Devil's Tower

We made a day trip to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower. It was about 120 miles each way. A beautiful drive.

And a breathtaking sight.

 

I'm not sure which I liked better, The Badlands or Devil's Tower, both were spectacular feats of nature. 

Devil's Tower is made up of long strips of rock that go up and down. If you look closely you can see that some of the columns are incomplete. When parts of the tower fall off they create the boulder area below. 

Here's a picture of the boulder field with Chris as a model to show scale. Those are big boulders. 

Devil's Tower is considered sacred by the Indians and I can understand why. Truly awe inspiring. 

Wall Drug

Long ago when my family made a cross country drive, I remember seeing signs all along the way saying "Wall Drug 850 miles" and so on. Many cars with bumper stickers bragging about visiting Wall Drug. But I don't remember ever stopping there.

But this time, we did. I read up on the history of the store online. You can check it out here. 

After visiting the Badlands, we spent the night in Wall, SD and visited Wall Drug the next day. Chris kindly walked over first thing in the morning and brought back some of their homemade donuts and breakfast rolls. They only make a limited number of the rolls and he got the last one. My hero.

Yum! And quite a sugar buzz. 

Once we loaded up on sugar, we both walked the two blocks to the famous Wall Drug. It's a large building with several interconnected stores and then a section where the different stores have separate entrances. But they are all Wall Drug and whatever you pick up in along the way can be paid for in any of the stores. 

The first area was rather disappointing with poor quality cheap touristy things. Mugs, key chains, fake snakes, that sort of thing. Another section was a real drug store with meds, first aid stuff and a pharmacist. 

After that, things got more interesting. Beautiful cowboy boots, fancy cowboy hats and other leather goods. Other areas had gemstones, jewelry and Christmas ornaments. I bought an inexpensive pair of earrings. 

In addition to the homemade donuts and breakfast rolls, they have ice cream and a lunch counter that looked like it served sandwiches and pie. 

I don't think there was much at Wall Drug that we couldn't have seen or found elsewhere, but they have become such a tourist attraction it was fun to finally see it for ourselves. 

Mount Rushmore Vs. Crazy Horse---The Battle of the Monuments

Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument are about 20 miles apart so we visited both of them on the same day.

We went to Crazy Horse first because it was further away. They've been working on the Crazy Horse Monument since 1948. Mount Rushmore only took about 8 years to complete, but they had government funds and lots of workers. Crazy Horse doesn't have any government involvement so it's going a bit slower.

For some reason, neither of us got any pictures at Crazy Horse. But you can see pictures here.

At Crazy Horse there is a large complex with an assortment of Indian artifacts, artwork and information about the project. They also have a restaurant with a view of the mountain. We had lunch there. I had an Indian stew made with buffalo and served with Indian Fry Bread.

Here's a picture of Mt. Rushmore. Frankly, it was underwhelming after Crazy Horse, even though it's completed.

Mount Rushmore is impressive but didn't really hold any surprises. There's a snack shop and gift shop. We didn't go to the museum because by the time we go there we were pretty tired. 

It was a nice day spent visiting the two monuments, but if you can only visit one, I'd suggest Crazy Horse. 

Visiting Our Home Town

I've written a couple posts about why we have a South Dakota address and want to be South Dakota residents (no state income tax, you can become a resident with a one night stay, lower sales tax on vehicles and RV's). Our mail service is America's Mailbox and we've been extremely happy with their service. In addition to mail forwarding, they (for a fee) will register your vehicles and send the plates. Their site has lots of helpful information for getting you SD driver's license and other services needed by full time RVers.

We're here for a few days and staying at the small camping area at America's Mailbox. They're expanding the number of campsites, so business must be good. On sight they also have RV repair and a few hotel rooms.

The campground is very crowded (small sites) and no laundry or cable. The Wifi is pretty sucky, but the weekly rate for members is $150, so a bargain, even if the wifi is aggravating.

When we walked into the office the receptionist greeted us with "Welcome home!"

