Motorhome maintenance day

We took the motorhome into "Eddies" for it's annual oil change and some new parts for the air shocks.  We had it to Eddies shortly after 7am and then it was off to breakfast.  After breakfast we went to Wal Mart, Menards, Post Office, The Clock Shop (new watch batteries), Kohl's, Target and then lunch at Olive Garden.  We then took a drive up Dinosaur Hill and then went to Pat and Bud's house where Lisa and Bill were also meeting us.  We went through some old pictures and Pat gave us some "Anderson" dishes.  We also had a good visit before we told everyone goodby until probably next summer.

We went to Eddies to pick up the motorhome which wasn't done so we waited in their customer lounge, just too hot in the car.  Was a good choice as they had popcorn.  Finally we got the MH back and took it back to Happy Holiday where first we filled the propane and then to our site.  It was now 6PM.  We got the air conditioners on and went back to Rapid City for taco salads for dinner.

Then we had to start getting things ready to move down the road tomorrow!  Tired we are.

Last full day at Happy Holiday RV Resort

Tomorrow we take the motorhome in for an oil change and some work on the air shocks.  So today was time to relax but had to get the place ready to travel early tomorrow.  Brenda came over for a visit before they left.  Later in the day she made time to visit with Bud in the nursing home.

Rebecca, Bud and Brenda

Monday

We worked around the motorhome this morning.  At noon we went to McDonalds for lunch before a trip to Wal Mart.  In the evening Brenda, Rebecca and friend Kirsten came over for dinner.

Daughter Brenda

Belle Fourche

Today we went to Jay and Jodi's home in Belle Fourche for dinner.  It was a beautiful day and so we ate outside.  We had a great meal and super visiting.

Brenda pestering Jay

Dinner with family

Again Don worked for the campground in the morning while I made a salad to take to Lisa and Bill's ranch for the evening dinner.  I also put leather cleaner on the car seats, dash, etc.

Everyone gathers in the kitchen!

We had a great evening with all the relatives in western South Dakota - plus friends.  My lifelong friend Mary Ann (and sister-in-law of Lisa's) and her husband Howard (who went to college with Don) were there so we had a lot to talk about.  Brenda and troops are staying at the ranch for a couple nights.

Sue, Lisa and Jay

Heather and Darcie

Brenda, Rebecca and Sue

Black Hills

We finally got to spend some time in the Black Hills proper.  We went to Keystone and then took the back road to Hill City.  We hadn't been on this road for a long time and there were a lot of changes.  From Hill City went south and took the road to Mt. Rushmore and then to Iron Mountain Road.  We went through the three pigtail bridges, two tunnels and the narrow one way road, turned around and went back to Keystone and then back to the campground.  Was a nice day and a fun trip.  We stayed home for dinner, leftovers from Mongolian Grill.  After dinner we decided we had better make a run into Rapid City for gas for the car for the weekend's activities and get things for the salad I am making on Saturday.

Mt. Rushmore from Iron Mountain Road

Mongolian Grill, a reward for working hard today

Don worked many hours for Happy Holiday and I cleaned the air conditioner cold air ducts on the ceiling.  My arm and shoulder hurt from reaching up.  Also wiped all the light fixtures, keep finding things to do - hope it ends soon!

We went to the Mongolian Grill for dinner, always good.  We brought home almost as much as we ate!

Wild turkeys with their babys

Tuesday, why does it seem like Friday?

Don power washed the motorhome roof today and later put the rubber roof sealer on.  An annual job.  I worry about his stepping wrong on the roof and falling the 12 feet to the ground, but he didn't.  It sounded like a bad storm inside.  The dirt from the roof ran down the sides of the motorhome of course, so then he power washed the sides and cleaned the outside of the windows.  The motorhome looks nice!  I keep finding things inside to do, today I polished more woodwork and cleaned the louvered doors that hide the washer/dryer and also the ones that are on the furnace cold air intakes.  Now I have a sore hand.

