We got our laundry and grocery chores out of the way
today. The base has a nice commissary so the grocery part was good.
The campground has a laundromat but it only has four washers, three of which
had finished their cycles with the owners of the clothes nowhere in sight
(inconsiderate and, unfortunately, not uncommon). Rather than dump the
loads out (which we were told to do by the camp host) we decided to go to a
laundromat nine miles away in Rapid City. Doing laundry is one of our
least favorite parts of traveling. Dryers are notoriously unpredictable
but at least today’s didn’t fry our clothes which we appreciated.
After the chores were done, and after I finally got the
truck’s tuner’s software problems solved (big relief), we still had enough time
to go see something. TripAdvisor had rave reviews for the Museum of
Geology at the SD School of Mines and Technology which was only 14 miles away
so off we went.
The Museum is small but top-notch and its masses of items
are very well organized. It has two sections, the bigger consisting of
fossils from South Dakota and the smaller having minerals from all over plus a
room dedicated to SD minerals. All the fossils are originals, not reproductions.
One of the most interesting fossils was this styxosaurus
found in SD in 1945. These animals lived in a shallow sea which covered
the center of the continent and their feet are like paddles. It’s
extremely rare to find a complete skeleton so the missing parts of this one had
to be fabricated. The Loch Ness monster, if it is real, is thought to
be a relative of the styxosaurus. The huge white tusks and skull on the wall
are the remains of a woolly mammoth, so much bigger than the ancient bison
skulls to the left.
The display included a somewhat flattened lower jaw from a
T. Rex and a perfect Triceratops head. I’m not including a picture of the
T. Rex because it didn’t photograph well, but the Triceratops is in great
condition. It’s not every day you get to see genuine dinosaur skulls.
On to the minerals……they have a collection of very large
gold nuggets. The ones on display are casts made from the original
nuggets which were melted down. I had no idea such large nuggets ever
existed.
The largest of the nuggets (on the left) – 138.56 pounds,
found in Australia in 1858. Purchased for £10,050 (would be many millions
in today’s currency). Put on exhibit for a few months in Australia and
London, then melted down and made into sovereigns.
Fairburn agates are the SD state gem. This is an
exceptionally beautiful specimen.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset.
The weather here is very strange. It bounces up and
down from day to day……95 one day, 82 the next. Tomorrow is supposed to be
the last mid-90’s day for the rest of our stay here. Seems like a good
time to tour a 53 degree cave, so we’ll probably go to Wind Cave National Park.
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