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I’m starting to get into parts of the country I’ve never been before – the [tag]plains[/tag] of the Midwest. I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was the first time I’d ever seen a perfectly flat horizon since I’d been sailing off the coast of California out of sight of land. What was odd was that I was driving over a slight hill at the time, and the illusion of driving on a huge sphere was perfect. Oh, wait, we live on a huge sphere! Oops. Even on the ocean, though, you never really get that feeling. But here I was, 200 miles of flat away from [tag]Wind Cave National Park[/tag], driving on an enormous, wheat-colored beach ball.

The other odd thing about driving across the plains is that you can see weather many miles away. I watched the odometer and clock tick by as I drove towards, then under, then through a huge, black thunderhead. The wind was from my left and was incredible. I had to steer like an airplane, pointing the wheels slightly into the wind in order to merely drive straight. I was more than slightly concerned that a gust would get under my camper and – FLIP! – there would be my dirty laundry scattered for dozens of miles. Luckily, the I drove out from under the storm into a beautiful, mottled landscape of sun and shade, golden wheat and green grass, rainbows and pots of gold. Okay, no gold, but you get the idea.

I arrived in the park just after sunset, capturing one picture of a huge bison ambling across the road. I meant to snap a simple photo, but I had a 2 second delay and a very long exposure preprogrammed into the camera. The effect was a ghost bison, walking off the edge of the frame. Kinda cool; you can see where he paused in each step. I’ll have to try this photo again next time I see a bison walking across the road at sunset.

The [tag]cave[/tag] itself was cool, but I’ll admit I’m kinda spoiled since the Wild Cave Tour at Mammoth Cave National Park. There was some interesting and intricate boxwork. Boxwork is calcite crystals that form in the cracks in limestone. The limestone erodes away, leaving a delicate “mold” of all the cracks in the stone. The crazy thing is that limestone IS ALSO calcite, so the crystals and the limestone are actually the same stuff, just different forms.

But Wind Cave lives under some very pretty country – the south end of the Black Hills. While the season was still early yet (like, snow…again), I did see prairie dogs, antelope, bison, and a stupid rabbit that didn’t scamper away until I was about 2 feet from it. Cute, but stupid.

I proceed north again, towards Badlands National Park with stops on the way to Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. I’m thinking that after I see Teddy Roosevelt in North Dakota, then Voyageurs and Isle Royale, I may visit the parks in Northern California and Washington before heading to Alaska. It will cut my time in Alaska short, but at least it will be warmer. We’ll see.