We landed at the KOA RV Park in Sioux Falls South Dakota

We got on the road in Wall, South Dakota, shortly after 10:00AM this morning, after our goodbyes to the RV Park owners Clayton and Lineen Nickel.  I drove for the first shift, and Anne-Marie finished the day up.  We fueled up twice, and the costs were 47 cents and 43 cents per mile traveled, as the fuel cost goes down, we get more travel days per month.

 

We crossed another time zone, and we are in Central Time Zone now.  We lost another hour, and I am feeling it, I am tired already.

Tomorrow is going to be another travel day for us, and the next one too.  We will take a break in Madison Wisconsin for a few days.

Our home in Sioux Falls.

We are on the road again.

Anne-Marie and I hope to be on the road heading east, and trying to get a little closer to Illinois.  Our goal is to pull the trailer around 300 miles today, but all is subject to our endurance to the highway.  We like to call ahead to make sure that there is room in the RV park that we wish to stay at, before we get on the road, but today, we will call ahead perhaps 2 hours out from quitting for the day.  This will give us the max miles that that we feel like driving, but it leaves us open to be disappointed if the chosen park is full.  Anne-Marie wants to stay in Madison, Wisconsin for a few days, and it is 3 days of travel out from where we are located today. 

 

The best way to approach this type of travel, is to stay as flexible with travel plans as possible, and don’t drive too far in one day if you are tired.  Anne-Marie and I both drive the van when pulling the trailer, and we seem to know when to pullover for the day.

Our Van has been repaired, and was delivered this evening.

Joe, the service manager at the Ford Garage, called at 3:30, and the van has all been repaired.  Joe and a friend are traveling to Wall to fish in a favorite lake, and Joe is driving the van here to save us the trouble of getting a ride to Rapid City. 
We have done a little happy dance for the van.
The van has arrived, and is in good working order, and the Air-Conditioning is working really well.  When I was checking all of the systems out, Joe and his friends had driven off, I found the Garmin GPS part of the stereo didn’t work, and the back-up camera didn’t work.  Being the fixer that I am, I took all of the dash stuff off that I could, and I removed the engine cowling from the interior of the van, in my search for the unattached cord or cable that was pulled loose during the shops repair.  All seemed to be just fine with the cables, and I now had my hands dirty.  I got the manuals to the stereo, and all of the accessories that are hooked up.  I started with the wrong manuals first, and read into them and got confused, and finally the last manual that was for the stereo’s main system, I found that it was a setup setting, and that fixed the last of it.  The backup camera works well, and the GPS is now working well.  This kind of stuff is becoming a greater challenge than I am able to sort out.  The cost of the happy tow and repairs is just $1351.88, and this seems to be the unexpected repair cost every travel season.
Anne-Marie and I walked in to town today and visited Wall Drug again, and I bought some fudge for Anne-Marie.
On the walk back to the trailer we saw the neatest RV in the Parking lot.  A custom made Expedition RV on a Mercedes truck.

Irmi and Frieder from Germany had this very custom RV body built on the 1981 truck chassis, and they have toured Europe, and now North America.

The truck is a retired police vehicle used for transporting a light tower, and it had 25thousand miles on it.  All wheel drive, diesel, 12 miles per gal.  The rear bracket lowers to the ground for getting the motorcycle on and off.  It was outfitted with air-cushion seats, but the inside is a bit sparse compared to our trailer.

I looked at their blog, but I had to use a language translation site to somewhat understand the vehicle specs.  This has to be a rough riding truck, but it looks neat.

Another 34ft Airstream arrived today, and so did a Boy Scout Troop from Ohio.
Back on the road tomorrow.

Power Management in a Trailer While Parked in a RV Park.

Parked in a RV Park, we have to be adaptive to the size of the power supplied at the RV site.  RV Park power usually is provided in three flavors, 20amp, 30amp, 50amp.  The 20amp service limits us to only items that can be run off of a extension cord, and this means the hot water heater is switched to gas only, and no air-conditioning.  The 30amp service can run everything but not all at the same time, air-conditioning and the electric fry pan together will trip the outside circuit.  The 50amp service will run everything in trailer with no restrictions.  In the colder climates the space heaters that we use, don’t like working with the coffee pot on the same in house circuit.  Today, and earlier this week, the air-conditioner has been on, and the electric fry pan was used, and the outside circuit breaker tripped, and turned off power to the entire trailer.  Whenever a circuit breaker trips, we have to start counting the watts that the appliances are using and modify our usage to keep under the breakers tripping point.

The electric fry pan, with the white base, uses 1100watts, or 10amps, and the rice cooker, in the rear, uses 700watts.  With the TVs, computers, water heaters, crockpot, coffeepot, electric pressure cooker/slow cooker, and air conditioning, we count watts when we think about it.

Slow news day, this is the most exciting news.

