New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota

From Texas on to New Mexico and Santa Fe.
Santa Fe was closed so we just drove through it, had a quick look then onto a place to free camp for a while. We found a place on the other side of the Rio Grande Gorge in the Carson National Forest. We wanted to stay for a week, or until our water run out. Set up camp with the composting toilet for the first time. It worked well.
After about a week we were out of water. Our next stop was the historic town of Taos to do shopping, laundry and fill up with water. We parked right in town on a vacant block of land next to McDonalds, the site was very handy, but we weren’t allowed to have any Maccas because we were too big to drive though and they would not take walk up orders. No one told us to leave so we stayed for a couple of nights. The First Nations historic area in Taos was closed off and under security so we were definitely not allowed to do any drive by sightseeing. By this stage our flights out of Seattle had been cancelled, but we could leave from San Francisco, decided to kept heading north west. We could get home on a Qantas flight to Sydney but there was no flight to Melbourne for Lucy dog who needed a direct flight to quarantine there. We were told by Qantas some time in June they might be flying direct to Melbourne.

North to Colorado
Colorado Springs - Boondockers Welcome
We had not tried the group ‘Boondockers Welcome’ yet because we were either too big or they were not in the area we wanted to visit. I was surprised the hosts were still allowing rvers to camp in their yards. It was all arranged on the phone so we didn’t really come in contact with them. A beautiful spot on the Colorado High Plains, Jack rabbits and cotton tails to watch. Such welcoming generous hosts, electric and water for just $5.00 a night, which they ended up not taking. Denver had extended their shelter at home order so we skipped Denver and drove onto our next stop.

South Dakota
We travelled slowing north, and hoped flights to Melbourne would become available. South Dakota was still open for some camping which makes it easier. We found a Campsite on the lake at Sheps Canyon Recreation area, Hot Springs. Beautiful free camp on the lake shore, still a bit cold, but plenty of water to try out our bush shower (electric). Hot Springs of course were closed
Found out our flights from San Fran had been cancelled. Fortunately, family in Aust were looking out for us, told us that Qantas was doing a few flights direct to Melbourne from LA so we could get Lucy dog home and ourselves. A change of plans we now had to head south but we were so close to Mount Rushmore we decided we may as well carry on and see it.

Mount Rushmore National Park, South Dakota.
The walk was open but not any of the other facilities. Nice to see it without the crowds.
Crazy Horse was still closed.

Gutzon Borglum, selected four presidents he thought were the most important in the US history.
George Washington – First President. Led colonists in the American Revolutionary war to win independence from Great Britain. Represents the birth of the United States.
Thomas Jefferson – Third president. Primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Purchased the Louisiana Territory from France 1803. Represents growth of the US.
Theodore Roosevelt – 26th president. Played an instrumental part in the negotiation for construction of the Panama canal. He worked to end large corporate monopolies and ensure rights of the common working man. Chosen to represent the development of the US.
Abraham Lincoln – 16th President. Held the nation together through the Civil War. Lincoln believed his most sacred duty was the preservation of the union, and that is why he was chosen.