BT 4.0: The one trick pony does it's trick. Again. Really well.

Several days have flown by on BT 4.0. We still have lots left...fingers crossed that this next third of the trip is filled with ample wireless. Turns out the middle of nowhere doesn't have wireless or electricity or, in some cases, even running water.
I'm taking this state-by state to catch up:
SOUTH DAKOTA
We played in eastern SoDak with our family and friends for the first five days of big trip. The merriment was abundant. The cousins frolicked, old friends reunited, copious amounts of food was consumed and the kids got some much needed South Dakota summertime love.
We packed up and headed to the Badlands and then forged on a bit further to answer the age-old question, "Where the Heck is Wall Drug?" After sampling some delicious donuts (seriously, if you are ever there GET A DONUT) we started our 6-day camping run at Custer State Park.
I love horseback riding. In fact, we say it's for the kids but really I'm the catalyst for our yearly rides. As we pulled into the stables in Custer I had a vague sense of familiarity. This doesn't happen often to me and I largely attribute it to my frequent childhood moves (psych major) but that day the familiarity was chewing at me. I wasn't convinced this was the same place I rode horses with my family as an 8-year-old but I held it as a possibility. And then, we started our ride...
My horse, Andy, was uber-pals with Mark's horse, Amos. They were old carriage horses so they wanted to be riding parallel to one another (cue the Awwww's). The guides had a vague order that they wished us to stay in and this put Andy behind Amos. This may have chapped Andy's rear a bit, put him in a fowl mood, I don't know but then having the ass-biting horse they call "Pick-up" behind me was recipe for a galloping, rearing fit of horse-rage. Pick-up bit my horse's butt, my horse flew into a tizzy and all the childhood memories of our dramatic horseback ride in the Black Hills came flooding back. Only this time it was me, which wasn't as funny as when it was my brother and I was eight. Amos eventually took one for the team and filed in behind Andy to endure some butt-biting with a little more grace than his buddy. The kids handled their horses like equestrians (ok, not really) and Odelia delighted the 18-year-old cowboy guide by hollering out "butterfly" every time she saw a butterfly which was about every six seconds. He may have sworn off parenthood for a few more years but he was a good sport and by the end he was playing "eye spy a butterfly" with her.

The giant "Hiss" snake at Grandma's house.

David and Deedra retired their cordless phone while we were there (as seen on "Friends"). It was oddly delightful to open the trash can and see an entire cordless phone from the 90's staring back at me.

Making homemade ice cream with Ellie under David's tutelage.

All of us!

When you ask a family of thespians and performers to do "silly face" they bring their A game. I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Upside down Osie.

This girl can "silly face" like nobody's business!

Cutest Cousins

The fella.

Cousins.

I guess we practiced "silly face" a lot.

It's hard to call them "old friends" because it seems like just yesterday. This lady and her clan fill my heart.

Frani's coozie drawer.

Scary Badlands.

We headed out despite the looming gray skies.

Milo and Mark ventured out a bit further on the trail. It was a slippery venture due to the rain.

Then he fell in the mud...the PEANUT BUTTER mud.

Head to toe mud for this fella.

Who's this guy and does he know where Wall Drug is?

Donuts, 5 cent coffee and FREE ice water.

It's free. Water.

Night 1 of camping. Osie schooled me in stokin' the fire.

I under packed for mountain weather. We each have one pair of pants. Night #1 camping Milo made the best of it by sitting by the fire in his sleeping bag. I played the role of anxious mom...reminding him, constantly, not to trip and fall in the fire. Fun, mom, fun!

Carrots were laying just outside the stables. Odelia REALLY wanted to feed them to the horses. We kept telling her that we didn't know if it was ok (trying to put her off so we didn't have to ask for her). What does a motivated, horse-loving, 5-year-old do? She marches her little self right into the stable office filled with adults and asks permission to feed their horses carrots. They say yes, she is delighted and I am reminded (yet again) that you don't know unless you ask. Life lessons from kids are just too simple sometimes. I hope she keeps that focus and fearlessness.

Pre-ride. Amos and I haven't met yet. Crabby, old bastard. Odelia's horse was named Jazz. She loved her.

Giddy-up.

Oh yes we did ride through a spring on horsies in the middle of a beautiful mountain scene.

This is me and my pal, Andy. He was a cantankerous fella.

Jazz and Osie.

Milo was truly "along for the ride". He handled his pal with the gentleness that we all know to be true Milo. At one point the horse was off the trail and eating (a no-no) and I said to him, "Give her a kick to get her moving." Milo's heart was torn between following the guides directions to keep the horse on the trail and his gentle spirit which was preventing him from kicking the horse. "Mom," he says, "I don't want to hurt her."