Worked shifts

John did his maintenance thing. I got hit with a severe allergy attack and felt pretty miserable during my shifts. I'd sneeze, throw the Kleenex in to a bag, wipe my hands with Purell, and repeat. Yuck . . .

Saturday was our 28th wedding anniversary. As we were working, we celebrated by going out to dinner Friday night. Just as I pulled up on Saturday after a run to Pamida to pick up more Kleenex, a van was delivering flowers. I was very surprised as we had agreed to no gifts.

Sunday morning, John and Ray helped Horace hook up his and Lavinia's car as they were headed back to Texas. With some shifting of staff, Horace and Lavinia's position was filled by Marian and Marian's position was filled by a pair of long-term campers. All of us certainly hope that they make it safely back to Texas where Horace can get the medical attention he needs.

I was so worn out after my Sunday morning shift (lack of sleep for two previous nights), I laid down to rest as got lulled to sleep by the sounds of John mowing and weed eating. I woke up just before it started to downpour. I saw John run for one of the tipees. John then came down to the trailer to wait out the rain. As the rain started to lighten up and he wanted to get done with what he was doing, he headed back out. Shortly thereafter, it started to pour rain and hail. What was he doing??? He's not getting out of the rain. I threw on my raincoat and trudged up to where he was and said "For goodness sake, call it quits. Are you nuts?" Reluctantly, he quit as he still had 25 minutes to work. John was drenched and my pants and feet were soaked. I told him I didn't think Paul would exactly mind his calling it short under the weather conditions. It continued to pour until after 5:40 p.m.

Good thing it decided to stop raining when it did as we had a workkampers potluck planned for 6 p.m. Everyone gathered for good food and conversation. It started to get pretty chilly around 8 p.m. so John and I called it a night.

Just goofed off

Nothing much happened on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. We ran into town a couple of times, washed the truck, enjoyed bits of sunshine, and did a lot of chatting. We've had some good thunderstorms roll through the area. We were outside talking with a camper when the thunder started. Her dog didn't like it (me neither) and we all seeked shelter under their awning. Rain and hail just poured down for a good 15 minutes. I saw the white of lightning out of the corner of my eye and then BOOM a huge thunderous roar hit. I almost jumped on to John as it scared the daylights out of me. Maybe one day I will get use to thunderstorms.

We did have a medical situation with one of our workkampers. Horace, who is 74, started having trouble breathing and his pulse was in the 30's (not good). His wife, Livinia, took him to the hospital. They recommended that he be transported to Rapid City to have a pacemaker installed. He wanted to no part of that and said if he needed to do that he would return to Tyler, TX. He spent the night at the hospital and returned home on Friday. Horace is to start taking a medication that will have his heart beat faster and some changes to his other medications. We know they want to stay in the area but right now it seems unlikely. His heart doctor had told him not to go to elevations about 5,000 foot - we sit at about 5,500 feet. We just hope Horace makes the right decisions and stays healthy.

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary & Dinner Show

First a little bit of history about the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. Dayton O. Hyde founded IRAM (Institute of Range and American Mustang) in 1988. IRAM is a 501(c) non-profit corporation and is home to hundreds of unwanted mustangs on 11,000 acres. The sanctuary is made up of canyons, pine trees and prairie where the sky goes on forever. Funding for the Sanctuary comes from donations, bequests, grants, tourism, and the sale of fouls.

We joined Faye and Marshall on the Sanctuary's 2-hour guided bus tour. First stop, of course, was the office to check in for the tour. Here is a shot of some old farm equipment near the office that use to be someone's home.

Here is a shot of a chuck wagon. We were told that it is an original and that only the canvas covering was new.

In addition to the wild mustangs, they also have quarter horses that they breed and tend to. As you can tell, it was breakfast time.

Here is a cute shot of one young mustang. Our guide said he/she was only a day or two old.

There is section of land in the Sanctuary where the Cheyenne River heads north, south, east, and west. It is this section of land that the Sioux considers sacred. The Sanctuary allows the Sioux to come on to the land every June for a week of sacred rituals known as the Summer Solstice. At this time, the Sanctuary suspends tours to this area.

