31 Aug - Last day at Lake Vermillion Campground

31 Aug
Stuck around the campground this morning and then headed into a small town north and west of here called Salem.  First we found the post office and mailed a birthday card and a post card.  Then I ran across the street to the hardware store to pick up some fasteners.  Next was the lumber yard for a strip of carpeting for a little project.  Then to the gas station to fill with diesel before our journey tomorrow.  Last was a stop at the local car wash to blast the bugs off the RAM.

This is the project that I needed the hardware and carpet.  Since we replaced our mattress and the new one is taller and more plush, our dog stairs no longer works.  I ordered a new one which is taller but I needed to add some carpeting so Liberty has solid footing, otherwise she does not trust it and won't use it.  We don't want her jumping off the bed at that height that she might break a leg or hip.

The old one - now too short for the new mattress

The new one.  Better height but needs some carpet added.

The new one with a carpet runner.  Just right!

That's about all the excitement for today.  Tonight after the Cubs get done beating the Atlanta Braves (hopefully) we will pack away the outside stuff in preparation for tomorrow morning's departure.  Long drive tomorrow getting through the corner of North Dakota and up to Camp Ripley MN.  Est 358 miles and 5 hrs 29 min, which will be more like 6 hrs 29 min.  Ugh!

Next report from Camp Ripley!!

30 Aug - Sioux Falls Park, Dinner with the Thornell's and the Uthe's

30 Aug
Today we drove into Sioux Falls so I could show Doreen the Falls Park.

Yes, there is a falls in Sioux Falls and it is pretty cool!  I have been here a few times on military duty and have ran through this park back in my running days.  The park is located north of downtown Sioux Falls. It covers 123 acres and an average of 7,400 gallons of water drops 100 feet over the course of the Falls each second. Features include a visitor information center and observation tower, Falls Overlook Cafe, the Queen Bee Mill, several permanent sculptures and an open air shelter.  Here are several photos:

The railroad bridge passes over one portion of the falls

Beautiful falls over the rocks

You can walk on these rocks right up to the water's edge

Beautiful

Remnants of the old Queen Bee Mill. "The mill opened in late 1881, and consisted of a seven-story main structure built of Sioux quartzite quarried on site. Nearly $500,000 was spent on the construction of the state-of-the-art mill and its supporting structures. The mill could process 1,500 bushels each day. However, by 1883, the mill was closed — a victim of inadequate water power and a short supply of wheat."

Here is a video of the falls:  The Falls Park in Sioux Falls

After visiting the park we headed to one of our familiar grocery stores from home to restock a bit.  We love Fareway Grocery Store meat and they have a Fareway in Sioux Falls, actually three of them.

We headed back to the campground and then drove north of Sioux Falls near Dell Rapids SD to the home of Joe and Kerry Thornell for dinner.  Joe had invited another Air Guard comrade, Kevin Uthe and his wife Barb.  Joe and Kevin are both retired Air Guard Command Chief Master Sergeants and both live in this area.  Joe had prepared a delicious tri-tips beef barbecue with all the fixin's.  After dinner he gave us a tour around his ranch to include his new RV storage building and their fantastic garden!  Joe and Kerry made it down to my retirement ceremony about two years ago, but I had not seen Kevin since I retired so I gave him one of my coins.

We finished up with fruit dessert and a group picture taken by their neighbor.

It was fantastic to reconnect with these guys and catch up a bit.  Joe and Kerry hope to buy a fifth wheel in the next few years and take off cross-country as we have.  It will be great to meet up with them at a campground!

Tomorrow we will enjoy Lake Vermillion and also make preparations to head north and east through North Dakota and into Minnesota on Friday.

