Our RV Adventures

Since we would lose an hour about 3 miles down the road as we passed into the Central Time Zone, and also wanted to get diesel in Murdo, SD about 25 miles down the road, we left the park about 7:30 and headed east on I-90.

As we passed the 1880 Town we tried to check the diesel price at their Shell station, but it wasn’t posted anywhere and I didn’t want to drive up to the pumps without knowing the price, so we just headed on by.

We took on 59 gallons of diesel at the Murdo Pilot station at $3.89 a gallon ($3.86 after my Pilot discount card) and then after parking over to the side, we went back and got breakfast sandwiches from the Subway and Hazelnut coffee from the Pilot, and then got back on the road. Kinda thought about dropping some coins in the slots while we were there, as this is the only Pilot/Flying J I’ve ever seen that also has a casino inside.

Leaving Murdo and back on I-90 we came across this guy and his pet.

I wasn’t able to get a photo so I found this one online. Looks like they could both stand to put on a few pounds.

At our first rest stop, about 95 miles into our day, Jan took over the driving again while I caught a nap. She even handled a 15 mile section of road construction lined with pylons with no problems.

Over the last couple of days we’ve been through a number of these 10-15 mile construction zones. The interesting thing about these is what they’re doing on the other side of the Interstate, something that I’ve never seen before.

They are completely tearing up the pavement, all the way down to the dirt, even pulling out the rebar. Then they start building up the new road from scratch, just like they did originally. What’s not clear is why.

Is it because it wasn’t built right to start with? Or did the extremely cold weather damage it beyond normal repair? Googling doesn’t give me any info, so I guess I’ll ask around.

The other funny thing is what’s up with the ‘huddling cows’? Along the Interstate we’ve seen these groups, large and small, of cows all huddled together in a tight mass. Are they fighting off marauding wolves? Getting ready for a cold winter? What?

After Jan’s driving for about 100 miles, I took over again for the last 35 miles, getting into the W. H. Lyons Fairgrounds about 2pm CST. And after checking in with the camp host, I went looking for a site without ruts with no luck. Just like when we were here in 2008, we’re parked on grass backed up to a fence. And we’re parked in the bare-dirt ruts of all the previous occupants.

When we were here in 2008 for a week, everything was fine for the first 5 days, and then it poured for the last two days. And when we tried to leave, we were stuck, couldn’t even move forward a single foot. I really felt bad for the guy that Good Sam ERS sent out as he had to lay down in the mud to hook up the tow rope to our rig, and it was still pouring down at the time. I slipped him a $20.

As it stands right now, it’s not supposed to rain before we leave here on Saturday so maybe we’ll luck out.

After getting set up, Jan and I headed out to a nearby UPS store to get our Residency Affidavit notarized. We need these to get our drivers licenses renewed tomorrow, along with some other ID items. Hopefully we won’t have any problems.

By the time we got finished it was after 4:30 so we headed over to a nearby Famous Dave’s BBQ for our usual great meal. With leftovers of course.

While at Famous Dave’s I asked the waitress if she knew why the cows huddled. She didn’t know but the guy sitting behind us did. It’s to help them ward off the biting flies they have around here. And then when we got home, I found that our friend Cool Judy (Judy Rinehimer) had asked the same question and gotten the same answer on Facebook.

Another thing I noticed is how diesel got a lot cheaper as we got closer to Sioux Falls. I saw it as low as $3.56 around here. Wait if you can. Unfortunately we couldn’t.

Tomorrow we’re going to head out early and try to beat the rush at the DMV.

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Thought for the Day:

Sign seen on a City Park entrance:

1. No alcohol
2. No glass containers
3. No loud music
4. No kite flying
5. No RC airplanes
6. No golf practicing
7. No frisbee throwing
8. No baseball/football throwing outside practice cages
9. No bicycles, skateboards, rollerskates or rollerblades
10. No animals except for service animals

This is your park, enjoy it!

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The rain came down heavy about 2am this morning. In fact it was so loud that I thought it was hailing until I looked outside. I just hoped it wouldn’t keep me from getting out of here this morning.

Jan and I were up about 7am, even though we didn’t plan to leave until about 10. That let us have nice slow breakfast with coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Then it was time to say our goodbyes with Nick and Terry until what will probably be next year sometime.

So we both cranked up a little after 9:30 and got ready to head out. I let Nick be the guinea pig and pull out first and was relieved to see he didn’t have any problems getting off the grass and onto the road. But my departure wasn’t quite as easy.

I put the rig into gear and very gently gave it a little throttle. I moved forward a foot or two before the wheels started to slip. Before it could dig in, I stopped and put the rig into reverse, backing up several feet past where I had started. Now on more solid ground, I slowly started forward and once I was moving, gave it more throttle than before.

This time when the tires started slipping a bit, I just continued on, because though the tires were spinning a bit, I was still steadily moving forward without digging in. Then after a few more seconds I was on the road and we were on our way.

Whew!

We followed Nick and Terry down to the I-90 interchange, where after a quick wave, they headed west to Billings, and Jan and I headed east for the East Belvidere KOA about 250 miles away.

The trip went very smoothly, with a couple of 10 mile two lane under-construction sections, but we were about to keep our 55mph speed with no problems. Our first rest stop was at the 80 mile mark, where Jan said she wanted to take over the driving for a while.

And that 80 mile stop also marked our return to our home state of South Dakota. We’ve been South Dakota residents since 2008 and it’s now time to renew our drivers licenses. With this first renewal, we have to do it in person, but after this, we will be able to do it by mail.

Jan drove for about 100 miles until we made another pit stop, saying she wanted to drive again tomorrow. She likes driving in the rolling hills and wide-open spaces of South Dakota. Not a lot of traffic and the towns are few and far between.

Around 2:45 we pulled into the East Belvidere KOA, and since we already had a paid reservation, we were quickly escorted to our site. Since we’re only going to be here for one night, we just got a site with electric and water only.

As it turned out our park is at the same exit as a tourist attraction called 1880 Town that looked very busy as we came by. It looked interesting but we’ll have to check it out next time through the area.

After getting set up we both ended up taking a nap until a little after 5 we walked over to the park restaurant. Our meals were simple but good, with Jan having a really good chili cheese dog and fries. My Buffalo Burger was also delicious as well.

This is a very nice KOA park, well laid out and landscaped, with all the amenities.

All the sites are long pull-thrus with 30/50 amps and water, and some with sewer.

And back behind us, we found this very nice GMC rig.

A little later while we were watching TV, Jan said “That rig looks familiar” as one went by. Turned out to be Bob and Molly Pinner, the directors of the Escapees’ Escapade that we just attended. They’re heading back to Virginia, by way of Goshen, IN to check out the location of the next Escapade there next May.

I told them how much we enjoyed the recent Escapade, and talking about the next one.

Tomorrow we’ve got a 230 mile trip to the W. H. Lyons Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls. On the way we’ll make a stop about 20 miles down the road in Murdo, SD to diesel up at the Pilot there.

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Thought for the Day:

You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think. – Milton Berle

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