SD to WI

Tuesday at noon we pulled out with a snowstorm just starting.

The snow intensified and came down horizontally! (It accumulated on the windshield - not very visible in the photo, but it was there!) We fought strong side winds until we arrived in Mitchell, SD. Walmart provided a good place to spend the night. Despite a major storm all night, we slept well.

On Wednesday we had lunch with a cousin. He’s studying to be a policeman, and we’re proud of him. His mother was my (Heather’s) first cousin; she died 3 days before Kyle turned 18. His dad died when he was 5 of agent orange (Vietnam). But he’s doing well and hopes to graduate in a month.

The weather turned to drizzly, which we didn’t mind. We had a good afternoon traveling, with minor traffic and decent roads. Just inside MN we stopped at a Luverne veterans memorial museum. A real focus on their  local heroes of war. It was so interesting, we only covered one floor of 3! Guess we’ll have to return.

Moving on a little distance, we arrived in Worthington and found a church for prayer meeting. It was actually a Bible study and very invigorating, with many participating. The pastor led well. After service, we were invited to park in their lot with an electrical plug-in and water available. It rained in the night.

Thursday the clouds socked us in, it was windy and drizzly. But when we stopped to tour Fort Belmont the rain ceased and we had leisurely time to view it all. We were the only ones there!

Driving along I-90 in this part of the country one is surrounded by vast fields waiting to be sowed. One farmer had his private airstrip by the road. The clouds split apart and the sun peeked through. We saw blue sky! The temperature was moderate and we needed no heat for the night. That was a God-given gift, since we were once again having battery issues. But all’s well that ends well!

Friday we took our time, stopping to shop and “find” internet. We also tried to find the Riverside Museum and while looking for that saw a gun show advertised, so we went there. However, they didn’t open until 3 and we were too far from our destination to wait for that. Driving on, we arrived at our friends’ home in Madison by late afternoon. Other friends from many years ago also met us there. Because of where they live in a town house, we drove to Walmart for the night. Slept well!!

 

More Activities:

Frisbie was a great game to play in the wonderful weather we were enjoying!

The RV is well stocked with puzzles. Roger & I finished a 500 piece Sunday evening.

The next day Scarlett, Roger and I did a 300 piece puzzle, only to discover a piece missing – probably somewhere in the RV, but who knows where!!

Piedmont, near Rapid City

Driving into WY we were “impressed” with the terrible roads. However, later we reversed our decision – they have the best and worst roads, we decided! Another interesting thing about their roads – we drove on RED roads and then suddenly switched to BLACK roads (not asphalt – something else)?

In Casper, WY, we attended the planetarium “sun” show. It maxed out at 14 allowed inside, but we got there in time! 

After that we spent the night in a new, barely occupied KOA park.

Friday was on to SD, where we parked next to our son Josh about 10 miles west of Rapid City. Here we were met with a heat wave – over 80 degrees!! Lovely RV park!

On Saturday we were able to feed all 9 of us here, outside at the park. It was a pre-Easter ham dinner! I baked sweet potato pie – using the oven in the R.V. for the first time. It went so well, I’m making cinnamon buns now!

One granddaughter went to church with us – we really wanted to take her there so she would meet some kids and also see if she wants to return.

The church has a bus ministry and that’s the only way she’ll get to church. Our other son and family also went to a different church. We met at their house later for ribs.

The camp here has horse shoes, so Roger’s been out challenging his sons! There’s also a nice play ground – very nice situation. God has been gracious. Almost no internet, which works for me! I don’t need daily contact.

East and Easter Spring Trip 2021

We left Monday morning with a blue sky and warm sun to start us off. However, we discovered before leaving that the R.V. had some issues – the generator wasn’t working and there appeared to be a short in the electrical system. We decided it was cheaper to stay in R.V. parks if necessary to get electricity than to stay in hotels and buy all our food out.

We also were not sure we could get over the passes.  Snoqualmie came first and we made it – road dry and bare. Our first stop was, as always, the Cle Elum Bakery.

There were 6’ snow banks on either side of the pass! Our goal for the day was the 50,000 Silver Dollar "mini mall" in Haugen, MT. and their free overnight RV park!

We made it to Haugen before dark, and that included 2 more mountain passes! And the generator healed itself – maybe our prayers made it work! The electricity is doing what it needs to do, albeit intermittently.

Tuesday we woke up to frozen mud puddles, but we were warm. The sun came out and stayed all day. The roads remained clear. Later in the day we encountered wind, which isn’t fun. It was dark when our day of driving ended in a Big Timber, MT, gas station parking lot.  Fierce, cold winds rocked us to sleep. But all was calm the next morning and we left in full sun. Here's the mountain range we saw while leaving the parking lot.

On Wednesday the winds warmed up and it was a welcoming spring day. In Hardin, MT, we looked for a church to attend prayer meeting and found one - not only did they pray, we sang some hymns by request and the pastor brought a short message. We were humored to see, in one of the church parking lots, a deer quite at home - only leaving when we kept moving his way!

Today is Thursday. We watched "Sunstruck", the sky show in the Casper, Wyoming, planetarium. They have a new digital sky projector.

On the way we finally saw some wildlife – antelope. We’re in a R.V. park tonight that just updated their wifi – good news for us!