Finding The Center of the Universe

Having found my wonderful Great While Buffalo, I thought my accomplishments for the week were more than ample. Buffalo of peace and love restoreth calm to the camping life of an American tax payer. But Marilyn had an idea. "If we leave one day early and make a short day to break up the long run of the following day, we can actually find and stay in the Geographical Center of the United States." In the French town of Belle Fourche (pronounced Bell Foosh), which is also the county seat of Butte, South Dakota. How it came to pass that the center of the United States is actually a French town amidst the land of the Sioux and the Lakota I have no idea and no recollection of ever having heard. (But see the link provided to Wikipedia to read history of the town) But ya can't fight such things; they are where they are and they are what they are. Now I'm one for taking what I've learned and projecting it out a bit to see if I can make some rhyme or reason out of it. So the way I see it, if this is the geographical center of the United States, and I am living in a motor coach and only one day away from having visited ALL of the 49 states I can actually get to with the coach....then surely the United States is "My Universe" and I am now plop smack in the middle of it. How cool is that! Does it mean anything? It must! Is it important? It must be! But like most things, it takes a while to get the perspective you need to put things into, well, perspective. For now I can say I have been here. My love and I (and my little dog too) have visited the center of our universe, and sooner or later it will be made clear to me just why that was a necessary thing to do. Maybe it was only because Marilyn thought it was a good idea. I have learned full well that challenging the navigator of your life is a rather poor idea. You point! Me drive!

Finding The Great White Buffalo

I've been hoping to make the point that there is much to do here in the Rapid City area of South Dakota. So when Chicken-Gold Mike wrote to say the Caribou were walking past the cabin at lunch the other day, I started to think I should show you what you might be able to see around here in the way of Wildlife. I'm not sure there is a BETTER than Alaska destination, but if there is a second best destination, it just might be right here. So if time and budget won't permit an Alaska trip, give South Dakota try.

I have reported that we are staying at the Hart Ranch just outside the city. Everything is within a reasonably short trip from here and to prove the point we set out on this, our last day here, to see what we could find in the way of wildlife around here. We set a 10 mile radius from the campground/ranch as our search area. I think you're gonna be amazed what we found. I know I am!

For starters, I finally found the animal I have been trying to find my whole life. It was an eye popper that made us gasp when we first spotted it. THE Great White Buffalo. A sacred image to the Indians, the mere appearance of the White Buffalo in old western movies could stop stampedes, bring an abundance of food and wildlife to the starving, stop warring factions in their tracks, save the dying. This is a rare find. It alone made my day special. Very special!

We also found an Arctic Wolf:

A Grizzly Bear and her cub:

An unusual Raccoon:

And the inspiration for one of my favorite cartoons Heckle and Jekyll - Magpies:

There were lots of other surprise finds as well, as you'll see in today's slide show.

Now, just like you asked how I was able to get those incredible close up shots of the buffalo in previous posts, I know for a fact that you will surely seek the tricks of the trade that let me capture these truly amazing wildlife shots, like of the Arctic Wolves and the Black and Grizzly Bears. Oh I suppose I could try to keep it a secret, but I'm big on helping you get some good shots of your own, so I'll share. You get close to the wild and potentially dangerous animals by trying to blend in as best you can. I often completely disguise myself to look as much like them as possible. Like this:


For the wolf shots, Abby and I both become masters of disguise. Working with Abby, the "human scent" is diminished and the canine bonding consideration is brought to bare (or is that bear). Anyway, it works. Every time. Mike, please note that Abby also chooses to wear her camouflage bandanna on such occasions. When you keep the dog properly disguised, even if it barks at , say for example, caribou, when the animals look around they cannot see a dog and so assume it was merely a mating grunt or something like that that they actually heard, thus the "herd" does not run away before the picture can be taken. Sure hope this helps!


And with bears, it is important to give what you get. If they look in the car windows at you, "lookem" right back and snap the shutter!

Now, did we really find all these critters within 10 miles of the ranch in South Dakota? Yes we did. Did we find them in a zoo? No we didn't! Did we find them wild and out in the open like the wildlife in Northern Canada and Alaska? Well, sort of! The animals were not caged, but they were "contained." Where could we have found such a wild diversity of wildlife. Welcome to Bear Country USA. This is a mostly open range wildlife park. You drive your car through, windows up, doors closed. These are wild animals. You do not feed them, You do not tease them. This ain't no petting zoo, honey child. And the bears? There are well over a hundred of them. As you drive through they may be behind you, beside you, and in front of you all at once. They can look right in your window just as you are looking out at them. Unnerving, but cool! They are BIG. You can be within inches of all of the animals except the mountain lions which have been screened from open access because of a previous unfortunate accident. That still works for me. Being right next to the wolves and the white buffalo just made my day!

Travel and photo Tip of the Day: Funny is funny ( he said hopefully), but photographing wild animals is no laughing matter in reality. Be careful. Don't get too close. And remember to respect your subject. Getting out of its way may be more important than getting the shot. Besides, it's amazing what can be done in Photo Shop!

Here's a slide show of a day in the preserve park:

Crazy Horse And More

I feel a whole lot more like taking a nap than I do in trying to put a post up. Oh, sure, yesterday we ventured into the Black Hills and had a marvelous day. I got up early this morning (5:30 Mountain Time) to have some fun posting....only to find out that my newest version of Norton Security that I downloaded and had working yesterday, had ISSUES, as they say. Well, long story short, its issues rapidly became MY issues and I spent the next 8 full hours (nonstop) in on line chats and phone calls to get those issues resolved. Issues resolved for now...or so it seems.

About yesterday. Yesterday. All my troubles seemed so far away....oh wait, that was a Beatles song wasn't it? Anyway, we drove past Mt Rushmore (which we visited before). Took a few shots because it is impossible not to! It's pretty neat. But we were on the way to see the Crazy Horse Memorial- a "mountain"sculpture" in progress since 1948, my personal favorite year ever, and it's still a long way from being finished. BUT! It's close enough to finished so that you feel a bit awestruck just being near it. And to think the entire Mt. Rushmore sculpture would pretty much fit in a space the size of just the head of Crazy Horse, which gives you some real sense of how huge this monument will be.

Along the way, we stopped to watch a flock of wild turkeys pick over a grass field before deciding to step into the woods when I decided to step out of the car to take their picture. If only I had had my turkey call...(here, turkey, turkey). We made a stop at the Big Thunder Mine, where you can take a lode mine tour or do some panning, or just chat with some of the guides who are happy to answer questions about the area. We learned a lot about the area during our visit. Out by Horse Thief Lake, in the shadows of Mt. Rushmore, I pulled over to watch some beautiful Rainbow Trout being reeled in. The fishermen were a lot happier to be in my photos than the fish were! In the forest between the two monuments, Spring Cleaning was underway and there were nice, neat , uniform piles of brush all lined up and ready for disposal.

I'm gonna have to let the pictures speak for themselves today. I just can't be at this computer much more today: