Hermosa, South Dakota (25 miles from Rapid City)

We are spending one week in Hermosa, South Dakota because we are taking advantage of all the free or nearly free parks we can stay at in this area while we enjoy driving around in our new crossover to see the various sites.

Stopping in Custer State Park

The weather looks great on that picture. But, we have been experiencing severe thunder storms about every 3-4 days. Lots of wind (up to 60 miles per hour), heavy rain and our third hail storm. Luckily, we are able to follow the storms on our cell phones and our NOAA radio with its frequent warnings. The temperature is 87 degrees now and expected to get to 101 degrees in the next few days. Needless to say, our air conditioner is on from noon on most every day.

Last weekend, we went into Rapid City for their Summer Festival. Since we don't purchase much these days (except food) -- as we can't carry anymore in our motorhome -- we merely walked about and saw the various vendors with their amazing crafts.

Summer Festival in Rapid City

We also drove in to Deadwood last Saturday to attend their Wild Bill Hickok Days. Only problem was that we arrived in the morning and most of the activities were scheduled for late afternoon and evening. And, it was too hot to stick around. 

Street blocked off in Deadwood, South Dakota for events later in the day.

Coming back from Deadwood, we stopped along the way to take more pictures before the rain came.

We found this combination of rock, greenery and small creek interesting.

But the most fun and excitement we had was driving through Custer State Park again. This time we didn't just see a couple of buffalo. We saw hundreds. Sorry for all the pictures, but we had fun capturing them on camera. Jerry also got some cool video. 

Buffalo all over the place in Custer State Park.

You can see all the cars stopping along the way to see the buffalo.

There were lots of little ones.

Chanti checking out the situation. We taught her never to bark at deer.

So all we had to say was "deer" and she just observed the buffalo

without barking.

Now they all decided to take over the road. Glad we were

in a car and not on a motorcycle.

From there we climbed to the highest peak in the Black Hills. The views were spectacular.

And this is what we saw!

This is where we stood to take the pictures. 

I tripped on the way coming down but was able

to protect my camera while getting a few bruises.

TV and cell towers on the very top of the mountain.

Jerry is working on his book these days and I'm trying to improve my photography techniques. We are both enjoying this life -- doing what we want. Retirement is great.