Below is a picture of last year's Tree of Life. As they prepare for this year's rituals, they will cut a tree down near the sacred area of the Cheyenne River. The Indians will then hang colored cloths and rawhide strips from the tree. One of the rituals will be where bone is pierced through the skin at the breastbone or on the upper back, the bone is attached to rawhide hanging from the tree, and the Indian will be suspended from the tree until which time the bone breaks through the skin. OUCH!

In the picture below, is the frame to a sweat lodge. A buffalo skin used to be used to cover the lodge but now a synthetic material is used. Rocks are heated to red hot and put in the center of the lodge where participants sit in temperatures up to 130 degrees in order to receive visions from the spirits via hallucinations. The tipee is then used to recover once the vision is received. No spectators are allowed in the area of the Tree of Life or sweat lodge. Also, during these sacred rituals, the participants are not allowed to eat. Family and supporters are allowed down the hill from this sacred area. They will set up tipees as lodging and set up cooking areas as they wait for this part of the celebration to be completed.

Here is a beautiful mare that has Spanish lineage. The long mane and tail and the dark markings on the legs are indicative of her lineage. We saw some beautiful Spanish stallions but weren't in a good position to get any pictures as they were corralled.

On the tour, we were taken to a large sandstone outcropping. In front of this outcropping sat a little building. This building was called the Post Office. As this was a well known travel route, cowboys would leave mail in this Post Office. When travelers would pass through, if they were headed where the mail was addressed, they would carry it on. Our driver said that cowboys weren't known as good spellers or readers so sometimes the mail would get carried to the wrong part of the country. Sounds like Post Office today doesn't it?

In the sandstone, there are petroglyphys. Here is a picture of one section. The National Geographic Society has carbon dated them but we don't remember the age. There are, of course, much more current ones that have been carved and dated.

In the sandstone, there is a cave. Our driver told us that one of the settling families spent their first winter in this cave - 13 of them. Talk about close confines.

If you would like to see all of pictures taken at the Sanctuary, just click here for a slideshow.

We enjoyed the tour but agreed that horses are horses whether they are wild or not. It is nice knowing that a part of our American history is being tended to and cared for instead of rounded up and sent to a slaughter house. We all enjoyed seeing the beautiful countryside the mustangs call home.

The four of us stopped for a mediocre lunch in Hot Springs and then headed on home. Boy, was our truck filthy with red mud. I guess I know what we will be doing tomorrow.

We were able to unwind for a couple of hours before we headed up to the High Country Guest Ranch located near Hill City. Paul (campground owner) had given eight of us tickets for the dinner and show. The dinner was shredded roast beef, baked potato, corn, biscuit, and dessert. The show was a group called Fiddlers Three. Actually, there are five of them who perform - three brothers, a sister, and a wife. They played patriotic folk music. All of them are extremely talented and sounded terrific. Folk music just is not our thing but a free dinner and show can still be appreciated.

On our way home, we took guesses on how many deer we would see on the way home. None of us were dead on. John was the closes with a guess of 20; the actual count was 41. As it was dusk, heaven knows how many we drove past that we didn't see.

It was a busy and delightful day.

Wind Cave NP

We drove out to Wind Cave to see if we could pick up their Natural Entrance Cave Tours. We got there in the nick of time to join their 10:30 a.m. tour. We had a very entertaining Ranger guiding the tour named Sam.

In 1903, Wind Cave became the first cave anywhere in the world to become a national park. The cave was named Wind Cave as the wind has been clocked coming out of the original cave entrance (a small opening) at 70 miles an hour. When the weather is cold and grey outside, the cave breathes in. When the weather is sunny and warm, the cave breathes out.

An interesting bit of information is that the Civilian Conservation Corp built the roads and trails and installed the first lighting system in the cave. The pictures of how they transported concrete is amazing and the Park Rangers use the same method today as there is no easy way unless you want to destroy the cave in the process.

