Black Hills, SD

Sunday August 18, was a do nothing day.  We hung out here at the CG, a little bike ride around the base and then headed into town looking for parts for the grill.  We stopped at Ace Hardware, another Ace Hardware, Sears (Starbucks in the same mall, yes we stopped), Wal-Mart and one or two more hard-ware stores....no luck on the part.  As we were leaving Wal-Mart, stopped to do a geocache, done and found, and Brad zipped across the street to 'Runnings', it reminded me of a tractor supply store.  First off we found him a pair of jeans, a dog toy and then the grill part......yea.  By this time it is 6:00 and we are tired of shopping so head home to get Rudy out of his cage and put the grill together.  Well Rudy was fine, but the burner was not our size, too big.  So left overs for dinner and off to bed and back to Deadwood tomorrow. 

 



Old rink used as dog run

Monday we got up, kind of just moving slow.  It was about 11:30 until we were ready to hit the road....change of plans, we packed a lunch, Rudy and decided to head into town to check out a couple of the local parks for a picnic and let the dog run.  We stopped on our way to return the burner, then off we went, heading through town checking out the walk of Presidents.  Just before we got to the park, the dog got sick, ugh, we cleaned that up, cleaned up for lunch and enjoyed the park were we stopped, sometimes it's just fun watching the people.  We walked around there for a while, then headed down the road to another park that has a dog run and a geocache.  We found, what looked like an old outside hockey rink, that is now used as a dog run, but the park itself is an off leash park.  We ran Rudy for a while, did the geocache and checked out some of the old ruins in the park.  It ended up being an old  US Geological Survey Gauging Station that was washed away in a horrendous flood in 1972?????  We hung out there until about 5:00 then decided to head home.  Poor Rudy, just laid on the front floor of the car and never moved.  Got home, making dinner and the poor dog got sick, again, again and again. 

 

Tuesday we got up and the poor dog is miserable, lucky for him Brad got up twice last night and changed out the towels and cushion in his bed, no better Tuesday morning.  Well what can you do, we stayed home, took care of Rudy as best we could, did a couple of loads of laundry, then decided to text Len to see what we could do.  Len was great, he called to see what was going on, checked on his weight, then called in a prescription at Walgeens (sorry Lynne and Chris).  I left shortly thereafter, did my stops at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Runnings and the grocery store, then headed home.... but not before I did a geocache (August is national geocache month, at least one a day).  By the end of the day we are both going stir crazy, hopefully tonight and tomorrow will be better.  Rudy has gotten his pills, no food, so no more being sick....and a peaceful nights sleep.

 



Hill City Art Work

Wednesday we got up and Rudy was doing a little better, a bit perkier and hungry, but we aren't to feed him, so just his meds and off we go, heading to Harney Peak.  We got on the road about 10:00, after packing water and snacks.  We only had a light breakfast, thinking we would stop on our way for a decent breakfast/lunch, and ended up stopping at Hill City.  No restaurants open until 11:00, so we just start walking around town and about 11:30 stopped at the 'Bumpin' Buffalo Bar and Grill' for lunch.  Not a bad place to eat, but then we made the mistake of walking around town some more, lots of craft and junk stores, finally heading out about 1:00.  It is still about 30 min. until we get to our distention, on a very windy road with some beautiful views.  We finally get there about 1:30 and decided to head to the top of Harney Peak....no joy, a 5 hour round trip and we don't have enough time.  We decided to head up the path anyway see how far we can get (setting our time 

The arrow points to an old fire
tower, our destination on Sunday

1.5 hours).  We actually were just over half way up when the alarm rang....so down we go, I want to go back (planned for Sunday).  The hike down was a little faster, but then we ended up walking around the lake for a while and checking out some of the other things at the bottom.  After that we headed home, but a geocache stop in Hill City then time to buzz down the road for Rudy's sake.  We get home, walk the dog, steaks for dinner and off to bed by 10:00. 


We are 60 miles from
Wall Drug, repurposed
the old Water tower
for a new town.

