On the town......

8:36 am - Wednesday - July 8th - Keystone, SD - 66° F, 56% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, blue, balmy skies today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this day in 2019 we were having lunch, and some brews at Lost Abbey Brewing Company in San Marcos, CA........↴

It was such a nice, cool day Tuesday that we decided to walk from one end of Keystone to the other.  We began by walking south on US-16A which takes you the rest of the way to the Mt. Rushmore entrance.....we didn't walk that far.....just to the end of the 'Keystone Mall'......

 You can see our Newell in the deep background...just a little left of center

....the walk is uphill all the way to the end of the 'Keystone Mall', and the views back north totally changed our perspective that we have from the private RV park in which we currently reside.  I was aware that the famous Cary Grant movie 'North by Northwest' was filmed in part around the Mt. Rushmore area, but had forgotten that National Treasure II was also filmed partially in this area.....

.......the 'Keystone Mall' is a series of mostly connected buildings housing souvenir shops, and small restaurants, and it was pretty busy.  We walked through a couple of the stores, but souvenir shops are really not our thing, so we began walking back down the hill toward the center of town where we had spied a coffee shop, Grapes and Grinds, on our way up the hill, which piqued our interest.....

.....it's been a while since either of us has had our favorite frappuccinos, so we ordered them (Mocha for moi, and Vanilla Bean for TLE) and headed outside to snag the last table with an umbrella.....

.....there is nothing quite like a good blended ice drink on a beautiful July afternoon!  From there we walked back north toward the other end of town, and snapped this picture of the Newell from a closer proximity.....

....we walked to a point just shy of BRGR61 where we had lunch a few days ago to visit an antique store (Holy Terror Antiques) we had not yet visited.....it's the kind of funky junk store through which we love to browse.....

....of course we live in a motor coach, so there was really nothing we could buy that would fit, but we love to look at other people's junk, and this place certainly fit the bill.....

......we took the requisite foot picture that Rich and Marnie like.  We had planned to stop off at the Rushmore Borglum Museum (Gutzon Borglum was the man who sculpted Mt. Rushmore) to replicate a picture we had taken back in June of 2013 where our friend Darlene McCloud sat on the lap of the Lincoln sculpture which sits directly in front of the museum.....

Darlene on Lincoln's lap

.....but much to our dismay the sculpture had been removed as recently as a few days ago.  We do not know for sure, but it seems apparent it was removed to prevent the kind of vandalism we have seen happening to similar sculpture all across the country....bummer....

Where the Lincoln sculpture used to sit

......from there we continued our walk back home stopping to take some whimsical pictures at the chainsaw sculpting place.....

 Is that Darryl?

A real working phone book....serious!

....we arrived home around 2 pm....it's amazing what you can see at 2-3 mph, right?

TLE and I literally spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading.  Of course the evening could be complete without our daily thunder, lightning and rain storm.  No hail this time, but plenty of rain.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Why only in South Dakota?

7:45 am - Tuesday - July 7th - Keystone, SD - 59° F, 87% humidity wind 8 mph ou tof the east.....heavy cloud cover once again today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this day in 2019 we were working at Ramona Oaks RV Resort, and watched the USA Women Soccer team (after work on the outdoor TV) win the final match of the 2019 FIFA World Cup over the Netherlands 2 to nil......↴

I began yesterday's missive with a picture of Rich and Marnie's patio awning hanging from the roller, and no longer attached to their 5th wheel......

 Before.....

....as a result of the severe rain storm the night prior.  Around 9 am I saw them come outside to examine the damage, so I went over to see how bad it was, and if they needed any help.  As it turned out the awning had just pulled out of the slot near the roof line, and it was just a matter of detaching the arms from each side of that slot, and then running the awning back into that slot......

.....after.....fixed!

....within 40 minutes the three of us had reattached the awning, and it is ready to use once again.  To be clear, the awning itself did suffer some minor damage, but is still usable, however, at some point in the near future they plan to replace the canvas as it has been 5 years since they last did that.  They tend to spend months at a time with the awning deployed and the UV rays over that time cause the canvas to deteriorate more quickly due to daily exposure.  So, we've been in Keystone, SD around 10 days now, and had serious hail storms 3 times now.  The last time we had hail like this was back in June of 2013 when we were at a Newell Mini Rally at Spearfish, SD....I wrote about it here.  In our 8+ years of full time travel we have only experienced big hail in South Dakota.....no where else...I'm starting to get a little paranoid.

