Currently in Sioux Falls SD (Low 61 Partly Sunny High 87)
After 3 nights in Mitchell South Dakota we departed yesterday and headed to Sioux Falls, also in South Dakota. We are staying at the KOA.
It was approximately 70 miles, this is the route we took.
During
our
trip the Check Battery light came on again and at the end it went off
and the Check ABS light came on. Before we left Bob confirmed that the
batteries in the RV were good, the converter is working and the inverter
is working when needed. We got unhooked but then couldn't get
the truck out of park so had to call Good Sam Roadside Assistance.
Lightning Towing towed the truck to the nearest Ford dealership who
will begin looking at it this morning, both the electrical and the
tailgate problems. We're telling you that you don't ever want to see
this.
What we are able to do during our week here is dependent on what they find out with the truck and how long it takes them.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Mitchell SD (Low 60 Currently Clouds and Sun 65)
Heading to Sioux Falls SD (Currently 64 Clouds and Sun High 80)
With its field corn exterior the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota has jokingly been called the world's largest bird feeder. The Corn Palace originally built in 1892 was not the world's first, that distinction belongs to Sioux City Iowa, but it is the only corn or grain palace left in the world.
The murals on the exterior are made of 13 different colors of field corn that is cut in half and nailed to plywood. Here is a display inside showing a small example
and the different colors of corn. A 14th color, green, will be in the 2018-2019 theme.
The 2017-2018 theme was South Dakota Weather. The 2018-2019 theme will be to honor the military.
This is truly a multi-functional building, not only is it the 2nd most visited tourist attraction in South Dakota after Mount Rushmore it is also a basketball court for high school and college games, and an arena for concerts, bull riding competition and other events. Over 200 basketball games are played on this court each year. USA Today calls this basketball venue one of the 10 best places in the country to watch high school basketball. Here is the arena space showing the interior murals serving as the gift shop.
A closeup of one of the murals residing inside that used to be outside.
The pillars in the building are decked out as different colored corn cobs, we especially liked this blue corn one.
This was a lot more than we expected, plus it was free admission. Don't worry they got some money from us as we bought corn of course, chocolate caramel popcorn that is, and some wild plum jam. They use the proceeds from the gift shop to pay for the yearly redo of the exterior to the new theme, plus the murals inside also need to be maintained.
We thought this would be corny but it turned out to be very interesting.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Mitchell SD (Low 68 A Strong Afternoon Thunderstorm High 91)
Subtitled: We had another one of those days.
After 3 nights in Murdo South Dakota we departed yesterday for Mitchell, also in South Dakota. We are staying at the R and R Campground.
It was approximately 140 miles, this is the route we took.
It was an
eventful trip, but not in a good way. When we started the truck after we were finished at the
Rest Area near Chamberlain South Dakota the check battery light came on 
Since it was about 70 miles left we turned off the air conditioner, which was quite a big deal since it was above 90. What did we ever do before air conditioning? We made it to the park and Bob paid with a credit card. Then the next big event happened, we couldn't drop the tailgate to unhook. Luckily we have Bigfoot auto levelers so we disconnected from the hitch and were able to raise the fifth wheel high enough so we could get the truck out from under.
We got power and water and then Bob went to Advanced Auto Parts and had the batteries and alternator. By now Bob noticed that the check battery light was no long illuminated. Turns out they both checked out OK so since we don't know for sure when the light went off it may be problems with the RV batteries which we will check out later, it was too hot when we got there on a record setting high temperature day to turn off the power. The RV batteries did have enough juice to get the slides out so that is encouraging.
The last event of the day is when Bob decided to get diesel on the way back to the park and the same credit card he used to pay for the park was declined. Turns out it was rejected since the reader was a swipe instead of a chip. Have you ever had one of those days?
In the cool morning today Bob will look at the tailgate. We will be here 3 nights so it might be tough to get it serviced due to the holiday weekend. At least we know we have a workaround for hooking up.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Murdo SD (Low 67 Currently Mostly Sunny 70)
Heading to Mitchell SD (Currently Sunny 73 Partly Sunny High 98)
GPS brought us right to the American Park RV Park. Checkin was at the American Inn motel. We were in the upper level which was a nice concrete pad on a long pull thru. The roads were paved and the upper level is a big rig friendly park with the sites not crammed together. We put our RV in the pull thru so that our sewer hose would reach and also putting the front under a shade tree while allowing a good line of sight for our roof mounted satellite dish around that tree. Once settled the hookups were convenient. The park had free wifi but we did not use it. We probably should have since the ATT 4g was 1 bar, sometimes 2 but spotty. ATT cellular was better at 3-4 bars. Here is the Lifestyle from the front.
To the right.
To the left.
From the rear.
The lower level with gravel roads and grass pads.
We depart today for Mitchell South Dakota. The BWE is still in full effect as the forecast high for Mitchell today is a new all time high for May 27th.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Murdo SD (Low 63 Blazing Sunshine; HOT High 97)
We thought we were touring the Pioneer Auto Museum yesterday, little did we know we had a complex of over 40 buildings and a lot more than classic autos to see. It's actually called the "Pioneer Auto Show and Antique Town".
When we drove up we were surprised to see the 'Antique Archeology' van from 'American Pickers' parked in front.
