Tag Archives: South Dakota

It was overcast all day Tuesday which is a nice break from the recent heat. Although, we could do without these annoying wind gusts.

We decided to stay yet another day here at the Ellsworth AFB FamCamp overflow lot for a couple reasons; #1) we still haven’t decided where to go next in the short time we have left before we need to take our grandson back to COS for the beginning of the school year; and #2) I received a message from Carol & Noel Peck who are fellow Alpine Coach owners and blog readers. (It’s good to know someone out there reads the blog) 🙂 They just arrived in Rapid City with relatives (grandkids included) and suggested we get together if possible. Now, we couldn’t say no to that… so I responded to Carol and we set up a tentative 4PM “Happy Hour” get-together at their campground. But, more on that later…

With some time to kill today before our 4PM date; we jumped in the Silverado to go to the FamCamp office and pay $10 for another night. But first, we closed up the slides on the Coach to prevent the slide-out awnings from getting ripped up by the annoying wind gusts. I also ran the satellite dish down to prevent any wind damage.

Then we went back outside the main gate to the South Dakota Air & Space Museum again. You may recall from my last post (click HERE), that we already visited the museum and the outside static displays yesterday, but it was too late in the day to take the bus tour. Well, now we had the opportunity…

The tour cost us $21 but we figured it would be worth it to get a narrated tour of the base and to go inside a Minuteman II Missile Silo.

Information sign on the Ellsworth AFB Bus Tour and Minuteman II Silo visit.

We just missed the bus for the 1PM tour and had to wait ~45 minutes for the 2PM tour, so we walked through the museum again and examined some of the displays more closely. Our grandson Kaan tried on one of the children’s bomber jackets in the gift shop; looks good on him, right? Send money mom…

Kaan tried on a jacket in the gift store while we were waiting for the tour.

Our tour bus…

Our tour guide for the hour-long bus tour…

According to my good friend Wikipedia: “The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW) assigned to the Air Combat Command’s Twelfth Air Force. The 28 BW is one of only two B-1B Lancer strategic bomber wings in the United States Air Force, the other being the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas.” (Click HERE for more info)

With the air conditioner running at the back of the mini-bus, it was difficult to hear the nice elderly gentleman that was our guide for the tour. And honestly, we were a little disappointed with the AFB portion of the tour… our guide simply pointed out the obvious, i.e., admin building, water tower, sewer treatment facility, bowling alley, BX, etc., etc., I guess we were expecting to see the bomber hangars at a closer distance, maintenance facilities, ammo bunkers, and so on… but it wasn’t to be. I suppose this tour is designed more for the average civilian that maybe hasn’t even seen a military base before.

Kaan and Stilla on the Ellsworth AFB and Minuteman II missile silo tour-bus.

When we got to the Minuteman II silo, we found out that it’s a training facility and was never operational. But it was still cool to see… Click HERE for a youtube video tour of this actual silo and HERE for more history on the missiles at Ellsworth AFB.

Our tour guide explains how the silo was accessed.

Support vehicle (security) for the Minuteman II missile.

Support vehicle (transporter erector) for the Minuteman II missile.

Our tour-guide explained the operation of the silo door.

We went down a stairwell to access the silo. A “real” silo would not have these stairs, just a small access tube with a ladder.

And here’s the Minuteman II missile sitting in it’s silo…

Minuteman II missile at the Ellsworth AFB training facility.

We could view the missile through the cut-outs in the silo wall.

This is the access tube that would be used at an actual Minuteman II missile silo. Luckily for us, we had a stairwell at this training facility.

Access lift for maintenance inside the silo. Notice the rollers against the side walls.

Back up top, we briefly toured the support trailer parked above the silo that was used to arm the missile.

Support trailer for arming the missile. Access port is underneath.

Inside the support trailer for arming the missile. Access port is in the middle of the floor.

When we got back to the museum entrance at the end of our tour, our tour-guide mentioned that this B-25 of “Doolittle Raiders” fame was General Eisenhower’s personal transport plane. I must not have read the sign the first time we went through the aircraft display(s) and didn’t know this bit of trivia when I posted previously. I thought it was historically significant and interesting, so here you are:

By now, it was time to go visit our fellow Alpine Coach friends Noel & Carol Peck. They have a membership at Hart Ranch located just south of Rapid City off of 79.

We arrived at the Hart Ranch Resort and stopped at the entrance shack to get a pass. The resort is “members only” and they have to keep out the riff-raff, like us 🙂

What a nice resort/campground! They have everything here… even a gas station! We quickly found Noel & Carol’s Alpine Coach…

Noel & Carol Peck’s Alpine Coach at Hart Ranch.

Noel’s nice-looking Heritage Softail. He also has an Ultra-Classic parked here.

