TWB June 17th 2019 Experience: Day 18-Custer, South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore

Day 18: Custer, South Dakota & Mt. Rushmore

What’s up, America?! Back at it again with the Happy group. Last night we were sleeping with the bears and a pool table, in the Grizzly Den at Ponderosa. It was tight quarters, but we were so happy to be out of the rain! In the morning, we woke up to Vickie with a Fourth of July hairdo. We all got in our red, white, and blue outfits and hit the road bright and early to head to Mount Rushmore. After getting on the bus, trying to avoid the rain… we all took a nap; waking up in a different state is amazing. At one point on our drive we thought Tim was driving us through a cloud because of all the fog. On our way to visit the presidents, our cooks handed out a gourmet meal of cinnamon rolls and mini donuts.

After breakfast we stopped at a gas station where the workers were charmed by our southern flair. We got back on the road and sang along to music from Grant’s ancient iPod touch. After, we ate a yummy lunch of pizza wraps that the cooks helped prepare, which tasted better than it sounds. Soon after, we stopped at Wal-Mart so the cooks could rush inside to grab our next couple meals. The other participants ran straight for more Fourth of July accessories.

Getting back on the road, we finally reached Custer, South Dakota, where we went to the park until it was time to go see Mt. Rushmore up close. At the park we were practicing for our TWB dance battle and the cooks were grilling hamburgers for dinner. At the park, we met a kind German couple that was so impressed by the amount of pride we have in our country, they wanted to take a picture of all of us in our USA gear, since it was the 4th of July. After eating our delicious meal of cheeseburgers, watermelon, and lemonade, we headed up to Mt. Rushmore.

The presidents were being shy tonight apparently, as fog and rain covered their faces, it looks like the Bashful group gained four new members! After spending a lot of money at the gift shop and buying ice cream, sorry mom, we got a few group pictures in front of the timid presidents. The tourist were blown away by our enthusiasm as we were chanting “USA” and “TWB” so loud the White House could hear us.

After the pictures, we ran quickly to get on the bus before the rain came down again. We were riding through a big storm singing to our favorite patriotic songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” all while being impressed by Tim’s amazing driving skills. We were dancing in our seats with our glow sticks waving in the dark. Arriving at the local Custer YMCA, we ran through the rain to get inside. Luckily, TWB’s friend Rex, who runs the YMCA, let us stay in the gym. The YMCA is a 93 year old log cabin, it was pretty neat!! After a funny story about what TWB used to do in Custer, we waited until it stopped raining for a little bit to work together to get everyone’s bags in safely. We laid in our sleeping bags and went to sleep with dreams of the stars and the stripes in our heads. Tomorrow we head to Colorado springs, see you in 4 days!!

Samantha carrying all the wet tarps, great job girl!!

Heather and Zach standing with Mr. Brown, he loved all of us TWB kids. He was staying at the Ponderosa camp ground as well and loved getting to know all of us. He used to be a school bus driver, and wanted to come say goodbye before we left for Mt. Rushmore