Most of us think of stalactites and stalagmites when we think if caves. Wind Cave has none of those. "The cave is well known for its outstanding display of boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs." One of the fascinating things about this cave is that there are tunnels that lead out everywhere. It is supposedly the second largest underground cave. On this tour, you walk down 150 steps and if you are over 5'2", you will spend a good amount of time bending down so you don't whack your head. Luckily, that was never a problem for me (finally, a benefit to being short!). Some of the passageways were narrow and you had to be careful not to touch the walls or let your clothing touch the walls. We have no pictures to share as we didn't take the camera figuring they wouldn't allow pictures . . . we were wrong. If you would like to see some pictures of boxwork here is a link Wind Cave pictures from Wind Cave's website.

When we left Wind Cave and headed home, we got in one heck of a downpour. There must have been a couple of inches of water on the roadway and our wipers (at high speed) couldn't keep up. That was something!

Sat and Sun - worked shifts

The title pretty much explains how Saturday and Sunday was spent. We had dreary weather with some rain. Nothing exciting to report.

Nothing much going on

We ended up visiting with some our fellow Workkampers this morning. Faye and Marshall had problems with their propane detector going off repeatedly. Poor Faye was worried sick that they were going to blow up. Marshall came over to get RV Jim's phone number from us. RV Jim showed up around 8:30 and was able to detect that their converter had died and taken their battery along with it. Marshall bought another battery here locally and Jim returned later in the afternoon to replace the converter. Everything is working properly now. Faye and Marshall were thrilled with the price as it was far less than they had thought it would be. That is always a nice surprise, isn't it?

After lunch, John decided he wanted to scope out the Mickelson Trail. So he suited up and took off telling me he would be back by 3:30 p.m. I kept busy with laundry and baked up some cookies. Around 3 p.m., I started to hear occasional rumbles of thunder. Oh oh, hope John makes it back without getting soaked. John pulled up around 3:20 and shortly thereafter, the rain started. We even had some pea sized hail on and off for a while.

After dinner, we did some reading and then John got antsy so he went for a walk around the park. Forty-five minutes later, he returned. He said we were invited to bring our chairs up to Brenda's campsite to join Brenda, Barbara and Ray in conversation. Just as we were going to head up, the phone rang and it was Melissa. Needless to say, we never made it as we would much rather talk to our kid. We are so looking forward to her visit in June. Less than a month now. Whoo Hoo!

Cold dreary day

Today was dreary and cold. I think the high today was 51 degrees. We pretty much just stuck close to home with a run into town to the hardware store. Custer has two very nice hardware stores (we had to visit both to find what we needed). We did take a short drive west of town in a pretty valley area.

John lent Terry a hand with putting up the wagon coverings as it looked like it was really a two person job. The covered wagon is kind of cute. I can see where kids would love sleeping in it.

Terry and Ray put up the two tepees on Wednesday. Here is what one of them looked like before the canvas.

Here is a shot of Terry with one of the tepees.
Tepee all ready for campers.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a brighter day than today has been. I really do miss the sunshine and the warmth it brings.

Plan change

It was 62 degrees in the rig when we woke up this morning. Talk about a warm night. The morning was absolutely beautiful.

We decided that today's adventure would be a visit to Wind Cave NP. We got there just in time for the 10:30 tour when the ranger asked us if we had any jackets as the cave is 53 degrees. Oops! I had thought about that before we left but then walked off without a jacket. As the tour is an hour and a quarter, we decided we would return another day. So, to make lemonade out of lemons, we took Highway 87 back towards Custer - beautiful drive. This road meanders through Custer State Park without having to take the Wildlife Loop. We saw a lot of bison, deer, and pronghorn. We even had a close encounter with a seemingly irritated bison who crossed the road in front of us. We weren't sure if when we passed him, he wouldn't charge us. He seemed very irritable . . . that was the first time we've had some concerns about getting so close to one.

By the time we got home, the wind had picked up, the clouds were moving in and the temperature dropped. We tried sitting outside for a while but it got too cold whenever the sun went behind the clouds which was most of the time. By the time I went up to the office to visit around 4 p.m., it started to sprinkle which then turned in to more serious rain.

