HOME--AFTERNOON OF SEPTEMBER 21,2009

For those of you still following this Blog...YES, we did in fact arrive home safe and sound during the afternoon of September 21st to temps in the high 90's.

The Internet connections in SD as well as while traveling were so poor that I was not able to add everything I really wanted to share with you...so, now I am going backwards and share some of the special highlights.

The first entry will be the BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTUARY at Hot Springs, SD. For any of you that know me...you probably remember that I have been a life-long lover of HORSES!!!
This was definitely a major highlight in our entire summer to be able to visit and spend two nights at this wonderful place. It was just like stepping into the OLD WEST.


A man named Dayton O. Hyde started this Wild Horse Sanctuary in 1988 and it is now home to hundreds of unwanted mustangs on over 11,000 acres of land. Mr. Hyde and his staff of volunteers are devoted to these horses and provide them the freedom to roam canyons, and prairies in an area where the sky goes on forever! Support for the Sanctuary comes from donations, beqests, grants, tourism and the sale of foals.
Older Foals for Sale...the sale of foals has been hurt by the economy so the Sanctuary has too many...in some cases, they have been giving foals away to previous buyers who know will give them a good home.

CHECK BACK FREQUENTLY FOR MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR TRIP!

ALMOST HOME!!!

Good Morning...I will try to fill in the blanks at a later time, but for those of you following us...we are ALMOST HOME! It has been two weeks on the road and lots of wonderful visits. After two days and nights at the Wild Horse Sanctuary we took off for COLORADO! We traveled south out of South Dakota to NEBRASKA and down the western end of NEBRASKA into WYOMING right near Cheyenne and then into COLORADO. Stopped at a COLORADO welcome station and found that Estes Park (our planned destination) was having a Scottish Highlands Festival that weekend and were told that everything within miles of there would be packed full. We found a State Park at Loveland, CO...about 30 miles due East of Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park and stayed three nights there. The 30 mile drive to ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK was lovely up thru a deep narrow winding canyon. We saw BIG HORN SHEEP grazing right in someone's yard along the way! We drove back and forth to the park several times viewing ELK! The ELK were just coming back down from the mountains and beginning to gather their harems!
We had never seen the BULL ELK before with big racks as we had only been there in the spring and early summer months. We saw MANY ELK and MANY BIG BULL ELK with large racks and heard them BUGLE out...it was awesome! The few days we were there were cloudy and rainy and we were not able to go to the western side of the park as the TRAIL RIDGE ROAD was fogged in and they closed it because of SNOW!!!! We had SNOW flurries on our windshield!!! Had a great time anyway. From Rocky Mountain Park we drove south thru DENVER, COLORADO SPRINGS and PUEBLO, CO and into the Northeastern part of NEW MEXICO to RATON, NEW MEXICO via I-25! At Raton, NM we picked up a local road that took us toward the panhandle of TEXAS. We stayed at CAPULIN, NM near the CAPULIN VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT. We could have driven to the top of the volcano but did not! Drove down thru the panhandle of TEXAS, staying one night at Childress, TX and visiting several of Dennis' cousins that we had not seen in many years! Visited PEG & JIM HARDWICK at Chico, TX...then east to MT. VERNON, TX to visit AUNT FLORENCE CAMPBELL and daughters Rose & Kathy...then south to TYLER. TX to visit cousins STAN DOTTY BARTZ...WHAT WONDERFUL VISITS WE HAD WITH EVERYONE!!!! From Tyler, we continued south to near COLLEGE STATION at IOLA, TX to visit Linda's brother, IRA & WILLIE FAYE BETTS and family...MORE WONDERFUL VISITS AND REUNIONS! Pictures will be limited for now as the laptop that contains MOST of our photos has decided to take a vacation...so hopefully we will be able to find someone who can save the info when we get home!!!! From IOLA, TX we headed homeward east across I-10! At present we are still about 250 miles from home...so should be there early afternoon. WHAT A FABULOUS FIVE MONTHS IT HAS BEEN!!!!

