Wind? What wind?

The overnight temps in O'Neill got down to the mid 50's......probably the highest "low" temperature we have seen in some time.  Saturday began sunny, balmy and windless.  All that being said, we knew the wind was going to arrive big time from the east about mid morning, so we started our wheels rolling the last 177 miles to Sioux Falls around 7:50 am hoping to get a big chunk of that mileage in before it got bad.  

We continued north on US 281 watching the lovely town of O'Neill, NE grow ever smaller in our rear view mirrors.  There was a light wind from the east, but it didn't really affect the handling of the coach at all, however, I knew once we turned east on SR 46 to make our 80+ mile run to I-29 it would be hitting us directly on the nose of the coach at about 25-30 mph.

US 281 took us steadily northeast until we hit the Missouri River and Fort Randall Dam where we transitioned to SR 46 which would take us over 80 miles on a straight line to I-29.

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 Fort Randall Dam and Reservoir

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As we turned due east the wind became ferociously strong gusting over 40 mph at times, but as long as our nose was directly into the wind it was not too hard to control the coach.  As it turned out driving 80+ miles into the wind was the easy part of the drive.

The long view of SR 46....straight as far as the eye can see

Once we turned north on I-29 the real work began.....by this time it was 11 am and the east wind was consistently over 30 mph.....I had to crank the steering wheel hard to the right to steer into the wind, and every time we passed under a bridge I would have quickly correct back to the left as the east wind would be blocked for a second.  Thankfully it was only 30 miles to the 12th Street exit......our turn off for the W.H. Lyons Fairgrounds.

The fairgrounds RV park is just opening for the season and there are only a few electrical pedestals with power to them at this point, nevertheless we were able to snag the last site with full hookups.

All "tucked in" for the next 7 days with 

50 amps, sewer & water

Around 2 my good friend Todd Flickema brought over the new bumper I bought ob eBay back in December.  The auction was for the front and rear bumpers.....Todd has a 1984 Newell which needs a new front bumper, and I needed the rear bumper, so I won the auction for $125 (total) which we split 50/50, and he drove down to Nebraska and picked them up.  Sunday we will install both our bumpers.  

In addition to the bumper, I am going to install a new bathroom faucet and drain as well.......that along with several other small projects will keep us busy most of the week.

Around 5:45 we drove into old town Sioux Falls to meet Todd and Dawn for dinner at Mama Lada's.....a cool, funky enchilada shop and wine bar with about 6 tables.  We spent about 3 hours together talking about "cabbages and kings".

From there we walked a couple of blocks over to Ch Patisserie for coffee and desert.....yum!

What a great evening spent with good friends!  We parted ways about 9:15 heading for our "home on wheels" for the evening..........thanks for stopping by!