We woke up for our last day in North Dakota. Our 80’s flashback hotel was still just as groovy with its little breakfast nook. If we drive straight through, we will end up in Custer, South Dakota in 4 and a half hours… but when have we ever gone straight through?

These 2 decided to spend a little time in the pool and hot tub while we got packed up and ready for one of our longest drives.

We headed to Theodore (Freddie) Roosevelt National Park for a little sight-seeing, and maybe a quick trail or two since we have a long drive today. Theodore Roosevelt NP is absolutely beautiful. The landscape is sort of a mix between rocky cliffs and green pastures.

Our first animal encounters were the prairie dogs. Oh my gosh, the cuteness. And then their communications. They stand straight up, put their arms out and just scream, and then they fall down as if the yell took all their energy. We watched them for at least 10 minutes and giggled every time!

After we left the prairie dogs, we came up on a lone wild horse… which worried Michael because he was afraid he lost his herd. Leo meanwhile said, maybe he wanted to lose his herd. 🤪 These boys couldn’t be more different.

The view was different on each side of the car. The rocky cliffs were huge, and then we saw a beautiful green pasture with a big ol bull bison.

And THEN we took the next curve, and saw the an entire herd of wild bison!

There were so many of these guys. The coolest part were the bulls standing guard. They stood at what looked like the four corners surrounding the herd, and just kept watch… at least that’s what we thought they were doing.

We were just mesmerized. They are so big but could move so fast. But when it is time to cool off, or get rid of bugs, they would roll in the dirt, and by “roll” I mean waller until they make a rut in the ground and a cloud of dust. Honestly, it reminded us all of Otis.

We finally moved on and saw a few pronghorns playing in a nearby field.

We drove on to see some of the different areas of the park and did some quick hikes to a few spots for pictures.

Of course, these two had to go higher and higher, and look who they got up there with them!

We could still see the herd and the bull standing guard.

We drove on through Freddie Roosevelt Park, only missing one section of the Southern Unit because of road construction. It’s a beautiful park with lots of trails but also lots to see just from driving and stopping at the overlooks. Due to the road construction, we had to go out the same way we can into the Park. As we started making our way back, we realized we had a bit of problem… the herd that we had watched before were now walking along and crossing the road that we needed to leave the park.

We definitely practiced our “no sudden movements” and “no loud noises” instructions… because it seemed like these guys were coming in the car with us a few times.

As the herd grew less, the prairie dogs popped back up.

We left Freddie Roosevelt National Park and started making our way to South Dakota. One of my favorite things about this part of the country is the patriotism. It is everywhere from the world’s largest flag to hay bales covered in red, white and blue.

The scenery continued to be just as beautiful but began to change back to more grassy fields and cattle.

And then Bam – South Dakota!

Oh my word, South Dakota may win the prize for the longest roads… I mean just miles and miles and miles.

Months ago when I ordered our South Dakota book from the South Dakota Department of Tourism, I thought it was a little strange that they inclulded a paper map… um yea, they knew exactly what they were doing. The GPS signal out here is touchy – at best. But we noted a little dot by Belle Fourche, South Dakota as the “geographical center of the United States.” Well now we have already seen the geographical center of North America, so we would obviously want to the see the center of the US, so off we went to find it. Found it – and a plaque!

What we also found was an awesome little museum, the Tri-State Museum and Visitor Center, that is beside the Geographical Center of the United States marker. The museum was really cute with artifacts from the area – literally all the artifacts. Dinosaur bones, old ironing boards, washing machines, hair dryers/curling sets, military items, hats, shoe x-ray machines and a doll collection… literally everything!

Oh my word, these two!

Out back we found a little bit of home, and then we took turns standing in the center of the United States!

We fueled up and hit the road. This time with a stop in Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood is where Wild Bill Hickock was finally shot and killed in 1876.

The city has some interesting stores and signs, but it is very touristy now. It was worth a stop to stretch our legs and grab an ice cream, but it seemed like a little Las Vegas with the drinking and gambling.

Although, we did get a picture with Kodi the world’s largest grizzly bear, and found some pretty cool legs, even if they were the world’s tinest legos.

After Deadwood, we headed into the Black Hills National Forest. The Black Hills are gorgeous! And we even found a giant Smokey the Bear.

We really wanted to see the Mount Rushmore Lighting Ceremony, so we decided to go ahead and see it tonight, because we may be wiped out tomorrow (lots planned for Tuesday). So we checked into our latest Holiday Inn Express – this time it is a free stay using points!! – dropped our bags and headed out to dinner at the Our Founding Fathers Brewery. It was a great place for dinner, bar on bottom floor with live music and restaurant upstairs with outdoor seating. Mike and I had some great bison burgers and locally made beers, Blackhills Gold and a Rutherfruity Haze. We also enjoyed our new bison dice game… good think we were outside because the dice were noisy on the metal table!

Then we headed to Mount Rushmore. I have always wanted to see Mount Rushmore, and it was just as cool as I thought it would be… although the speeches at the lighting ceromony left a lot to be desired. The sound quality itself was terrible but the speakers were just bad. You would think for something as grand as Mount Rushmore, you would have James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman reading an eloquent speech on patriotism and freedom. However, for everything negative about the speeches, the lighting and Mount Rushmore itself were everything we could have imagined!

At the end of the lighting ceremony, the Star Spangled Banner was played and everyone sang. Then they asked all veterans and active duty military to come on stage while they retired the flag (properly) for the night. It was very cool. 🇺🇸♥️

We headed back to the hotel to get to bed. Tomorrow should be great trail riding and exploring Custer State Park by ATV.