Today started out with John inspecting the roof for potential tree damage. John wanted to do this before the upcoming rainfall since a small portion of the roof was scraped by trees when we were backing into the site. Fortunately, the roof looked good and did not have evidence of issues.

We then ate breakfast and decided to drive scenic Needle Highway. The bad part of going to Yellowstone National Park first is that everything afterwards does not compare. In this case, needles highway winds through the countryside on a narrow road with two tunnels. I would refer to the tunnels as natural because the side walls were jagged rocks and around 8 feet wide. Cars drive both directions on the road. So, you have to wait your turn to pass through the single lane tunnels. If you google “Campers stuck in Needles tunnels”, you will find multiple videos of vehicles that probably should not have tried to go through the tunnels.

Multiple pull overs with lookouts were available throughout the drive. Many of the slow drivers decided to not use pull overs which was a little annoying. We stopped at the lookout that had a view of the spires with the hopes of also seeing mountain goats. We didn’t see mountain goats 🙁

See link Needles Highway | Custer State Park Resort for additional information and pictures of the spires.

We proceeded through Needles Highway and drove to Custer, South Dakota to the post office. I had post cards to mail :-)… Custer, SD has about 2,000 people and is a tourist town. This weekend is the 102nd Annual Gold Discovery Days. Originally, I was planning on going to the farmers market in Custer on Saturday. Most likely I will skip it due to Gold Discovery Days event.

Throughout the town are bisons with artistic flare. I liked the skeleton bison.

On the way back to the trailer, I had to stop to see the bearded buffalo. The buffalo looks like a mix of moose and bison. Especially from the side in which I took the picture.

Once back at the trailer, we relaxed and stayed inside since the outside temperature was 96 F with comfortable humidity. By 4:30 pm, the storm clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped to 81 F. Hopefully there won’t be storms that scare Cleo poopless tonight. 🙂