Ear's Looking At You, Kid

I'll admit it---when we saw billboards for The Corn Palace, I thought it was just a big corn maze, so when Chris suggested stopping, I wasn't too interested. But then I looked it up and found out it's so much more than a corn maze. It's a building decorated with corn, husks and corn silk. They've been doing this for over 100 years and it changes each year. 2016 is Rock of Ages so the murals depict music icons like Elvis, Willie Nelson and Michael Jackson.

If you want to learn more about The Corn Palace, click here.

The outside of the building is decorated with corn. Inside there is a gym and concert space where they have events.

The Badlands

The Badlands are Badass! If you have not seen them in person, you really need to make a plan to visit South Dakota. 

Perfect weather and wonderful views from the lookout locations in the park (also finally got a stamp in my National Parks Passport). Plus, riding in the MH, we were up high and had excellent views as we drove along. 

I think I showed restraint in only posting a few pictures, but I think this will give you the idea. The one thing I couldn't get pictures of was the prairie dogs. There were tons of them with their little dirt piles, right next to the road. We stopped and looked at them and they chirped and squealed. Totally awesome and I'm sorry I couldn't get close enough for a good picture. 

View out the windshield. Note the reflection of my knitting project and a book in the windshield. 

Goats the size of deer next to the road. We stopped and took a picture and they were nonplussed. 

Five Snores for Our New Mattress

When we bought the MH, it came with a Sleep Number bed. Apparently there are people who love these mattresses. We are not among that group. For one thing, it was several years old and even though it wasn't used continually, it was in bad shape. One of the two air chambers didn't really seem to work at all.

FYI---sleep number beds are popular in RV's because they are light (filled with air instead of springs or foam).

We ordered a memory foam mattress with a cooling gel layer from our pals at Amazon. Amazon Prime is awesome!

So, when you get one of these mattresses, it's rolled up and vacuum packed. Like those space bags you see on TV for storing sleeping bags and blankets.

Once you cut open the bag, the mattress starts to fill with air and expand. That happens immediately.

Now....if you're living in a house, you can pull your bed to the center of the room and lay it on the box spring and cut away the bag quickly.

If you live in a MH, you don't have much wiggle room. Add to this the fact that we're a couple of large people who aren't very agile and you can see where this could lead...trying to pull the plastic off the mattress while trying to move around the mattress to get it out from underneath.

But, we managed. According to the instructions, the mattress will continue inflating for 72 hours, but you can sleep on it the first night.

Wow, do we love it! We really should have done this before doing some of our other home improvements. A good night's sleep in important.

It's a little challenging for Dooley. It's about 6"taller than our old mattress so jumping up on the bed has been tricky for him, but I think he's figured it out and hasn't fallen off in his recent attempts.

We rate our new mattress with five loud snores.

Celebrity Sighting

We missed our turn along the way and ended up going through a couple towns that weren't on our route. But, as such things have a way of working out, we sighted a celebrity while driving through Blue Earth, MN and turned around to get a picture.

Would he be friendly? Would we be able to get a picture with him? What about an autograph?

With some anxiety, we circled back and hoped for the best. My stomach was aflutter as we alighted from the MH.

It really was him...

Here's a hint as to who it might be.

 Makes me feel small. Can you see Dooley? 

 For those of you who have always wondered what's under his leaves....

Apparently the town of Blue Earth is home to a Green Giant factory or something. Why else would a town with Blue in its name have a giant green mascot? 

RV Hall of Fame

While in Elkhart, IN we visited the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

You know how when you go to a natural history museum they have a path for you to follow from cavemen to modern day? That's sort of what this was like but for RV's and it only covered about 100 years.

We were about the only ones there so we could take our time looking at everything, but that still took only about an hour.

Here are some pics.

1931 AA Ford Housecar. Beautifully restored wood. 

The driver and passenger seats from the 1931 Housecar. Ouch. And remember, the roads weren't all paved back then either. That would  not have been a comfy ride. 

Interior of the housecar. 

An early pop up camper. I liked the trundle bed that pulled out from the bumper. I wonder who slept there? It might actually be the best on a hot night. 

A very tiny trailer. One of the first tear drop campers. 