We get to meet the nicest people at the nicest places… here’s Noel, Carol, myself, and Stilla inside their Coach.

It was great meeting Noel and Carol! They are also Alpine SoCal members but we haven’t had the opportunity to meet them at any of the Alpine Coach-related rallies we’ve been to in recent years, although we have mutual friends. We visited for a while over adult beverages and got acquainted. They plan to stay here during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Noel’s son is parked next to them here at the resort and even has a hot rod (sorry no pic) that they can enjoy touring around in… must be nice 🙂

We enjoyed our quality time with them before we had to head back. Carol even shared a couple of nice destinations that we noted for future reference.

It was great meeting you, Noel & Carol… hope to see you again soon at the next rally or down the road! Stay in touch 🙂

We drove back to the Coach at Ellsworth AFB and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

We’re still not sure where we’ll end up tomorrow… check back to see.

South Dakota

New License Plates; South Dakota Air & Space Museum (Ellsworth AFB FamCamp, Box Elder SD)

2015/07/21 davidhobden@mac.com

Monday – my new favorite day of the week since retirement; was another good day in our new hometown of Box Elder, SD 🙂 But, man – is it ever hot here… it’s only ~80 degrees here but it feels like what would be 95 to 100 degrees in Colorado.

I decided to go ahead and register the Silverado and the Harley with SD plates today. The Silverado isn’t due for renewal until November, but that’s right around the corner when you think about it… and it will cost $30 for each registration that Americas Mailbox does on my behalf when I’m out of the state. The Harley isn’t due for renewal until May, but I figured it was a minimal cost to register here and therefore nothing would be gained by waiting… as a matter of fact, it would just cost me an additional $30 if I waited. I’ll still leave the Urban Escape Vehicle with CO plates for now since it’s not due until May of next year. Besides, the Coach has the disabled veteran plates that are free in CO. I wrote about this and changing domicile in a previous post (click HERE).

So I gathered up my paperwork for both the Silverado and Harley, and headed into town. First, we stopped by Americas Mailbox to tell them of my change in plans, and the ever-so-helpful representative ‘Carla’ went over the paperwork I would need and gave us directions to the Rapid City administration building.

We found the License Plate section in the administration building without any problem. I saw blank forms hanging in the entryway for title registration and personalized plates. I grabbed them to start filling out. There was a line of people (probably 10) in front of us, but it went quickly – and before I even had time to fill out the “new vehicle/title registration” forms – we were called to the desk. The clerk said; “don’t worry about the forms, just give me your titles and SD license”. She typed the pertinent information into her computer, and printed out the same form ready for my signature. I asked about personalized plates, and she even typed that information into the computer and printed out another copy for signature.

Voila! Not even 30 minutes in the building and I was done! Colorado could sure use some tips from these folks in South Dakota! I’ve never had a more pleasant experience or shorter wait-time in my life. I paid less than $130 for the Silverado and less than $50 for the Harley AND that’s with personalized plates! I received a paper temporary permit to put in the windshield until my new plates are mailed. I can just leave the current CO plates on the vehicles until then. Oh, and the title fee was only $5 for each vehicle… “Take that – Colorado”.

And BTW – Our new personalized plates will be ‘UEV 1’ for the Silverado and ‘UEV 2’ for the Harley. And if you don’t already get it – ‘UEV’ stands for ‘Urban Escape Vehicle’ 🙂 I hope to get ‘URBNSKP’ on the plates for the Coach when the time comes in April or May of next year.

Afterwards, we stopped by Cabela’s which is right next to I-90 at the same exit (61) as Americas Mailbox. Cabela’s is always fun to browse, especially if you don’t spend too much money there. They don’t allow dogs in this store, but they offered a kennel for little “Coach” behind the customer service desk… that was nice of them. It was too hot to leave him in the Silverado. We often have to take turns visiting places, while one of us stays outside with little Coach.

Giant buffalo and grandson Kaan in front of the Cabela’s in Rapid City.

Our Grandson Kaan in front of the wildlife display at Cabela’s in Rapid City.

After looking through Cabela’s we stopped at an RV service & sales place (I-90 RV & Auto Supercenter) across from Americas Mailbox to ask if they could repair the dash A/C on the Coach. It stopped working a while ago and we’ve just been dealing with it by turning on the generator and roof A/C when it gets too hot while traveling. I was hoping to be told something like; “Sure, bring the Coach by tomorrow on your way through and we’ll take care of you”, but they didn’t have any openings for service until Friday. So we moved on.

And then we visited Camping World (sorry no pics). I forgot how far it was past Rapid City going north. It’s actually in Summerset, SD. Anyway, we found a few small items to buy, which we always seem to do at a Camping World. I also got some tips from their service center on places in the area that might be able to repair our dash A/C. I was told they don’t service air conditioners here.