The men that lead people to their sites insist that we have a neighbor even though there are plenty of open sites and even though Don has his campground painting project spread all over the area in between.  So they moved a 5th wheel in today, the people are from Canada and very pleasant.  Never been to the Black Hills so we got them on a bus trip tomorrow.

Who would ever vote for this pervert?

Monday and Captain Jack

Don worked for the campground and I cleaned house.  We got Three Cheese Bacon Turkey sandwiches from Arbys for dinner.  Also got our daily storm, the weather map looked like the worse went on either side of us thankfully.  Zero percent chance of rain for today, ha.

Captain Jack is my hero----

Shopping day

We went out for breakfast at Denny's and then to Menards, K Mart, Sam's Club and Wal Mart.  We were badly in need of groceries, Menards had some things Don wanted and K Mart had a sale on some things.  We didn't get home until noon.  We stayed home the rest of the day and relaxed!

Which car is ours?  Unfortunately the maroon one.

Visiting relatives

We went to see Bud at his nursing home but he was gone so I called his wife, Pat.  She had brought him home to their house for awhile and invited us over.  Bud was trying to get their printer to work with no avail, so I gave it a try.  They had replaced the ink cartridge with the wrong size.  Later Pat turned on the TV which she said she was having problems with since her great-grandchildren visited.  I took the remote and went into programming and found right away it was sat on antenna rather than cable.  We ordered pizza and ate with them before going home.

There had been a lot of rain - on one street, which is under construction, water was pouring down from the side streets making it almost too deep to go through.  We did make it but our car was covered in mud, Don had to wash it when we returned home.

Dinner with friends

We started the day working again.  Don put hours in for the campground and I did numerous things around the motorhome.  Then I cleaned the inside of the car, windows inside and out.  The floor needs vacuuming, but I don't do floors!

In the evening we met our friends, Kathie and Cliff and Judy and Guy at Alpine Inn for dinner and mega visiting.  Was so great to see them again!!!

Later daughter Brenda and granddaughter Rebecca and her friend Kristen (who are staying at the campground motel) came over of a visit.

Spearfish Canyon/Deadwood

Today we started out by having breakfast at a favorite place, Morningside Cafe, in Rapid City.  Then we went to Spearfish and up Spearfish Canyon - always a beautiful trip.  There was plenty of water in the creek and Bridalveil falls was flowing.  Everything is green thanks to the continual rains.  We followed the road to Lead and then to Deadwood.  At Tin Lizzies Casino we had lunch, their Senior special.  Today it was shrimp (5 large ones), baked potato, corn, toast and beverage all for $3.99!  We each put $1 in penny slot machines.  I won $4.90 which I promptly reinvested and left with ZERO.  Deadwood was surprisingly dead for a Friday afternoon, perhaps everyone was inside because of the heat.  We came home through Boulder Canyon and Sturgis.

Bridalveil Falls in Spearfish Canyon

Main street in Deadwood

Lots of Rain

We got a heavy rain in the afternoon, probably an inch or more.  Some small hail also came down.  By the looks of the storm on radar I thought we were going to really get a bad storm, big hail so am thankful that was not the case.  We stayed home all day for once.

Hot here, low humidity

We feel sorry for the people who are suffering from both heat and humidity, so nice to be where the humidity is not a problem.

I got all the cupboards and closets straightened/cleaned and will now have to find other things to do while Don is working.  We got Taco salads from Taco John's for dinner, they were good - in a shell dish.

Wish I has some of these:

Another nice day in the Black Hills

Don continues to work on the campground site signs and I continued to do my "spring" cleaning.  Got the bathroom drawer and cupboards done.  In the afternoon we went to Rapid to get hair cuts.  We stopped by an RV parts store and got a refrigerator fan, a little fan that sits inside the bottom on the refrigerator and is suppose to help circulate the cool air.  Hope it helps as our refrigerator warms up on hot days, especially when we put in groceries or freshly made ice tea.

