Escapade Rally Gillette Wyoming

Tuesday sunset.

Here are a few of the RVs. That's ours with the blue stripe.

This is the building where they hold the seminars and entertainment.

This is the vendor room, this is one of five aisles.

We have been very busy here at the rally, attending seminars on all things RV related. The best one I attended was one on fire safety. Most fires in an RV are caused by an electrical wiring short or the refrigerator. A good question the instructor asked  was is your refrigerator between your bedroom and the door? In our case yes it is. We have a large escape window at the head of our bed, so we learned how it operates. Some of the other seminars were cooking in an RV, RV sewage systems and how they work, tips on driving and backing an RV, packing in a limited space an so on. We have also been attending potlucks and eating way to much, we just returned from a great potluck put on by the Michigan Chapter of the Escapees Club.

This is where we had lunch. It is in the old part of town.

Can't wait to try there cheese.

The Cam-Plex where the rally is located is a huge complex, it has over a thousand campsites. There are people showing up with horses, it looks like there is going to be a large Rodeo here over Labor Day. We are staying an extra day here so we can get the motor home weighed, Lynn is biting her nail thinking she has went over our weight limit, I am sure of it.

We spent the morning running around town shopping. We spent the gift certificate Lynn won at the RV store and purchase a few thing we needed for the motor home, it was a great store and they had just about anything you would need. We replaced most of our lights with LED bulbs that take 90% less power to use, this will help conserve our battery power when we are boon docking.
We also went to the Chop House Restaurant and had lunch to use the other gift certificate Lynn won, it was very good. Across the street from the restaurant was a cheese store so I went to see if they had any five year old Cheddar, I love aged cheddar. They had a great selection, some aged for ten years. We also bought some rib eye steaks they had that were corn fed and reasonably priced.

We bought a bottle of this wine. Umm good.

We had a sever thunder storm here Monday with hail and high winds, man you could see it coming, it looked very omenous. The storm was a good test to see if I repaired all the roof leaks before we left and yes we stayed dry, yeah. The sunsets are real pretty here on the plains. To day we got our Flu Shots right here at the rally, they had Walgreen's come in and give the shots. We need a break this going back to school is getting old. We have learned allot and it has been well worth it. I have attached some pictures of the complex. Y'all have a great day.

Needles and Iron Mountain Road

On Saturday we decided to take the Needles highway and the Iron Mountain road and checkout the scenery. These roads are a must see, oh if I only had my motorcycle. The roads were pretty heavy with traffic being a Saturday a lot of people were out driving around. These two roads have to be the most exciting and scenic roads I have ever been on for a motorcycle, and that includes the Tail of The Dragon in Tennessee. So if there are any riders out there reading the blog check it out. I will attach some pictures that show some of the tunnels through the mountain. If you look closely you can see Mount Rushmore framed in the tunnel. This was done on purpose by the Governor of SD at the time. He purposely lined up the tunnels so they framed Mount Rushmore "cool". The switchbacks on the needles highway are so sharp you can see your own taillights as you go around. Lynn was a little white knuckled.
We also drove the wilderness road in Custer State Park, Lynn wanted to see some animals. She got to see Antelope, Buffalo and some very friendly Burrows. She was crawling into my seat trying to get away from the Burrows putting their heads in the car looking for food. It was another great day and we took a lot of pictures.
Sunday we drove to Gillette Wy for the Escapade RV Rally. We went to the opening ceremonies and Lynn won a nice door prize, a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant and a $50 gift certificate at a local RV accessory store. The campground here very nice with with full hookups. Last night they had a comedian for entertainment who was very good, we laughed for an hour. As you can see we are really having a lot of fun. Wish you could all be here. Tight lines and safe travels.



Hey baby how about a kiss.

Spearfish Canyon SD

Soiled doves above the saloon.

Wild Bill Hickock was shot to death in this saloon.

Spearfish Falls. A nice hike.

This pine tree smells like butterscotch.

 

Bridelvail falls.

Hey Butch keep an eye out for the delivery.

Yesterday we went to the town of Deadwood and drove through the Spearfish Canyon. Boy was I missing my motorcycle on those curvy mountain roads. The scenery was just awesome and we really enjoyed the drive. The town of Deadwood was an old west town that was thriving back in the 1800's and was real big in mining. It was interesting to go into the old buildings and sit at the old saloon bars. They have manikins setup in the windows upstairs dressed like the soiled doves of yesteryear "prostitutes" that was kind of fun. We decided to take a hike up to Spearfish Falls that was used in the movie "Dances with Wolves" about two miles round trip at 90 degrees. It was a nice hike but we had to stop and rest a few times. There were allot of trout in the river and we could see them as we hiked along the river, and me with no fly rod. We are taking hundreds of pictures but we won't bore you with them all, I will just add a few so you can get an idea of what it is like. Today is a day off and we are going to stick around the Rig and get some chores done. Just after we left Spearfish a bad thunder storm popped up with lots of lighting and hail, boy I am glad we were off that mountain trail with no place to hide. As the storm approached Stugis we lost electricity and I started the generator because it was so hot. The lady in the big RV  next store, her name is Kathy said you can't run generators in this park, when Lynn ask her why she said because we don't have one ha ha.  We are headed to Gillette Wyoming on Sunday so I guess we better clean the old girl up for the Rally the" Motor home that is, not Lynn". Stay safe

Mount Rushmore

Yesterday we visited Mount Rushmore for the first time. The drive back into the hills was beautiful and crooked. I can see why the motorcycles riders like this area. Mount Rushmore is an engineering marvel and was very cool. We took the presidential trail and hiked to the bottom of the monument, their are over 400 steps to climb back up. With low oxygen levels at this altitude it was difficult to breath. That's my excuse for breathing hard anyway. The weather is still very warm and sunny. We have met new friends in the campground and it has been fun talking with everyone. We will see some of them because they are also attending the rally next week. I was next store helping the neighbor with his awning when a stiff wind came up, we just got it under control when Lynn yelled our awning was coming apart. We got it rolled up but the frame came apart. I was able to fix it the next day. Note to self if neighbor is having trouble in the wind put my awning down before helping him. We are going to drive the Needles Highway and go to the town of Deadwood today.

