Sturgis and Wind Cave National Park

 Hi,

We arrived at our very small, but nice campground (11 sites total) yesterday afternoon near Sturgis.  We decided to go into Sturgis, look around and grab a bit to eat.  Shortly after we drove into town it started raining and then hailing (along with thunder and lightning).  Fortunately the hail was pea size, not large enough to do damage to the truck.  We could not see so we pulled over and then found refuge under cover at a gas station and waited about 15 minutes before we could safely drive again.  Not much to see in Sturgis, most of the shops and saloons are only open from June to August each year.  

This morning we left for our short drive (90 miles) to Wind Cave National Park.  We got to the park campground to look for a campsite before seeing the cave.  The sites were all very small, only one loop was open with tiny campsites, so we decided to head to the cave, see it and get a campsite at a KOA we had passed earlier.  While we were waiting for our cave tour, we sat in the truck, ate lunch and it started hailing AGAIN (and yes thunder and lightning).  This storm was shorter and it had stopped raining by the time of our tour.  The Wind Cave was very interesting and we enjoyed the tour.

Tomorrow we head to Wyoming, the next day to Utah.  It finally feels like we are getting close to home.

The first picture is the radar map from the Weather Channel while we were riding out the storm cell in Sturgis.  As you can see we were right in the middle of it.  In the second photo, you can see the hail hitting the hood of the truck and the streets starting to flood.  Glad we have four wheel drive.

This is a favorite saloon in Sturgis.  It is closed for most of the year.  Ralph asked a store clerk if it got crazy during the motorcycle rally and she shook her head and said, "too crazy".

Pronghorns in Wind Cave NP as we drove in, beautiful animals.  Neither one of us had ever seen them before.  We also saw more bison and prairie dogs.

A few photos from the caves.  The cave only covers one square mile but there are 94 miles of passages within that square mile.  Wind Cave is known for it's box work, honeycomb-like structures as shown in the bottom photo caused by water percolating through and dissolving the limestone.