Red Ass Rhubarb Wine

We had another hail storm late last night about 4AM that was more intense than the one earlier in the evening. It seems the sound of rain is amplified in an RV, well increase that about 10 fold to get the sound effect of the hail. This morning, we inspected the rig and Al checked their truck and no visible damage was detected. It was another beautiful day here in the Black Hills with a high in the low 80's. It's supposed to be hot tomorrow with a high of 95 predicted. We rode down to check out Hill City, which is about 10 miles north of Custer. It's a nice little town with some unusual shops and some unique art sculptures, but nothing different or exciting. Of course, there were no shortage of Harleys! Later, we stopped at a local winery named Prairie Berry Winery for some wine tasting. They are best known for their signature wine, Red Ass Rhubarb Wine, and no, I'm not making that up! (check the link) We got to taste 5 different blends, but I liked the Red Ass best!

Mid afternoon I received a phone call from Greg at Rapid Chevrolet/Cadillac telling me our truck was ready. This was wonderful news! We were already halfway to Rapid City, so it was an easy trip to go on over and pick it up. They had to replace the diesel exhaust fluid tank and 2 sensors, all of which, was thankfully, covered by warranty. She runs as good as new and we are thrilled to have her back. I cannot recommend Rapid Chevrolet/Cadillac highly enough. They were sympathetic and helpful in getting us back on the road. While in Rapid City, we got our Wal-Mart fix and purchased some needed supplies. We are pretty much out in the sticks with no major store closeby, so we decided to stock up on stuff we use a lot.

Tonight's pictures are of yesterdays trip to the wildlife loop in Custer State Park. One of the first things we noticed is all the dead pine trees in the park and adjoining areas. The trees are being killed by the Pine Beetle. The State Park has attempted to control the infiltration of the beetles by cutting the dead trees and stacking up the wood and brush which will be burned after it snows. We saw a lot of the same devastation when we were in Colorado several years ago.

View of the Black Hills, with the Badlands in the distance.

Fire and observation tower on top of Mt. Coolidge

View looking North from Mt. Coolidge. You can see a dead pine tree from the Beatles in lower right.

Our group of travelers. From left to right: Al & Pat Kralovic, Crickett Cherry, and yours truly.

View of the fire and communications towers on Mt. Coolidge

Stack of dead pine trees cut down by the state in attempting to control the Pine Beatles

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Prairie Dog

Antelope

Herd of wild donkeys

Scenic road through the park

We saw several herd of Buffalo, but they were in the distance.

Except for this big fella, who was lying down close to the road, just cooling it.