Monday

Don continued his repainting of site signs while I cleaned the house.  Later we went to Culvers for hamburgers and then to Target.  It has been a nice day despite the prediction of 60% chance of rain.  The campground has emptied out some.  We watched a man trying to park a 20 foot travel trailer, it must of taken him over 30 minutes to get it just right.  He would back up, pull forward, etc.  Finally he pulled out and went around for another try.  Good thing he doesn't have a 40 foot motor home with slides to consider like ours!

Buffalo (Boisen) in Custer State Park Wildlife Loop

Sunday in the Black Hills

The day started with breakfast at IHOP and then a trip to Walmart for a few groceries, which is always a few more than I had planned to buy.  In the evening we grilled some salmon and had corn-on-the-cob.  I talked on the phone to our daughters later.  We had heavy clouds in the morning, cleared a little in the afternoon before clouding up again.  Was a cool day - in the 60's, nice for a change!

Mt. Rushmore is near us

Visit with Bud

We did a few things around the motorhome but mostly took it easy.  In the late afternoon we went to see my brother Bud in the nursing home where he is to getting physical therapy following a broken hip.  He seemed to be doing well, hard for him to move around.  The place is very nice, almost like a hotel.  Clean, smells good, etc.  He has a small but nice room.  Before we left his wife Pat came so we visited with her some.

Then we went to Panchero's for dinner. It is like a mexican subway where you choose your fillings for a burrito or whatever.  We picked up the movie "Good Day to Die Hard" which was good, fast moving.  Last night we saw Jack Reaper with Tom Cruise, anything with Tom Cruise is good!

Dinner with Lisa and Bill

We had dinner with Lisa and Bill this evening at the Texas Roadhouse.  We had a good visit, think the server was trying to get rid of us.  Good food as well.

At noon we went to the campground office and for leftovers from last night's dinner.  Brought a plate home to eat.  It was another hot day.  Don worked on the site signs for awhile.  When we were gone a workamper managed to park a trailer beside us - they seem compelled to park someone there even though there are better sites.

I finished washing the inside of the windows and screens and got the cupboards and drawers in the living room and kitchen area organized.  While washing the front window I accidently pushed on the starter for the generator.  I heard it running but it took a few seconds to register what I had done.  Turned it off promptly.

Working Hard

Don continues to do maintenance work at the campground.  I have been cleaning inside.  I got all the furniture cleaned, the window blinds cleaned, screens and windows cleaned.  I still have things I need to do inside.

There was a workamper dinner this evening.  Fritz, the manager, supplied several varieties of Chinese Food (from a local restaurant) and everyone brought salads or desserts.  There was plenty of food, too much.  We will have lunch at the office tomorrow.

It got up to 96 degrees today, humidity is low.  We were warmer than the southwest for a change.

Don started workamping

Don started working at Happy Holiday to help pay for our site, this will be the 9th year here.  He is redoing some site numbers and some other things.  I don't want to feel lazy so I cleaned the leather chairs and sofa.  Later in the day we went to Rapid City to run some errands, make an appointment at Eddie's diesel for motorhome servicing before we leave and picked up dinner.  We rented the film Identity Theft, it was good.

Don's birthday

We went out for breakfast for Don's birthday and he got to visit his favorite place "Menards" (home store).  We worked around the motorhome during the day getting it finally cleaned, it had been since we were in Minnesota that we had last cleaned it good.  Dirty it was!!!

In the evening we went to dinner at the Alpine Inn in Hill City with friends that we had workamped with at Happy Holiday for 3 summers.  They are now workamping at another campground, Hart Ranch.  We were surprised that they had purchased a motorhome to replace their 5th wheel RV.  We talked like crazy and still didn't get everything covered!  Alpine Inn gave Don a dessert with a sparkler!

We were really tired when we got home as the highway department had decided to do work on the highway in front of the campground and motel at 5:30 AM.  There were loud metallic sounds that really made us wonder what was happening.

Move to Rapid City, South Dakota

We packed up and moved the motor home to Happy Holiday RV Resort near Rapid City.  First we went to Flying J for a fill up of diesel - $250 worth.  So that is how much it cost us to travel from Sioux Falls to Gillette.