Watched the finale of Idol and was happy with the outcome although I was surprised. No sense feeling bad for Adam Lambert as he will have quite the career ahead of him.

We were jolted awake at 1:15 with the thunderous clap of thunder. Talk about a rude awakening. The lightning and thunder show went on for a half hour or so and then the rest of the night was peaceful.

More VIP treatment

We decided to head up Rapid City to take in The Journey Museum. The journey takes you through 2.5 billion years of the history of the land, animals and cultures of the Black Hills. You begin with an introductory video, go through a geology exhibit, a Marine and Dinosaur excavation exhibit, an Archaeological exhibit, the Sioux Indian Museum, a trading post (pioneer museum), and so much more. John and I thoroughly enjoyed the museum and would say it is a "must see" when you are in the Black Hills. They also had a beautiful collection of mounted animals that were native to the area.

We got a bite to eat in Rapid City and then headed south to Reptile Gardens. I'd give you a link to their webpage but there webpage doesn't appear to be working. We enjoyed all of the critters. We did not stick around for the snake show (ick). When we were leaving, a worker told us we should come back in July when all their gardens are in bloom. She also told us that they have a great bird show. Sounds like a repeat visit will be in order. Here is the link to our Reptile Garden pictures - hope you enjoy.

John and I have got to say that having our VIP passes is pretty darn terrific. We figure that we have saved $100 and we have many more things to see and do. We could get use to this VIP treatment! Every day we come home, we are asked by the other Workkampers what we have seen. So far, we have enjoyed everything we have seen and done in the Black Hills.

Today was very warm in the Black Hills - the low 90's. We were going to stop at Old McDonald's Farm (petting farm) but it was so warm and our hats were home that we decided to visit on another day.

We got home and sat outside as it was a "bit" cooler outside than it was inside. I refuse to run the air conditioner until/if it gets a lot warmer. We enjoyed sipping on ice tea's while doing some reading sitting in the shade. Later, we watched Idol and the finale of Dancing with the Star's. I was disappointed with the outcome. Oh well, I didn't vote so I can't complain.

Visit to Keystone

We decided to take advantage of our VIP pass so we headed off to Keystone. At Keystone, we took in the Presidential Wax Museum. John and I very much enjoyed it. They use a state of the art narration system and all presidents are represented in life size wax figures. They also have a very moving exhibit on Ground Zero. Here is a link to the Presidential Wax Museum if you would like more information.

We then went to the Gutzon Borglum Museum. Gutzon Borglum was a magnificent sculptor/artist of many mediums but is best known as the sculptor of Mount Rushmore. This would be a good stop before going up to Mount Rushmore to see his handiwork first hand. The man was incredibly talented and his work is displayed in many locations around the world. His bronze of Abraham Lincoln sitting on a bench contemplating the casualties of the Civil War is incredibly beautiful. We also learned that Borglum's grandson still lives in the family home in Hermosa, a city east of Keystone.

We stopped for lunch and then headed home. We sat outside enjoying the beautiful day. Barbara told us that the last Workkamper couple had arrived. We were able to meet them later in the evening. After dinner, we went over to Ray and Barbara's and sat outside chatting for a while. As we headed in, we noticed that Faye and Marshall were out so we went to say hello. They were cleaning the nice five nice trout they had caught. They had gone fishing three days in a row and had caught fish each time. I think they are well stocked on fish for a while.

Before we knew it, it was bedtime. A full lovely day.

Not much going on

Since I made my last journal entry, we haven't done much of anything exciting or interesting. Thursday and Friday, we went in to town and hung around the rig. We have had two new Workkamper couples arrive with the last couple to come in on Wednesday. It seems like we have a nice group of people here.

John and I both completed our work shifts on Saturday and Sunday. John has painted, stained, and got the weedeater and lawnmowers ready for use. I've taken phone reservations, sold propane, and extended a guests visit.

Tomorrow it is suppose to 88 degrees here. We think it will be a perfect day to play.