After supporting the local Camping World, we headed back to Ellsworth AFB and visited the South Dakota Air & Space Museum located just outside the main gate:

This is a pretty cool museum that is free to visit. They also offer tours on small air-conditioned buses that take you through the AFB but they don’t allow dogs. Cost is $8 per person and $5 for children. Maybe we can come back later for the bus tour if we leave little “Coach” in the Coach with the A/C on.

Here’s some pictures of the planes and other static displays outside the museum:

Stilla and I took turns walking through the museum building while one of us stayed with little “Coach” outside:

And here’s a few more pics outside the museum:

This is a really nice museum and you can’t beat the cost (free)… it’s always cool to see aircraft and I think Kaan was impressed by the huge jets.

We might be moving on soon, still not sure… I received a message last night from a fellow Alpine Coach owner that just arrived in the area, who suggested we get together. Maybe we can do just that…

Stay tuned…

South Dakota

Visiting Deadwood (Ellsworth AFB FamCamp, Box Elder SD)

2015/07/20 davidhobden@mac.com

On Saturday we moved from Americas Mailbox campground to Ellsworth Air Force Base FamCamp. We traveled a whopping 3 miles (east on I-90) after topping off the diesel tank at Flying J which is right next to Americas Mailbox on exit 61. As I mentioned in my last post – the campground loops at the FamCamp were full but they have room at their “overflow” lot for $10. The “overflow” lot is located separate from the FamCamp. It’s a few miles at the back of the base and has 30 Amp electric but no water or sewer. That works for us, especially at that price.

Main gate at Ellsworth AFB, Box Elder SD.

Bomber next to the main gate at Ellsworth AFB. It’s in the Air & Space Museum next door.

Water tower on Ellsworth AFB, Box Elder, SD.

Here we are parked in a row with the other rigs at the “overflow” lot on the back side of Ellsworth AFB.

We hung around the Air Force Base (AFB) on Saturday and visited the Post Exchange (PX), or Base Exchange (BX) as it’s called on an AFB.

On Sunday, we jumped into the Silverado and headed north on I-90…

Box Elder water tower (our new “hometown”).

we turned west at Sturgis on 14A until we reached the town of Deadwood, SD some 50 miles later…

Click HERE and HERE for more info on the historic town of Deadwood.

We spent the whole day just wandering around town checking things out on this lazy Sunday.

Stilla, Kaan, and little Coach on Main Street in Deadwood, SD.

Site of Saloon where Wild Bill was shot on Main Street in Deadwood, SD.

We enjoyed dinner in a courtyard with live entertainment.

Stilla and Coach at a inner courtyard bar/grill on Main Street in Deadwood, SD.

Stilla, Kaan, and little Coach enjoying ice cream cones on Main Street in Deadwood, SD.

We also visited a miniature railroad set up in the basement of one of the shops. Kaan really enjoyed watching the train go around.

Miniature Railroad in a basement on Main Street in Deadwood, SD.

Click HERE for more info on this miniature railroad.

If you’re ever in Deadwood, be sure to check out this attraction. You have to appreciate all the work that goes into these… and best of all it’s practically free. Donations are accepted and it costs $1 to make the train start moving.

Deadwood was nice, and we only left $40 at the slot machines 🙂 Unfortunately, we missed the daily gunfight that takes place on the main street because it was Sunday – the only day of the week they don’t do the show.

We left Deadwood and took the scenic route towards Lead. Then we took 385 through the Black Hills to get to 44, and then through downtown Rapid City until we got back on I-90 for the remaining 5 mile drive to Ellsworth AFB again. About 75 miles for the return trip, (125 miles for the day).

That’s all for now…

South Dakota

Friday – Post 2 of 2: Sturgis Visit (Americas Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

2015/07/19 davidhobden@mac.com

Authors note: It was a busy Friday – I split this post up into two separate entries due to lots of pictures and unrelated subject matter. This is Post 2 of 2:

After Storybook Island, (see previous post), we jumped back into the Silverado which still has the Harley loaded in the bed and the bikes on the hitch rack; and we headed north on I-90 to visit Sturgis.

But first- we got sidetracked when we saw all the activity at Black Hills HD located next to the highway in Rapid City. They have a giant tent set up in front of the dealership, traffic cones set up all over the parking lot and attendants in orange vests directing traffic. So we exited I-90 to check it out.

Black Hills Harley Davidson dealership, Rapid City SD.

Check out the (seemingly) never-ending rows of motorcycles for sale:

I bought a Sturgis 2015 cap and a Rally T-shirt inside the dealership. They are expecting a madhouse once bike week begins in another 15 days or so. I think we’ll depart the area soon to avoid the traffic and high camping costs.

