Month: July 2018

Leaving South Dakota

We haven’t made it completely out of South Dakota, but we are almost out. Tonight we are staying in the Cabela’s parking lot in Mitchell. It wasn’t our first choice, but the Badlands National Park campgrounds was full. Instead of paying a lot of money for a “regular campground”, we decided to just drive a ways farther and spend the night in the Cabela’s lot. Cabela’s encourages RVers to spend the night in a corner of the lot. No services provided, but it is generally safe and quiet. Being free doesn’t hurt a bit either. After all, our unit is fully self contained, so why spend $35-40 for a spot in a private campground?

The Badlands camping alternative was just a wild hope. It was a Friday in the prime tourist season, and I didn’t have high expectations of finding a spot. We did get to drive through the park though, and it was even more beautiful the usual. The grasslands were amazingly green due to the very wet summer South Dakota has been having, and the contrasts between the multi colored rocks and the vegetation was striking. Since we were in the motorhome towing a Grand Cherokee we couldn’t really stop anywhere – too big. We have been there a number of times before though, so we just enjoyed the ride.

I have more pictures of our Black Hills sojourn though. The first is a picture of a spring/waterfall in the town of Hot Springs.

The next is the sound of the Fall River just outside of Hot Springs. I love the sound of water. You will have to click this one to hear it. I really should figure out how to embed videos.

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We also had a fabulous encounter yesterday with a huge herd of mountain goats right at the entrance to Jewel Cave National Monument. We were driving by after doing some back roads from Hill City, rounded a corner, and there they were blocking the highway.

I didn’t get all of them in any one picture, but there probably thirty or more ewes and lambs. They were definitely not too worried about the cars, all of which came to a dead stop.

Also during yesterday’s running around we ate lunch at a good German restaurant in Hill City – the Alpine Inn. We both had jager schnitzel, and it was lovely. We went to this restaurant last year when we were on vacation with the kids near Spearfish, and it was just as good as we remembered. Across from the restaurant was a shop with hundreds of metal yard sculptures. I ended up with a peacock whirly gig and some roses. I will take a picture when I get them in the front bed.

We are actually going to spend tomorrow night at a campground in Waterloo so we can get the motorhome all cleaned up. It won’t be out again until late September or early October. We do have other trips planned, but they will be with the tiny tent camper or the car.

Southern Black Hills

We have a lovely campsite at Angostura State Recreation Area. There are actually 6 separate campgrounds. On the west side of the reservoir is a small regular campground and a horse camp. On the east side, where we are, there are four campgrounds. We are in Cascade campground, the second from the north. Lots of trees, a very nice toilet and shower building, playground for kids, and access to a really nice bike trail make it a good choice. I took some pictures at night, but I haven’t taken any good day time pictures around they campground. I will try to do that tomorrow. Here is one with the full moon poking through the trees last night though.

We have taken some nice drives so far. We went to Rapid City for a prescription refill, and we went through part of Wind Cave National Park. It is a different view of the Black Hills showing the prairies that are intermixed with the mountains. Gorgeous!

We also went into Custer State Park to drive the Wildlife Loop toward Rapid City. It did not disappoint! Turkeys, prairie dogs, deer, pronghorn, donkeys, and, of course, bison.

The bison were actually crossing the road, and they caused a massive traffic jam. We were luckily heading north and only had 5-6 cars dead stopped in front of us. The road heading south was ‘bison jammed’ for at least a mile. Another interesting thing was that there were bulls in the middle of the nursery herd. They were definitely creating harems. The bulls aren’t often with the cows and calves – only when they are getting ready to mate. One big guy, on the right in the picture just above, had collected at least three cows, and he was giving low bellows trying to attract even more.

Today we just hung around the coach and took a quick trip into Hot Springs. There is an aptly named “Skyline Drive” we took toward the top of Battle Mountain. It was definitely a high clearance road due to the wash outs, but the view downhill was lovely.

This picture shows the old sanitarium, now a VA center, and a part of the National Cemetery. The red sandstone buildings are a feature of Hot Springs. Before our common pain medicines were known, hot springs were the primary treatment for most joint and muscle issues so there were a number of sanitariums in the area.

We also had a nice dinner cooked outside. Kevin grilled steaks on the Volcano charcoal stove, and I cooked potatoes and onions on the camp stove. Note mine just got put on the grill. I like medium rare;Kevin prefer medium. We added some garlic butter right at the end and it was delicious.

It isn’t a very big grill, but it uses only a few briquettes and works fine for the two of us. The whole thing, including an adaptor for propane, fits in a small bag for storage. Storage is important for traveling!

Tomorrow we intend on driving up to Hill City and wandering about that area some.

Gillette and the FMCA rally

I just found out all the iPhone pictures I posted in the blog were turned sideways on non-Apple products! How embarrassing. I discovered a fix finally, but it needed better internet than I was able to get in Gillette, so I just got around to fixing them. So far everything looks good since December 2016, and I will get the older pictures fixed when I get home to a high speed Internet.

