Now we’re Talkin’!

 

Alpaca Farms are fun. Soda Pops are nice. Swimming in the Missouri river is alright, but now we’re in South Dakota and the fun is just beginning.

After leaving Lewis and Clark Recreation Area near Yankton SD, we headed on to the Badlands National Park!

(BTW, I’ve adjusted the Marital Stress gauge back to normal – After helping with the dog one night without being asked and taking the trash out without complaining I think I have restored our relationship – maybe this should be marital Pro Tip?),

While driving down I90 we passed through lush, green, rolling hills with blue sky above. Some areas looked exactly like the splash screen from Win98 (or was it Windows XP).

 So similar was the view out my windshield to the Windows background that my Pavlovian response nearly caused me to turn off and restart my RV while heading down the highway!

 

 

 

 

Well we made it to the Badlands.  We were going to boondock on public land I read about just south of Wall SD (Wall is an interesting little tourist trap.  Worth a short visit). However, Tina found out that this public land is also used by ranchers to graze their cattle and the cattle will pick, lick and chew on your RV all day…. no bueno.

 

 

 

 

 

So, we stayed in a cramped little  RV park, Cedar Pass, in Badlands National Park.  Truly a tight squeeze.  In fact a rookie in an rented RV hit my awning as he was driving by my parked rig!  More about that in my next Things That Broke This Week post.

It was a good central location for heading out and viewing the sites.

On our outings we saw buffalo, bighorn sheep and tons of prairie dogs (Allen…Allen…Allen). Just beautiful scenery.

      

You may not be able to see the prairie dogs in this video, but you can hear them.

The country is amazing.  I took so many pictures that I ran out of film in my digital camera!

One problem with RV’ing is Bandwidth/Data access  – I’ve had to upgrade our Verizon data plan 5 times because we keep hitting the limit. We’re at 30Gigs and fighting to stay under that.  It looks like we’re going to have to make a real effort to find free wifi or, parish the thought, not surf the web as much!  Actually I think the biggest data killer is using Google Maps for directions all the time, and both of us using google maps to find the same location.  Put your phone in Airplane mode, it is your friend.

Another stop in the Badlands was at the disabled Delta-09 Minuteman Missile Silo.  This was neat to see.

 

 

Did you know that the Silo door is welded half open and thick glass was installed on it so that that the missile and silo could be viewed from above?  I don’t mean by visitors standing over it, but rather for Soviet Satellites to see in the shaft and confirm that the missile is still disabled.  Its a requirement of the SALT II treaty.  “Trust but verify”.  They could have been watching me as I was taking these pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s take a break here for another RV Pro Tip:

Pro Tip:  Any RV pro like myself knows it is a good idea to have a checklist of things to pack, doors to lock, hoses and power cords to stow before hitting the gas in that big rig.  Here’s another good item to add to your checklist.  Take your towed vehicle out of gear before pulling it down the road behind your RV.  Maybe that checklist should be somewhere other than just your head  (Honey!  The RV seems sluggish this morning!).

                                       

 

 

 

 

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We’ve now made it to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This is what we’ve been waiting for. Mountains!  Pine trees! Cooler weather!  Tunnels! Blue Lakes!  The views are even more awesomer!  But that’s for another post….

Wardlaw–