Then we drove the remaining 30 miles to arrive in Sturgis, SD. Home of the world-famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (Click HERE or on the highlighted name for a link with more info about the rally.

Here’s some pics we took in and around downtown Sturgis:

City park where the “Rats-Hole” bike show and the Budweiser horses used to be during our previous visits to Sturgis during Bike Week.

Familiar sign (to us) near downtown Sturgis, SD. I used to have a ’57 Chevy.

Huge saloon with deck near downtown Sturgis, SD.

Huge saloon deck with upper and lower decks near downtown Sturgis, SD.

Yet another huge saloon near downtown Sturgis, SD.

Downtown streets will be closed to cars and filled with stop-and-go motorcycle traffic and bike parking only during bike week in a couple more weeks.

This must be what the ‘calm before the storm’ looks like.

Children’s electric motorcycle in a store window, downtown Sturgis, SD. Why didn’t they have these when I was a kid?

Many ‘bike week’ vendors are already open for business in downtown Sturgis, SD.

Sturgis Harley dealership near downtown Sturgis, SD. We went inside and checked it out of course…

The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum near downtown Sturgis, SD. Unfortunately closed while we were there today.

We posed for pictures in front of the giant picture pasted on the side of a building in downtown Sturgis:

Posing in front of giant billboard-size poster in downtown Sturgis, SD.

Now we can say “we were there” for the historic 75th anniversary of the motorcycle rally. We actually attended the rally several times during 1996 thru 1999 and again in 2006.

We headed east out of town and stopped at the Full Throttle Saloon. You may have seen this place on the reality television series that first aired in 2009. Click HERE for more info. During the week of the Sturgis Rally, the saloon averages 20,000 guests per night.

The Full Throttle Saloon, just outside Sturgis SD.

Inside the Full Throttle Saloon, just outside Sturgis SD.

Stilla inside the Full Throttle Saloon, just outside Sturgis SD.

Stilla let me buy a Full Throttle Saloon T-Shirt before we left 🙂

We then drove a little further east of downtown to check out the world-famous Buffalo Chip. We stayed here each time we visited the rally in years past (1996 thru ’99 and again in 2006). This was back when it was still affordable… I remember paying $10 or $20 back in the ’90s to camp here… even with big-name bands like Ted Nugent playing for the evening’s entertainment. It has become so commercialized over the years, that it’s no longer any fun (for us) or affordable.

The Buffalo Chip just outside Sturgis SD.

I had the pin striping and the ‘Buffalo Chip’ logo (below) painted on my rear fender back in 1996 at the Buffalo Chip campground.

I also still have their sticker on my windshield… it’s held up pretty well over the years. Wonder if they would give us a discount to stay at the campground since I’ve been advertising for all those years?

Anyway, it was a fun trip down memory lane to see Sturgis and the Buffalo Chip campground again.

We had an early dinner at Taco John’s in Sturgis and then drove back to Rapid City. When we got close to our Coach parked at Americas Mailbox, we decided to drive the few extra miles along I-90 to Ellsworth Air Force Base to check out the FamCamp. The campground loops were full but they have room at their “overflow” lot for $10. The “overflow” lot has 30 Amp electric but no water or sewer. That works for us, especially at that price, so we moved over here on Saturday, but I’ll leave that for my next post. Stay tuned…

South Dakota

Friday – Post 1 of 2: Drivers Licenses & Storybook Island (Americas Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

2015/07/19 davidhobden@mac.com

Authors note: It was a busy Friday – I split this post up into two separate entries due to lots of pictures and unrelated subject matter. This is Post 1 of 2:

Our first stop on Friday was the SD Drivers License Bureau in Rapid City.

We are now officially South Dakota residents! It was quick-in and quick-out… with no line to speak of. The hardest part was filling out the form. We showed two forms of ID, looked in the eye exam machine, and took new pictures. We were even able to get our motorcycle endorsements with no fuss.

Then we drove over to the nearby Elks Lodge to check out the RV sites. They have nice sites for $25 located right next to the golf course, but they didn’t have any openings until Sunday. We decided to wait and check out the FamCamp on nearby Ellsworth AFB later for availability and rates.

So then we checked our iPhone apps for nearby attractions and found Storybook Island which is a free (donations accepted) children’s theme park that our grandson Kaan would really enjoy. Stilla took lots of pictures – so for her, and our daughter Jennifer’s benefit… here are a bunch of grandson pics (below):

Friday’s Post 2 of 2 coming shortly… check back for pictures of our trip up to Sturgis and the surrounding area…

South Dakota

Changing Domicile (America’s Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

2015/07/18 davidhobden@mac.com

I told you in my last post from Wednesday that we were just going to relax at the Badlands Interior Campground and that’s exactly what we did. It was also our 32nd wedding anniversary so we just spent time together.

