Rafter J Bar Ranch

    We drove from Badlands National Park on back roads to the Black Hills.  There was almost no traffic and lots of interesting rock formations along the way.   We looked and looked for buffalo herds which were reported to be in the area but only saw cows.  However, that brings to mind my cow observations.  Yesterday we saw a cow standing alongside the road looking up and down the road with a puzzled expression.  There was not another cow, barn, house, pasture anything in sight.  I wondered how far this cow had been walking before deciding that it was lost.  Today we saw cattle standing on top of big bluffs along the road looking down at us as though they had climbed up there to watch the traffic go by.  Maybe they are smarter than I think they are.
 Anyway, back to our road trip.  I bought Rick a fancy new GPS for his birthday.  We can set it for the height, width, length and weight of our camper so that we don't get routed into a spot that we can't get out of - tunnels, bridges etc.  This new GPS also includes an altimeter.  It was fun to watch the numbers as we drove up off the plains and into the Hills.  We are at about 4900 feet here near Hill City.  Although it has been a pretty warm day - in the high 80s, we were told as we checked in that the temperatures have been in the high 40's at night this week.  I can't wait to put on a blanket when we turn in tonight.

    Way back in the early 80's we bought a tent trailer.  One of our family vacations took us to the Black Hills.  I remember how hot it was going across South Dakota. We stayied one night near Wall with temps in our tent at about 90 most of the night.  (Now many tent trailers have air conditioners.  Ours only had a small fan.)  The next day we were driving along late in the day looking for a campground in the Hills that wasn't right on the road.  Luckily we came across the Rafter J Bar Ranch.  We were given a grassy site under some lovely shade trees.  Then when the sun went down the temperature dropped 25 degrees and I knew I was in heaven.  Well here we are back again - at Rafter J Bar.  Camping under huge red pines, the temperature dropping as quickly as the sun.  I may need to put on long pants - haven't worn anything but shorts for so long!   Heaven.
    We set up camp and were just finishing lunch when Mark and Joyce arrived in their rental RV.  They have a spot next to us with a nice green lawn in between.  We set up the lawn chairs and had a peaceful afternoon and a family dinner.  The only thing better than a beautiful evening in the Black Hills is being able to share it with family.  Tomorrow we will take off on a search to find where Mark was able to climb on George Washington's face - he remembers doing this sometime in the past.  Stay tuned.