LIFE AFTER LAKE PACTOLA...VACATION!!

FIRST DAY AWAY FROM LAKE PACTOLA: Our first destination was the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary…we had reservations to camp there for the next two nights as well as take the Wild Horse Tour on Wednesday morning. We arrived at the sanctuary about Noon on Tuesday, checked in, had lunch and then were off to Hot Springs, SD to explore.

This photo was taken of us at the Wild Horse Sanctuary with the wide open spaces where the horses roam in the background and the sanctuary buildings in the valley below!

First stop was the Mammoth Site. I normally do not get very excited about dinosaurs and such, but this tour was very interesting and it is an actual active dig site where they are still finding bones. Rather than take the bones to a museum, they built a museum around the dig site. We had a tour guide and the whole museum was very nicely presented. Here is a photo of me next to a Woolly Mammoth!!!




Stopped at a local grocery store and then returned to our campsite at the sanctuary. Back at the campsite we wandered around taking pictures.

CLOSE OUT AT LAKE PACTOLA!

Wow, I have fallen behind…so much has taken place since I last posted…I will try to get caught up. This is a photo of how our camper set-up looked with the store to the left of the photo. Sunflowers had grown in our little garden in the boxes in front of the store. Our Zucchini yielded three Zucchini that we ate!!! The flowers bloomed continuously, even though their growth was stunted by early hail storms!



There was a FULL "Fall Moon" just before we left...it was beautiful every night on the lake. It was really dark when Dennis took this photo but it looks daylight still. It shows our main boat dock that we watched over.



LABOR DAY WEEKEND…it was a beautiful weekend and folks came out to enjoy the lake and boat. It was one of our busiest weekends since we have been here at Lake Pactola! Labor Day was the last day of business at the North Pactola Marina Store and our job was finished and several of the boat slipholders stopped by to say Good-Bye and wish us well. A few of them gave us farewell gifts…a couple bottles of wine, $20 plus a gift certificate for Applebee’s! Tuesday morning we turned in the monies and perishable items (there were not many left after the busy weekend) and said our Good-Byes to Dave & Nancy Fisher at the South Marina Store! By 9:30 AM we were hooked up and ready to roll! GOOD-BYE LAKE PACTOLA...it has been FUN!

GREAT NORTHERN PIKE IN PACTOLA LAKE

A few nights ago these guys knocked on our door to take their picture with their catches of the day! These are each GREAT NORTHERN PIKE and weighed in from 9 to 15 lbs. They were happy fishermen!!!

REVISITING MOUNT RUSHMORE!!

Here we are down to the last two weeks in South Dakota and we are trying to work in last minute visits. Thursday we revisited MOUNT RUSHMORE. It was a beautiful day and we got there early...it was very crowded as we left. The weather has been beautiful but the weekend (Saturday & Sunday) are forecast to be "fall like" with stiff northern winds!!!!

ON COUNTDOWN...20 MORE DAYS & COUNTING!

Good Morning All, We are on "Countdown...20 more days and counting!" We have officially given our notice that we will not be returning here next season. It has been beautiful and we have had fun...but there is so much still to see and do out there! Our store here at North Marina will close at the end of Labor Day and we will leave here Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. We have at least one more place we want to visit in the Southern Black Hills...BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTUARY and then we will head toward COLORADO (if weather is still permitting). We would love to camp a couple of nights at ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, but we will see. They do not have electric hookups and we do need electric for Dennis' CPAP and OXYGEN at night! He may try to use our inverter for power...time will tell! Again, weather permitting, we will head from CO toward TEXAS to visit my brother & family as well as well as an elderly Aunt and several cousins! We are ready to TRAVEL!