DAVID_STILLA_3_ — David & Stilla (15 July 1983)

But first, we said goodbye to my Dad and stepmom Elaine…

They’re heading back to Hermosa for a night and then on back home to Colorado Springs.

Dad pulling the coach over to the dump station under Elaine’s watchful eye.

Bye Dad and Elaine… safe travels! We’ll see you in a little less than a month when we go back to drop the grandson off with our oldest daughter before school starts.

Dad & Elaine leaving Badlands Interior Campground.

After we said goodbye to my Dad & Elaine, we hung out at our campsite…

and at the pool…

It was a great day of just hanging out. Happy Anniversary to my dear wife Stilla – thanks for putting up with me for 32 years! Hopefully there will be another 32 🙂

On Thursday, we packed up and went to the dump station to take care of business…

then we departed the Badlands Interior Campground…

and looked back one last time on the Badlands because we headed southwest on Hwy 44 instead of going through the park again…

Our destination for the day was Americas Mailbox located just east of Rapid City in Box Elder, SD. Travel distance for the day was about 75 miles.

Click HERE for information on Americas Mailbox.

Main Office for Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD.

We pulled in and went to the office to get one of their nineteen full hook-up RV sites behind the building. And guess what? Another Alpine is here! Larry and Lorna Kenney from Phoenix! It turns out we were in Quartzsite together in January for the Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally”. The sites here are a little over $30 per night. We paid for two nights and were able to park next to Larry & Lorna.

Parked next to Larry & Lorna Kenney at Americas Mailbox in Box Elder SD.

Inside the office, we were greeted by a very kind receptionist, who linked us up with a representative named Carla. She sat down with us and explained the different mail forwarding service “Home Base” plans and talked us through the procedures of getting drivers licenses and changing license plates.

Inside the Main Office for Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD.

She was very helpful and with her input we decided to take the Bronze Plan for our mail forwarding service. This is their least expensive plan (click HERE for more info) and should meet our needs since all of our bills and statements are online. We can always upgrade later if needed. The little bit of mail that we still get is currently going to our youngest daughter’s address and consists primarily of junk mail.

We made plans to visit the DMV for new licenses tomorrow (Friday), but I’ll write more about that in my next post. And with Carla’s input, we decided to wait on registering the vehicles since the Coach and the Harley were just renewed in May. Carla said it’s very common for people to wait until their vehicles are due for renewal… which makes sense – since we already paid Colorado… why should we throw that money away to renew in South Dakota right away, right? If questioned by law enforcement about why we have SD licenses but CO plates, we simply tell them the truth and say we’re in the process of moving. Carla made copies of our vehicle(s) initial purchase information, titles, taxes paid, etc., so all we have to do is make a call to Americas Mailbox and they will register our vehicles and send our plates to us. (for a $30 fee). I might still go ahead and register the Silverado though, since it’s due in November. But I’ll wait until Monday to decide.

Cool picture hanging in the ‘Americas Mailbox’ lobby.

After taking care of the paperwork in the office, it was already late, so we drove over to a nearby TGI Fridays for dinner. When we got back from dinner, I spent some time sitting outside with an adult beverage talking to Larry about Alpines… and of course we compared this-and-that on our Coaches, talked mods and issues, etc., which is just what us Alpine Coach drivers do 🙂 It’s a small RV world after all.

And that’s all for now… I know I’m behind but I have lots of pictures for my next post because on Friday we took our grandson to Storybook Island in Rapid City after getting our drivers licenses and then we drove back up I-90 to tour around Sturgis.

Saturday (today) we moved over to Ellsworth AFB to take advantage of their cheaper rates at the FamCamp. So check back in for more on all that…

South Dakota

Touring the Badlands (Badlands Interior Campground, SD)

2015/07/15 davidhobden@mac.com

The temperature Tuesday was in the high 80’s and low 90’s, but it felt like the 100’s. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun was merciless. Our mission for the day was to tour the entire Badlands Loop.

Our campground; “Badlands Interior Campground” is located just outside the south entrance to the park and just north of the small town of Interior. We took advantage of the small breakfast menu they served here at the campground office; pancakes, french toast, biscuits & gravy, and really good sausage links.

While we were near the office, Stilla, Kaan, and I paid to stay here for one more day. My Dad & Elaine plan on leaving us Wednesday to start heading back towards Colorado Springs. They will go back to the last campground we were at in Hermosa for one more night to meet up with Biff & Linda who are still there, and then move on from there. We’re still not sure where we’ll head to next, but that’s the fun of full-timing.

Our view Tuesday morning at the Badlands Interior Campground.

After breakfast, we all piled into my Dad’s Jeep one last time for a tour of the Badlands Loop. We entered the park’s south gate, aka ‘Interior Entrance’ on Hwy 377 where I showed my disabled veteran access pass which got us in for free. The pass is good at all national parks but doesn’t do any good at most state parks. Just inside the south entrance is the parks’ Cedar Pass Campground. We decided to check it out for future reference and did a quick drive-thru.

