Day 33. Alliance, Nebraska. 22.3.24

A little sleep in this morning until 7.15am.  We needed it after the last 2 nights in Denver. It was -1° when we went to breakfast just before 8am and still the same when we left at 9.30.

Leaving Lusk.

A lonely tree with no friends for miles.

South Dakota border, our 7th US state.  We are heading to Custer for a few days to check out multiple things but mostly Mount Rushmore. 

Welcome to Edgemont.

Not long after the weather turned cold, with a bit of snow falling and wet roads.

Coming in to Hot Springs it got worse so we decided to find a spot where we could use the internet and make a new plan as neither of us was comfortable being on the road in this weather. 

No wonder we were cold. We've decided to go to the Mammoth Dig then head back out of town as the weather is going to get REALLY cold over the next couple of days (-12° is predicted for 2 days time) This was about the only thing we forgot to check when we altered all our plans 🤦‍♀️

By the time we drove 4 mins to the Mammoth Site it had dropped to -3°.

They have unearthed the bones of 61 mammoths so far.

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They believe a sink hole developed with a collision of tectonic plates. This filled with water from underground. The mammoths went in to drink and couldn't get back out as the side walls were made of a slippery shale. Eventually sediment filled in the hole and now humans have found the bones. That's a very basic idea of what happened over millions of years. 

We could have used a coat from a wool mammoth today.

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Frozen road slush fell off the car when I opened the door. 

We headed back south to Edgemont and it had warmed up a little. 

Crossed the border into Nebraska, our 8th state. Not long after the sun came out.

We have booked into a motel in Alliance. The owner is an Indian who has lived and worked in NZ and Australia for about 10 years each. He speaks English well and was extremely helpful. He gave us a newly refurbished room and a few suggestions for dinner. 

I chose pizza which was the special of the day. $20USD, 12 slices and we only ate half so plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. 

We definitely don't want to hang around here too long. Alliance is 3890ft above sea level a bit lower than what we have been lately so hopefully we won't be feeling so tired anymore.