USA 2008

This is us again, reporting on our 2008 expedition to USA, this time concentrating on Cowboys and Indians

We flew to Rapid City, which is in the west of South Dakota.

It was entirely Johnny's idea and Jon & Margaret, who couldn't fail to disagree less, donned their chaps and went forth.

Here we are, seemingly together on one photograph but, in reality, Kath has a cardboard cut out of Jon slung across her shoulder. Johnny is looking smug, thinking " Rather ye than me pet...ah knaa its ownly cardboard but, he's such a fat get, it must still be heavy


This is Friday 12th Sept. Here's Kath and Johnny at Mount Rushmore where the heads of the first, third, 16th and 26th Presidents of USA are carved into the mountain.

And here's Jon and Margaret

Here's Johnny and the two lasses closer in but were the lasses happy? No they wanted to be closer still, so we built some scafolding and wynched them right up there

Look at the look on their faces, bless. They seem to be so happy...

And the lasses are in canny spirits too

We left Mount Rushmore and went to Keystone, where we took the 1880 train to Hill City and back. That evening we dined at TGI Fridays next to our hotel on the outskirts of Rapid City

Next day, Saturday 13th, we drove 250 miles round trip..going to Wounded Knee, popping over the border to Nebraska, then back to Rapid City via Custer, the town and Custer, The State Park

Here's Margaret on Saturday 13th at Wounded Knee where a massacre of the Sioux took place, Sitting Bull having been killed two weeks earlier. We then journeyed on, popping over the border to Nebraska before heading back North through Indian country to Custer National Park

This is a town on the way back to Rapid City. Is it Custer?

This is the Custer State Park

And this is the Needles.

This is the picture of the holidays...is it not?


And here we are back at...yes you've guessed it TGI Fridays

This is Jon turning the camera on himself, in a desparate attempt to get in on a picture

Here we are on Sun 14th in Deadwood

Jon on Deadwood Main Street, not scared hardly at all, completely unarmed in this lawless frontier town

And this is Deadwood taken from Boot Hill, actually Mount Moriah cemetary where Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane lie side by side

Indeed right here

On the way out of Deadwood Jon took this picture of a Horse pub cos that's his hobby




Here's a huge expanse...

with Kath and Johnny and some mountains


"Howsabout this for a large overhang" said Johnny, cheekily, I thought

This is Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park. It is the biggest, most predictable guyser in t'World


Yellowstone National Park Tues 16th


"Eeh yes", says Margaret "It's a bigger geezer than you, Jon, and that's saying something, hee, hee".  It's amazing Margaret can see it from there because she is now in Trail Town in Cody some 100 miles away


Trail Town in Cody

Wed 17th Sept we left Cody SD and headed the 185 miles to the Battle of the Little Big Horn, MT. Called in at Red Lodge and settled for the night in Hardin, just a few miles from the Battle site..starved for proper restaurants we were reduced to Pizza Hut for dinner


This is a bar in Red Lodge, for lunch



Red Lodge


The Little Big Horn Battlefield, Thursday 18th.
After several hours of Johnny walking the entire battlefield studying every single dead person we travelled the 85 miles to Sheridan




Here's the girls, and Johnny scratching his chin on a wine bottle
In the bar at the Best Western in Sheridan




On Friday 19th we went the 155 miles to Thermopolis, stayed at a Super8 and dined at a Chinese restaurant and then drank wine in the reception area of the hotel

Sat 20th we drove the 180 miles to Douglas and stayed at a Best Western

Sunday 21st we drove the 195 miles to Spearfish calling for lunch at Newcastle



This is Newcastle, Sunday 21st Sept


And this is Belle Fourche, the centre of the United States on Monday 22nd, We also visited va gold mine (a mock up) in Lead
. We stayed a second night at Spearfish. Tuesday 23rd we returned to Rapid City, which was to be our base for the rest of our holiday. We spent a while in the City itself visiting all, or most of the Presidents 

Here's a recap from Cody..we went North into Montana for the Little Big Horn, then Sheridan, Thermopolis, Douglas, Newcastle, Spearfish, Rapid City and on Wed 24th we went east to Wall and the Badlands
Here we are at Wall Drug


"Johnny, come and sit next to a dummy"
said Jon
"I'm not sitting next to a dummy"
said one of the dummies


Thursday 25th we did a 50 mile round trip taking in Keystone, Hill City, a winery and a wildlife park. This was our last day
The next three pics are Margaret, Kath and Johnny lunching at the Winery

Friday 26th, the girls went window shopping at the Mall near our hotel before we set off for the Airport about lunchtime. We traveled for the next 24 hours getting back to Felling at lunchtime Saturday



This is a map summary of our 2000 miles circumnavigation of Wyoming and a bit of Montana and South Dakota and a toe touch of Nebraska.
We made a duck