This sign shows the rates: (click picture to view full size)

With only a handful of electric sites available, I don’t think we’ll stay here anytime soon. A lot of the sites are close together and are really just pull-offs to the side of the road, if anyone is running their generator it could get quite annoying. No trees or cover to speak of either.

We turned left on 240 at the T-intersection here to start our Badlands Loop tour…

So follow along now on our Badlands Loop tour…

Stilla and Kaan walked up the trail a little ways…

And then they had to come back down without slipping…

We continued west, stopping at almost every one of the many scenic overlooks…

At the Fossil Exhibit Trail, we arrived just in time for a ranger talk…

Ranger talk and fossil exhibit at the Fossil Exhibit Trail.

Stilla, Kaan, and Coach on Fossil Exhibit Trail.

Kaan climbing yet another hill at Fossil Exhibit Trail.

More scenic overlooks…

Dad & Elaine at one of the many overlooks along the Badlands Loop Rd.

Dad & Elaine along the Badlands Loop Road.

Kaan checking out the trail to one of the overlooks.

We left 240 and turned onto Sage Creek Rim Road (dirt) thereby extended our tour by about 15 or 20 miles…

Views along Sage Creek Rim Road; Hay Butte Overlook & Sage Creek Basin Overlook…

Herd of buffalo along Sage Creek Rim Road.

Can you spot the Bighorn sheep in the picture below…

Bighorn sheep along Sage Creek Rim Road.

We stopped to check out the prairie dog town…

Kaan, Elaine, and Dad at Roberts Prairie Dog Town.

Sage Creek Road dumped us back onto 240 just south of the town of Wall and the intersection to I-90. We took I-90 east to exit 131 which leads to the Badlands National Park northeast entrance where we first entered the park with the rigs a couple days ago.

We heard about the Minuteman Missile Visitors Center that is on the north side of our exit and decided to check it out.

Minuteman Missile Visitor Center at exit 131 along I-90.

The Minuteman Missile Visitors Center has ample parking for big rigs if you ever want to stop by.

Stilla, Dad, Elaine in front of the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center.

We found out that the Visitors Center is not where the missile silos are located. There are two sites; Delta-01 and Delta-09 (see map below). The Visitors Center takes reservations-only for tours of Delta-01, and the limited number of reservations are all gone in the early morning. Delta-09 has a self-guided tour and we could go there, but if you look at the map (below), you’ll see that we passed it at exit 116 about 15 miles back. We didn’t want to backtrack to see it at this time. Wish we would have known about that beforehand.

We watched the documentary after a short orientation talk from a retired missileer / volunteer ranger in this theater.

And then we toured the center which only recently opened as you can see from the makeshift exhibits taped to the walls…

Elaine and Dad in the Minuteman Missile Visitors Center.

Their final exhibits will be installed in September…

Some of you may recall that Stilla and I had the opportunity to tour the Titan II Missile Museum site near Tucson, AZ earlier this year (link HERE) if you’d like to see more. Too bad we didn’t get to see more than just the visitors center for the Minuteman. Maybe next time 🙂

We continued on back into the Badlands National Park through the northeast entrance and worked our way back to our campground on the southeast side – this time we passed by all the overlooks without stopping since we toured this route the previous day. We dropped off our little dog “Coach” at the Coach after we ran up the AC and then we went back into the park to enjoy dinner at the Cedar Pass Lodge restaurant located next to the Ben Reifel Visitors Center. Then it was relaxation time back at the campground…

It’s now early afternoon (Wednesday) as I finish up this post. My Dad & Elaine hooked up, dumped, and left the campground this morning. We’ll stay put today to relax and do whatever… it’s our 32nd Wedding Anniversary today… Happy Anniversary to my dear wife Stilla!

We might head back towards Rapid City tomorrow… stay tuned…

South Dakota

Black Hills; Crazy Horse; Wall Drug; Badlands (Badlands Interior Campground, SD)

2015/07/14 davidhobden@mac.com

On Sunday we took the looong way to Crazy Horse Memorial through Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We had to pay an $11 fee at the entrance station.

We’re still touring around with my Dad and stepmom Elaine. So we left the Silverado at the Heartland RV Park and I chauffeured my Dad’s Jeep as we toured the south end of the park in search of buffalo. Grandson Kaan had never seen a real buffalo. Our first stop was at this Wildlife Center / Ranger Station…

where we asked the friendly ranger for the best place to see some buffalo…

He told us about a 8 mile dirt road loop just outside the ranger station parking lot. He said we’d be sure to catch sight of about 400 head of buffalo there. And he was spot on – after a couple miles we saw…

After driving ever-so-slowly past the buffalo and taking what seemed like hundreds of pictures, we got back on the main road (WIldlife Loop Rd) and soon found ourselves blocked by a herd of wild burros…

Then we drove up Mt. Coolidge to view the fire tower. At 6,023 feet Mount Coolidge is the highest point in the central part of Custer State Park.

