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.

Goshen, IN

Easy drive to Goshen. My ScanGuageD showed 9.2 for the trip. To bad I can't get that all the time.  The world would have to be as flat as Indiana and what fun would that be? On arrival we had the coach weighed on all 4 corners. Only about 200# over weight, balance, left to right, isn't all that bad either. At the seminal later this week I'm sure will get some guidance on what to do to improve things.

Since we arrived early, the rally doesn't begin until Friday, we were assigned a full hook up site with 50A service. We also registered fairly early so that played into the parking too.

While walking thru the vendor area we allowed ourselves to get trapped by an rv dealer and ended up taking a 43' tag axle 2013 Endeavor for a test drive. It has many features we like and one I question, the Maxx Force 10 engine. It drove real well. They will have to have a very sharp pencil for us to be able to afford to upgrade this soon. But it does give us a data point for a few years down the road.

Dinner was an arranged affair at an Amish home about 35 minutes away. Food was good.

Anderson IN

Another leg of our journey to the Holiday Rambler Chapter 419 Maintenance Session complete. Not a bad day but the roads are not the best. Kinda like North East roads, pot holes. Really shook thing up but nothing broke. We did have some cross wind along I69 and I'm glad I didn't have to drive in it all day.

We are at Timberline Valley RV Resort which is a nice little camp ground.. Owners are friendly and helpful. There is an airport, regional, near by but not an issue. There are also train tracks that are well away but you still hear the horn and they approach crossings. Not really an issue.

Bowling Green

Yesterday we made the trip from Elkmont to Bowling Green KOA. No issues on the road but the traffic was heavy in both directions. Easy into the KOA and a decent site. Like all KOA's it is on the pricey side but location, location, location.

Once set up my first job was to tighten the bike rack. It works loose in a few thousand miles. This time I had some blue thread locker to put on the bolt. So we will see if it stay's tight longer, like forever.

The KOA is near Aviation Heritage Park which I would like to visit but the weather has not cooperated, rain, high wind, tornado warnings generally not nice to crawl around in the rain. However the National Corvette Museum is near by. Museums are a good place to go on a rainy day.

Quite a place. There were at least 6 new Corvettes in the main entry hall waiting for their owners to take delivery. After our museum tour we saw several owners being given the rundown on their new toy's by their advisor type person. Very impressive.

The museum is really worth a visit even with the sink hole. The sink hole did not so any damage to the main museum display area. Only the Sky Dome Hall of Fame was damaged, and that is a big ONLY. There is a display area of the vett's they pulled out. It is enough to make you cry.

Put the bikes back on the rack, bailed out the kayaks and put the cockpit covers on. Then more rain.
Thunder, lightning, tornado warning. Our basement is full so we will have to find other shelter next time. We waited this one out in the RV since the news/weather showed to warning area several miles east of us. I don't think any tornadoes touched down,

We spent some time going over our travel plans for the next couple of days and where to fuel. Indiana is one of the states that do not add the tax at the truck pumps. So in all stations except Pilot/Flying J you have to get diesel at the non truck pumps. PFJ has the tech to adjust the price at the pump for us RV's so we can use the truck islands.

There are not many, really no, Pilot Flying J north of Saginaw MI and in the UP as well as Wisconsin, Minnesota but this page from DieselPlace should be a big help.


Tomorrow we head to Indianapolis for an overnight before a short ride to Goshen  and the rally.

Another day another 3xx miles

Today we drove from Pine Lake to Mill Creek to see rural Alabama. Yep it is rural. The road in was long and dusty and the jeep looked like it was covered with flour. Not really a bad park, however there are only 5 of us here. There are a few rigs which look to be seasonal but no folks in them. Although it is about 8 miles from the Interstate it isn't a bad choice considering that it is a Passport America park and only cost us $16. There does seem to be a lot to see and do in the area but it isn't in our plan to explore this area on this visit.

