We had an early start this morning as Lynne had arranged for a talk by the current Lakota Chief Bald Eagle who is 96 years old. The Chief now is a ceremonial title rather than a legal title. We drove through the Black Hills of Dakota to Kevin Costner's Native American Educational Centre "Tatanka". Chief Bald Eagle talked with us for about one and a half hours and then we had a short tour of the grounds.

Next we joined Jay's Luxury Tour of Deadwood Town. This company is also owned by Kevin Costner now. Jay was a real character and regaled us with stories about the town's history including an expose about Wild Bill Hickok. According to him, Wild Bill only resided there for 62 days and all he did for Deadwood was die there thereby creating the town's infamy.

This afternoon's visit was to Mt Rushmore National Memorial a tribute to four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and their contributions to the United States. Most people wonder why Teddy Roosevelt is included and the rumour is that he was simply a friend of the sculptor Borghum. It also was an enjoyable visit.

In the evening we went on a buffalo safari cookout in the Custer park. Lynne our leader kept saying it is going to rain and the operator will understand if you don't want to go. We told Lynne our leader that we did not care if it rained or snowed we were going. She did not understand that Aussies are a hardy lot because all of us went. Of course it rained during our outward bound, cold hard rain. The organisers provided us with a blanket each and we used them to ward off the rain and mud. Unfortunately we had seen so much wild life that it was a bit anticlimactic. During our drive we spent some time on the historical Boozeman Trail which generally became the Fort Laramie to Olgallala Stage Coach Route. It looked so natural that we could have been in the 1890's. On the pro side though we went to a good old cowboy cookout with real barbecue steak etc. We were entertained by an old country & western singer which was very pleasant. Would not have missed it for the world.