Jul 25, 2012 - just running around

The day started with a trip to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum outside of Ellsworth AFB. The museum has information on everything from the Cold War to present day conflicts as well as air planes representing each era of the Strategic Air Command. Ater visiting the museum, we decided to golf. We were on the 2nd hole when we noted the black clouds coming in and got through the 4th hole when Bob noticed lightening and we heard thunder, so we decided not to take any chances. Good thing too, since we really were not doing very well. As it...

Apr 8, 2012 - Cold Mornings

Clear blue skies this morning but it is only 33F with a 15MPH wind from the north so it looks nice but is really chilly out, forecast is for a high of 57F today. Mary stayed in bed all day only getting up a couple of times to have some chicken noodle soup, she has two Z pak pills left to help her shake this sinus infection. I told her she needs to be rested up and feeling well for her 2 1/2 week bingo marathon in Bismarck. I spent a good share of my day working on our travel log and plinking away on the banjo. It is only supposed to be 27F...

Apr 7, 2012 - Passed Up Bingo?

I was at the Wal-Mart pharmacy when they opened to pick up my prescription but they apparently forgot to order it so now they are going to mail it to me in Bismarck because Wal-Mart's in ND don't have pharmacies. Mary slept in a little late but said she would like to go back up to Deadwood again today, Deadwood is only 42 miles from here, 29 miles east on I 90 then another 13 miles on hwy 14 up the canyon to Deadwood. We stopped at Goodines for a nice breakfast in Sturgis on the way up. We only stayed for about three hours because Mary's...

Apr 6, 2012 - Mary's New Favorite Casino

Rapid City (www.visitrapidcity.com/) only has a population of 68,000 and this is our third year here so I'm beginning to feel right at home getting around town. Because we still haven't spent our casino allowance we went back up to Deadwood again this morning. Mary had her name called three times for free play at the Silverado-Franklin Casino, once for $50 and twice for $100, granted they weren't very busy but the odds of winning three times has to be incredibly high, I told her I thought she should go buy a lottery ticket. We went to a...

Apr 5, 2012 - Annual Doctor Visit

This morning we have an appointment with Dr. Roddy for our annual check up. Mary had all her lab work done after seeing the doctor but I had a doughnut for breakfast so I have to come back in the morning for mine. After having lunch at home and finishing off all the left over's in the refrigerator we were off to the local laundromat, before heading home we stopped in at a couple of thrift stores. The doctor called in a couple of prescriptions for us, they don't have CVS here so we used Wal-Mart. Mary got hers but I need to come back again...

Apr 4, 2012 - Deadwood

This morning we took a scenic drive through the Black Hills to Deadwood (www.deadwood.com/) for some adult games and a nice lunch. Mary played her penny machines while I played blackjack, we were home by 6PM with a few extra dollars in our pockets. Used our new Pilot/Flying J credit for the first time to fill up the car, regular is $3.59 and diesel is $4.09, we get an extra $.02 off the gas price and $.06 off a gallon the cash price for diesel.

Apr 3, 2012 - Farm Country Used Car Lot

Got off to an early start this morning for the 170 mile drive to Rapid City up US 385. Still bucking a headwind, at least it is only in the 5-10MPH range. Even though we are in the prairies of Nebraska the elevation is still 4,000'. Never knew that one of Nebraska's main attraction is sand hills (www.sandhillsjourney.com/). Seen a lot of trains loaded with coal headed south, mostly large farms with irrigation, big cattle ranches, open prairie land and a few oil wells. You know you are in farm country when you see John Deere tractors on the...

Dec 9, 2011 - Box Elder, SD

Again, we were up early. I had to get a run/walk in since we hadn't done much but sit and drive and past two days. I donned my winter running gear and ventured out in the 14 degree weather. Surprise! It snowed several inches last night. I haven't heard that crunch of my feet on snow in a long time. I got some sprints in and froze my lungs. It felt wonderful. The first stop of the day was just downstairs to the mail room. We went down to pick up our mail from Americas Mailbox (our mail forwarding service). Not only did we have mail, we had...

Aug 30, 2011 - Vermont Flooding

We are preparing the next installment of our travel journal. As we are doing so, we are hearing from family and friends "back home" about some of the worst flooding in VT's history. We are thinking about the struggles they will face . . . now and in the coming months. The offices in Herb's division in ANR were wiped out. Likely the storeroom was as well. Many of his co-workers in the Agency and other departments are in the same situation. We were told that 25% of VT's state employees have been displaced. There will be a major disruption in...

Aug 24, 2011 - Pre-Departure report

The weather here remains variable. We’ll have a beautiful day in the 80s (as today is supposed to be) then, like yesterday, it will be 100 again. It sounds like we are not the only ones experiencing these temperature swings. The locals tell us that this is quite unusual for this area. On Sunday we took Bayley and drove to the Hill City and Custer areas (southern Black Hills). We plan to come back to this area in a few years and think that we might stay in the Southern Hills. Our good friends Tom and Nancy workcamped at the Rafter J RV...

Aug 21, 2011 - Week 4 in SD

The weather has been quite nice for the past 10 days or so. We've had 70s and 80s for the most part with very little rain. Tuesday August 16th was spent at the Journey Museum in Rapid. “The Journey Museum is the education venue that serves as a forum to preserve and explore the heritage of the cultures of the Black Hills region and the knowledge of its natural environment to understand and value our past, enrich our present, and meet the challenges of the future. The Journey Museum takes you on an incredible trek through time, from the...

Aug 5, 2011 - Truck quiz and other news

Hello there, The weather has moderated here in Box Elder. The last few days have been great with cool nights and highs in the upper 70s to low 80s. A friend had suggested putting up some photos of Box Elder. We checked out Box Elder proper on Saturday. Not too much here to take photos of! The little town is all about Ellsworth Air Force Base which we can see from our campground. There are some housing developments, a tiny town center, a couple large schools and several trailer parks. Oh yes - and a "gentlemen's club". EAF base is one of two...