Thursday we got up and Brad got on his rabbit trail of phone calls, paper and computer work, research, one of those days, but by 1:00 I was ready to get moving...off to do our cache for the day, which led us to an interesting land mark and then off to the commissary for supplies.  We did manage to get a little bike ride in, first to the rec center then over to pick up our water filters at the mail room.  We just had burgers and perogies for dinner, not fancy but good, and are trying to plan a hiking trip for tomorrow. 

Thanks for the visit,
Diane and Brad

Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, SD

Well Hello,

Nice Big Sites

Wednesday morning we got up to a much nicer day than what we had yesterday afternoon.  First off we leveled the RV and got everything hooked up.  We got cleaned up and headed into town for brunch.  The first two places we stopped at either didn't have breakfast or were closed....but the third was great, the food was wonderful.  After that we did some touring around town, trying to get familiar with it then back to base for a stop at the commissary to check that out.  We picked up some creamer and bread while we were there, then back home for dinner....chicken on the grill with veggies.  It was a nice lazy day.

 

RV we saw at the Winnebago Plant
And now here at Ellsworth AFB

Thursday cereal for breakfast, roast in the crock pot and we are off to Deadwood, via Sturgis.  We found this back road through the Black Hills National Forest, Nemo Road to Vanocker Canyon Road to Sturgis.  We got there after an hour and half drive then parked, walked around for a while, then stopped at Knuckle Saloon for lunch.  What a great place, the food was good and the place was really neat and looked like it would be a lot of fun at night, especially during bike week.   Then walked around town checking out all the bars and shops (bike week was just a week ago) and realized that most of the things were closed or closing, we wondered if it only exists for bike week and the few visitors that straggle in a week or so after that.  We did a geocache while there, stopped at the coffee shop and checked out a couple of the campgrounds then decided to head back.  I guess we will do Deadwood on another day. On the way we stopped at the Black Hills National Cemetery, where we found a McCurdy grave, then went down the road a little to the VFW Park.  The VFW Park was beautiful, with a Tiny Church on the grounds....it used to allow people to stop in and camp for the night for a donation, but that is no longer allowed....kind of sad.  We then headed over to Ft. Meade, but decided it was too late since it was about 10 miles of windy, gravel roads...back on route 90.  We finally get home about 5:30, walk Rudy then settle in for dinner.....oh how nice, crock pot meals are the best.  Hang out for the night and off to bed about 10:00.

Pictures from the Sturgis Trip     Sturgis Trip

 

 

Friday morning I wake up to my phone ringing at 6:30 AM....what the heck.....Dad.  I answer it and he is watching the Iowa State Fair with the sculptured cow and what ever else....but Good Morning America wasn't even on here, yet.  I laid back down for a minute, but then got up, I was awake, so coffee to Brad and out to door with Rudy....almost, Brad caught up and went with us on the walk.  Today is a stay at home clean, fix, and shop for supplies.  Brad made breakfast on the grill(or tried to)  the burner on the grill crapped out.  He did get breakfast done but now we need parts.  He worked on the grill and I cleaned the RV, ordered our water filters, did laundry and more cleaning.  We finally headed out first off base long enough to find a geocache, then to the exchange looking for grill parts, no luck, and finally off to the commissary to do some grocery shopping.  We had left overs for dinner (no grill) and just hung out for the evening. 




A wall Mounted
Kitchen Pantry

Saturday we woke up to the first clear morning we have had in a while, oh how beautiful.  I cleaned a cantaloupe and put a meat loaf in the crock pot (new one for me) then we got cleaned up and headed up to Deadwood, SD, stopping at Lowe's on our way (looking for grill parts, but no luck).  It was about 1:00 when we finally got to Deadwood, so we walked a little then settled on the No. 10 Saloon/Casino for lunch, with the saw dust on the floor and the old photos and memorabilia on the walls.  We walked up and down the main drag all down, venturing into the casinos to check out the old buildings and they all had their own memorabilia, some had movie props, others antiques and some the buildings were interesting enough.  We are ready to head out about 4:30, but first stopped to do a geocache before we left town.  We took 385 out of Deadwood wood, but it wasn't near as peaceful of a ride as then road was two days.  We get home about 6:00, walk Rudy then settle in for dinner, mashed potatoes, corn and the crock pot meat loaf (actually turned out good).  After dinner, clean up and then a lot of walking with Rudy, what a good day.


