Day Four Wyoming to Nebraska

Today started with a very early morning waking up in the car stiff but dry. We headed out at 6am to Devils Tower. We wanted out of that campground forget breakfast or making lunch or any of that. On our way to devils tower we noticed it was about a 30 mile drive and we had barely any gas. We hoped that somehow there would be a gas station on the way but there sure was not. We knew we had to drive the 30 miles back to town on an empty tank so it was a big dilemma of what to do. Joshua had plans to pretend to be smeagel at the base of the tower but was that worth risking running out of gas and walking back miles…. Hmm. Now would be an appropriate time to mention that we had almost run out of gas two days before when we drove miles and miles on the highway in Montana with no gas stations in site. We seriously filled our 13 gallon tank with 13 gallons…. I was praying. Anyhow back to Devils tower. So we got within about three miles which was close enough to take a picture and then turned around. We made it to town and only had to fill up our tank to 12.2 so I guess we could have gone all the way but it is nerve racking to drive for so long with the fuel light on and not good for your car. New plan is to fill up when we are at quarter of a tank.

While we were driving we passed seagulls, which we did not expect to see, and one flew right up to our car and his wings spread across the windshield and then he whipped around the side. It scared both of us and we thought for sure we were going to hit him. We stopped in a cute rest stop and charged up our electronics while making a hot breakfast. It was kind of fun to be there so early we had the place to ourselves. Then we drove onto South Dakota and went to the crazy horse monument. We spent a lot of time there because we wanted to hear about the history and look at all the pictures of what it will look like in the future. Right now you cannot get very close because they are still blasting pieces of it and working on It all the time. When it is done it will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long. After we went there we headed over to Mount Rushmore. You can get much closer and there is a lot less to do but it is sure very neat to see and read the history. Both very cool stops.

After we finished up there we headed over to Nebraska. Many people had told us there is nothing there and that is pretty much true. Lots of bugs and grass and cows and then cool stuff every so often. Our highlight was when we saw some cows in a pond by the side of the road. Joshua got out to take pictures of them and they all got out of the pond and smashed up against the fence to come and see him. It was very odd. We also stopped by carhenge which is a replica of Stonehenge made out of cars. Joshua really liked this but I think I was too tired to enjoy it to its fullest… well plus we had already seen Mt Rushmore and Crazy horse so it was obviously lacking in comparison, but cool none the less. We drove on to our stop in Lake Mcconaughy which was beautiful. The campground was silly and we spent 20 min driving all over trying to find this camp store the signs kept telling us we had to buy our entrance pass at. We were tired and hungry and getting mad. Finally we found the campground host and he said we could just get the entrance pass at the campground pay box…. NOT WHAT ALL THE SIGNS SAID… how frustrating. Anyhow we found a great spot on the lake set up camp showered and then scavenged wood in the dark to try and cook some hot dogs. What a day. Oh plus as pretty as that area was the bugs were out of control. Tons of mosquitoes, gnats, June bugs, and frogs all over the place. It was a day of experiencing all kinds of new stuff. What a blast!