Monthly Archives: May 2017

What the Fudd?

It was really nice to sleep in this morning, snuggled in with our heated mattress pad. We both sleep a lot better when the bedroom is really cool, which works well with 40°-50° nights we’ve been having.




A number of other rigs starting moving in yesterday, I guess for the holiday weekend. There were only about six rigs when we got here, but a bunch more now.

Elk Creek RV Park 1

Elk Creek RV Park 2

And there’s more rigs here than what you can see in these photos.




In addition, when we got home we found a note on our wipers from Dave and Joanne, a couple who were parked next to us a week or so ago when we overnighted at the Pioneer RV Park in Hermiston, OR. They’re here in the park so we’ll try to hook up with them tomorrow.

A little after 3pm Jan and I headed in to RC to have linner at local Fuddruckers. We did stop off at the park office to re-up for our second week here. Then it was on to the Fuddruckers in Rushmore Mall. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve eaten at Fudd’s. Don’t know why it’s been so long, since it’s always good.

My favorite is their 8 oz. Ribeye Sandwich, a tender, juicy cut of meat. I got mine with bacon, and then added mayo, tomatoes, sliced onions, and pickles. And we split an order of potato wedges.

Fuddruckers Ribeye



Jan went with a 1/2 pound burger, with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and guacamole, as well as other fixing’s.

Fuddruckers Half Pound

Very good, but the service was a lot slower than we’ve experienced in the past.

Our next stop was a nearby Books-A-Million so Jan could look for a couple of magazines she wanted, but no luck. Our next stop was supposed to be Lowe’s, but we decided to save it for another day, and head on over to Wal-Mart for some groceries.

Then it was home for the night.

One thing I noticed kind of funny is that  there is only a Lowe’s here in RC, but no Home Depot. Seems like usually they’re located within sight of each other.

Passport America, Save 50% on Campsites

Tomorrow we’ll stay home and try to avoid all the holiday hoorah. Jan fixed up a big batch of her famous chili so we’ll have that tomorrow and maybe Monday,



Thought for the Day:

“You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.” – Doctor Who

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Moose and Mines . . .

We had a visitor this morning a little before I got up. Bob Fitz, a blog reader, came by to say HI, and let us know he and his wife were in Keystone yesterday when we were. They’re visiting Rapid City for a few days, and invited us to stop by and visit when we’re again in the Sioux Falls area.

It’s still going down into the high 30’s/low 40’s every night, but it’s supposed to start warming up a little in the next couple of weeks.




And speaking of a ‘couple of weeks’, after we had been here a couple of days, we started talking about staying a few extra days past our one week stay. But when it all boiled down, we reupped for a second week. Which means we won’t leave here until June 6th.

Unless we decide to stay longer.

Elk Creek is unlimited PassPort America, so we can linger pretty much as long as we like. And one reason for us to stay longer is that Jan used to live here.

She was here when she was in 2nd grade while her father was stationed at Ellsworth AFB. So she remembers places around here that she would like to revisit. And at least one of them is still around.

That one is the Dinosaur Park, a group of dino statues built on top of a hill near downtown Rapid City. Constructed in the mid-1930’s to capitalize on tourists visiting nearby Mt. Rushmore, the city hoped to keep some of the tourist’s dollars in town.




And while we were at the Safeway, I looked up on top of the nearby hill and saw one of the reptiles on the loose.

Safeway Dinosaur

Finishing up on yesterday’s 1880 Train, trip we were surprised at how many large homes were located out in the Black Hills National Forest.

1880 Train NF Estate 1

Don’t know if this guy had a lot of firewood left over from this past winter, but he’s certainly ready for next winter.

1880 Train Woodpile

Turns out that there were about 60+ mining claims that predated the 1897 creation of the Black Hills NF, and today many of those claims are now the location of family homes.



But some of the mine facilities can still be found along the route, mostly in the Addie Camp area. This was the Addie Camp tin mine.

1880 Train Tin Mine

Or at least it was supposed to be. Although they went down over 800 feet,  they never found much tin and the mine was closed down.

This is the remains of the Good Luck Tungsten Mine, which was much more successful than the tin mine, but it finally closed down in the 1950’s.

1880 Train Tungsten Mine

The 1880 Train ride turned out to one of our favorites, and is much recommended.

Later, while we walking around Hill City waiting for our not-to-be Alpine Inn dinner, we came across this two amazing horse sculptures along the sidewalk.

Both done by the same artist, they’re made from junk, springs, tools, even other horses, and faces.

HIll City Large Horse

and there was also a smaller one.

HIll City Small Horse

Really amazing.

Passport America, Save 50% on Campsites

Jan had a good time exploring The Farmer’s Daughter shop right across the street.

The Farmer's Daughter Shop

And even found her a new moose to add to her collection

Jan's New Moose

Cute.

We’re trying to keep our heads down during the holiday weekend, but we may run into RC to grab a burger at Fuddruckers, and maybe a trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s.


Thought for the Day:

Mark Twain got into an argument with a Mormon over polygamy and was challenged to prove from scripture that it was wrong.

He immediately answered: “No man can serve two masters!”

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