We toured the town a little more

Yesterday I called the Ford Garage, in Rapid City to check on the status of our van.  The engine has been repaired, and parts have been ordered for the the heater/AC unit.  I had asked the shop to fix the AC/heater, as the system has developed a vacuum leak.  As a safety feature, the heater control operates on vacuum from the engine, to make the internal switch between the different heat or air-conditioning modes.  If the vacuum system develops a leak, or has a faulty device in the system, the heater automatically will change the heating system to defrost.  Our vans vacuum leak had been so bad, that when the AC was on, and I pressed on the gas pedal, the AC would go off, and the heater would switch to defrost, and this would stay that way until I would take my foot off of the gas pedal and coast, and then the AC would come back on.  In the cooler climates, the vacuum leak wasn’t a real problem, but when the temp is in the mid 90s, it becomes a bit of an issue.
The repairs will be complete on Friday, and Joe the Service Manager wants to deliver the van that evening, here 50 miles away.  Joe said that he has a favorite fishing lake just outside of Wall,  and he is planning to go fishing after work, so it works out for both of us.

Anne-Marie and I walked into town to do some more exploring.  We checked out all of the stores across the street from The Wall Drug Store.  Gift shops, jewelry shops, leather clothes, fine artwork, and the inexpensive tourist trinkets, there were stores for every taste.
It seems that buffalo burgers are popular in every restaurant, and Anne-Marie had one a few days ago, same as beef but leaner.  We had lunch in a small restaurant/bar and returned to the trailer.

Later in the afternoon we walked to the local meat market, about a mile away.  We saw a Killdeer in the city park, on our way out, and it seemed to follow ahead of us for 200ft, across the parks parking lot, and we walked away.  On our return trip through the parking lot, the bird was making quite a commotion, and getting closer than 10ft of us.  I stopped and was surveying the ground in front of me for the nest, quite often the nest has no material, except for the egg, and it is spotted and blends in quite well with the gravel.

The Killdeer was turning her back to me, and dropping low to the ground, and doing the broken wing dance, all the while screaming at me.

If you zoom in on the picture, you can see that she is screaming and is incredibly stressed.  I couldn’t see the nest, and Anne-Marie encouraged me to leave, because this bird was stressed.  We left the bird to her own territory, and continued our walk.

Our friend Steve, who has had a blog for five years, encouraged me to continue the blog, and learn to use the tools, that make the blog easier, and that the blog will provide hours of entertainment and enjoyment every day.  Yesterday, my computer was tired, I was tired, I wrote about 400 words of a story, and this program wouldn’t publish the story, and it wouldn’t save it and it lost it.  I got depressed, shut the computer off, and went to  bed.  I seem to still find frustrations with the blog.

Interesting Things Around Wall, South Dakota

There is a neat car/bike in the RV Park, and they have been driving around town, getting a lot of looks.

It looks to be a Volkswagen powered vehicle, with a motorbike front, and covered with a Ford Model A body.  It even has a trunk on the back for storage.


The whole outfit is hauled on a trailer, pulled by a motorhome.  Pretty classy.

It is so hot outside.
I looked at the Weather Channel to see what the Temp was outside, and it is 108deg here in Wall.  No wonder that the air-conditioning can only get it down to 87deg inside the trailer.  From all that I have read about Airstreams, is that the single air-conditioning unit only drops the inside temp 20deg, and if we had two, perhaps down to the 70s.  There is even a heat advisory till 7PM.  The inside temp is 87deg, but it is a lot cooler than outside, and it is comfortable, fans seem to help.

I have walked a couple of miles today.  I walked to the local meat shop this morning, and bought some locally made brats, and Anne-Marie has them cooking for dinner, and I walked to the local grocery store and back, for at least a couple of miles for the day.  During the next six hours the temp is expected to drop to the mid 80s.

Our Van is getting a ride to the shop

The tow truck arrived to take the van to the Ford dealer in Rapid City.  The service desk said that it should be done this afternoon or tomorrow, and that they have worked out a delivery if it gets done today, but tomorrow it might not work for them.  The RV Park owner here in Wall said that he would provide transportation for us if needed.

Seems that its all working out for us, and we are walking distance from downtown here in Wall South, Dakota.

Our Van broke in the Badlands

Anne-Marie and I toured the National Grasslands Visitor Center in Wall South Dakota this morning, and we then toured a portion of the Badlands National Park, until problems developed with the van.
Our van had a pop pop pop sound when I started it, upon leaving a viewing outlook. I opened the hood, and listened to where the exhaust leak was happening at, and it was the passenger side, and seeing what it was couldn’t be done, because of too much stuff in the way. I have a code detector, the check engine light was on, I checked the codes right there in the parking lot, and the code was 0303 misfire cylinder three. The local garage in Wall, didn’t feel that they were equipped for the repair, so the van is being towed to Rapid City, South Dakota, to the Ford Dealer for repairs. The exhaust leak sound, the misfire, and the code reader, all indicate a blown spark plug. The unplanned expenses are $250+ for towing the van, and the ford dealer says $500+ for the repair. We will know more after the van gets in the shop.
 