Crazy weather day

The day started off with beautiful sunshine. By late morning, we were getting snow flurries while the sun is shining. When we drove into Custer to go to the Visitors Center (very nice by the way), it was snowing to beat the band although nothing was sticking. We bought our Mickelson Trail pass ($15 each) so that we can take advantage of the 108 mile rails-to-trails trail.

After lunch, we drove the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop. We saw the usual bison, pronghorn, and white-tail deer. One thing we saw for the first time on the wildlife loop were the wild burros (we've seem them on Iron Mountain Road). They weren't being shy about begging for handouts either. Here is a cute shot of one of the babies.
One sight that always brings a smile and laugh are the antics of the bison calves. We also were treated to seeing a group of four bulls getting frisky and bucking around near the road. We sort of held our breathe hoping they wouldn't get any closer to the truck! John said "We have a deer strainer not a bison strainer!" I had to laugh at that.

We've read that pronghorn can run as fast at 35 mph and we were witness to seeing two of them running all out up a hill and across the ridge of a hill. It was quite a sight.

After we got home, we continued to have snow flurries on and off all afternoon. Very strange when the temperature is in the 40's and the sun is shining. There were white-out conditions near Spearfish and Sturgis today. Talk about crazy weather! Tonight's low is suppose to be 25 degrees - thank goodness our furnace is working again. John was especially glad he wasn't working today as it was so cold and windy.

Some sightseeing

One of the benefits of workkamping here in Custer is that we get a Visitor Industry Partners VIP Training Card that allows us free or reduced admission to area attractions. By being able to experience the areas attractions, we can better assist the tourists when questioned about the attractions to see. So, we decided to check out an attraction that interested us last year but we didn't visit.

Quoted from their brochure "Bear Country USA is a drive through wildlife park. Drivers can observe elk, wolves, reindeer, bison, big horn sheep, rocky mountain goats, mountain lions and other wildlife from the comfort of their own vehicle. The animals roam free in 200 acres of natural Black Hills habitat." On top of the wildlife loop, they also have Grizzly Bears and a section called Babyland. Did we enjoy it? Very much so. You can see our collection of pictures at Bear Country USA (just click on the named set on the right side of the page).

After we finished up at Bear Country USA, we drove into Rapid City, had lunch, and then stopped at the new stores for Scheels and Target. It had been a beautiful day when we left Custer but when we left Rapid City, it was cloudy and very windy. We even had some rain drops the closer we got to Custer.

The heat is on

The RV technician wasn't going to arrive until early afternoon so I kept busy with doing laundry. Yawn - I know this task is boring but when the hamper gets full, it sure is nice to get it empty once again.

Jim showed up a little after 1 p.m. After some tinkering, Jim determined that the furnace was being starved of fuel. There were two kinks in the gas line: a slight one in the basement and a more severe one that runs under the rig. The kink was to the inside so we believe it originated at the factory. With the rocking and rolling that occurs as we move down the road, we believe the kink just worsened until the propane was choked off to the heater as it demands the biggest draw. Our stove top and oven worked fine. Jim called Custer Propane and spoke with Dan to see about getting a heavy duty flexible propane hose. Dan brought out the hose and fittings to our site (talk about small-town service!). Jim recommended that we replace the screen that is part of the burner assembly as it has bulged up from excessive heat so the part is on order.

We realize that this expense should be covered by the manufacturer (2 year warranty and all) but as we are here and not at the factory, we can just hear Jack saying that the kink must have occurred by a rock or something we hit. That might have been the case if not for the location of the kink. However, some things just aren't worth the frustration or ill will to us. We are just happy that we now have heat and feel that the installation of the flexible propane hose is a much better installation.

Happy Mother's Day

Melissa and I did a bit of phone tag in the morning as she called while I was working my morning shift in the office. After lunch when John returned to his work, I told John that I was going to make a run to the grocery store. I had just pulled into the grocery store parking lot when Melissa called. Sitting in the parking lot talking to the my darling daughter for over an hour . . . total happiness.

After I got home and finished putting groceries away, I gave my sister a call to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. We had a nice chat and got caught up on each others lives.

