We left Hill City at 8:30 AM Saturday morning and caravanned with 8 other coaches to Gillette, WY where the Newmar International Rally is being held. Not much to see along this route except for Devil's Tower way off in the distance and then it was only a glimpse.
We are camped in the Cam-Plex Multi Event Facilities which is a huge fairgrounds-like place. They have 6 separate campgrounds, two areas with numerous horse stalls, a race track with grandstands, and about 5 air conditioned builds for meetings of huge numbers of people. The Missouri caravan are all parked together, and by that I mean we are very close. In fact, our awning nearly touches the unit next to us. We have to walk or drive 2/3 mile to reach our meeting places.
As it is all over the middle part of the US, the weather here is very hot and very windy. Today we drove back to Devil's Tower and our Jeep registered 109°! The wind is rocking our coach and blowing dust. Even if it cools down tonight, we will leave the AC running to prevent a dusty rig.
Devil's Tower is awesome. It is caused by magma being pushed toward the surface, but not quite making it all the way. As it cooled, it cracked. Then erosion exposed the tower and started wearing it away. The Tower is 867 feet from its base, 1,267 feet above the river and 5,112 feet above sea level. The flat top is 1.5 acres. We took the 1.3 mile walk around the base. It is a popular place for climbers, a sacred place for Indians, and a tourist trap for the rest of us. In 1906 it was declared the first National Monument by Pres. T. Roosevelt.
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