Pictures from our  Deadwood Trip      Deadwood Trip




Thanks for the visit
Diane and Brad

Forest City, IA to Salem SD to Ellsworth AFB (Rapid City, SD)

CG Art

We  got up Sunday morning planning to leave Forest City, but it was raining.  So we got showered, planning to wait  it out, but it rained and rained and rained.  Finally about noon it let up, so we get on the road.  We were not 5 miles into the trip when the rain hit again, drizzle, down pour, drizzle, downpour, but it only lasted about 1 - 1 1/2 hours before we finally got out of it.  We finally get on route 90 and begin to notice all the motorcycles on the road, so for fun we started counting motorcycles, toy-hauler travel trailers and motorcycle trailers......wow, we got to well over 500 (all inclusive) but had to quit, to many.  We had planned on getting into Mitchell, SD, but about 5:00 we were ready to pull over so we stopped at a 'Camp America' CG, about 45 min. short of a original plan.  As it turns out, a nice CG, decent sites and about a mile off the highway, so no noise from that.  We had burgers with corn on the cob for dinner, did a couple of loops with Rudy and head to bed about 10:00. 

 

Up on Monday, do some laundry then just lay around, enjoying the morning.  We found a little area to let Rudy do some running, then we finally got a little ambitious and headed into town about 1:00.  We did a geocache, checked out an old church, stopped at the grocery store, the meat market and a gas station.  A cute little town but not much there, more farm implements in the town than houses.  Back home for pork chops on the grill, a lot of walking with Rudy and a nice lazy evening.  We are planning on getting up in the morning and hitting the road for about 300 miles (100 miles more than we normally allow ourselves), so it was nice to have a lazy day. 

 

 

Small Church at
Rest Stop

Today, Tuesday we got up and out of the CG by 9:30, stopped for gas and on the road again about 10:00.  We stopped at the rest stop, mm301 for a break and to check out this cute little church we had read about and managed to do a cache while we were there, it made for a nice walk and good for stretching the legs.  Back on the road, cheese/crackers, with a bologna stick for lunch, with some beautiful sites on the way.  It is really hard to describe the vast nothingness out here, and the you go around the bend and for about a mile there is a field of sunflowers planted, or you'll see a small town.  We came over this little rise, headed down a hill and there is the Missouri River, I know the picture doesn't do it justice, but it was beautiful.  Then we are at the edge of the Badlands National Park and the landscape it breathtaking.  There was a lot of nothingness, but some beautiful things as well.  We finally get to Ellsworth AFB, find the campground, back in, put the jacks up and we are too un-level for them to level us.  Well it's raining tonight, so we'll get the blocks out tomorrow.  Dinner in, and at 9:00, Brad is off to bed....I'm sure I won't be that far behind. 

 

Missouri River

Thanks for the visit and we'll keep you posted on what we see

in the area.

Diane and Brad

 

 

 

Landscape near the
Badlands

 

                                            

Still in Forest City, Iowa

The Pizza Shop

Doesn't it figure, Thursday morning, just when we are about ready to leave, somebody told Brad and I about the paint shop up the road, where they have been fixing old paint jobs and the front clear cover for less than a 1/4 of what it would cost you else where....so off he goes.  Brad gets back about a half hour later and they can repaint the radius and mirrors on Tuesday, August 13th .....I really don't want to stay that long, but since we are here we might as well get it done.  Brad called him back and said yes schedule us and asked if he could work us in any earlier....ok how about tomorrow (Friday) at 7:00 AM.  OK this we can handle.  We didn't do much today, just hung out here at the WIT parking area, had pizza for lunch at the 'Broderline Pizza/Taco Jerry's, Pizza, Mexican food, antiques  and Video rental place'   did a geocache or two after lunch and for then the most part we were just bored with still being here.  Burgers and corn on the cob for dinner, hanging out and off to bed about 10:00 for both of us. 

