Day 18 July 14

Well our first night back in the tent after staying with Grandpa Dean we discovered a hole in the mattress, at Deer Lodge, Montana. I attempted to patch it with glue and duct tape. The first night in Yellowstone found us on the ground again, so we took our tour west into West Yellowstone and bought a new one. I am miles away from the store (Hot Springs, SD) and we have a slow leak. I will see if I can find it--the mattress came with a patch.

It took us 4 hours to get from Gardner (north gate) to our campsite at Canyon. We stopped at every site and animal. The next day we went toward the west gate and did the same thing. After the mattress purchase and lunch, we headed south to Old Faithful. We made the 6:29 pm event. We worked our way past the lake to our camp. That night we froze to death. It dropped below freezing--there was frost on the windshield. I went to start the car, so we could warm up and forgot to unlock the door before I ran to the bathroom. It cost me $52.10 to get it opened again and the lost of a couple of hours.

It was a long day to Custer, SD and the worst KOA yet. The tent sites were on a very rocky hill--not a flat smooth site to be found. I mentioned this to the office and was told, "Well, this is SD." I mentioned that the dog and horseshoe areas were flat and grassy, to not a good reception. Yesterday we took showers and did laundry. We went to Crazy Horse in the afternoon. Cody loved it! Every thing is run by the Oglala Indians. They had a whole area with local artists. We then went to Mt. Rushmore and left there at 6:30 pm. I decided to go to our campground and get some time to relax. The mattress definitely has a slow leak. This morning we are going into Hot Springs and the Mammoth site. Then onto Estes Park.