Last Night in South Dakota

Our last night in South Dakota, the wind rocked us to sleep. Then it kept rocking us all night including a few gusts which woke us up and made us think we were Dorothy in Wizard of Oz being carried to places unknown The evening temperature was 91, the mornings 40! We went from air conditioning to heat!
This morning we crossed over into Wyoming! Whooopeee!! It felt like coming home. Devil’s Tower was our first stop. After a ranger talk on the climbers at Devil’s Tower, we walked the entire perimeter and watched several climbers. The last two were inching their way up a tiny crack in a vertical face hundreds of feet up from the base. I (J) spent so long looking through the binoculars that we didn’t leave the park until after one thirty. Devil’s tower is sacred to the Native Americans and we saw prayer cloths tied to trees as we walked. Legend has it that some girls were trying to escape a bear and the rock grew out of the ground to help them. The bear clawed the sides as he tried to reach them. This actually seems a more “plausible” explanation than any of the three geologists give! Can you tell I love Native American legends?! ®
A long drive across the prairie; beautiful rolling country side; cattle; deer even in towns; antelope all along the way and also in towns; grasslands; one of the most unpopulated areas in the country – the county has 700 acres for every individual. God’s great earth!
We are in a tiny campground in Lusk, Wyoming. It is very minimal; not even a caretaker. Fortunately, other campers helped us out with the water hookup. We went through a Newcastle, Wyoming. Not where either of us want to retire! Then, it was 78 miles to Lusk with absolutely NOTHING in the way of services. Guess you get used to watching your gas gauge!
Tomorrow, we move on to Fort Laramie and then Laramie where we called ahead for reservations at the local KOA.