Until next time.....

6:47 am - Sunday - July 12th - Keystone, SD - 52° F, 80% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north by northeast......cloud cover this morning with a forecast high today of 87° F.....the view this morning......↴

....the past 2+ weeks have flown!  Here we are at July 12th and it is time to roll our wheels once again.  We will be, and have been saying our 'until next times' the past couple of days, and within 2 hours Keystone will begin to fade in our rear view camera as we head back north to the I-90 corridor.

Saturday was our last full day in Keystone as we finalized the putting away of our stuff, organizing the interior of the Newell for travel, and the trailer as well.  Around 11:30 am we walked south on US-16A to meet Rich and Marnie at Halleys West (Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 16 reviews....we'd be around 4) for our last lunch.....

 Last lunch.....Halleys West

......you can get a Buffalo Burger with fry's for $8....pretty good deal....TLE and I split one of those, as well as a 'side salad'.  The conversation, as always, was wide ranging with just a tad bit of bitter sweetness thrown in for good measure.  We spent 9 months working for Rich and Marnie at RORVR, and became good friends.  Being able to spend these past two weeks with them has been a real tonic, and we are so grateful to have had the full hookups in exchange for a few hours of work.  Rich had to be at work by 1 pm, so around 12:45 pm we began to walk back north on US-16A.....we took our last 'footie' next to a bronze statue in front of one of the hotels......

Last 'footie'....

......by 8 pm (after the sun had passed behind Mt. Rushmore) we stowed all the awnings, and I disconnected our sewer and water.....all that keeps us connected to site #3 is our electrical umbilical cord......

 Our site for two weeks will soon be vacant once again

.....we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this little community over the past two weeks, and look forward to returning again sometime down the road....who knows where that "long and winding  road" will lead us?

As we slowly edge toward 1.5 million views of our blog we thank you for stopping by each day for the last 8.5 years!

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"Hitch Itch....."

8:10 am - Saturday - July 11th - Keystone, SD - 54° F, 69% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the west.......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this day in 2017 we were taking a soak at Chico Hot Springs, MT.......↴

Instead of working a few hours Friday night in the convenience store I was asked by our manager, Beth, to help Rich and Marnie Friday morning for a few hours while they received, and restocked 'groceries'....groceries consisting of anything from milk, to chips, snacks, refrigerated lunch items, etc.....there was even some motor oil and coolant for good measure.  I've done this before when we were at the Grand Canyon during the winter of 2017-2018, so it was not an unfamiliar task....it is, however, labor intensive, and by the time I was finished at 11 am I was ready for a nap.  

I hadn't had any breakfast when I went to work at 8 am, right after I finished my daily blog post, so TLE utilized the newly acquired Cowboy Disc Wok to make me a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato) sandwich......once again I say the BLAT is proof of love.

Since we are slated to depart Keystone Sunday morning I felt it prudent to begin to put away a few things on the 'lido deck'....the chairs, Sea-B-Que, Cowboy Disc Wok, and the table upon which the Sea-B-Que sits.  Later in the day I dumped our black tank.  On Saturday I'll organize the trailer for our 20+ mile drive north to the Campingworld in Rapid City where we will acquire, and install a new Splendide 2100-xc washer/dryer combo......I was going to attempt to repair our old 2000, but there are a lot of melted wires in there, and I do not know the cause is.  Attempting to repair it could be a vicious circle as I replace what is obvious, then the less obvious.....it could become a money pit.  Better to get a new one and once again have the ability to do our laundry at our convenience without frequenting laundromats and the ever increasing cost of same.....

The Splendide 2100xc

......its been about 6 months since our existing Splendide gave up the ghost, and at one point I thought we might decide to remove it and utilize the extra storage space, but ultimately we have both truly missed the convenience of having our own onboard laundry.  In the last 8+ months we have had to replace our Dometic toilet, satellite dish, our aged out water heater, the Norcold refer, and now our washer/dryer.....it's been an expensive period, but that is the way it is sometimes, whether you live in a sticks and bricks home, or in an RV....you just roll with the punches, and take care of business!

We'll reconnect with Claude and Gail in Rapid City and begin our westward trek along the I-90 corridor.  At this point we don't even have a vague Jello plan, but I am sure after we meet up with Claude and Gail once again one will be formulated in rather short order.

Our stay here in Keystone has been a nice interlude to the almost constant movement over the previous 8 weeks....sitting in one place for a couple of weeks has been oh so pleasant, but but we've got a good case of "hitch itch" again which needs to be scratched........time to begin changing our view on a regular basis once again.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Eating our way through Keystone.....

6:41 am - Friday - July 10th - Keystone, SD - 62° F, 83% humidity, wind - CALM......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 85° F.....rained most of the night until about 90 minutes ago.  On this day in 2016 we were in Carson City, NV having lunch at the In 'N Out Burger.......↴

After enjoying one of the best Mocha Frappuccino's ever at 'Grapes and Grinds' the other day we decided to walk over to this fine establishment again Thursday morning after I finished composing my latest post for coffee and pastries......a scone for TLE and an 'everything' bagel for moi.......