I ended the last post with us getting parked at the FMCA rally. We actually had a pretty nice time. We met up with a few friends from RVForum.net, bought a new flagpole that attaches with suction cups plus a convection oven cook book and gear in addition to the SeeLevel. Kevin tried to buy a new TV antenna that mounted on the roof, but they were all sold out. I don’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing! Our current movable DISH antenna works great, but it is a bit of a pain to set up each time. Because it is portable, it works in more locations than a roof top antenna ever would. The rooftop is just push a few buttons, and it works. The portable requires putting together a tripod, mounting the antenna, chaining it down, etc. We will keep talking about it and see later. It is the kind of thing we can easily get installed at Quartzsite in January.

The main reason to attend a big rally like this, in addition to seeing friends, is to go to seminars. They run seminars in 14 rooms, 6 time slots a day. Many are very product specific, but some are good for general interest. As an example of product specific seminars, Cummins puts on seminars about their engines and generators (the Onan brand). Kevin got some really good laminated handouts about maintenance and such. Examples of general interest seminars were ones about boondocking and planning long trips. Both of those were excellent. We did take one entire day off and did some sightseeing in the area. We went to a little museum in Wright, about 40-50 milesfrom Gillette. It exceeded my expectations. Fun fact: Wright is a company town for the local Black Thunder coal mine, but it is a public entity. It was incorporated only in 1985. That explains the modern city buildings and school. The guy the town was named after was a real character too.

We left on Sunday morning, and we went to a lovely little campground outside of Custer, SD called Beaver Lake. It was a private campground with lots of trees and a variety of activities. It was mostly full of people obviously in for a week vacation with kids and bikes. The site wasn’t very level, but we made it work. Have I mentioned how much I love the automatic leveling on the motorhome? I will,post more about the Black Hills later, and I will include pictures!

Spearfish Canyon and on to Gillette

We definitely had a nice trip through Spearfish Canyon. I wanted to check out the Forest Service campgrounds, and we did. Sadly they were either too small for our rig or too crowded. We took the loop through Lead and Deadwood back to Spearfish. The only pictures I took were of Bridal Veil Falls.

We also visited the High Plains Heritage Museum in Spearfish. Wow! I highly recommend it. The exhibits were very good and obviously recently refreshed. It covered some Native American history and lots about the western settlements, mining, and forestry. Veterans got in free, but Kevin made up for it when he bought a raffle ticket for a gorgeous commemorative rifle. I assisted by buying a raffle ticket for a beautiful painting. We also enjoyed a lovely dinner at Guadalajara Restaurant almost next door to the KOA. They had a sangria special that I really enjoyed in addition to the food.

We didn’t get in a huge hurry to leave Spearfish, but we were still in Gillette just before 11:30. We saw lots of pelicans, geese, and quite a few pronghorn along the way. The FMCA rally was a zoo. The parking guys obviously were new at their jobs, and they didn’t communicate well at all. Kevin and I were both steaming by the time we got settled in our (very close) site. We got a site with 50 amp power and water, but no sewer. We would be fine for a week without a dump, but it is more comfortable if we have one. They do have a pumper service available, so we will see about using that on Thursday or Friday. We will leave on Sunday morning, and I just got reservations for Sunday night at a private campground just outside of Custer, SD. That will let us get all the laundry done at least since we are going to an electric only site after that for a few days.

We did get one item installed already, a SeeLevel tank monitoring system. The installer had said Monday and Tuesday were the only days he was available, so we called him as soon as we got settled. Our current tank monitors are just 1/3, 2/3, and Full. That isn’t nearly enough knowledge about status to comfortably dry camp. This system shows in 10% intervals, and it uses inductance through the side of the tank instead of internal sensors.

Made it to Spearfish, South Dakota

We left Ely on Thursday around 11:00. We had just over 200 miles to go, and we weren’t supposed to check in before 4:00 so we definitely took our time. The road wasn’t too busy which is good because it was narrow and windy. I was very glad to be on a wider state highway after Virginia. We did get to see some minor wildlife. Not far outside of Ely we saw a pond with two swans on it, definitely a surprise. We also had to slow down while a momma turkey hustled a chick across the road. There were more chicks and another adult turkey waiting for them on the other side.

When we neared Itasca Lily decided she was going to be adventuresome and see what was going on. Normally she hides under the recliner, coming out rarely to express her displeasure, eat, drink, and use her box. This time she climbed right on the dash and looked outside the window for 5 minutes or so.

I was hoping this meant she would finally get brave enough to come out more, but it didn’t. She hid all day today.

We got set up at Bear Paw campground a bit before 5:00. The campsite was plenty long enough, but the interior roads were a bit narrow. It took two attempts to get it backed in correctly. Then we just enjoyed the park. We took the Wildlife Loop, but didn’t see any wildlife. We did see lovely green forests though. We ended at the big park lodge where we had a lovely dinner. I had a wonderful walleye stuffed with wild rice, cranberries, and blueberries with a side of perfect asparagus. Kevin had pot roast that he said was quite good. Here’s a picture of the campground.