Before the Van broke, we had fun at the visitors center.

We toured the National Grasslands Visitor Center in Wall.  Most all exhibits were very well done.

These two exhibits were incredible, and looked stop action real.
 
We drove out to the Badlands to see the wildlife, and had fun.

The prairie dogs seem to be entertained by us as much as we were by them.

Anne-Marie on the right, looking over a spectacular sight.

Anne-Marie shading her eyes, at the last outlook for us today.  There were a few lone bull buffalo near where we toured, and this one wandered close to the road.
 
All works well till something gets broke.  All of our friends who are full-timing  in their RV, have at least one major breakdown on something every travel season, we do to.

Wall Drug, Wall, South Dakota

We departed Sundance today, and pulled the trailer East to Wall, South Dakota.
For hundreds of miles in all directions from Wall, South Dakota, the Wall Drug Store advertising  road side signs are scattered along the sides of the highway.  I believe that one could have enough lumber to build another store, by gathering the signs up.

The store takes up nearly the whole block, and it is a destination for many.  The street side parking was always full, and several parking lots were available for large rigs, and RVs.  The main hallway or mall, has a lot of attractions, and every park bench has a mannequin already staged for photos.  The mall has many specialty shops, from the inexpensive tourist gift shop to an art gallery with original paintings and sculptures.

These mannequins are playing cards, and a lady is in the mall, looking in.  Out back in the alley, has activity areas for the kids, and another building with an arcade, and other kid friendly things to do.  There may be five or six restaurants in this complex, and all seemed to be busy.

Anne-Marie signed us up for two nights here in Wall, and we will tour the badlands tomorrow.

Crook County Museum, Sundance Wyoming

Downtown Sundance Wyoming has some really neat old buildings, and a stuffed to the gills museum.  Steve, Anne-Marie and I toured the downtown of Sundance yesterday, late morning, and finished with lunch at a local restaurant.

The old stone Sundance Bank building attracts a lot of attention from the visitors, as does the old school building.  The Sundance Kid is portrayed by this statue, just outside of the Crook County Courthouse.  Sundance got his nickname from his jail time in Sundance, from stealing a horse, saddle, and gun.

The Museum is in the basement of the Courthouse, and many of the exhibits are staged in small rooms, shown here is a portrayal of a ranch hands bunkhouse, and a kitchen-front room of a ranch house.

Anne-Marie looking at vintage dresses, and a display of vintage guns.

There was a display of items recovered from the Vore Buffalo Jump site, and many many arrow and spear points.




The country store had thousands of vintage items.

Today will be a travel day for Steve, as well as Anne-Marie and I.  Steve is moving to Sturgis, South Dakota, and Anne-Marie and I are needing to get closer to our daughter, Sara in Illinois, so we will travel a little further into South Dakota, perhaps Wall, South Dakota.  Our paths have crossed and uncrossed every year, and Anne-Marie and I have had many high energy tours with Steve, and we are looking forward to crossing paths again, before winter.

Devils Tower, The Vore Buffalo Jump, and The Wyoming Visitors Center

A volcanic intrusion is what built The Devils Tower.  The geologists think that there may have been over a mile of softer soils and rock covering this area when this was formed, and erosion has removed all but the hardest materials, and the Devils Tower is what we have left. 


Anne-Marie, Steve and I drove north to visit the National Monument yesterday morning, and this shows two views of the tower, quite impressive, the first is at the visitors center, second is from the northeast.  The tower is a popular rock climbing site, as that is the only way to reach the top, but the Rangers had closed a few climbing routes, to protect nesting Prairie Falcons.

Once inside of the gate, we stopped and were entertained by a prairie dog community, Steve and Anne-Marie to the right.

We paused in the western town of Hulett for a few pictures, on our way to Aladdin for lunch at Cindy B’s Café.

The highlight of the day was a visit to this small site.  The small visitor center is housed in a new log building, smaller than a house.  The Vore Buffalo Jump excavation is in a small sinkhole in the prairie, owned by the Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation, and housed in this unimposing building at the bottom of the sink hole. 

The American Natives used this site as a trap.  They would herd or direct or stampede the animals to the sink hole, and the buffalo would tumble down the short bluff and be easier to harvest.  There are over two hundred bluffs, or cliffs that were used in this manner in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota.  The earliest excavation is shown in the long trench on the left, and the current site on the right, with many items tagged.

A wide view of the interior space, and a small collection of arrow points, with descriptions of designs and dating method.  The stone tools have been discovered throughout the dig.














We made a rest stop at this Visitors center just two miles from the Buffalo Jump, and we were amazed that it was setup with exhibits done as well as a museum.
Today we explore the town of Sundance, and visit the Crook County Museum.