"Why don't you come up and camp with me sometime?" Mae West had one of the first Hollywood

location trailers. Her driver sat up front, Mae in the second seat w/a desk. On the back, there was a balcony like the rear of a train car where she sat in a rocking chair between scenes.

An improvement over the wooden driver's seat, though I'm not sure 

either of them were actually fastened to the floor.

Campground Review---Eby's Pines

While visiting Pat before leaving Ada, we looked up some campground options and found Eby's Pines in Bristol, IN. 

An excellent choice. Thanks, Pat!

It's the off season here (despite 80 degree temps) so the pool isn't open and there aren't many transient campers, but it's a lovely campground.

We have a large pull through site, which is nice while we are moving from place to place because we can pull in without unhooking the car.

No cable TV, but a large number of antenna channels. Is there ever a place where you can't get Andy Griffith?

The wifi is good, but it's a little different here. We paid $5 for 24 hour access to the internet for two devices. We've never stayed somewhere that the wifi was a la cart, but even w/the $5, the price was reasonable. I suppose there are people who don't want the wifi (I suppose they want to spend time outside or with their families...eewww) so they have the option not to pay for it.

Across the street is Eby's Family Fun Center  with roller skating and laser tag. I don't think we'll make it over there, but it looks fun.

The two best things are:

1. The water pressure. It's fantastic. Almost too much. Our shower head has several different settings but usually only one or two of them work very well based on the pressure available. Not here, I used all of them and it was great.

2. The name. Eby's. Years ago when I was a head resident at Mount Holyoke (all hail Mary Lyon) there was another HR named EB. Sadly, EB didn't have much of a sense of humor (seriously, how can you survive as a head resident without a sense of humor?), so one day when I said to her "Hey-bee, EB, how-be are-be you-be?" she just stared at me.

However, it still makes me laugh 25+ years later.

States That Aren't States

Everybody knows how much I like making up words. Apparently, I'm not the only one.

When we were in Pine Mountain, GA we were also very close to Alabama. The local TV stations referred to the area as Ga-Bama (ja-bam-uh).

Tonight we're in northern Indiana, near the Michigan border. Local stations call this Michiana.

Who knows what we'll find as we continue our travels. IliIowa? Minikota?

Visiting With Friends and Family

In the last week we've had a wonderful time catching up with friends and family.

First, we had a wonderful visit with our friends, Tom and Joni, at the Huntington/Fire Fox KOA. We were only able to spend one night, but we caught up over dinner and a short visit the next morning before we headed on our way. It's particularly nice to be able to spend time with other full time RV'ers.

After that we headed to Ohio and spent a week camping at the home of our friends, Kim and Richard. Dooley had a good time pretending he was a farm dog. The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there, sunny and clear skies.

Kim and Richard were kind enough to host us while we took care of some family matters for Chris's mother. We also got to see several members of Chris's family. We particularly enjoyed seeing the progress being made on a restaurant that Chris's brother is working to open. I'll have full details here when the doors are finally open.

I even got to have an Ada Fun Friday with my friends Lynne, Pat and Liz, including a trip to Dietsch's for ice cream. I had Buckeye ice cream with peanut butter sauce. MMmmm.

Dooley got to visit his new vet, Dr. Katie (Kim and Richard's daughter). He's all caught up on his shots, got a pedicure and teeth cleaning. It was like a spa day.

Seems like we did more than that, otherwise, why are we so tired?

New Feature

Thank you to loyal reader, Robin, who suggested listing our current location on the blog. It's not very fancy, but if you look to the right, I've taken out the Balloon Fiesta photo and added a spot for Our Current Location.

Thoughts on Pine Mountain

Despite the frustrations with our job, we enjoyed our time in Pine Mountain, GA. It's a cute town and the campground was especially nice. We also did a few things that were fun.

We visited FDR's Little White House.  Sometimes when I go to a museum, it's overwhelming to try to take in everything. That was not the case at The Little White House, it was just the right amount. There's a museum with a short video and artifacts that are interesting. Then we visited the Little White House itself. It was pretty small, especially by today's standards. We also drove a short distance away and visited the pool (now empty) where the polio patients enjoyed the waters and did therapy.