29 Aug - Welcome to Lake Vermillion North Campground

29 Aug

We departed the Ellsworth Air Force base FamCamp at 0750 hrs Mountain Time and arrived at our 22nd camping location, the Lake Vermillion north campground near Sioux Falls SD at 1346 hrs Central Time (1446 hrs Mountain Time).  I predicted yesterday the 319 mile drive would be about 6 hours and it was actually 5 hrs 56 minutes including one potty stop and one fuel/lunch stop.  If you have ever driven across South Dakota on I-90 or across Nebraska on I-80 you know it is very flat and pretty boring.  I joked that I could almost set the cruise, put a tie strap on the steering wheel and take a nap!  Almost!  The only picture we took during the drive was a picture of a Louis and Clark monument, likely near the Missouri River.

So the Lake Vermillion north campground is really nice and we virtually own the place, at least tonight.  In our whole loop there is only one other RV.  Things will likely pick up towards the end of the week since it is Labor Day weekend.  We are only staying three nights here, so will will be gone before the weekend.

No other RV's in the entire loop (25 campsites and two cabins) when this was taken this afternoon.  Since then one other has arrived.

These sites are electric-only, so we had to fill our internal tank with potable water and will use the internal sewer tanks and dump when we depart.  The sewer dump and potable water fill are located right when you drive in.  Nice, wide dump station and they really manicure this place.  Very nice!

While I was filling the tank, Doreen walked the dog up the road and found our campsite.

Each site has a fire ring and a picnic table

Very widely spaced sites with some trees but not enough to block the satellite signal..  No neighbors breathing down our necks.

Deep sites accommodate both the RV and the truck 

Awning out, all set up!

Tomorrow we will venture into Sioux Falls and check out the falls - yep there is one!  Plus Doreen wants to find the Fareway grocery store and maybe the HyVee.  Just like being home!  Tomorrow evening we have been invited to dinner at a farm north of Sioux Falls near Dell Rapids SD.  It is owned by a retired Air Guard Chief with whom I served - CMSgt Joe Thornell and his wife Kerry.  He has also invited the retired South Dakota State Command Chief, CMSgt Kevin Uthe and his wife Barb.  Will be great to see them.

Not sure what we will do Thursday, but then we depart here and head for Minnesota on Friday

28 Aug - Preparing to Depart Ellsworth Air Force Base

28 Aug
Down day today in preparation for departing tomorrow.  Doreen knocked out a couple loads of laundry and clean-up around here.  I cleaned and stow barbecue grill, load stuff into the truck, etc and prepared the route for tomorrow. I also researched a few stops ahead.  Doreen put some chicken in the crock pot for an evening meal.  I also helped a neighbor who was having Schwintek slide-out difficulties on his Jayco fifth wheel.

I called State Farm and unlike many other insurance companies, they do not cover the cost of repairing windshield chips.  But, they do have a deal with Safelite Auto Glass on a discount rate.  I have $2500 deductible on windshield replacement and the repair costs $50 plus tax, so better go for the preventive procedure rather than waiting for the chip to turn into a crack which it inevitably will.  Safelite will come here to the campground and make the repairs, so we set that up for this afternoon.  The guy came about 1730 hrs and turns our he is a Wyoming Air Guardsman.  Works in the Services Flight (food services, mortuary services, search and recovery, fitness, etc)  He did a great job.

 Interesting process of repairing the chip.  Involves gently picking out the chip a bit, the use of a vacuum pump-type system and the use of a resin filler kind of like super glue, in fact some companies actually use super glue but that is not what Safelite uses.  They guarantee this to not only make the chip basically invisible, but to keep the windshield from cracking because of the original chip. The resin hardens with ultraviolet light, so sunlight makes it harder.

The battery-powered machine is sitting on a foam pad on the hood.  You can see the yellow hose and the device head on the windshield.

That's about it for today.  Tomorrow's 314 mile estimated by Google at 4 hour 16 minutes will actually take us more like six hours.  Tomorrow we will arrive at our 22nd campground at North Lake Vermillion Camp Ground which is SW of Sioux Falls SD.

27 Aug - Devil's Tower

27 Aug
We headed west from Rapid City on I-90 this morning back into Wyoming and then north to Devil's Tower.  In 1906 Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devil's Tower our Nation's first National Monument.  Sp Wyoming has the first National Monument and the first National Park (Yellowstone).