Elaine and Stilla on the Mt. Coolidge Fire Tower, Custer State Park, SD.

Then we drove the scenic Needles Highway…

And now – I couldn’t resist the opportunity to put in a couple of old pictures from 2006 – which is the last time Stilla and I were here in the Black Hills. We attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally:

2006 08 10 Sturgis Trip (14) — David – Sturgis trip 2006

2006 08 10 Sturgis Trip (15) — Stilla – Sturgis trip 2006

2006 08 10 Sturgis Trip (7) — David & Stilla – Sturgis trip 2006

And here’s an even older picture that I dug up from 1996, same bike, same Stilla – parked with a view of Mount Rushmore in the background.

1996 mount_rushmore_heritage_stilla — Stilla on the Heritage in the Black HIlls, SD circa 1996-97

We tried to get the same picture in 2006, but now the road has guard-rails and the tall trees now hide Mount Rushmore from view – same bike, same Stilla, same spot…

1996 mount_rushmore_heritage_stilla 2006 08 10 Sturgis Trip (11) — Stilla on the Heritage in the Black Hills, SD. 2006

After our scenic tour through ‘memory lane’ and Custer State Park – we finally ended up at the Crazy Horse Memorial and paid a $28 parking fee for our carload. The visitors center is free and consists of a museum, gift shop, restaurant, theater, sculptors workshop, gallery, etc., We watched the documentary film in the theater, toured the welcome center, and visited the restaurant. Great place to visit if you haven’t been. Click HERE for more info from my friend wikipedia, or HERE for the official website.

Here are the pictures (below) that I selected of our day at the Crazy Horse Memorial:

Stilla and Coach in front of the Welcome Center at Crazy Horse Monument.

Stilla, Kaan, Dad, Elaine at Crazy Horse Monument.

When we got back to the campground, we met up with our FCRV friends Biff & Linda again who had been entertaining some old friends of their own for the day on a tour through Custer State Park. We all drove over to a local Pizza joint for some evening food and conversation.

And that’s all for our Sunday.

On Monday, we packed up and headed over to the Badlands. We took 79 north out of Hermosa and then I-90 east. I took the lead, while my Dad followed in his rig. We stopped at Wall Drug for lunch. Now if you’ve never been to Wall Drug, you’re missing out on a pretty cool tourist trap. Click HERE for their official website or HERE for more info on the roadsideamerica.com site.

We were able to find a parking spot easily, but as soon as we did, 4 or 5 other rigs rolled in beside us. We left the generator running so we could leave little dog “Coach” in the Coach with the AC on.

Stilla, Elaine, Dad in the Wall Drug parking lot.

Wall Drug main street:

Yup, got a couple T-Shirts here at the Harley shop:

And here are some more pictures (below) in and around Wall Drug:

Our grandson Kaan got to pet a buffalo…

and ride a real Jackalope…

Inside Wall Drug:

Kaan played at the water park for a short while…

he played long enough to get soaking wet… but the hot sun dried him out quickly…

and here he is – trying to dry off his t-shirt…

They even have a T-Rex here. We waited for feeding time (every 15 minutes) but couldn’t get Kaan to get very close…

My Dad and Elaine at Wall Drug, Wall, SD.

After our stop at Wall Drug, we continued east on I-90 past the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands until we got to 240. Then we went south to get to the east entrance of the Badlands National Park. The entrance fee was free with my disabled veteran access pass. I think it’s normally $15.

Kaan didn’t waste any time climbing up the hills at the first pull-off in the Badlands National Park.

My Dad, Elaine, and Stilla stayed in the shade while I tried to keep up with Kaan…

The view after climbing the first set of hills:

And the view back to the parking area:

The park has some ongoing road repairs that reduced the road to one lane. It was a little rough and tight in places with our Coaches on a 10% grade.

We drove back out the south side entrance of the park towards the town of Interior and found our campground – the Badlands Interior Campground. After we paid for two nights ($50), we got set up at our sites and jumped back into Dad’s Jeep to tour a portion of the park again and check out the Visitors Center…

Kaan ran all the way up this hill next to the Visitors Center…

Nice boardwalk leading to a grand overlook…

The evening shadows made the view even more spectacular…

How would you like to walk out on this ridge? It clearly looks like people have been doing it…

Back at our campground (Badlands Interior Campground) we chilled out with the AC on and only walked around the park for a short time. It’s been in the 90’s all day. We had leftover Pizza from our dinner the day before and I worked on this blog post.

