We turned the corner and there it was, the Homecoming Parade in Sturgis, SD.  It isn’t biker week but they are having a great time.  The HS classes and clubs were there with their floats.  They have a Rodeo Club!  The junior high and elementary schools were well represented too.  All of town got into it, the New Holland dealer drove his tractor, Knuckles Bar drove their double-decker bus loaded with HS kids, the football team and cheerleaders passed by hanging all over a firetruck.   It was wonderful small town fun.

Bear Butte juts up out of the rolling plains.  The trail to the summit was rocky and steep but the view from the top made it well worth it.  We could see for miles.

Trees and shrubs across the Butte are dotted with colorful bits of cloth left in tribute by First Nations’ Peoples as they have done for generations.  This is holy ground for them.

The Center of the Nation.  Here we stand, at the center of everything, the geographic center if the USA.  Kent’s first comment, “It looks an awful lot like the middle of no where”.  Hmm, so true.  We drove 7+ miles of gravel road across pasture land, climbed through barbed wire fence, and tiptoed through the cow piles to view the simple, official geologic survey marker, the CON.

In a bit more accessible place, the center of Belle Fourche SD, the center of the nation location is celebrated with beautiful compass rose shaped monument made of South Dakota granite. 

I am glad we took the time to see them both.

Our early drive today introduced us to a couple new guys.

A coyote.  He was downright chubbyfor a coyote and had a sleek fur coat unlike the mangy looking fellows we typically see.  We found him stalking prairie dogs.  They must be pretty nutritious.

A pronghorn antelope.  He was the subject of the ranger program Sunday evening….talking about how illusive they are here at the park.  We only saw one which is a little odd.  They tend to hang out in groups or families.   I didn’t expect them to be here at all given how rugged it is.  They are supposed to be open prairie animals where their escape speed is their main defense.

No elk to see but we did hear a bull practicing his fall bugling.  Maybe it was our fellow from yesterday working to increase the size of his harem?

The horses were out and about too.  Sometimes with manes flying as they ran across the grasslands and other times tails swishing as they lazily munched away.  Oh, and bison too.  A herd of 15 or so bison walked down either side of the car as we sat and watched.  I could have reached out of the car window and scratched the one guy’s nose.  I didn’t.   I could hear his breathing and see his wet nose.  Plenty close.

The alarm went off at 5AM.  The sky was inky black and simply filled with stars.  Beautiful.  The real objective though was to get out on the wildlife drive early enough to see some of the local fauna.  We were on the road by 6 and the locals made a pretty good showing.  In the order of most to fewest:

Prairie dogs – too many to count.  They are a riot to watch and listen to

Bison – a handful of lone bulls and a large herd of cows, young and yearling

 “Wild” horses – several stallions out on their own and two with bands of mares and colts.  They are actually feral horses left over from ranching days.

Mule deer – those big ears look funny! The young ones are the cutest with the black edging all around the ears.

Elk – a lone bull elk flashing a great rack and another with a harem of one (so far anyway)

Golden eagle – one with a great roost placement, high above the Prairie Dog town.

Snake – about 3 feet long.  Not sure what kind since he slithered swiftly and I did a two step so I didn’t get a real good look.

Later in the day, one band of horses came strutting right down the yellow line.  They act like they own the place.  The colts played like little kids running circles around the adults

The campground hosts have apparently gone home for the season here at the South unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP.  Our greeter was a slow plodding old bull Bison munching away along the roadside at the campground entrance.  We started past him but the growl of the motorhome engine put him into a run.  We slowed.  He slowed.  We tried to pass.  He ran.  Finally ole Leroy crossed the road and let us by.  We check for him every time we go in or out of camp.  Sometimes we see him.  Sometimes not.  But I’m sure he is out there watching us.

First it was the pronghorn now we are among bison and bighorn sheep.  There are supposed to be elk here as well but we haven’t seen them yet.  We are in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota.  It is badlands terrain created as the Little Missouri River cut its way through thick layers of centuries old glacial silt.  It not something I would want to wake up to every morning but it is strangely beautiful with its odd shapes and colored layers.  The river has wandered widely through the years and left a broad lower valley filled with cottonwoods and laced with huge meanders and oxbow bends.  Our campground is nestled in one of these huge cottonwood groves.  Juniper trees are all around too.  The smell is amazing.

Oil fields all around us are taking their toll.  There are many flare stacks, brightly lighted derricks, storage tanks, and lighted work yards to the North and even a few to the south on the National Grasslands just outside the Park.  If I adjust my gaze just right, I can still get a view that pretty much excludes those eyesores.  It is difficult though.  What is already impossible to escape is the noise.  There is a constant drone of equipment 24 hours a day and the ongoing rumble of heavy truck traffic in daylight hours.  There is a part of this wilderness experience that is quickly being lost.  What is it worth to hear the animals, birds and bugs awakening with the sunrise?  What about a dark night sky with twinkling stars and the Milky Way splashed across it?