Loving my life!!!!

I know I've probably said that before, and more than twice I'm sure, but it is true.  Growing up I used to dream about trips my family was planning to take, and trips we had taken.  Back then we took a lot of driving vacations, often pulling a trailer.  My first memory of  a driving vacation was back in '53, or '54.  Obviously I was only 4, or 5 then, so my recollection may differ from my mother's, but it seems to me that they owned a Chevy convertible back then and we pulled a trailer up to Bryce and Zion National Parks, and some where along the way visited Lake Tahoe for the first time.  I can remember Dad driving all day, and then just pulling on to the shoulder of the highway in some cases for the night.  I remember the sound if semi truck "jake brakes" in the night whether, or not we were in a trailer, or a motel.  If I heard "jake brakes" it meant we were on the road traveling.....for me it was like hearing rain on the metal roof of our coach....very soothing....made me smile, just like today.  To this day when I hear the sound of my own "jake brake" I still break out in a smile.  Now, to think I get to live that life I dreamed about way back then 365 days a year.  I never have to "go home", because I am always home.....and even better......it always feels like Saturday.

'53 I think....at Incline Beach, at Lake Tahoe....trailer behind Dad's head

And, of course, I am now about to write about what happened Saturday....how appropriate!  Our driving distance for Saturday was only 114 miles, and our destination was the W. H. Lyon Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls, SD.  We wanted to be out of the park in Welcome, MN by 11 am so we began to stow away our "stuff" around 10.  Before we loaded the car back in the trailer we decided to pull out of our spot to the parking area where there was more room, and load up there.  As we were doing that the manager of the RV park walked over and asked if we had checked the weather west of us.  I said, "No, not since last night".  She says, "Well, there is a storm coming at us from the northwest, so be prepared for some heavy rain".....wait, what?  I thought it was supposed to be partly cloudy.

 Our view for about 50 miles

Sure enough, 30 miles into our 114 mile day the sky got incredibly dark, and within a few minutes we were in the middle of a torrential downpour that reduced visibility to around 100', or less at times.  This went on for about 50 miles......at times our speed was reduced to under 45 because we just couldn't see very far ahead.  Then, just like that, we drove into clear blue skies.  Fortunately for us it had not rained at all in Sioux Falls Saturday.  The last thing I wanted to do was arrive in a driving rain storm.....of course the opposite of that is sunny skies, with high humidity, which is what we did arrive to.

W. H. Lyon Fairgrounds.....lots of room!

We arrived at the fairgrounds around 1:15, picked out our spot for the next 5 days, paid our $25/day fee to the camp host and set up.  This place is very handy to downtown Sioux Falls, and to a great bike path we will ride Sunday taking us in a loop around, and through town.

While TLE took a shower, and got ready for dinner that night I drove a few miles to the local Lowe's to get a new Shop-Vac filter.  Around 7 pm our Newell friends, Todd and Dawn Flickema picked us up in their SUV for dinner.....Todd, ironically, is an insurance broker, and Dawn practices Family Medicine here in Sioux Falls.  They took us downtown to a cool, high end pizza place.....I wish like heck I could remember the name!  Anyway, the pizza was amazing, and we chased it with a couple of great brews.  We met three of their sons (Bryce, Chase and Tanner) at the pizza place.  Afterwards we took a walk around down town, and then drove over to the "Falls".  They are lit up at night and look very cool!

Picture from the internet....I couldn't get a good shot with my phone camera

Our hosts dropped us off at our "home" around 10:30 pm......had a great time getting to know Todd and Dawn.  They will be joining us at Spearfish in their 1984 Newell on Saturday.  

Todd and Dawn's 1984, 40' Newell

That was our Saturday.......if it is even possible, I think I am more excited about the next month of travel than I have been for a while, and I'm pretty much excited about every day on the road.  We are in uncharted territory for us.....we have never been in South Dakota, where we'll be seeing Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Sturgis, Deadwood, and a lot of other cool places in the next 12 days! And in less than 2 weeks we will be in another new place....Alberta, Canada.  

Thanks for stopping by!