RAINBOW AT LAKE PACTOLA

This RAINBOW occurred after our Saturday afternoon thunderstorm. Yesterday we woke up to RAIN and had several showers off and on until late afternoon. Today the sun is shining brightly and it is forecast to be a beautiful week. We will treat ourselves to breakfast out this morning -- then go by the South Marina to turn in our weekly sales -- then it is off to do our laundry...which we had postponed last Thursday because of the motorcycle rally crowd. Have a beautiful day!

STURGIS BIKE RALLY WEEK, 2009

MAIN STREET, CUSTER, SD

I do believe that we have survived STURGIS BIKE RALLY WEEK 2009 without any ill effects! We did venture out on the roads some and did encounter thousands and thousands of bikers riding...usually in the opposite direction from us! We did NOT venture to Sturgis during this Rally Week! Below is a photo of BLUE STAR MEMORIAL REST AREA which is just across the lake from us! All is going well here and Labor Day weekend is approaching fast!

B-U-R-R...HIGH 30's/LOW 40's!

The small electric heater is buzzing this morning as I am here at the computer...the last couple of nights have been high 30's/low 40's and it feels B-U-R-R-Y! Daytime temps have been in the 50/60's, so not too hard to take, but not very good for boaters as there has been a pretty stiff wind also! Hopefully today and tomorrow (Saturday & Sunday) will be calmer and bring out the boaters!

WILDLIFE SITINGS...BIG HORN SHEEP PLUS A YOUNG BUCK

This BIG HORN SHEEP RAM had a harem of 8 or 9 plus there were 3 or 4 lambs that stayed back in the woods. We have been fortunate enough to see BIG HORN SHEEP three times now...all in different places.

We spotted this young BUCK standing in a stream while we were exploring a back road nearby. He stood on alert for quite a few minutes and then turned tail and ran from us!

VISIT FROM COUSINS JOE & KAREN CAMPBELL

Yesterday we enjoyed a visit from cousins JOE & KAREN CAMPBELL. Joe & Karen are visiting the Black Hills on their way to ALASKA. They will meet up with an RV caravan group...sounds like FUN! We were happy they worked us into their busy travel schedule!

RED-TAILED HAWK

The days pass quickly here in the Black Hills. We are continuing to ride the back roads and enjoy exploring. The photos below are what we believe to be a YOUNG RED-TAILED HAWK that we spotted and Denny captured with the camera while on a recent ride.




We enjoyed a visit from our Frostproof neighbors, Bill & Ruth Creswell(next to us) and parents Bob & Faith (across the street), on Sunday afternoon. They are doing a trip similar to what we did last June...flew into Denver and making a big loop to include Yellowstone, Tetons, Black Hills and Cheyenne Frontier Days. They also got to experience one of our HAIL STORMS! We are looking forward to having cousins, Joe & Karen Campbell, stop by this coming week. The STURGIS BIKE RALLY will be the following week...that should be interesting as we are told the crowds impact a 100 mile radius...which would certainly include our area!

Yesterday was our hottest day yet (near 90 degrees) and there were hundreds here at our North Marina and on the lake cooling off!

RAINDROPS FALLING ON OUR ROOF!

Good Morning, It is Saturday morning and RAINDROPS ARE FALLING ON OUR ROOF! Phoebe heard it first and jumped off the bed before 5:30 AM and I heard them shortly thereafter and woke up at 5:30 AM! A few minutes later the power went off which, of course, shut down Denny's CPAP and OXYGEN machines...so he is up now also! This was forecast to be a BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND...with a chance of thundershowers in the morning, then possibly in the afternoon and/or evening!!!!!

On a brighter note, we took a ride north toward Deadwood yesterday morning and just a couple of miles north of us we saw this COYOTE standing in a meadow!



The coyote was our only wildlife siting. We did not go all the way into Deadwood before turning around and returning. Stopped at a BOONDOCKS 50's DINER for a cup of coffee...great 50's music and memorabilia BUT coffee was $1.65 a cup...not at all like 50's prices!

We are ready for a busy weekend IF and when it stops raining!

FOURTH OF JULY...WE MADE IT!