50 million years ago molten magma was forced into sedimentary rock above it and cooled underground.  As it cooled it contracted and it fractured into columns.  Over millions of years erosion exposed the tower.  There is over 1.5 acres on top of the tower and it stands 1280 feet above the river below.

As we approached the tower today, it was visible for miles.

Devil's Tower just to the right of the sign

From the post office near the park entrance

Devils Tower has become a mecca for rock climbers.  There are over 200 different climbing routes.

As we drove the road approaching the tower we passed a huge prairie dog town with hundreds of prairie dogs our sunning themselves.  The land looks like a swiss cheese, full of holes that mark the prairie dog's lair.

We parked near the visitor center and Doreen went inside while I watched Liberty.  This is the view from the visitor center:

This is the park layout.  There are some paved trails and then other trails that require a permit to travel as they are used by the rock climbers.  If you are going to climb you must register at the visitor center also.

<Venting alert>:  We proceeded up the paved trail and captured several pictured before we were approached by one of the rangers.  The literature provided by the National Park Service clearly states that dogs must be kept on leashes, which Liberty was; must be cleaned up after by the owner, etc - standard practices.  Not only was she on a leash, she was being carried by Doreen.  The ranger said we could go no further and needed to get off the trail with Liberty, which we did.  She made some comment about the dog's scent but I did not understand what she was referring.  If they are going to prohibit dogs, even hand-carried ones, then they need to state that in their documentation.  By doing so they are really putting a huge limitation on tourists that are traveling with their pets.  Either you don't visit the venue, or you do so and leave the pet in the vehicle, which is dangerous as they could easily overheat.   Needless to say I was smoldering at this point as we had drived over two hours to get here, and now we are leaving.  Well, here are a few more pictures:

From the trail

Zoomed in to find the climbers - we found two

More climbers

Another from the trail

Attempted selfie

 

Lighting was better from this angle, as we were departing the park

We stopped at a rest area and had a picnic lunch Doreen had packed.  Then we headed back to the Famcamp.  We were just one exit west of our exit when an old car threw a rock and it badly chipped our windshield.  My bad mood turned worse and I was ready for this day to end.  We cooked dutch oven pizza using the lump charcoal I had purchased as the beginning of the summer (and dislike) and I proceeded to burn the pizza.

That's it for tonight.  Tomorrow we make preparations to depart Ellsworth Air Force Base on Tuesday morning and head to Vermilion State Park campground SW of Sioux Falls SD where we will camp for two nights.

26 Aug - Revisit to Downtown Rapid City SD and Lunch

26 Aug
Down day today.  We try to balance our touring, our housekeeping/maintenance/laundry and our relaxing.  Yesterday we traveled to Custer State Park and spent quite a bit of time driving.  Tomorrow we will travel to Devils Tower which is about two hours from here in Wyoming, so about four hours driving.

So today we headed back downtown Rapid City to walk around a bit and have lunch.  Doreen found a Mexican restaurant that was listed as the #1 restaurant in town.  It was just a block from the Firehouse Brewing Company where we had lunch on my birthday.

We passed a lot of activity in the nearby park and on the streets, including music and little kids racing their bicycles.

 We found the Mexican restaurant, "Que Pasa? Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar" and were seated right away.   They offer many different types of tequila, but neither Doreen or I sampled any of it!

A tequila chandelier over the bar area

As we ate lunch our cell phones alerted us to inbound severe weather and looking outside confirmed the black clouds and lightning, so we finished lunch and started to walk back towards where we parked the truck.  We checked out a few shops including the Firehouse Wine Cellars.  The wines looked good bit were very pricey, so we just looked.

Downtown Rapid City also has Presidential and Native American statues on the street corners, and so we visited some of them as we dodged the big rain drops.

President Herbert Hoover

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

President Chester A. Arthur

President Calvin Coolidge

Hunkayapi - Tying on the Eagle Plume

Mitakuye Oyasin

President James Monroe

President Lyndon B. Johnson

President John Q. Adams

President George H.W. Bush

That's it for today.  Tomorrow we head for Devil's Tower.
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