Mount Rushmore (Leaving)
I finished my journal entry around 10:30, noticing that just about everyone else seemed to have gone to bed. There was no light visible. I had been using a flashlight to see the keys on my keyboard. As I put my sleeping material (bag, book, and light) in the tent it began. The familiar sound of someone whose voice got a little louder with each drink of alcohol. It came from the camp of six college age children and was just loud enough to get the jist that one male was feeling left out of the party. In summary this went on until at least 4 in the morning. I was not awake that whole time, but awoke several times and the chatter was still going.
At one point I awoke to what sounded like a dog gnawing on my tent. I kicked the side of my tent fro mthe inside and the intruder ran away. Next I heard what sounded like I dog violently chewing on a bone near my bucycle. I shone my powerful flashlight in that direction and saw what could have been a wolf, a coyote or alaskan husky run to the opposite side of my car. The violent chewing and breaking of bones started up again. My light was blocked by my car. Assuming this was another harmless pet being treated like royalty by its irresponsible owner, I unzipped the door to my tent stepped out of the tent and leaned around to shine the light in the direction of the noise about 20 feet away.
The intruder ran towards the camp of the family of five and disappeared in the dark. I don't think what I caught a glimpse of was anybody's pet. It was lanky and thin like a wolf that had not been getting enough to eat. I swear it beared its teeh at me as it slunk away.
Despite all this I went back to sleep. A particularly sound sleep for some reason. Around what turned out to be 5:30 am I heard wat sounded like somone or a group of people stomping through the thick brush and pine tree forest near my tent. Branches were violently breaking un ser someone's feet as they stomped around. I peered out the back window of my tent to see the patriarch of the 5 member family gathering firewood (which was prohibited by the campground rules by the way). To tell the truth, I wanted to get up early to get a good shot of the monument (or is it memorial) in the early morning sun since it faced sort of southwest. Still it upset me. This guy was within 5 feet of my tent stomping around and breaking branches, yet was tiptoeing around his own campsite so as to not wake anyone.
I packed up my tent and belongings as loudly as I could, slamming car doors whenever possible. By 6:15 am I was headed back to the monument (memorial) only to notice my low radiator fluid icon flashing on my dashboard. I checked and sure ennough the resevior was empty. I remebered that I had stopped at a lake that night I barely made it to St Joseph and that I left my car running while talking to the campground host. My car overheated and there was a puddle of antifreeze near the car when I returned. I suspected this to be the cause and was not worried, I wuold stop in town and fill the resevior. Meanwhile the warning light went out anyway.
I took the picture I wanted and made it into Rapid City alright. I refilled the reservior and got gas and was on the road by 7:30am. My plan was to get off the interstate as soon as possible and head for Montanna. I planned to camp near Billings and also hoped the climate would be cooler and the wind calmer there. God was laughing so hard, it was not funny.