Here’s our view this morning (Tuesday) from the campground:

And our spot:

Not bad, eh?

On Tuesday – we plan on driving the entire loop through the Badlands National Park. We have to make the most out of our last day with my Dad and Elaine, they plan on heading back to Colorado Springs on Wednesday.

Check back to see if we fall off any cliffs or into one of these giant cracks in the ground 🙂

South Dakota

Campvention Follow-up Pics; Travel Day; Mount Rushmore (Heartland RV Park, Hermosa SD)

2015/07/12 davidhobden@mac.com

As I said in my last post – I didn’t have time to include pictures of our last day (Day 5) at the FCRV Campvention due to computer issues. So here they are now:

On Friday morning, I took a short break from packing up and we drove over to the Cam-Plex parking lot to view the FCRV Campvention Parade…

In the evening we attended closing ceremonies inside the Wyoming Center building.

Where they handed out awards for the different events and activities that took place over the past week…

My stepmom Elaine, Linda, and Stilla handed out the left-over door prizes as the announcer called out names. There were a dozen or so prizes left after all the drawings earlier in the week, so they used this opportunity to unload the rest…

And when the ceremonies ended, the band kicked up and the dancing started…

Here’s Stilla and Elaine doing a line dance…

Once Stilla got her fill of line dancing, we (Stilla, Kaan, and I) walked over to the Monster Truck Show that was going on in the rodeo arena between the Cam-Plex and our campground. We watched from the sidelines for a bit, before walking back to the Coach. Here’s some pics of the trucks taken earlier during the daylight… my pics during the nighttime event didn’t come out very well…

And that’s all for the Campvention. It’s was a great event, especially since we had the opportunity to hang out with my Dad & Elaine and our friends in the FCRV Rolling Springs Chapter.

Saturday morning we left the Cam-Plex in Gillette WY around 10 AM to head over to the Heartland RV Park in Hermosa, SD. We convoyed with my Dad & Elaine along Interstate 90 towards Rapid City and then went south on 79. Our total mileage for the day was about 160 miles.

Here we are at the Heartland RV Park in Hermosa, SD. We made reservations before we left Colorado under the direction of my stepmom Elaine who did the planning. They accept the Passport America discount so we ended up paying ~$50 for two nights.

The pull-through sites aren’t long enough for the Coach and truck. We have to park the truck on the grass across from our site.

Elaine waving in front of their Coach parked next to us at Heartland RV Park in Hermosa, SD.

We met up with Biff & Linda Anderson who had arrived here at the same park earlier in the day to meet with some old friends of theirs. We all drove over to the nearby Lazy R Bar & Grill for some dinner.

Linda, Biff, and Elaine outside the Lazy R Bar & Grill in Hermosa SD.

Once back at the campground, we piled into my Dad’s Jeep and drove the scenic route along Custer State Park to get to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. We wanted to see the evening lighting ceremony.

We stopped for ice cream at the parks entrance…

And here’s the grand view…

We took the 0.6 mile Presidential Trail loop. Very nice. Luckily, we took the clockwise route so most of the steps were down.

We got back to the stadium seats just in time for the 8 PM show and lighting of the monument ceremony. The seats were packed.

After a ranger talk, we watched a well-made documentary on the big screen and then they turned on the lights…

After the lighting ceremony, the ranger called all veterans down to the stage area. I went down to the stage along with my Dad, where the ranger walked along the line of veterans as everyone said their name and branch of service. Afterwards, a selected few helped lower and fold the flag. It was a nice gesture of appreciation to all the veterans.

If you haven’s seen the evening lighting ceremony (Click HERE), you’ve got to add it to your list.

Today (Sunday), we plan on driving over to the Crazy Horse Memorial… check back in with us 🙂 Gotta go now…

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

Tag Archives: South Dakota

AFB Tour – Minuteman II Missile Silo & New Alpine Friends (Ellsworth AFB FamCamp, Box Elder SD)

New License Plates; South Dakota Air & Space Museum (Ellsworth AFB FamCamp, Box Elder SD)

Visiting Deadwood (Ellsworth AFB FamCamp, Box Elder SD)

Friday – Post 2 of 2: Sturgis Visit (Americas Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

Friday – Post 1 of 2: Drivers Licenses & Storybook Island (Americas Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

Changing Domicile (America’s Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

Touring the Badlands (Badlands Interior Campground, SD)

Black Hills; Crazy Horse; Wall Drug; Badlands (Badlands Interior Campground, SD)

Campvention Follow-up Pics; Travel Day; Mount Rushmore (Heartland RV Park, Hermosa SD)

Follow along on our adventures…

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Share the Urban Escape Vehicle adventure:

Follow along on our adventures…