Road Trip March - Day 18

March 30th 2026 (Monday) 

We were both awake early this morning so decided to get up and go. Last night we'd planned and booked a stay for my little side excursion.... a quick detour from our plan of going to Colorado, as I suddenly realised Mount Rushmore is just down the road from where we are, literally just a 4.5hr drive, so it seems silly (to me) not to take this opportunity to see the historic landmark. Fred eventually agreed, so thats where we're heading today.

The RV route planner says its approx 312 miles away, the sun is shining so let's hit the road for today's new adventure and lets see what today's travels bring us.

On our route I made Fred take a slight detour into Pringle, just to see the bicycle statue. An unusual art sculpture of an undisclosed amount of bicycles. It was worth seeing, but Fred was in a hurry to get to our destination so we didn't stop to walk around the artwork.

We decided to take the more scenic drive up through the Black Hills National Forest and it was well worth it, the landscape changed dramatically from the flat empty (boring) plains of nothingness to suddenly gorges, rocks and trees, soooo pretty and we had the perfect weather for it too.

Along the way some interesting bridge structions and still made of wood. I particularly like this one.

And of course we have the odd tunnel to fit through

We arrived at our campsite early evening, another Koa Holidays site, just on the outskirts of Rapid City. We've arrived out of season so not all facilities listed are available but the restroom are fitted out to a very high standard and the pitches are well laid out. It's well priced, and being out of season it's nice and quiet, too.

We are so impressed with the site and the area has much to offer and explore we have decided to stay the week here. It'll give us a chance to not rush so much, and really get a chance to explore the area, especially whilst it's quiet and few other tourists, plus we have Easter weekend to deal with and any potential closures. So we've decided to stay put, then we'll travel home and leave Colorado for another road trip in the future.

Tonight was a relaxing night, movie and a long luxurious shower - they really are lovely facilities here and after the crazy last few days a more restful night is definately in order. We also had a couple of visitors welcoming us to our pitch.

Robin sitting on a post

Rabbit sitting in the grass

Road Trip Day 18 - we've driven approximately 300 Miles today!