After John got off work, he cleaned up and then we headed into town for dinner. We were going to drive to Hill City to go to the Alpine Inn but I remembered that they were closed on Sundays. Darn! Instead, we went to Cattleman's here in Custer. We had a good dinner and service. The rain had started while we were in having dinner and continued on and off the rest of the evening.

John gave one of his friends, Clyde, a call to see what was going on with him and had a nice conversation. The rest of the evening was spent watching a little TV and playing Hearts on the computer.

Office training and work

John started his work shift at 8:30 and I got my office training with the other workkamper couple (Faye and Marshall) around 10 a.m. My first shift was to start tonight at 4 p.m. I spent the time vacuuming the office and straightening up. I did take a couple of calls for reservations and took down the information for Paul to enter on the computer. No one came in for a site so that experience will have to wait for another day. When John finished his shift, he cleaned up and went to Pizza Hut to pick up some pasta dinners as I wasn't finished with my shift until 8 p.m. We ate dinner in the office as we were both really hungry.

The office work won't be difficult but as with most things, there is more to it than meets the eye. I will be handling a cash register for the first time in my life. Ah, the challenges . . . love it.

While we were starting to get our training, it was noticed that someone was getting flowers delivered. They came up to the office and low and behold they were for ME! My darling Melissa had flowers delivered to the campground for Mother's Day. What a surprise! I figured that we would be celebrating Mother's Day and Father's Day when she is here in June (so looking forward to seeing her). Melissa has been so incredibly busy with her two jobs plus her volunteer work with the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure that was held this morning in Sacramento that taking the time to order me flowers just deeply touched me. Thank you my darling . . . I love you more than words can ever tell you. Aren't they beautiful?

For those of you who are mothers, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day. For those of you who are lucky enough to have your mother living, please give your mother a call to let them know you love them.

Snow flurries

We didn't do too much today at all. We were out for a walk when John said he thought it was snowing. For a while, I couldn't see the flakes but sure enough there they were. What was surprising was that it was 48 degrees outside and snowing. Later, we went in to town and when we came back, it really started to snow. Here I am with a big smile as flakes land on me. As long as it is not going to be a couple of feet of snow, John and I both enjoy watching it snow.

John was able to get a couple of shots where you can see the flurries if you click on the picture to enlarge.

After the flurries, the sun came out and John finished up his washing of the rig. We are now beautifully clean for a while.

We went to bed with the sound of raindrops and thunder. The storm wasn't suppose to amount to much.

Custer State Park

John and I decided to take a drive on the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park and then drive up to Sylvan Lake (also a part of Custer State Park). We had a wonderful trip and saw a lot of wildlife. You can see our pictures by clicking on the link here Custer State Park. Select the set Custer State Park. You can click on the photos one at a time to view along with comments or select Slideshow in the upper right hand corner. This is an experiment in order to have an easy way to share photos when we have a number of them we want to share. If you have any comments or thoughts, I would be interested in hearing from you.

We hope you enjoy all of the pictures. John was especially excited to see Big Horn Sheep. The funny thing was that we were just bemoaning the fact that we haven't seen any Big Horn Sheep when we've been told that they are seen all the time in the area. We get past the Game Lodge when low and behold what did we see but Big Horn Sheep laying in the grass area. What a thrill!

After we got home, John spent some time washing down one side of the rig as we were pretty dirty. He will do the final side tomorrow (maybe). No need in rushing to get it all done at once.

Once dinner was done, we took a walk around the campground. We then ended up at Pamida (a Kmart type of store) to buy me a new hair dryer. John was using it to shape a piece of rubber when it died. While we in town, we gave Melissa a call. It was a nice mid-week treat to hear her voice.

We are having rain again tonight along with thunderstorms (not my favorite thing).

Take care.

Custer, SD - pictures to share

We decided that we would take one of our favorite drives - Iron Mountain Road. We stopped at the store to pick up a bag of carrots in case we run across the wild burros. Then we stopped to buy our annual pass for Custer State Park. As we were headed to Iron Mountain Road, we came across these three bison just meandering down the road. It is a sight that we just don't ever get tired seeing.

