Custer, SD

Custer, South Dakota has long been one of our favorite places to visit.  We couldn’t travel west without a stop there, even a short one.  This visit was a special one, though.  This year, we returned to our first Custer destination, Broken Arrow Horse and RV Campground.  Broken Arrow brings back so many memories.  On our first visit here, our beautiful Australian shepherd mix, Feathers, lost her three-month battle with Canine Meningitis and Megaesophagus, leaving us with holes in our hearts that remain to this day.  We can’t help but think of her as we walk the trails that she so enjoyed and watch our dogs dive into the weeds in pursuit of small, furry critters as she did.

Broken Arrow is also where, three weeks later, Dakota (aka Kota) joined the Bagley Pack.  Many of you know the story.  When we went to Hot Springs to pick up Feathers’ ashes, the vet asked if we were planning to get another dog.  We said, yes, when we returned to Texas.  However, God apparently didn’t want us to wait that long.  The vet gave our name to a family that needed to rehome a young dog. The woman called us and told us the pup’s story.  The young dog was first owned by a college student.  When the girl changed schools and couldn’t take “Zavada” with her, the dog was given to a farm family.

That seemed like the perfect solution, but it wasn’t.  The pup soon discovered birds, and in three weeks she caught and killed three wild pheasants.  She then decided one of the children’s 4-H chickens looked a lot like a pheasant, and the bird narrowly escaped the same fate.  The woman explained that if she killed a chicken, “Grandpa will take her out and shoot her.”  

We went to meet the dog and soon found ourselves with an exuberant, lovable 10-month old pup we renamed Dakota…for her home state and because it’s one of our favorite places.

Kota is now approaching her 13th birthday, and has been a joy, a delight, a wonderful companion (and some other things we won’t mention).  On September 23 we will celebrate her 12th adoption anniversary, and all the adventures we have enjoyed together. 

  

Our time in Custer this year was filled with fun and friendship.  We reconnected with Lee Ann McCormick, who spends her summers in Custer.  Lee Ann and her late husband, Larry, were part of our Custer summer “family” until Covid stopped our visits a couple of years ago.  We enjoyed a meal and a good visit with Lee Ann at Mt. Rushmore Brewery, and look forward to meeting up again next year.

Our camping companions for a number of years and good friends, Rick and Linda Lorentz, were staying at Broken Arrow  as well…just two sites down from us.  Broken Arrow is a horse camp as well as an RV destination.  I highly recommend it to my friends who travel with their horses.  There are paddocks and covered stalls, plus easy access to many miles of trails in the beautiful Black Hills.

We shared a week’s worth of happy hours, walks on the trails with Rick and Linda, 

drives through Custer State Park and the surrounding beautiful hills, 

an evening at the Black Hills Playhouse 

and some fantastic and not-so-fantastic meals. 

We had to dodge the many motorcycles in town for Sturgis Week, but managed not to run over (or be run over) by any of them.

Rick and Linda will be joining us in Buffalo, Wyoming on the first of September, and we look forward to sharing even more adventures.