When we got to Happy Holiday it was still almost full but we did get a decent site, just in a different place than we have ever parked.  While in the office we saw two couples we had worked with before as well as manager Fritz and his wife Susan.  We have worked for them for so long we are longtime friends so ha a lot to catch up on.  It is good to be back!  We went to Fuddruckers for a hamburger for dinner, came home and did a little more setting up before we got too tired.

Saturday in Gillette, WY

We are spending one last day in Gillette, WY.  We are worried that our campground in the Black Hills will be too busy.  We didn't do much, drove around the old down town area some.  This is a very nice, clean community.  We heard the average household income is $73.000 because of the people that work at the coal mines getting paid a lot.

Rally Over

The Escapade is over, many people left this morning but there are still many around.  We went for breakfast a Lulu Belles, a really "down home" place.  We did have an excellent breakfast - French toast, eggs and thick bacon.  We spent most of the day around the MH doing stuff that we had let go all week.  Got a Subway for dinner.

Classy way to serve the cream!

Independance Day!

Happy Birthday USA!!!

Today was the last day of the Escapees RV Rally.  We went to a couple seminars in the morning, each to different ones.  Came home at noon and went back at 5PM for the closing ceremonies.  I am sure that everyone who had done anything was thanked at least twice.  A couple more nice gifts were given out and we didn't alter our reputation of winning nothing.

There was a nice dinner of roast beef and chicken, scalloped potatoes, corn, roll and cake.  Afterwards champaign was passed out for toasts and more thanks to everyone.  Everyone was given a nice commemorative drinking glass.

About 9:30 PM a thunderstorm rolled in and the fireworks began.  We were all set to go outside to watch the fireworks but due to the lighting and rain decided to stay inside.  We discovered our bedroom window had a good view of both the ground and sky displays.  There were a lot of fireworks and it lasted for 30 minutes.  They were close by so even inside we had a good view.

Closing Ceremonies

Yet another day at the Escapade

Today was again more seminars.  We started off by going to one our friends Wallace and Wanda were leading.  It was about connecting with other people through Escapees.  They did a good job, have a great sense of humor.  We then went to one about the future of Escapees, nothing new to us.  We went to one in the afternoon and then ducked out.

We went for dinner at Old Chicago and found ourselves in the Black Hole where all the servers walk by but no one stops.  Finally the manager walked by and we got him stopped, he was apologetic, got us a server and gave us free beer.  We had good food and finished just in time for the evenings events.  First were drawings, winning nothing again.  Then we left, too tired.

Tuesday at the Escapade

Again more seminar sessions after the mandatory coffee and donuts.  Again some OK, some not. No fat old men asking stupid questions but I did have a man beside me at one session with a comment about everything to anyone who was listening.  I tried not to listen.  I went to "The Market Place" and got the new Verizon Jetpack, mifi unit.  I was due for a new one and this one has better capabilities.  After that I purchased some microfiber towels that were being sold by a woman in one seminar.  Hope they work as well as she said, supposedly they are the best quality and not something that can be purchased at Wal Mart.  Don purchased a couple LED lights and is insurance shopping.

We went out to dinner at Qdoba.  We had never eaten at one of these before and it was good.  Thankfully there is no evening event so good to come home and relax.

The Escapade continues

We arrived early for coffee and donuts, we are seeing many people we know.  Had to keep popping us to hug someone.  Remind me not to wear earrings that poke my head when someone hugs me.

Today started with two seminar sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon.  There were many different topics to choose from.  Don and I went to all different ones, some good, some boring with most starting out good and going downhill.  Each one I went to had some old fat man that asked stupid questions just to hear his own voice - different man each seminar.  I eased out of the last one and sat down at a table in the lobby where I heard of a wine and cheese party.  Soon Don arrived and we went for the wine and cheese.

Being tired we decided to scrape up dinner at home before going to the evening round of drawing for prizes, again winning nothing.  Afterward was a ventriloquist woman that was really super, would have been better if we were not so tired----