Weekend

Worked in the campground office Saturday and Sunday mornings for 6 hours each.  They were moderately busy days.  We don't often work on the weekends and don't like to work at that time.  Next week will be a busy one with working and the Fourth of July celebrations!  The campground will be FULL!

Saturday was suppose to be our first day of several of no rain but it rained all day.  At least the Black Hills are green, low fine danger and no burning bans!

Hail Hail Hail

Since we have to work Saturday and Sunday (which I hate), we decided to celebrate Sunday today and go out for a good breakfast.

Last night we had a short but significant hail storm, we picked up a couple dents on the car.  We got little liquid rain but nearby they got about an inch.  I am really getting tired of the everyday storm warnings.  It started out a nice day today but clouding up again.

There are two new couples to work at the campground office, one couple seems fine.  The other is still on my watch list.  He seems to jump into things without asking and makes mistakes.  We haven't seen his wife yet, she is "sick", we tend to think she may not want to work.  Another "old time" couple is going to be here soon.

1880 Train

Today we rode the 1880 Train from Keystone to Hill City and back to Keystone.  It was a fun, relaxing ride.  A good way to see the back country.  This train has been around from the time I was a kid, at one point just went half way and back.  The train was full going back to Keystone which is a good sign that there are a lot of tourists in the area!

Steam engine 110

Last flowing creek

Old Tackinite mine

The train twisting alone the Black Hills

Rain

More rain.  The last three days have been wash-outs.  Today it is cold to add to the injustice.  I am just glad I am not a tourist trying to see the Black Hills in this mess of weather, that would be awful.  We went out to breakfast and Menards this morning, otherwise staying home trying to keep warm and dry.

At least we aren't having flooding like in Minnesota.

Just another day at the office

We finally had nice weather - all day.  Perhaps this is a turning point.

Today we worked six hours, it was a wild morning just getting organized.  The campground will be full for a couple days so we had to figure out where to put people to try to make most people happy.  Then the challenge was how to translate our organization to the people who came in after us.  The man was sure he had a better plan, just couldn't match his plan to real life!  He wanted to be in charge for sure, just not the IQ.  I had to turn away a big motorhome and the man about split his jeans he was so sure I was making a mistake, so I said "fine, tell me where to park him".  No answer.

Meanwhile the usual phone calls, store sells, propane sells and Don had many small jobs all of which needed to be done right away.  It was good to walk away at 1:30 and say it is all yours now, do with it what you will.

Reptile Gardens

Today we went to the Reptile Gardens across the highway from our campground.  It was a warm day but had a pleasant breeze.  We enjoyed the three shows:  The bird show, the snake show and the alligator show.  The alligator show was very good, the man handling the big boys was a lot braver than most.  There were about 30 alligators in the fenced-in area with him!

Rain in Rapid

We went into Rapid City this evening for dinner, just before we left the sky opened up and it rained and rained.  Some hail.  We had to wait to get out to our car and then the intersection was under water.  That didn't stop Don, we plowed right through.  Many cars were smarter.  We made it OK.  There  was a nice rainbow afterwards.


 

Friday 13 and full moon

Friday the 13 AND a full moon.  Who could ask for anything more?  Storms?  Yes they are coming.  We worked at the campground today, not too busy but a couple incidents involving a drunk woman and a man (not related) just out of prison.  Long stories----

Bear Country

We went to Bear Country today.  It was a nice day, usually very hot when we visit but cool today.  The animals were all moving about, many babies.  There were 9 baby bears in their special area, they wrestle and play with each other - so cute!

After Bear Country we went to Safeway, Post Office, Best Buy and finally to lunch at Culvers.

Two days workcamping done

We have now worked two full shifts at the campground office and have had to take care of a long list of weird things from correcting other peoples mistakes to tracking down problems.  I answered the phone when one man wanted to know if there was free camping at the Keystone Walmart.  I should have told him "yes"; however I informed him there is no Walmart in Keystone.  Then he wanted directions to the Rapid City Walmart and wanted to know other places that have free camping.  I finally told him we have sites available at our park, thanks for calling, goodbye.  One call was from a man whose first language is French (Canadian), try as he might to speak English I had a terrible time making reservations for him.  Gave me a headache.  On Monday I resorted to reading a book on my Kindle for something to do, about the time I was situated, six RV's pulled in the park.  Don has dealt with the cable TV problems, irritated guests, broken picnic table, etc. so his life isn't easy either.

We are sure tired and ready to get some sleep.

Our 50th Anniversary

After celebrating with our family in Minnesota earlier, we celebrated with friends this evening.  We went out to eat with 3 couples we previously worked with at Happy Holiday.  We all went to Powder House and occupied a table for 2 hours.  There is never a lack of things to talk about with this group.  One couple now has a home by Custer, two couples are working at a near-by campground.  We hadn't seen each other for a year so had to find out what everyone was doing and then talk about the good old days working together.  It was a great evening despite the continuing rain, fog, etc.

D-Day 70th Anniversary

We worked again yesterday.  Was a slow, long shift.  Today we went for groceries in the morning and now we are getting mist, fog, rain and it is in the lower 50's.  Altogether an ugly day.

This is annual doughnut day, celebrated at Walmart with free doughnut.

But more importantly it is D-Day.  Such stories the vets have to tell.

Workamping

This was my first day workamping in a couple years.  I just worked 4 hours and not hard work, I was really tired.  

We had a big storm in the evening with about an inch of rain and a little small hail.  The rest of the day was Black hills beautiful!

Happy Holiday RV Park

Daughter's birthday

Today is my oldest daughters birthday.  I hope the have some sunshine as it is dark and gloomy here in Rapid City, SD.

Our goal of the day was to go to Menards Home Improvement store.  We went to McDonald's for breakfast first and our car hardly started so then it was to Sam's Club where we had purchased the battery 2 years ago, to replace the battery under warranty - we got it for free.  We got to Menards and Walmart as well.