I really wanted to see the Sprint Cup race at RIR so I chatted with Dish Customer Service to get my service address changed to the campgrounds address. Finally after 3 chat sessions I have the locals for this area. However it looks like they left the Sarasota locals active for my receiver. If I could just get those turkeys to provide the national feeds I would be happy.

Suzette took a few pictures with her iPad and she may have posted them on FB. I'll try and get them loaded to our online album.

Saying good bye to the gulf, for a while

We choose to stay at Pine Lake RV because it was a Passport America park and we could stay cheap and still get to Panama City rather easily. We went to St Andrews SP to spend a little time at the snow white beach and do a little kayaking. I think the sand here is much whiter than Sarasota. "...The soft Panama City Beach sand is actually quartz crystals, which over time has been broken down, bleached, polished and deposited on the shoreline. This natural process has made Panama City Beach home to the "World's Most Beautiful Beaches."  ".

 Where did the quartz come from, would you believe the Appalachian Mountain chain a few thousands of years ago. Check it out.

Well, kayaking, beach time, and late lunch at Margaritaville a fine day all in all.

Pine Lake is kind of in the middle of no where so if you go take your own fun and have enough eats and beverages. The sites are flat and well spaced and the services were good. I don't know if we would stay there more than a couple of days. Perhaps we didn't look hard enough for what is in the surrounding area. There is some river kayaking but the one launch site we went to was a floating dock and the river was very high and flowing quite fast. If there was a down stream pick up it would have been fun.

Margaritaville

Another hour to play Pickleball

But no pickleball here at Pine Lake RV Park in Fountain FL. There really isn't much here or near here, but it is cheap and almost on the way to Goshen.

Our annual service was completed and we left Alliance Coach about 0930 and arrived here at about 1530. The extra hour came from passing into CDT somewhere on I10, about MM160 or so.

I did get the bugs cleaned off of the windshield and we did check out a possible kayak launch. Decided we would not kayak there, a close launch, because the river is really running high and it is a floating dock which could be hard to get out of the kayak.

Tomorrow it will be a day at the beach, sort of, in Panama City with lunch at Margaritaville Cafe.

Annual Service

We are currently at Alliance Coach in Wildwood FL to get the annual service completed as well as a few minor things taken care of;

1. Lube, oil, filter
2. Air filter, check and replace as needed. I do not trust indicator.
3. Check and adjust coolant SCA. Replace coolant if needed.
4. Check serpentine belt and replace if needed.
5. Check hydraulic fluid and filter and replace as needed.
6. Service generator, oil, fuel, air filters.
7. Service transmission, change filter(s).
8. Check ride height and adjust if needed.
9. Replace air drier desiccant canister.
10. Estimate paint repair curb side near rear wheel.
11. Replace valve extensions, right rear.

Everything should be completed and we should be on the road after we review the service and pay for it.

We had a great evening last night, 4/22, with friends Phil and Jan Cervi who we know from our days at Endicott IBM. We spent most of the day with them playing pickelball, visiting and lunch. When we returned from pickleball Logan was so excited to see us he went for a swim in their pool. I guess he thought the pool  cover, plastic thing to keep the heat in, was a little more solid than it was. Quite a shock for him.

We got a load of laundry done and a light supper. While at supper we saw that the yanks and sox were playing so I put the sat up and we are watching the game. It is the Sox to loose at 4 to 1 Sox in the top of the eight.

Tomorrow we head for the panhandle of Florida on our journey to the HRRVC chapter 419 rally, called the MS, in Goshen IN.

Rvillage.com

This is a Facebook like site for RV'ers.
Check it out, we are HRCAMPER on that site.

Happy Easter

What a fine day.
We went out for breakfast and returned to the park a little before 0900. Took care of a few things and then off to the pickleball courts. We played until noon. Some good games, some not so good but we had fun and that's what it is all about.

I did a little work on the coach and Suzette prepared her dish for the Westfield groups Easter Dinner.
We had a great dinner and nice visit with our friends. To work off a little dinner we took a bike ride around the park. It is really getting empty. Many are leaving tomorrow, Monday, with more leaving on Tuesday, which is our day.

See you on the road.