Day 18-Custer, South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore

Day 18: Custer, South Dakota & Mt. Rushmore

Hey y’all!!! The Happy’s are back again with your daily blog! This morning, we got to sleep in till 7AM, which is late compared to all the other mornings so far on TWB. This morning Caleb, Rustyn, and McCauley gave their research reports from yesterday. We loaded onto the buses and had a delicious breakfast of Nutella/peanut butter croissants with bananas on the side. During the multiple hours on the bus, many of us either took naps or enjoyed jams from our childhoods along with card games. The bus was delighted with Josh’s competitive spirit; we got to watch him and a few guys toss a play-dough ball from the back end of the bus, trying to land it in the tiny container. 



Later on in the ride, Miss America had a slight mishap where the fender on one of our trailers broke, resulting in a flat tire. Lucky, Grant and Josh were able to change the tire, and the van was as good as new. Lunch consisted of pizza subs and pretzels sticks, which was a favorite in our opinion. Sometime after 5 PM, we arrived at a park located in Custer, South Dakota, where Madelyn gave her research report, which she had been excited about for the entire trip. 


The cooks making chicken nuggets, green beans, and mashed potatoes 


The groups start practicing for their dance competition tomorrow night in Colorado: 





Elizabeth, Julia and Haley enjoying the park! 

Some of the campers were greeted by Mayor Corbin, and had Madelyn attempt to scare Grant and Vickie into thinking we needed to move the buses. After a scrumptious dinner of chicken nuggets, green beans, and mashed potatoes we were introduced to the Mayor, his wife Terri, and his son Cody, who is a firefighter. After that, we loaded the bus for Mount Rushmore.


Mayor Corbin speaks to the group! 

The bus experienced a bit of a hiccup because McCauley laughed so hard we saw the chicken nuggets a second time! But all is good, because she claims, “I caught it before it hit Chloe!” (What a great sport about things, LOL!) When we finally got to Mount Rushmore, we took several pictures of the monument as Kyleigh Goodman gave us a very informative presentation.

Kyleigh doing her research on Mt. Rushmore


V in the American Spirit! 


Enjoying the Mt. Rushmore presentation before the rain came! 







We got to see a little of the presentation before the rain 

 Sadly our time was cut short thanks to Mother Nature granting us a thunder storm. From there we rushed back to the YMCA, which is also known as the longest free standing log cabin in the USA. Soaking wet, we all worked together to unload the vans and bus. 

Sitting inside the YMCA where we will sleep tonight! 







To end a long day, we were gifted by Josh’s beautiful wife, Katti with Mary Kay charcoal masks (hit her up if you want some makeup, ladies!!).  Now we’re ready for the cute cadets we will meet at the Air Force Academy! Those brave enough took freezing cold showers tonight, which made the Pacific Ocean feel like a hot tub. Now it’s getting late, and the Happy’s need to get some beauty rest. Talk to y’all tomorrow!