 



referred to as
"The Day the Music Died"

Friday, up at 5:15 again and out of here by 6:40, dropped off the RV then out for breakfast.  From there we headed to Clear Lake where we got coffee and walked Rudy through town.  A nice town, right on Clear Lake with some interesting history.  After our walk we headed out to find the 'Surf Ballroom and Museum', where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper did their last show, just before the fatal plane crash.  What a fabulous place, still very 50's style inside and the memorabilia that is there is unbelievable, glad we stopped.  From there we headed out to Gull Avenue and 315th Street (gravel back roads) to the memorial where the plane went down.  There are commemorative plaques at the site and we were surprised by the amount of things left there by the visiting people.  From there back into Clear Lake for Lunch and then we decided to head back to Forest City, stopping to do a geocache or two on our way home.  One more day of going through the open rigs at the WIT parking are and walking through the Winnebago museum, when about 3:30 the phone rings....our rig is done.  Over to pick it up and out of here in the morning.....nope, they forgot to do the mirrors.....another alarm clock day tomorrow, back to the shop on Saturday at 7:00 AM to do the mirrors.  That made for a grouchy night as we had both planned on leaving in the morning.  Left overs for dinner and off to bed by 10:00.

More Pics from Fridays travels      Buddy Holly Sites  
 

 

Saturday, up at 5:15 and out of here at 6:45, drop off the RV and out to breakfast (this is sounding like a rut to me).  From there we headed to the Laundromat, then off  to Crystal Lake in search of the  'Biggest Bullhead', which we found, no surprise as he does sit right at the edge of the road.  After that we headed to Britt, Iowa to watch the Hobo Parade, yes it was for real.  The Hobo's actually hop off the train in Britt for the annual Hobo convention held there.  We wanted to stay longer as they had more activities, such as the 'Toilet Bowl' race and other crazy activities, but Rudy was a little nervous with all the people around and CBI (painter) called our RV was done.  It is noon until we pick it up, off to dump the tanks and get fresh water, now what, do we stay or do we leave....we stayed.  We got up at 5:00 and then driving 5 hours, 6 hours later was more than what we wanted to do.  So out to lunch, another geocache, grocery store, and a stop for corn at a road side seller.  Brad is at the car wash now and stopping to get ice so I can make iced tea (ice maker off due to using tanked water instead of fresh water), so it will be sausages for dinner, early to bed and hopefully we will be on the road by 9:00 (no alarm clock for me), then heading towards Rapid City, SD.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Center Point to Forest City, Iowa

Packed in at WIT

Sunday, August 4, we arrived at the Winnebago Industries complex, in the north central part of Iowa .  We got here Sunday afternoon about 2:00, pulled into the rally park to fill up with water and then over to the Visitors center to find a parking spot.  No problem, pulled in park and hooked up the electric.  By then end of the night there were no more parking spots and some of the RV's were off to the side with no electric and some just went to the rally park to spend the night.  Needless to say we are kind of packed in like sardines, but then again, it is not a campground.  We didn't really head anywhere, just hung out here, talked with some of the other folks and had steaks on the grill (had thawed them for the day before, but didn't eat them.  

 

100% old Bikes,
found in an empty lot in town

Monday we got up,  after a stormy night, only to find out that our refrigerator quit working.....oh no.  After Brad walked the dog, he headed across the street to the service center.  They thought they would be able to squeeze us in to fix the refrig., but then we would go back on the waiting list (first in) for anything else we wanted them to look at.  OK, need to be there in 15 min.......I didn't know I could get the place packed up that fast, but across the road it goes and then it disappears into the shop.  So we waited and waited and waited, finally at 10:30, I headed out for something to eat and then headed back to wait some more.  Still no word and the front desk didn't know anything so about 2:00 we head out to get something for lunch, since they quit work at 3:00 we needed to be back.  Finally, here comes the RV and Paul (our service tech) he explained what he had done to fix the refrigerator and we were told to be back at 7:00 AM.  We ended up going to Shooters Sport Bar (ok) and back home both of us tired and a little stressed over the all day wait.  Off to bed about 10:00 for both of us since we have to get up tomorrow at 5:00 AM, what the heck, we're not used to alarm clocks.