Fourth of July weekend passed quickly and smoothly...we were busy, but not as busy as we had imagined. The Mt. Rushmore Fireworks on July 3rd were a flop but they shot them off anyway, even tho the mountain was shrouded in fog. Saturday and Sunday were warm and sunny with NO RAIN!

We visited ROUGHLOCK FALLS at Savoy (near Spearfish, SD) as well as came across the film site of DANCES WITH WOLVES just beyond the falls.



I can not particularly remember ever seeing this scene in DANCES WITH WOLVES...but then it might have changed some in at least 20 years!



Yesterday, we went to Hill City early to do laundry and then rode through CUSTER STATE PARK's WILDLIFE LOOP again! There were more PRONGHORN ANTELOPE visible than usual and we saw our first baby pronghorn!



All is going smooth and our time here is over half completed...what will we do next????

ANOTHER HAIL STORM!!!

Yesterday, July 2nd, was a stormy day starting about mid day! Early morning was bright and clear and I watched two deer play on a green knoll across the cove from our marina. We were expecting friends to visit, Bill & Marline Ferro who had worked with us at Jamaica State Park in Vermont during 2003 & 2004...they live in Nevada and had been in Wyoming for a family reunion. Bill & Marline drove another couple hundred miles to see us as well as "revisit" the Black Hills.

The icy road photo was taken by Bill & Marline as they traveled to visit us...it was taken about 5 or 6 miles from us.


The next photo shows our flower beds...they do not have a chance!!! We planted Impatients and a couple of Zuchinni plants in May, just before Memorial Day and they have so far endured lots of COLD, lots of RAIN and several HAIL storms!!! Something chewed off one Zuchinni and the other has "tried" to grow a few new leaves. The Impatients have NOT grown at all, but have continued to blossom as little dwarfs!


The HAIL storm occurred between Noon and 1 PM and we heard later on the TV that Lake Pactola received about 2 inches of rain in about 15 minutes. When I drove to the South Marina around 5 PM there were still piles of ice from the hail storm all along the roadway and throughout the woods.

OUR HAPPY 47th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

WOW...how fast 47 years have flown by! Many of you who read this blog shared our special day 47 years ago and many have shared our anniversary celebrations somewhere through the years...THANKS! Our greatest joys and accomplishments are Randy and Rusty as well as the love and support of family/friends -- THANKS to all of you--WE LOVE YOU.

SUMMER WEATHER IN THE BLACK HILLS, SD

FINALLY, we "think" that summer has arrived in South Dakota's Black Hills! This last week the weather has been very summer like...even HOT a couple of days! Hot days bring more folks to the lake so we have been busier also! I was up at 5 AM this morning and I believe it might be back down in the 40's this morning, but today is supposed to be beautiful and in the 80's! We have not come across any new wild life to share lately...we rode to Custer State Park one morning last week but did not see anything new. We were almost all the way through the park before we came upon the herds of buffalo. All is going well and we will try to add more photos soon!

A DAY WITHOUT RAIN!!!

Sunday we had a day without RAIN! Saturday, however, was a whole different story...it had been forecast to be nice with a "chance" of scattered showers! The wind blew HARD and the rain came shortly after lunch and continued off and on all afternoon. The wind blew so hard that it jammed the main dock up against the shore and buckled the connecting walkway. Dave came over and had to revamp the walkway and stairs...there was no real damage done! Today (Monday) I will work from 10 AM to 3 PM at the South Store and Denny will hold down the fort here! No new photos today...we got some on Friday of more Big Horn Sheep -- this time ewes and lambs -- will add later!

CURIOUS FAWN

Our cameras have to be ready at all times as we never know what we will see on our rides. We caught this curious little fawn while we were traveling back from town. We first caught site of the doe and fawn side by side, but the doe quickly disappeared into the bushes...the fawn was curious about us but he also soon jumped and ran to his mamma...we could see through the bushes where he was jumping and kicking in a playful manner.