"Welcome home!"

We have been anticipating this stay in the Black Hills, near Rapid City and Box Elder, and have taken the opportunity to assess our needs (wants) and ordered items that we will use in one way or another. The reason to do that now is so that the items can be shipped to our mail service in Box Elder and we can pick them up directly. For the past two weeks we have been placing orders at Amazon, King Arthur Flour, REI and other online ordering stores. Today we drove the 50 miles to Box Elder to pick up our mail and what boxes have arrived.

On the way to Box Elder we passed, and stopped at the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center. Just a little way from the Center we spied these female Bighorn Sheep (Rams have thick, curled horns and ewes have smaller curved horns.).

At the Visitor Center we met volunteers Cal and Marilyn Briggs-Harris, originally from Vermont but now with an Americas Mailbox address. Marilyn helped us identify possible trails and two pleasanter people you would be hard-put to find.

At Americas Mailbox Ray met us with his booming, "Welcome home!" trademark greeting. Seven boxes and 4 packages were waiting for us, as well as a packet of mail. We were most relieved to see that our renewed passports were in the packet. Now we can travel to Canada next month.

We stopped in Sams in Rapid City and then came back to Custer to do the laundry - a little over three weeks worth. In between washing and drying we went out to explore the town.

There is definitely a western, touristy feeling in this town nestled in the Black Hills.