Here are a couple of burros that are waiting expectantly. Got food?

We got real up close and personal with several of the burros. They love carrots (err any food) and take them so gently and they don't hesitate to stick their heads far in to vehicles.

We were surrounded by burros when some cars pulled up. As we were out of carrots, they turned their attention to the woman taking pictures. They certainly aren't shy.

Once we got past the burros, there are three tunnels on Iron Mountain Road that perfectly frame the majesty of Mt. Rushmore. It really is a thrill and another sight that never gets old.

Here is a shot of Horsethief Lake that is close to Mt. Rushmore. This is one of the lakes that we will paddle once it warms up.

Here is a shot of our site at Fort Welikit from the east.
Another shot of our site from the west.

John was out walking around and got this shot of some white-tail deer. I love their tails and their run is almost a rocking motion.

Here is a collage of shots of what Fort Welikit campground looks like.

We had another workkamper couple (Faye and Marshall) arrive today. Marshall had quite a difficult time getting into his site. Luckily, Horace (our workkamper neighbor) was a former truck driver and got him in his site like a pro. It was quite impressive and both Faye and Marshall were very grateful for the assistance. Later, John and I sat out with Horace and Lavinia at their site and chatted before it got to be dinner time. Horace and Lavinia have only been married for a year and a half. Horace has been fulltiming for six years and Lavinia since they've been married.

We had a another rain storm this evening. Can't complain if it wants to rain at night as long as the days are nice.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

The 5th of May, holy cow!

John and I went in to town as there were some telephone calls I had to make. While in town, I got a haircut and so did John. Both of us were in bad need of haircuts and the good news is that we were both happy with them!

When we got home, John washed the roof of the rig and the back end cap (boy, was it dirty) while I started the laundry. Now I can see out the back window. We then pulled out the chairs to enjoy the sunshine along with a slight breeze.

The only thing that got us indoors was our tummies. While we were cleaning up the dinner dishes, we saw that we were getting neighbors; another workkamper couple. John went out to help Horace back his motorhome in to the site. John learned that they'll be working at Paul's car rental store.

We settled in for a little TV when I asked John if it was sprinkling outside. He opened the door and looked out. He said it was raining so he went out to get the chairs out of the rain. So much for watching TV as the cable company seems to have lost their signal. Darn!

Crazy bird

We have our bird feeders out and the first known visitor was a chipmunk. He is loving the sunflower seeds. When he is in the feeder, he won't share with the birds.

Here's John with his golf cart for the morning. He worked with Paul this morning for a couple of hours and got to use the golf cart.

This is a blue gray gnatcatcher (we think). He is one crazy bird.

He has an obsession with the chrome on the truck. He spends a crazy amount of time running back and forth on the bumper behind the grill guard. When we scare him off, he goes to one of our chrome hubcaps and you can hear peck, peck. It is going to be a long five months for this bird.

After dinner, we took a walk around the park and saw about 10 white tailed deer. The way they run with their beautiful tails up in the air is just a joy to watch. I hope we can get a good picture to post with you all.

First work shift

John started his first work shift today at 8:30 a.m. John and Terry worked together cleaning up sites of pine needles and other debris. They would fill up the pickup with the pine needles and debris and then dump everything into a hole on the property and on and on. John came in for lunch and after he sat for a while, he stoved up pretty well. Soon his hour lunch was over and back to work he went. He said the cool temperature actually made it nice for working.

While John was working, I got caught up on our bookkeeping and took a run into town (all of two miles) to go to the grocery store. What a delight! In the past, it has been a half hour or hour journey just to get to the grocery store. I also had to stop at the hardware store to pick up a pair of gloves for John and a new ratchet strap. With John "working" it sure didn't seem like Sunday but rather Monday.

