Day 1-2 of our Trip to the Black Hills

For our first  day of traveling we drove through Nebraska.  We went by Lake McConaughy and stopped by the visitor center to watch the movie about the history of how they built the dam to create the lake, which is 22 miles long and 4 miles wide.

Then, as we started heading north towards Chadron, there were storms looming all around us.  But, we were fortunate that we didn't get hailed on.  And we even got to see a rainbow.

We were hoping to arrive in the Black Hills on Thursday night, but weren't able to make it until Friday, thanks to some unexpected car trouble.  A few miles outside of Chadron, NE, my car's battery light kept flickering on and off.  Afraid it could be an alternator and we could be stalled in the midst of the stormy weather out in the middle of nowhere, we searched for a place with a room available in Chadron to spend the night, so that we could get our car checked out in the morning.  We managed to find a room available for way too much money, because of the Sturgis rally going on during that time.  But, we were thankful, because most hotels had no vacancy.  Here's our Motel 6, where we slept very comfortably on Thursday night.

 

That night while we were eating our dinner at Taco John's it started heavily down pouring.  The next morning the weather had cleared up and we were able to get our car into a body shop right away.  It took them all of 10 minutes to find and fix the problem.  It was simply a loose wire from the alternator to the battery.  So, they quickly tightened it only cost us $20!  Yeah!  So, then we were off to see my (Chandra's) family in the Black Hills.  We were blessed to be able to stay at mom's friend's cabin.  We were so thankful to have such a nice, comfortable place to stay, especially considering how hard it is to find any affordable lodging in the area during the Sturgis rally.  

 

 

We even got to have my brother, Brad's &  my sister-in-law, April's dog, Daisy, at the cabin.

 

That night, we went to Mt. Rushmore to see the evening lighting ceremony.  Unfortunately, my pictures didn't turn out too clear.

 What was really special was when they asked all veterans of the armed forces to come to the front for the flag ceremony and so that we could thank them for their service.  Penny felt very proud of her grandpa being honored up front.

 The flags of all the states.

 

Look carefully and you might see the Four Faces.

 

It was a fun way to end the day and surprisingly chilly for a summer night.