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Sunday, July 26, 2020

7-25-2020 & 7-26-2020

We woke up on Saturday morning at 4:30am and it was pouring. We are parked behind the Winery in a thick grassy field close to where they dug a line going out to their new building. We were worried about soft ground and getting stuck so we got up, closed the slides and stowed the jacks (all from the inside 👍😀) and moved the rig to solid ground. We waited until light to head out. 

While waiting for daylight Casen slept on our bed with all his bedding from the pull out couch and Ernie went back to sleep on the couch. I think we will be ready for bed early tonight.

We got to Berlin about 2:30pm and was glad to see there was an open spot at Riverside Park. It was a great weekend! We saw @macelyjace (Jake), my parents, my sister and nieces. A big thank you to Megan for covering 6 weeks of gray in my hair. Casen was really happy because he got to go swimming at my sister's neighbors house.


We left Berlin on Sunday around 1:00pm, we knew that there was storms rolling in and wanted to get to Madison before they hit. Once we were set up, Casen wanted to go swimming so we went over to the pool.



Here is a video of him doing a somersault in the water.


Unfortunately, it started to rain when Casen was in the pool so we headed back to the RV. And unfortunately, not much longer DeHanna came to pick him up. He traveled just under 5000 miles with us through 8 states for 4 weeks. He met some of my relatives, spent valuable time with his cousins in Washington and Idaho, visited places like Old Faithful, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. He is a great traveler, a good sport when he had to sleep on just the couch instead of the pull out couch, we had a great time with him, and I hope he remembers this for a long time. 💓💓💓



Friday, July 24, 2020

7-24-2020

Today was a 300 mile drive day. Nothing really exciting except our rig got its first bath. Blue Beacon has been the recommended place to have RV's washed. We found one in Sioux Falls, SD. 

Here is a before...



After...

The drivers side looked great!



We were not real happy with the quality of the wash. It looks like the crew on the right side (passenger) were not as good as the crew on the left side. The front looks good but probably won't stay that way long.

You would think they could have rinsed better.


And this is what the entire passenger side looked like.



Our stop for the night is a Harvest Host Round Lake Vineyard and Winery. They were having an event so we were not able to stay on the grounds close to the lake. We did do some wine tasting and had a spectacular dinner.










We are parked to the right of this vineyard. We sat outside for a bit at dusk to listen to the band (which is really good) but it is pretty humid so we retired inside once it got dark.

Tomorrow is a 400+ mile day so we will be hitting the road early.


7-23-2020

Today we took our time checking out of the RV park. Since we will be without hookups for the next couple of days, I did a couple loads of laundry and a little cleaning.

We stopped at Wall Drug. I found a couple of small signs to put on top of the slider trim pieces.






I also found this one to put under the front dash cupboards.


Our stop for the day is at Pioneer Auto Show & Antique Town in Murdo, South Dakota. It is also a Harvest Host so we are staying in their parking lot for the night. It's a pretty cool place that has a lot of stuff. There are 38 separate buildings of old cars, motorcycles, bikes, antiques of all sorts.



Dukes of Hazard car and the horn works.




Ford Shelby Mustang


This is an old motorhome. 



A Ford Jeep



Our South Dakota is on the map.






Thursday, July 23, 2020

7-21-2020 & 7-22-2020

Tuesday we arrived in Rapid City, SD. We stayed in an RV park that had full hookups and after 5 days without any, there was plenty to do once we were hooked up. I was happy to be able to get laundry and bedding washed.

The RV park is only 16 miles from Mount Rushmore so we decided to check out the lighting ceremony they had at night. Casen was excited to see what it looks like and wouldn't look up until we were at the entrance. They are doing construction where the amphitheater is so they didn't have the traditional lighting ceremony but they did have a flag ceremony and asked active duty service men or retired veterans to participate. Ernie was so glad I coaxed him to join. The flag ceremony was awesome. After the ceremony we sang the National Anthem and the Ranger performing the ceremony shook hands with all those that participated.







On Wednesday our day began at the Crazy Horse Monument. We went into the theater and heard the the story of Korcak Ziolkowski and his life working on the monument. We went on a bus tour that took us to the base of the mountain.The tour guide was really good and even stopped to show us where Korcak is buried along with his wife and two daughters.






We also did a little shopping. We found a little shop that makes signs so we had one made to put out while we are in a park or campsite.


We also had the opportunity to do some wine tasting a couple of places. Our first stop was Prairie Winery. This Rosy Ass Wine (Rhubarb/Strawberry) is amazing!





Our next stop was Sick & Twisted Microbrewery & Naked Winery

The server was amazing, he would mix beers and wines to give you different options. Ernie ended up with a can of his favorite beer.


I ended up with a White Exotic (previously named 50 Shades of White) and a Cherry Fantasy Wine. When you eat a little chocolate and then drink the cherry wine, omg, it was fantastic.

This was the other sign they had facing the road.


Here is a profile picture of George Washington and some landscape pictures of our drive through the Black Hills.













2023 Year in Review