We watch the show and were excited about the possibility of seeing an episode being filmed and possibly meeting Mike and Frank. But as we got closer we realized it probably wasn't them as this was a Mercedes and they traded for a Ford recently. Then we saw the Pioneer Auto stickers and knew our celebrity meeting potential was squashed. We asked they guy taking tickets and he said that yes they bought their old van. 'American Pickers' has filmed there twice and it is quite the production. Pioneer Auto shuts down for the day and they arrive with 2 vans, a motorhome and 9 guys. Still would have been cool to meet them. We came to see cars and they have almost 300 of them spread out throughout the buildings so we were not disappointed. Here are just a couple of the photos we took of cars.
The only remaining original 'General Lee' from the 'Dukes of Hazzard'.
Mike from 'American Pickers' sat in this 1962 Messerschmitt.
Every auto museum must have a 1957 Chevy, this one is a convertible.
The very first year for the GTO, 1964.
Other cars we liked.
We were also there for the Harley owned by Elvis Presley.
Little did we know they had a building full of motorcycles.
They had signs, gas pumps, display cases for model fire trucks, model cars, typewriters, muskets and rifles and .... Add to all the displays mentioned here there are more than 40 buildings to go through.
We didn't scratch the surface as to what you could see here because it was above 90 and most of the buildings were not air conditioned. We also only have a few of the photos we took. We were happy to see this sign which led to air conditioning.
This is on our 'see it next time' list as we probably only saw about half the cars and none of the 60 or so antique tractors. If it had been about 25 degrees cooler and we had come better prepared we would have seen more. The "Baskerville Weather Effect" or BWE is as usual in full throttle. It has been about 15-20 degrees higher than normal at our last few stops. The worst may be today where it will be 24 degrees above normal.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Murdo SD (Low 58 Mostly Sunny Very Warm High 90)
We departed Black Hawk South Dakota yesterday and headed to Murdo, also in South Dakota. We are staying at the American RV Park and Kamp.
It was approximately 140 miles, this is the route we took.
We will be here three nights. We plan on going to the Pioneer Auto Museum today on the recommendation of Jim and Sandie Dixon of "Where are the Dixon's Today?" fame and numerous signs along the interstate.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Black Hawk SD (Low 55 Currently Mostly Sunny 71)
Heading to Murdo SD (Currently 73 Partly Sunny Very Warm High 89)
Three Flags RV Park is located in Black Hawk South Dakota just west of Rapid City. We had a great sunset while here.
It is a Passport America park that will honor that rate for the entire week. Our GPS devices agreed on the route and brought us right to the park. This is a one woman show and the owner was mowing when we got there but saw us and came to check us in. The roads and sites are gravel. The sites are spaced good with grass between them. We got a lot of rain while we were here and the sites drained pretty good. The hookups were convenient for our long pull thru. We had a good line of sight for our roof mounted satellite dish as can be seen in the following photos. We had 3 bars ATT cellular and 2 bars ATT 4g.
The Lifestyle from the front.
To the right. We were at the end of the row showing some tent sites and a road leading to Fisher Junction.
To the left.
From the rear. We also had tent sites out our back window.
There is so much to see and do in the Black Hills area that we no doubt will be back in the area again. We would stay here again, especially since it is one of the nicer Passport America parks we have stayed at.
We depart today for Murdo, also in South Dakota.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Black Hawk SD (Low 48 Partly Cloudy then a Strong Afternoon Thunderstorm High 81)
While in Deadwood South Dakota we also visited Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
The main attraction for us was the grave of Wild Bill Hickock.
This is the third sculpture at his grave, a bronze replica of the original stone sculpture. The first two were destroyed by vandals and/or admirers. Hopefully being behind a fence this statue will be around for awhile. Wild Bill is forever linked to Calamity Jane who is also buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
She is quoted as saying on her deathbed, "Bury me beside Wild Bill". Well she got her wish.
What we didn't know was that Wild Bill was posthumously named a 'Son of the American Revolution'. His uncle, grandfather and great grandfather fought in the Revolution. This plaque was added at the dedication of the bronze sculpture in 2002.
Mt. Moriah Cemetery sits on a hill above Deadwood Gulch where Deadwood the town was built. It is a beautiful view.
Deadwood got approval from Congress in WWI to fly the flag 24 hours a day, one of the such allowed. Here it is at half mast for the Texas school shooting.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Black Hawk SD (Low 53 A Heavy Storm in the Afternoon High 80)
We had one of those days that make us very glad that we are in this lifestyle. The weather was perfect; low 70s and sunny. The drive to Deadwood was very scenic. While in Deadwood we first visited Adam House.
Three of the most prominent families of early Deadwood lived in this house. Built in 1892 for Harris Franklin who sold it to his son Nathan who sold to W. E. Adam. The Queen Anne-style home is known for its oak interiors and hand-painted canvas wall coverings. It was advanced for its time with plumbing, electricity and telephone service. Here are the wall coverings, some of which were still there and some they had to recreate.
Italian marble sinks throughout the house. Harris Franklin made sure that the plumbing for the sinks was visible as you can see here.
The beautiful oak throughout the house.
A couple things of note. This is a 1917 Westinghouse electric stove, one of the first.
A 1918 electric Frigidaire that was also one of the first. The bottom compartment was for ice in case the power was out.
The glass in this chandelier is uranium glass, uranium is added to the glass mix before melting for coloration. Under a black light the glass glows green. When one of the docents became pregnant they were concerned about radiation so they ran some tests. Turns out the radiation level was about that of a cellphone.
Another view of the exterior.
We also visited Mt. Moriah Cemetery which we will blog about later.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
