our friends that we were here to meet-up with, Jeff and Comeka. We chatted awhile then they drove to their rental cabin and we drove back to our site and set-up the RV.
At our pre-arranged meeting time, Jane and I walked up to Cabin 9. Jeff and Comeka live in Pierre, SD, and are familiar with the Black Hills area so, Jeff drove us all in their Prius to a restaurant they had selected in Hill City. We registered our place in line at the Alpine Inn restaurant, then with our buzzer in hand, we walked around the quaint touristy town including checking out the train depot because we had purchased tickets for a train ride tomorrow.
We had a great meal together in the German-themed restaurant chatting together. Jane had worked with Jeff years ago in Hot Springs, AR, and we hadn’t seen him for over a decade. Neither of us had met Comeka before. So, we enjoyed getting to know Comeka and catching up on news over a delicious dinner that Jeff and Comeka treated us to. We selected beers from a variety of German styles. The menu only offered two entree choices. I selected the spaetzle primavera while the other three indulged in the bacon-wrapped filet mignon. Unlike the entrees, there were endless dessert choices. Jane and I split an Apline-style tiramisu. We all left satisfied with a great meal and companionship.
After dinner, Jeff dropped us off at our RV on the way back to their cabin.
—— Alpine Inn, Hill City, SD ——
