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.

It's almost time to leave

Well it's the middle of July and we have had a nice warm summer so far. We are getting execited to leave on our Grand Adventure and a little nervous too. The unknown is a little scary with all the what if's, you know what if the motorhome brakes, what if a family member back home gets ill, what if we don't like living in a motorhome and on and on.

We have tried to plan for as much as we can by reading and researching other RV sites and talking with people about what we need to prepare for. In an older motor home there are always things that go bad. So far we have had a roof leak, the hot water heater igniter quit working, a battery disconnect switch had to be replaced, I replaced the carpeting with a wood floor, I changed the oil, the ceiling fabric in the bedroom fell down, the propane tank had a leak, the FM radio had to be replaced, the fuel system on the generator needed to be cleaned, this would probably make most people give up on their dream but I like fixing things and it has been fun. If I could not do all the repairs myself I could not afford to travel in an RV.

Our plan is to head out August 15th and take thirteen days to travel from Traverse City to Gillette Wy for the Escapee rally.

I am going to try and post weekly during our trip. Stay tuned.