We indeed made it to the Badlands, Crazy Horse, and Mt. Rushmore. With a short stop in Riverton, Wyoming, crossing the rest of the state, we stayed a couple days in Custer State Park. Located in southwest South Dakota, Custer is situated within the Black Hill National Forest. After driving around the state park trying to beat the Memorial Day crowds along the main road campsites, we were instructed to head up to Central Lake to the sites there. One of the park employees figured they would be less busy. Thankfully she was right and we found a nice place along the hills with a leveled tent area and less of the crowds. Luckily, not only was our spot comfortable, but the surrounding creeks and lakes (especially Central Lake where we were) held some good fishing. So, later that evening and following afternoon for a few hours I was able to hook a few rainbow and brook trout, and what looked like a grass carp (which I also read later is a local "invasive species"). The dry fly fishing was great, especially the first evening. I think I counted 5 or 6 rainbows in air at one point. 
Annie got a great shot of our campsite there too. What seemed like millions of pine needles were all over the place. Made for slippery walking, especially at night. Since we were already very close to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, we took the drive down the Needles Highway and were treated to a "blasting" of the rocks at Crazy Horse. We decided not to take the toll into Mt. Rushmore for our drive to the Keystone, SD area already gave us unbeatable views of the rock on our way there.
(The drive to both Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse was a cool single lane route down through the Black Hills)
(We were able to walk through the museum at Crazy Horse. Very big and very cool. Especially all the old pictures)
The Badlands was next on our list, so we took the drive east. Into what seemed like a movie set for any given Mars flick, we entered the Badlands and took a brief walk around one of the visitor areas.
After we left the Badlands it was time to head east towards Wisconsin. Cutting all the way west to east in South Dakota gets pretty mundane. But after a solid 8 hour day on I-90 through Michigan as well, we found ourselves at a KOA campground in Oakdale, WI. Right along the highway, we think it was the noisiest place we'ved slept on the entire trip. A lot of the KOA campgrounds are easily accessible usually via major highways, etc., but something about this one made the sounds of 18 wheelers very prominent all night. We even listened to the Celtics lose in overtime against the Miami Heat on the (iPhone) radio. So all in all maybe not the best night yet. Ha. But at leased we got free showers in the morning....somewhat presentable for my grandmother.
From here we are going to try and make it to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. Shooting for the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore area, we're hoping to try and snag one of the coveted lakeside campsites. The wildfires around Duck Lake just east of that destination has suffered big wildfires recently. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we aren't running the opposite direction...
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