I made a big pot of soup for dinner along with a hot loaf of bread. Dinner went over real well. John played some computer games while I worked on the blog to get caught up. John looked out our window and this was the sight he saw. We had at least six White Tail Deer out in the grassy lawn area. We especially enjoy having this kind of view from our windows.
The deer around here (white tail and mule deer) are really like fleas which was the reason we knew we needed the grill guard because you never know when one or more will jump out in front of you. We saw at least three carcasses along the road on our trip to and from Rapid City yesterday.

New phone, wireless card, and electric heater

We slept comfortably through the cold night (coldest night we've had I think). We decided that another electric heater was needed.

I tried deploying the satellite but it just aimed for the trees. Oh well, we tried. With that, we decided a trip to Rapid City was in order. We found a Verizon office and got an air card and pay as you go cell phone. I had Verizon set up the air card in the computer. Good thing I did as even he had problems because Verizon had changed their initialization procedures. We got a bite to eat and then went to Lowes as John needed some blocks to put our king pin stabilizer on. We also got a rug to put in front of our chairs to help with the dirt. Unfortunately, Lowe's did not have any electric heaters (heating season is over . . . really?).

On our way home, we stopped at the hardware store here in Custer and luckily they still had electric heaters. We got the heater home and within a short period of time, we had a nice toasty 72 degrees in the trailer. Sweet!

Terry, another maintenance Workkamper, has been here for over a week (through the last snow storm) and was working today. John's first work day will be tomorrow and after not having worked for 17 months, he anticipates he will be tired.

Custer, SD

We left North Platte, NE with a light drizzle around 9 a.m. We drove until the Rest Stop where we changed drivers. While I drove, John took photos. What can I say, the following two photos are typical of the scenery we saw driving through Nebraska - flat and green.

While heading north toward the state line, we saw several groupings of antelope.
The mountains in the background are the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.
The highway goes through the southern part of Custer State Park. Look what welcomed us back to the Black Hills.
And Antelope
Even more Bison
Remnants of snow
Struttin turkeys
All of the above sights brought smiles to our faces.

We pulled into Fort Welikit Campground and were greeted by the owner's wife, Sandy. She called Paul to let him know we arrived and to find out the site he wanted us in. While we were talking, I mentioned that I had offered my services in the office even though John had the "job" We thought she was going to hug me. Sandy proceeded to tell us what they had going on. Her 95 year-old mother-in-law was living with them and hospice was coming periodically; otherwise, she was caring for her. On top of this, Sandy had just been diagnosed with rectal cancer. She will need to begin daily radiation treatments in Rapid City in a week or so and then she will have to go through chemotherapy. Add to this, their busy camping season is to start in a couple of weeks. Talk about a full plate.

The site Paul wanted us in just wasn't going to happen as our 38 feet just doesn't bend where we want it to. Ultimately, we decided on the site next to it. Paul assisted in guiding us to back in. The ground was soft and John's wheel started spinning. Paul had him pull forward a bit and then gun it to back up. All of a sudden the truck starts sliding and so did the trailer. I started yelling Stop! The trailer almost ate the picnic table. Thankfully, no damage occurred to the trailer but it was close. We have a strip of red paint from the table near the rear of the rig.

John was setting up outside with me inside when I tried to turn the furnace on. It wouldn't start. John thought maybe the tank was out of propane. Nope. The furnace just wouldn't ignite. We had the furnace looked at while in Smith Center due to a loud vibration noise but we didn't run the furnace the right before we left. Big mistake. Thank goodness we have an electric heater as it is suppose to get down to 25 degrees.

Next I discovered that our AT&T phones weren't working. They worked fine here last year. Paul said that the mountain between us was blocking AT&T's cell tower's signal. Great. The Verizon cell tower is within plain sight from here. I guess we will be getting a pay as you go Verizon phone.

We get all settled in and I try to log on to the parks free WIFI. Nope, for some reason my computer does not like their WIFI. John wanted me to bring up the satellite in hopes that we could get a signal between the trees. I was in no mood to do so. I don't think we'll connect but we've got to give it a try - just not tonight.

John disconnected the water due to the cold temperatures. I threw another blanket (Melissa's favorite) on the bed so hopefully we'll sleep cozy.