 The top picture is of the Badlands.

 This is a picture of the area we where hiking in the Badlands. You can probably tell I am trying to sneak a big rock back for Lynn under my shirt.

Sturgis SD

Well we went hiking today early because it is going to get hot. We hiked a trail called the door and it was allot of fun and a little challenging. It was only a mile but their was some climbing and it was 80 degrees when we got back to the car. It reached 96 this afternoon so I kept Lynn in the air conditioning, she is real inclined to get heat exhaustion. We took a little walk after dinner to take some pictures of the sunset and sat outside until after dark.
We left for Sturgis this morning and are now in the Black Hills. I don't think I told you about a program we joined a couple of years ago called Passport America. This program allows you fifty percent off of camping fees at participating campgrounds and their a thousands. Anyway we found a great camp ground in Sturgis and our campsite high on a hill over looking the town with full hookups is only $12.50 a night, great wi-fi, showers and laundry. Lynn's down doing laundry while I work on the blog. It is 90 degrees here today but the laundry and showers are air conditioned. We will be here until Sunday morning when we drive to the Rally. Their is allot to see nearby like, Needles Highway, Spearfish Canyon, Mount Rushmore and the town of Deadwood. So it is a tough life but we have to do it. The picture of the rainbow in a field of sunflowers was close enough you could see the pot of gold.  Until next time tight lines and safe travels.

Bad Lands National Park

We left early for the Bad Lands and arrived about 10 am. Wow this landscape is wild. I sure would not want to drive a covered wagon through here. This land is rich with Indian history and the loop tour we took today was very educational. There was an Indian named Bigfoot who was killed at the wounded knee massacre and Lynn was reading his story when she turned to walk away she paid homage to wounded knee. She fell down and skinned here knee.

After that we left the park and went to Wall Drug in Wall SD. This is a great big tourist trap that has grown in size since 1970, you can find about any thing you need in there. We will be here a couple of days doing some hiking and site seeing.Until next time, tight lines and safe travels.

Red Cedar River CG

We left High Cliffs and headed for the Red Cedar CG in Minnesota using some new software I found for my phone, turns out it is a little out of date and the price went from $15 to $30 six years ago, we agreed on $20 and stayed two nights so we could go to the mall of America Friday wow what a big place. They had a huge indoor amusement park that was pretty cool and all the kids were sure having fun, they should allow you to ride bikes in there it is too big to walk it. They claim to have 400 stores.
We left Red Ceder this morning about eight am and headed for Big Bend Dam in South Dakota they have a Corp of Engineers camp ground that is listed in my new software. Ok the dam is 18 miles off the freeway but I figure it is worth it because I can camp for half price because it in Federal, well the river flooded and the camp ground is closed shi///. Alrighty I just spent seven dollars in gas to get here from the freeway, I guess I am not saving money. I talked to a big indian at the dam and he said their was another camp ground about seven miles from the dam on the Reservation next to the Casino it is $15 a night and has electric and water, so here we are. I just hope I can get back up the mountain I came down to get here, I  could smell the brakes it is so steep. Tomorrow we head for the Bad Land National Park. Until next time, tight lines and safe travels.

High Cliffs SP Wisconsin

Ok it may seam thing are not going well but it is just the Clement curse 'thanks Marty'. We had a great day of hiking and biking around the park, about 2 1/2 hours worth. We climbed a five story lookout tower and hiked a trail that led to ancient Indian mounds on top of the cliffs, it was alot of fun. Lynn started feeding the chip monks at or site and now they won't leave. I have attached a picture of our site, the site are large with lots of separation. All our planning is paying off, I needed to use the air compressor today, their is no wi-fi so my Motorola zoom is coming in handy using the cell towers to access the Internet. We are on the road again tomorrow headed west. Until next time tight lines and safe travels.

We finally started our adventure

we left the house about 10 am Monday after a few clitches. While I was loading the car I tore the faciea off under the car, now I remember I was suppose to but some boards down because the car is too low. It only took six bolts to fix it. The last thing to do was turn off the electricity, so I go downstairs and shut it off and fumble through the dark to get back upstairs. Ok I am in the motorhome and I am hot and ready to go, I hit the garage door button and nothing happens sh!!!!!!!!!! no electricity.  Ok so we made it to Brevort Lake and had a nice night by the fire. Left Brevort about 8am and headed for High Cliffs SP on Lake Winnabago. We arrived about 3pm and it was hot, so we went for a swim in the lake. After about a half our I feel something in my pocker, it's the car keys and my wallet. Now the Prius uses what they call a smart key it operates the car electricly, by the way it was not smart enough to hold it's breath while under water and it drowned sh!!!!!!!!! so anyway I was smart enough to bring the other key, yaaaa. Anyway I need a drink maybe two. See ya next time. Tight lines and safe travels.