 

Dinner at Mitchells
'Lots of pig deco around'

Tuesday we got up, showered, packed and had the RV fired up by 6:35, over to service center and in line with the rest of the RV's here.  Well here comes Paul, instead of putting us at the bottom of the list, they figured he could just finish us up (whew, did we ever luck out there), so another day of waiting, but at least today we knew we could come and go as we wanted, and even eat at normal meal times.  The only problem is that getting up at 5:30 has our day really screwed up, they just seem a lot longer than normal.  We did meet a lot of really nice people and you spend a lot of time talking and sharing stories, since there isn't much else to do, such as Gus and Judy from Emerald Isle, who told us to stop in the next time we are in town. We killed several hours walking around Forest City checking out old building, walking Rudy, doing a couple of geocaches, and more walking.   Service dept. called us about 1:00, the antenna screw up mechanism is bad, so they needed to replace that or install a new antenna.  We opted for the new antenna and then headed back to finish out our wait.  2:30, here it comes, yea.....oh no, not finished, it still had the old antenna on top.  Brad chats with Paul, he got all the other things we wanted checked out completed we just needed to be back at 7:00 AM again tomorrow to get the antenna done......ugh.  We get back, park the RV and by this time, poor Rudy is so tired of walking and being outside, he just wants to stay in the RV, not that we blame him.  We then headed to Mitchell's Bar and Grill for dinner (recommended by others) where Brad had the all you can eat Ribs and chicken while I settled for a burger, we weren't disappointed in the least.  After that another geocache that took us on a nice stroll around a pond, then back  home and off to bed early again, alarm clock day again tomorrow.

 

Our last day of waiting for service

Wednesday:  The alarm goes off at 5:15am again.  We are a little slower today, Diane hits the snooze twice.  Anyway, we are at the service area by 7:00am.  Paul gets the coach, we go for breakfast and then walk the dog, wait, walk the dog, wait, you get the idea.  Around 11:00 the coach is done and we are headed to the parking area(less some money).  We went to lunch at Sally's where people  told us to order the pie first because it is so good and they run out.  We didn't, and notice that as people came in, sure enough they order pie at the same time as their lunch.  Finally we couldn't stand it, Diane flagged down the waitress so we could order pie. By now the only flavor left was chocolate (I hate when that happens), so we shared a piece and it was sooo good.    Back to camp and then off to the 1pm tour of plant.  The tour was good.  We  were walking the dog and ran into a guy who had part of his coach repainted under warranty.  His is older than ours.  So I guess we will stay tomorrow and check that out.  After that it was a walk down the street for a geocache and back for grilled cheese for dinner and now we are ready for bed.  

 

 

Moscow, IA to Center Point, IA

Tipton, Iowa

We well got the RV into the shop about 7:40 Wednesday Morning, then loaded up Rudy, Brad and I and headed back to Tipton for breakfast.  After breakfast we walked around the town for a while checking out some of the neat old buildings.  We finally headed back to HWH (the hydraulics shop) about 10:00 and the RV was already finished, so we paid our bill, loaded everybody back into the RV and headed out.  We are now at Lazy Acres CG in Center Point, IA, about 25 min. north of Grand Rapids, IA.  We found the CG with no problem, got to our site and did the normal, check out the CG, while walking the dog.  Nice place, but I must admit it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere, the only place to get creamer is the gas station mini mart down the street.  They actually have a lot here at the CG, a basketball court, a sand volleyball court, disc golf, mini golf, horse shoe pits, a pond with a gazebo about half way out, some cute decorations and besides that, it's quiet here.  
 

Wapsipinicon Mill

 

Thursday morning Brad made breakfast on the grill, then we headed into Independence, IA to find the grocery store and Wal-Mart.  We drove thru town for a little while, found a place to eat, then right across the street was the Wapsipinicon Mill Museum and we just had to check it out.  We spent about 2-2.5  hours wondering around in there, checking out all the displays and write-ups on the place.  Seems we are pretty lucky, about 10 years ago the 150 year old, with the interior being all wood, actually caught fire and they managed to save it with very little damage.  We then walked through the Brimmer Park looking for a geocache, but no luck on that one.....oh well, another one another day.  After that we hit Wal-Mart, the grocery store and then headed home.  We planned on chicken for dinner, but since it was 6:00 'til we got home we settled for sausage on the grill.  I talked with my dad then it was too late to call Lynne, so after the dog walk it was off to bed by 11:00.