In Columbus, GA we visited The Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning.  This was one of those museums that was overwhelming with all the information and displays, but it was nicely done and well worth visiting. There's an observation area and if we'd been there on a day when troops were graduating from their training, we would have been able to see that too.

While in Columbus, we also visited the National Civil War Naval Museum. We had a very military day with the two museums, but it was interesting because they were both covering different information.

Also during our stay in Pine Mountain, we made two or three visits to The Whistling Pig for BBQ.

We spent Feb and March in Pine Mountain, usually a couple of the worst weather months of the year, but overall, the weather was quite pleasant with lots of sunshine. If we get the chance, Pine Mountain is definitely a place we'd visit again.

Time Off To Wander

In my last post I mentioned that we don’t need to be in ND until May 2...so what will we do until then?

We are on the road and freelancing. At least that’s what I’m calling it. Our first night we spent at Cherokee Casino in Cherokee, NC. We had a good time.

We parked in the casino parking lot and they even have an area set up for RV’s. No water, electric or sewer hook ups, but some picnic tables and trash cans along a nice stream.

Since we’re self-contained, we don’t always have to stay in a campground and I like that. I particularly like staying at casinos because I like to gamble (we leave all our money in the RV and just take the cash we want to gamble/lose with us, which is a good thing), they have security so I feel safe staying in their parking lots and there’s food and drink available twenty four hours a day.

Cherokee is a very attractive casino with walking paths, a stream running throughout and pretty landscaping and outdoor seating areas. The hotel lobby had several cozy seating areas with nice vies of the mountains, a fireplace, and free wifi.

And it saves us the cost of a campground (about $40/night) so if we lost a bit in the casino, I feel like it’s a fair deal.

We are traveling though the mountains of Western North Carolina. It’s a beautiful drive. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.

On The Road

If you could see me now….I’m typing from the passenger seat as we drive away from Cherokee Casino in Cherokee, NC. I’m typing my posts into Google docs to be copied and pasted into the blog once I get connected to the internet.

Beautiful, but cool, spring day here, though we are heading north to the cold and rain.

Much has happened in the two or three weeks since I last posted. For one, we’re no longer in Pine Mountain, Ga.

In a nutshell, we got fed up w/some things about our jobs with Southern Cross and we quit. That was a sort of dicey move (as opposed to everything else we’ve done in the last 2 years), but we got a new job with a company called Southeast Publications. They provide campground guides and maps to campgrounds and our jobs would be to travel from campground to campground selling ads to local businesses. We checked the company out and we knew some people who knew some people who had worked for them, and felt good about it, though the prospect of a 100% commission job was a little nerve-wracking. We did our training and were just about the make arrangements to visit our first campground. In fact, since it was in Auburn, AL, just an hour from Pine Mountain (and home to Auburn University) we drove over and checked things out. A very nice town, by the way and we found yet another great place for BBQ. But I digress.

We made our scouting trip to Auburn on Sunday, April 3. On Monday, April 4 we got a call from a couple of former co-workers asking if we’d be interested in talking to someone else at the company about working on a project for the summer/fall. We figured we might as well hear all the options available, so we gave the guy a call.

He sounded like a good guy (though we’ve been fooled before) and we liked what he had to offer so we said yes.

What does that mean?

For this project, we need to be in Bismark, ND on May 2 for training. We’ll be there about a week, then we’ll travel to Fergus Falls, MN (you can look it up on a map, it’s the county seat of Beaver Tail County or something like that.) where we’ll be working until the project is complete, probably the end of October. We’re still full time employees of Southern Cross w/all our benefits etc, but after this project, we don't have to rush off to something else. If we want to take the winter off and then go back to the same project (maybe in the Dakotas or Wyoming) next summer, we can.

Assuming all goes well and we finish the project in MN, then we think we’ll give the Southeast Publications job a try during the winter, then in the spring decide what we’d like to do for the summer.

I’ve complained about the constant changing of our plans and how that stresses me out, but this time we had a little control over it and we think it’s for the best. Plus, we’re getting a raise.