We had planned to drive down to Hot Springs, SD to soak, of course, in their hot springs, but we had planned to be gone earlier than 10 am, plus the weather forecast called for another serious storm Monday afternoon, and we wanted to be on hand should we need to stow our awnings, so we delayed our drive for another day.

We only had to only run the A/C for about 2-3 hours from about 10:30 am to 1:30 pm before being able to shut it down for the rest of the day....it was not very hot, but it was quite humid, so we used the A/C to dry the interior air until the humidity outside abated to more comfortable levels.  We had several Premier League soccer matches in our DVR queue so we spent part of the day watching some very close matches, and then read the rest of the day.  I am really enjoying the Westerns I have been reading by Elmer Kelton and William W. Johnstone, and have read about 4 by each author, and can now highly recommend them if you are into the Western genre.

For the first time in days we had no rain whatsoever, so we've got that going for us......thanks for stopping by!

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What the hail, part 2........

8:25 am - Monday - July 6th - Keystone, SD - 58° F, 90% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north......heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 79° F.  Rain most of the night.  On this day in 2013 we were driving the Kananaskis Highway in Alberta, Canada.....↴

.....a view of the Bow River which had recently flooded......speaking of views here is the view this morning.....it appears Rich and Marnie's patio awning suffered some damage in the serious rain storm we had last night......↴

After a few days of being cooped up in the A/C cooled confines of the Newell we decided to spend a few hours out driving into Rapid City to drop off a previously received Amazon package for return.....I ordered the wrong item....doh!  I began the return on the Amazon site, and all I had to do was deliver the box to the nearest UPS Store where they scanned a bar code off my phone, printed a return shipping label, and gave me a receipt.....a simple 35 second process.  

From there we drove a block to the local Goodwill Store where we spent an hour browsing through their current offerings.  While this a very nice store, we found nothing which without we could not live.  Even when we don't find anything to buy it is always fun looking for that one hidden treasure which will scratch that 'junking' itch we get from time to time.

Once the itch was scratched we hopped back in the VW to head south to Hill City, SD for lunch at a local micro brewery called 'Sick and Twisted Brewing Company' which we had passed by the day we rode our bikes on the George S. Mickelson Bike Path....Yelp gives them 4 stars on just 4 reviews, which is not many, but we liked the vibe of the place and wanted to check it out for ourselves.  We arrived around 1 pm, and quickly ordered a 'flight' of 5 brews......

 From right to left: Natural Blonde Ale, Nut Hugger Brown Ale, Engine #7 Black Pale Ale, Naughty Red Head Imperial Red Ale, & Aces and Eights Amber Ale

.....after tasting our 5 choices we both settled upon the same one......Nut Hugger Brown Ale.... and ordered two pints to go along with a meat and cheese platter TLE ordered....

 Two Nut Hugger Brown Ales to go with our meat and cheese platter

.....we lingered for an hour, or more talking about our future travel plans, which are really a big bowl of Jello right now, and our summer travels to date.  We tried to look up a few destinations on our phones, but the broadband was a little spotty both at the brewery, and in downtown Hill City where we headed to do a little shopping at the local supermarket before heading back to Keystone.  At any rate, we will most likely be departing Keystone on either Sunday the 12th, or Monday the 13th to begin our trek back west on I-90....we've gone as far east this summer as we plan to go.

About two hours after we got home I heard a couple of loud 'PLUNKS' on the aluminum roof which sounded almost like pine cones, but we are under no trees of any kind.....uh oh.....here comes the big hail once again.  It is very unnerving to hear the golf ball size hail hitting your roof, solar panels and Fantastic Fan plastic vent cover.....you just sit, or stand there hoping nothing is damaged.....TLE retrieved a few examples of the hail stones for your viewing pleasure......

 Big.....

 .....Bigger.....

.....Biggest......

.....the hail lasted about 10 minutes, but it seemed much longer.  No apparent damaged was suffered, but if they had been much bigger, and more plentiful I do not think we would have been as fortunate.

Around 10 pm it began to rain once again, only this time it was more torrential in nature for about 30 minutes then it settled down to a light rain, on and off, the rest of the night.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Rhythm.......

7:46 am - Sunday - July 5th - Keystone, SD - 63° F, 58% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the north by northwest.....a few clouds today, but mostly clear, blue skies with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this day in 2013 we were in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada having some brews and appetizers at Olive 'R Twist Bistro and Bar......↴

....we were traveling for a month with our friends Forest and Cindy Olivier, and Tom and Darlene McCloud who also owned Newells at the time.