 



Wine Store Display

Friday we were planning a bike ride, but they are calling for rain, so into Amana Colony, what a great find.  It's one of the oldest settlements in Iowa and this is where the Amana Refrigerator was first made and is still made today.  We stopped at the Ox Yoke Restaurant for lunch and were not disappointed, after that we hit a wine shop, leather shop, the general store and a few others on our way back towards the car, with the last stop being the bakery where we just had to make a pastry purchase.  We got there about noon and didn't leave until 4:00....we could probably spend a few more days there just to see the rest of the place.  After that we checked out the Amana CG, about 1/2 mile town, no shade but it looks new and is pretty big.  We then headed home to rescue Rudy from his kennel.  Brad walked him in a drizzle, but then after that the rain was coming down hard enough, no dinner on the grill.  Chicken in the convection oven, pretty good, with a salad on the side.  After that I talked with Lynne for a while, walked the dog and just hid inside from the rain.  All in all, a good day. 

We'll keep you posted on our next travel,
thanks for the visit,
Diane and Brad

Iowa Sunset from our site

 

 

 



Moscow, Iowa

Nice yard for a CG

Sunday, July 28, we got moving slowly.  No hurry for us and we were only traveling about 100 miles, from here to West Liberty, Iowa.  We pulled out about 11:30 and headed out route 74, where there were just miles and miles and miles of corn fields.  We hit route 80 about 12:30 and stopped just inside Iowa at I-80 Truck Stop, the largest Truck Stop in the world with over 900 truck/RV parking spots and about a half dozen fast food restaurants.  There was a large gift shop, a food court and a family diner inside the building we headed to, we opted for the family diner and weren't disappointed.  We did a geocache right there on the premises and finally got back on the road about 2:30.  We did our last half hour of driving and pulled into the Little Bear Campground right about 3:00.  We got checked in, walked the dog, hooked up, slides out and cracked a cold one.  Nothing fancy about the CG, but for $25.00 a night, a nice site, cool weather and hot dogs over a camp fire, we couldn't complain. 

 

Monday we got up, had breakfast and headed out to find HWH Hydraulics.  It is only about 15 min. down the road, easy to find and get into, should be no problem with the RV tomorrow.  We then headed into town to get coffee (can you believe we ran out of coffee) and grab a bite to eat.  This proved to be much harder than it should have been.  Most of the restaurants were Mexican, which we both like but they looked a little shadier than we wanted to walk into.  After that we tried the Bar and Grill that somebody recommended, but the kitchen was closed, so off to the Papa John's pizza joint, ugh.  We then went to the grocery store, very small place with very little to pick from, but we found the coffee and were off again.  On our way to town we did another geocache and tried to find second one here at the town park, but no luck.  We then headed back home where we tryed sitting out side, but the flies were so bad, they ran us in.  We ended up with chicken wraps for dinner and headed to bed about 10:00 - 10:30. 

 



Beautiful Old Home in Tipton

Today we packed slowly and headed out about 11:15, for our 12:30 appointment at HWH, but hey, there no problem with being early.  We got checked in, Brad pulled the RV into bay 4, then we all loaded up into the car and headed out for the day.  We headed to Tipton today in search of a restaurant and had better luck, we found the Tipton Family Restaurant.  We both had sandwiches then headed to the city park to walk Rudy and do some more geocaching.  What a miserable day, gray, rainy and 65 degrees....the dampness just draws into you, but we did manage to find 2 more geocaches while we were there.  We did some driving through town checking out the old homes, found a Wal-Mart, which I think was the smallest Wal-Mart I have ever seen, then headed out to find a grocery store to get a gallon of water for coffee in the morning.  HWH had called and the rear levelers need rebuilt, so they removed them from the RV, and we are now parked at their facility for the night, needing to be in a bay by 8:00 AM to get the levelers replaced (they wanted us there at 7:00 AM, but there isn't any way).  I hope they do a good job, would be nice to hit the button and have the jacks actually go up.  It is still gray and rainy, so not much happening here, left over chicken on a salad and hiding inside from the nasty weather.  Well I'll have to keep you posted as to how we make out here and then our next destination.  Later, Diane and Brad