Custer State Park

With a picnic lunch packed we took a drive to Custer State Park where we purchased our 7 day entry pass. After a visit to the visitors center we headed off on the wildlife loop road. First thing we saw were a few Pronghorn Sheep.

We saw a few more before we stopped at a ranger station. The ranger suggested we take a loop on the unpaved roads, jackpot. Lots of Buffalo,  Prairie Dogs, more Pronghorn ...

Oh yes there are Donkeys there too.

Then we headed for Needles highway. More twists and turns and scenery.

We could see clouds building and expected late day rain.

SD Air and Space Museum

I did a little work on the coach installing at TPMS signal booster. It is direct wired into a closet light so I will add a switch so I can turn off the booster when we are not traveling. A trip to Radio Shack on another day.

Then it was off to the Air and Space Museum. Very interesting display of aircraft the B1B that meets you on entry is awesome.  The interior display is also very well done. We signed up for the base tour which includes a visit to a Minuteman II training silo. That was pretty cool. A look here will do better than any pictures I took with my phone.

Crazy Horse & 1880's Train

On Friday the 23'rd we were off to Crazy Horse Memorial. There were a lot of changes since we last visited 24 years ago. The visitors center and parking were different from what we remembered. The mountain was the same but different. We could see subtle changes to the area of the horse head. Since the monument is in the round changes to the back side of the head are not visible from the visitors center. Looking at a picture in the VC that was near the time we visited in 1990 and what we could see now allowed us to really see what changed.

We found the visitors center and museum to be very interesting and spent a lot of time looking at the exhibits.

When we were finished at Crazy Horse we returned to Hill City to have lunch and board the 1880's train for our round trip ride to Keystone SD. It was a very interesting ride with 6% or steeper grade.
You can learn more about the train here.

Rapid City SD

On our trip from Plankinton to Americas Mailbox we stopped at the visitors center just before the Missouri river. Very nice exhibits on Lewis and Clark. There was light rain so it was not very picturesque.

We arrived at Americas Mailbox about 2:30 local time and got checked in and received information on where to go to get SD drivers license  the following day.  So after we got parked in our site and set up we decided to head out to find the license place and wal mart as well as get something to eat for dinner.

We found a Taco Johns and decided to try their fare.  We placed our order and as I was reaching for my wallet, surprise, we were selected to have dinner on Taco Johns. Apparently they do this from time to time. Cool a free meal.

Thursday we went to the license office and within about 30 minutes we had our SD drivers license. Back to Americas Mailbox to start the vehicle registration process. The word is to let AM do the work for us so we signed POA and filled our a couple of forms and gave the money for the registrations.

Since we had plenty of daylight left we headed to Mt. Rushmore. Wow what a difference 24 years make. We took the hike to the base of  the monument which provided different views. Quite an experience.

Our return trip took us on 16a which was a much better motorcycle road but the jeep was fun none the less.

Plankinton SD

Yep a small town about 30 miles west of Mitchel. We are in a Passport America park. A small little park with a pool and laundry. You need to make your own fun here. Read more about Plankinton here.

The drive was a non event, no wind, just a few sprinklesd no real construction delays.

The Day The Music Died

Today we traveled to Clear Lake Iowa. The winds were uncomfortable to say the least, 25 or so with higher gusts from the Southwest. So we are trucking along I80 West and getting blown around a bit.

We arrived at Oakwood RV Park about 1430 and quickly set up and then headed off to the Surf Ballroom and Museum. which was the last place Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. " the big bopper"  Richardson, played before they were killed in a plane crash on February 3rd 1959. We also went to the crash site. Quite moving. You can read more here.

Time to catch up

I should really do this more often but it is what it is.

Following the Holiday Rambler Maintenance Session, MS, we spent about a week at Elkhart campground.  That gave us time to chase down some paperwork on our new coach, meet with full timing friends, Herb and Ginger to see their new coach and time for them to see our new coach. We spent some time just being tourists and really enjoyed the area. We plan to make next years MS and spend more time in the area as well as attend seminars that we missed since we were moving into our coach.

We left Elkhart and headed to Marshall MI to attend the Michigan state Good Sam rally. The weather sucked but we did get to visit with Tom and Sue who are our neighbors at Sun-N-Fun in FL. We did tour the town on free museum day and had interesting visits to the Magic Museum, Honolulu House, Post Office Museum, Walters Gasoline Museum. Of course we had to go to Dark Horse Brewing and get a couple, well 4, PLEAD THE 5TH IMPERIAL STOUT,  to take  with us. Very Dark, Very Good 11% brew.

Today we made the drive to Geneseo IL. The campground is next to the Hennepin Canal Parkway. This looks to be a real gem. I think we need to visit this area for several days on another trip and explore the canal and surrounding area.

Tomorrow we travel to Clear Lake Iowa. Who will be the first to tell me why Clear Lake is siginificant?

Hint: Feb. 3 1959

Making as a tourist

We have spent the last few days being a tourist since we didn't have time for that while we were going through the purchase and move thing.

We went back to Goshen and the Fair Grounds to meet with full time friends Ginger and Herb from vermont and look at their new Pheaton 40. We also took care of some paperwork issues with the selling dealer. Herb and Ginger are attending the Escapees RVers Boot Camp as well as the 54th Escapade.

Sunday after they were through with boot camp Herb and Ginger came here to see our rig, visit and go out to dinner.

Of course we have made a few modifications to make this rig ours, some coat hooks for when we come in with wet/damp jackets, a pull out wire shelf assembly to serve as a pantry, some hooks to hang a broom and swiffer.

This is a picture of our new rig;

Check out this link.

The cockpit

Lots of gauges and switches.

Why haven 't I posted in a few days?

Well, we have been busy at the Maintenance Session, MS. We attended a few seminars and dealt with banks, dealer, insurance on a new coach. Yes, we were not going to buy another coach for 3 to 5 years but figured all we would be in 3 to 5 years was 3 to 5 years older and why wait?

So we purchased a 2013 Holiday Rambler 43PKQ. We really like the floor plan and the fact that it is an all electric coach. The residential fridge is a great upgrade from the Dometic in our other coach. Another nice feature is that the roof A/C's condensate drain are plumbed to the rear of the coach and down through the engine air intake bay. No more condensate running down the coach or into the slide covers. Automatic air leveling is another very nice feature as is the induction cook top. Since the cook-top is induction we needed new cookware. Suzette looked at the cookware that was being sold and a set was about $800. No Way. We were going to take a magnet to Goodwill and see what we could find but our salesman saved the day by finding cookware that was in a coach that was being purchased from someone who was getting out of RVing.

This thing drives much better than our previous coach and has more carrying capacity, one of the factors that even got us looking, we were about 300# overweight in or 40PDQ.

We are currently at Elkhart  Campground where we will stay for about a week.

Another day at the rally

Spent another day at the vendor area. More time looking at the coach we looked at yesterday.

Attended the first timers reception, neat. They had some food and drinks for us. Watched a vendor take a coach out of the building. Boy the professional dirvers and spotters can get them in and out of tight places.

Cool and sprinkles today. Not nice.