Saturday was another warm day....you see there?  I've transitioned from saying 'hot day' to 'warm day'....same temperature, just getting acclimated to temps in the 80's.  We've been able to avoid turning on the A/C most days until after 1 pm, and Saturday was no different.  There kind of comes a tipping point where your forehead begins to bead up with sweat, and you know it is time to close the windows, and be comfortable again.  No point in suffering when someone else is paying for the electricity.  Last summer when we were living and working at RORVR we paid most of our electricity costs (we received a $50/month electrical allowance), and for a while we tried to do without A/C, but eventually we decided we would rather be cool and pay a $100/month than be uncomfortable.

We did not do anything noteworthy Saturday.  We do have plans for Sunday and Monday, but on Saturday we just decided to take at easy. After 8.5 years on the road we have transitioned from being on a perpetual vacation, and trying to see everything, to living on the road while changing our view on a regular basis.  There is no compulsion to 'see everything', and sometimes we just decide to enjoy the ambiance of where we are.

At 5 pm I moseyed up to the convenience store for my third volunteer shift in as many days.  My hours are flexible, and totally dependent upon the needs on a given day.  Since Saturday was the day after the all of the festivities it was almost eerily quiet.  As soon as I arrived at the store I could tell things were not nearly as busy as Friday, and after about 2.5 hours I was released by Rich and Marnie to go home....sweet!  I did empty all the outdoor trash cans twice, restocked the cooler several times, and dry and wet mopped the entire store floor, including the restrooms.  Other than that it was clear they had everything under control.

Once again, as I was walking home, it began to sprinkle, and within 30 minutes of entering the friendly confines of the Newell for the evening it began to gently rain, which it continued to do until well after midnight.....never hard, but always in the background playing its soporific melody on our aluminum roof.  While this part of South Dakota is technically in drought, it has rained virtually every single day we have been here with one exception.....

....and with that I will leave you with this song by the Cascades....Rhythm of the Falling Rain (1962?)....thanks for stopping by!

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The 3rd becomes the 4th......

8:37 am - Saturday - July 4th - Keystone, SD - 69° F, 49% humidity, wind 10 mph....seems CALM here....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.

The big blow out would normally have been on July 4th, but  since President Trump was going to be here on the 3rd it became the 4th......right?  From the time we got up Friday you could hear, and see the evidence that this day was different from all the other days we have been here at Keystone.....there were way more people, patriotic bunting was on display everywhere, and people were beginning to congregate at the best viewing sites for the fireworks display at 9:30 pm.  Every time a law enforcement vehicle drove by you could hear the gathered crowd cheer them....very refreshing in light of the times in which we live.......

.....the convenience store was extremely busy all day long, and there was rarely a moment when the lines at the checkout counter were less than 4 people deep.  When I arrived for my 5 hour shift at 5 pm the store was packed, so I immediately headed for the cooler to restock the shelves with beer, water, Gatorade, Monster drinks, Arizona ice tea, Coke, Dr. Pepper, etc.  I spent over an hour getting things back up to speed, and throughout my 5+ hours I spent 80% of my time there trying to keep up with the water and beer demands.....

.....I was inside working when Trump's helicopter flew over, but TLE was on duty snapping the following pictures......

 The POTUS is arriving

A lot of jets flew in formation over Mt. Rushmore

 At last the sun began to set, and we knew the fireworks were not far behind

 The moon is almost full as I walked up to the corner of the main street to be able to see the beginning of the fireworks

 

 A 45 second video of the fireworks show

....around 9:35 pm I walked up the street toward Mt. Rushmore to get a view of the beginning of the fireworks show, and arrived there just as they began.  I only stayed a few minutes as I heard the cooler calling my name once again.....

....I never really caught up with the restocking, and emptying of trash cans after being gone for just 10 minutes.  Thankfully Rich and Marnie came down to the store after the fireworks show ended and helped us out.....while Rich restocked the cooler I emptied the multitudinous trash cans, which were all overflowing with effluent dropped off by the departing crowd.  By the time we finished it was going on 11 pm, and I was ready to walk home.....of course, just at that time it began to rain.  Fortunately, I made it home just before the skies really opened up, thus avoiding a thorough drenching.  Here in South Dakota when it rains hard, it almost always hails a little, too, but the hail stones were not nearly as big as the other night.  Nevertheless, when it hails it gets quite loud inside the Newell.

My 5 hour shift ended up being almost 6, but it all turned out well in the end.....when you are busy the time seems to fly, and that is how Friday night seemed.....thanks for stopping by!

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