Oct 22, 2019 - Captain's Log - Earthdate 2019.10.22

In my last Log entry, we were parked at Ellsworth AFB FamCamp near Rapid City, South Dakota. We like this area so we decided to do a little more exploring while we had the chance. Our life can be a little bit random and I sometimes tend to make decisions at the last moment, something that can sometimes really annoy Dee Dee. One day, when we got up we decided to go to visit Badlands National Park. Dee Dee was "on-board" with that decision so we bundled up a bit as the weather was starting to get a little cool and the winds only added to the...

Sep 1, 2019 - Mt. Rushmore / Crazy Horse Monuments

Lots to do here, we will be here for the next 4 days. "EXPLORING" (That means Pictures to come) Wall Drug first because the overcast might make the Monument photos look bad. Still, WALL DRUG.... Need I say more? We went to Wall Drug today and since it is at the edge of the Bad Lands, we did that too. We saw Bison, Big Horn Sheep and Prairie Dogs as well as all the stark landscape the is so beautiful in its Desolate appearance. Hope you enjoy the pictures. The Dogs are going to the beauty parlor tomorrow. Visited Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse...

Aug 29, 2019 - Mother City of the Dakotas

Since we last “chatted” we now have 6 brand new tires on the RV, new belts, had an oil change and all our filters changed plus a few other minor items that needed attention…..no need to mention how much, but it put a small dent in our maintenance fund  While Dennis was having day 1 of the work done I wandered around South Dakota on my own; got a pedicure (a girl has to pamper herself once in a while!), had a nice lunch and spent an hour in the butterfly pavilion surrounded by gorgeous flying insects. I returned to our rig where we spent...

Aug 15, 2019 - South Dakota

Thursday, August 15: Central Time to Mountain Time Weather: Periods of clouds, sprinkles and sunshine, high 70sF through South Dakota (cool for them) Route: Des Moines KOA → I-80W → I-680W → I-29N → I-90W → Belvidere KOA Today's plan: Drive 488 miles/7 hours west from DesMoines to the Holiday KOA in Belvidere, South Dakota, stopping for lunch and a quick visit to the Sioux City Iowa Riverfront Park Highlights: - In South Dakota the speed limit was 80mph but Hubby set the cruise control to about 74mph to maintain better gas mileage. Alas,...

Aug 14, 2019 - Badlands

8/14 We walked over to Wall Drug this morning. Marie bought a pocket book and earrings. From Wall we drove south to the Badlands National Park. Beautiful scenery, but was useless land. That evening we arrived at Blue Mound National Park in Luvern, Mn. We went over to Dick and Clarice’s for a short visit. 8/15 Met Dick and Clarice at their son Joel’s new Ford Dealership. Nice visit with Joel. We then went to the old Ford dealership location that Dick ran for many years. It is now a village museum. In the afternoon we drove to William and...

Aug 13, 2019 - Mickelson Trail

After the last post I made about the hail storm, the next morning we looked at the damage. Our new truck is covered with dents from golf ball size hail. The winshield is cracked, and the camper has some damaage. We left Billings we drove on to the Black Hills in South Dakota, Rochford. We stopped at a trail head for the Mickelson Trail. When we got up in the morning it was 41 degrees. by 9 am it was mid 60's. We rode 32 miles on the trail, beautiful mountain views, 3 tunnels and numerous trestles. Leaving there we journeyed on to Wall, SD....

Jul 23, 2019 - Day 30

Worthington MN to Mankato MN 1120 miles, 1788 feet of climb, 16.3 average Considering the mileage today was a pretty nice ride. Everything cooperated. The weather was pretty perfect and really no wind at all and relatively flat. Nothing much to look at except lots of soy fields, corn fields and lots of wind turbines. At one point we were on a beautiful sun dappled bike path for maybe 5 miles. Not sure why its there since it seems to be in the middle of nowhere and nobody else on it but really non the less. Tomorrow is another 100 miles...

Jul 22, 2019 - Day 29

Sioux Falls SD to Worthington 70.7 miles, 1600 feet of climb and I averaged 15.3 mph Another day and another state. WE entered Minnesota somewhere around mile 20 today. The day began with a beautiful ride on their Cycleway for about 10 miles that followed the river and had many really nice parks along the way. One of the nicest bike paths we have seen. Had a Sag stop at mile 39 and then continued on. WE stopped at Sioux Falls which was really nice and parts of the original flour mill are still there. Apparently this mill used to be 7...

Jul 22, 2019 - Mount Rushmore NM

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered on a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features the 60-foot heads of Presidents George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation’s...

Jul 21, 2019 - Day 27

Mitchell to Sioux Falls 71 miles 1680 feet of climb and 13.65 MPH average Today started out with ominous warnings. I turned on the TV and all the channels had a sever storm warning be broadcasted. They talked about high wind advisories with winds at 25-30 mph and gusts to 45 mph. and they were directly against the direction we had to bike. It was not looking good. It rained very hard for about 45 minutes but the winds continued unabated. The ride leaders delayed push off from 7:30 to 8:00 and then to 9:00. By that time the rain had stopped...

Jul 20, 2019 - 7th STOP - Wall, SD

Last night in Mitchell, SD at 6:50am, the wind and rain started with such intensity that I thought the RV might be blown over. The last time I felt such winds was in 1960 in Hurricane Donna that went over our summer cottage at Oak Beach, Long Island. I was actually scared. It let up at 8:30am. We got a late start at 11:00am to head for Wall, SD. The lighter wind was at our back so we were not buffeted so much on I 90 West. We went past the Mountain Time Zone line so it is now 2 hours behind Tennessee Time. From the time we left Mitchell,...

Jul 19, 2019 - Day 25 & Day 26

Day 25 Murdo to Chamberlain 72.6 Miles and I averaged 13.23 Day 26 Day 25 was another day of South Dakota rollers but not as deep so not quite so bad. Nothing really to take pictures of unless you want to see more pictures of bales of hay. The day finished up with 10 miles on the interstate that was under construction and it was getting pretty hot at that point. The last mile we crossed over the Missouri River which was much bigger than I anticipated. I though it was a really large lake at first. I posted two pictures and our hotel was 50...