The campground had a number of vacancies on a Thursday in mid summer, something that is good to remember for a future weekday trip when we can spend more time.

We left the campground by 9:00 am. We only had 300 miles to go to our destination – the Walmart in Bismarck, ND. There weren’t a lot of choices; North Dakota gets vacant really fast. The Walmart was clean and quiet though it was hot. We easily got leveled and turned on the generator since tonight was definitely going to be a night for AC. I feel pretty good about the generator since it was definitely quieter than another camper’s Honda 2000. We watched the evening news, and I was in bed by 10:15. Of course there was a little noise from the campround’s sprinklers going off at 10:00, but I took a cyclobenzoprene for back pain and was out like a light.

We left Bismarck by 8:30, headed another 300 miles to Spearfish, SD. We are at a KOA with reasonable tree cover and lots of grass. Full hookups mean that I am doing laundry in the coach. Have I mentioned how much I love the washer and dryer there? Yes, it takes a lot longer than going to a laundromat, but I get to do other things while it is running. It is lightly raining right now, and I am sitting under the awning writing this. Pretty good gig! Tomorrow we will head up Spearfish Canyon for some sightseeing. We leave on Monday morning for our first Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally in Gilllette. We will be going to a number of information sessions, seeing entertainment, and visiting friends from the RVForum.com.

I am definitely feeling more comfortable driving the coach. My arms aren’t stiff and my shoulders aren’t sore because I am much more relaxed. I do have a sore back though because of the seat. It has this odd bump out on the seat back just about where my shoulder blades are. I have started padding the lower part of the seat, and that is much better.

The rain is getting stronger and a bit of a breeze is with it. I think I will go inside, or at least take the iPad inside.

A lovely few days in the north woods

I really like the Ely, MN area. We are staying at Fall Lake campground, and it is the nicest Forest Service campground I have ever been in. The campsite had room to spare for our 40’ motorhome plus parking for the Jeep. We backed in the site, so I have a lovely view of Fall Lake from the big window. 

The campsite across the road is a tent only site, and it has been vacant for much of the time so my view is unimpeded.

We had a fun time with friends from the RVForum plus friends I know in Ely. We had a nice visit in the motorhome with one couple, lunch with another, and we also spent time with RVForum folks at the Winton Roadhouse while Pat Surface was playing. He did a great combo of covers (Elton, Dylan, the Beatles, among others) plus some of his original songs. Note for the future the pretzels are huge and the honey mustard sauce was lovely as was the stout they had on tap.

We decided to head out a day early to make the travel days to Gillette easier. We snagged a site for tonight in Itasca State Park which should be fun. The next night will probably be in a parking lot somewhere, then into the Spearfish, SD KOA for 2 nights.

Some more pics from this stay.

Friends at the Winton Roadhouse.

The road to Lake One at sunset after the rain.

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Times like this is when I wish I brought my camera instead of just my iphone. The colors of the picture does not do justice to the real thing. The sky was orange/scarlet.

 

Finally finished a quilt and back on the road

A good friend of one of my sons had a baby in April. Knowing this was coming, I started a quilt for the baby in February. Then we decided to rush moving and buying the motorhome, and the baby quilt didn’t get done on time. 😢 Little Roman (it turned out to be a boy) was born in April, and he just got his quilt yesterday. It did come out cute though.

The pattern is called Irish Chain. The parents chose not to find out the gender, and they didn’t have a theme or color picked out, so I went with the simple two color quilt. The colors aren’t true in the picture; the red is a brick red and the lighter color is a creamy golden.

I quilted it with a variegated King Tut thread with red, brown, green, and cream.

I used a feather stitch on the binding. I really like the look of this.

We also took off today for a trip! We are headed to Ely, Minnesota tomorrow. Tonight we are staying part way there at the Hinckley Grand Casino campground. It is a really nice campground with asphalt pads and patios but with grass and trees or so, but nice. We had dinner at the Casino buffet because it was easy. Food was standard “nice” buffet, but not great.

We will stay in Ely until Friday morning when we gradually work our way to the FMCA rally in Gillette, WY. Then off to Hot Springs, SD for a few days. We haven’t decided what to do after that.

I did drive the motorhome well over half the trip so far. We stopped for a CAT scale weighing to see how heavy we were. The front axle was just barely under the 12,000 pound capacity with full tanks of both diesel and water. The back axle still has 800pounds of capacity, and we are pretty full of “stuff” so I feel very comfortable with the residual capacity. Getting a real axle weight means we could adjust the tires appropriately for the weight they are carrying. The front tires were 118 pounds each, so they got lowered to 110 pounds. The rear tires were about the same, and they got brought down to 100 pounds. Wow but does it handle better! Much less tiring to drive. The motorhome is still more tiring the the truck and trailer, but it was certainly better than the first 1000 miles we drove.