Since we arrived in Moon Lake we often heard the sounds Killdeer birds, which flew around the yard of the “headquarters” house we were staying near. On Wednesday morning Tom found an egg in the yard, which was camouflaged to look like the nearby rocks. He also observed the bird attempting to lure him away from the nest by feigning an injury – kind of fun to watch, but we were careful not to be too harassing.
On Thursday morning as we prepared for departure, we discovered a second egg in the “nest.”
We got a fairly early start. However, at 10AM Scott had a very important call with VideoRay executives, which corresponded with us on a very lonely section of route 20 in Nebraska. We had to stop on a kinda soft shoulder, and despite the fact that we were right below a cell tower we couldn’t rely on decent internet, so Tom and Anthony deployed the Starlink just in time.
Lunch was just as we were approaching the badlands, in Scenic South Dakota (the town, or what used to be a town, is called “Scenic.”) As Scott and Tom repeatedly pointed out beautiful badlands to Anthony, he commented that “it is just sand.” He was, however, very bummed that there was no internet so he could not watch Tic Tock and stream music. He certainly earned his teenager card.
After lunch we made another Walmart run, and – in a first for OWGRV – we found fly swatters, solving a major annoyance we have had for months. However, a new annoyance cropped up shortly after we left Moon Ranch, when the Mercedes Sprinter chassis – still under warranty but never having successfully visited a Mercedes dealer – started complaining about a sensor and refusing to drive on cruise control. This persisted despite multiple reboots and reading the manual – we were certain we would have to take it to a Mercedes dealer in Denver. However, after we got back from Walmart the problem mysteriously – for the moment – disappeared. We’ll see…
We then pulled into our stop for the next two nights – Spokane Creek Cabins & Campground . We then went an OK dinner in Keystone, then on to Mount Rushmore. While Scott has been there several times, he started wondering this time how the sculpture was funded – apparently 85% by federal funds. There does seem to be much documentation about how the government – though flush in the 1920s when it was approved – got legislation approved for the project.
Scott (and presumably Tom) were too old to stick around for the 9PM presentation and 9:30PM lighting of the monument, so we returned to the campground. Tomorrow Crazy Horse, maybe some jeep trails, or other local amusements. It is very cold now, and will be 48 degrees F in the morning according to Anthony’s research.