 I never tire of TLE's turn down smile....

.....it was still in the 60's as we commenced our 1/8th mile walk so I wore, for the first time in a long time....a long sleeved T, and a pair of Addidas pants.  The coffee house was jumping at 10 am, and it took a while for us to place our orders, and then receive them, but, as I always say, good food (in this case coffee and pastries) is always worth the wait, and it was.  Because it was overcast most people were consuming their specialty drinks inside, so we had the pick of several umbrella shaded tables, ending up at the same one at which we drank our frappuccinos the other day.

We were home again around 11:30 am watching more previously recorded English Premier League Soccer matches, and reading.  Around 1 pm I received notice that the replacement high mounted brake light for the VW had been delivered so I walked over to the convenience store to retrieve it, and install it.  Rich, who has a 2002 VW Beetle, gave me a brief tutorial on how to get at and remove the old cracked lens (damaged in the first hail storm we experienced here in Keystone)......

The new 'high mounted' brake light installed

....the quite old, original lens was damaged on the left side by hail.  While it took a little longer than planned to replace the lens (another minor hail storm moved through Keystone while I was in the middle of the R&R job) I got the new one (purchased on Amazon for $55) installed.

Since I didn't have to work Thursday evening (I'm going to work Friday morning for a couple of hours instead helping receive the weekly grocery delivery at the convenience store) TLE and I had plans to have dinner at a local fine dinning restaurant called Powder House Lodge (Yelp gives the 4.5 stars on 41 reviews, and it is totally earned).  By all accounts this place is reputed to serve mighty fine food at a decent cost.  They don't take reservations, but said to call about 30 minutes before we were to arrive and they would put us on the 'LIST'.  It's only about 2 miles up the hill on US-16A....we've passed it going and coming from Rapid City numerous times, so we knew it would only take 5 minutes to make the drive.  TLE called around 5:30 pm to get us on the 'LIST'......we were there by 5:55 pm......

.....and seated at our table shortly thereafter.....it pays to be on the 'LIST'......

....we quickly selected a bottle of Norton Reserva Malbec (2018-Argentina) from their wine list to go with our meal.......

.....for our appetizer we ordered their bacon wrapped shrimp....a perfect choice!  For our entrees I ordered their House Special Filet Mignon, and TLE their Cornish Game Hen.....

.....the service was exceptionally good, and very prompt....the food and the wine were first class....everything cooked to perfection!  This is the first formal, expensive dinner out we have had since our 48th anniversary dinner last August 29th....if we were going to still be in town on August 29th we would definitely be celebrating our 49th anniversary it at Powder House Lodge, but who knows where we will be then?  I sure don't.....😊  

We were home by 7:30 and slipping into more comfortable clothing to aid in the digestion of our wonderful meal.  We watched another recorded episode of 'Alone' and I was in bed by 10:30 pm....I'm not sure when TLE joined me, but she was definitely there this morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

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The plunge.....

8:02 am - Thursday - July 9th - Keystone, SD - 59° F, 78% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 75° F.

We have had it in our minds to drive south from Keystone to visit Hot Springs, SD since we arrived, and finally Wednesday it was time to make that 55 mile drive.  We left around 11 am, and once we finished wending our way out of the mountainous surrounds of Keystone we hit the more wide open spaces......

......the drive took just over an hour, and soon we were parking the VW and walking into Evans Plunge, established in 1890.  The name of the town, Hot Springs, is kind of a misnomer as there are no 'HOT' springs......these are what is known in the popular vernacular as 'WARM'  mineral springs....the water stays at a constant 87° F winter, and summer, however, we are advised that in the hottest part of the summer the outdoor pool can get into the 90's.......

.....the indoor pool is quite large.....maybe 100 yards in length, and has a water slide, basket ball hoops, and other things to occupy one's time......

 
.....the cost for us with the senior discount was about $13.50/person.....we chose to spend our time in and around the outdoor pool on this mostly sunny day......

 

 
......we spent some time soaking up some vitamin 'D', but neither of us chose to test out the integrity of the tubular water slide......

......these warm mineral springs are quite therapeutic, and by the time we left two hours later we were both feeling quite relaxed, and less stiff.  Our initial plan was to do some junking in Hot Springs proper after our soak, and then have lunch at a local eatery, however, except for Evans Plunge, the town seemed to be shut down......we saw one breakfast place open for business, but all others were closed, including the thrift.  So, on to plan 'B'.....drive about halfway back to Keystone and have lunch in Custer, which we knew from driving through about a week ago had numerous eateries open for 'dine in' business.....

....the drive coming and going was quite scenic.  Soon we were entering the outskirts of Custer intending to head for the supermarket, but were caught up short when we noticed a micro brewery by the name of Mt. Rushmore Brewing Company.....TLE quickly looked them up on Yelp to find they had a 4 star rating on over 40 reviews, so we pulled into the parking lot and headed directly inside.....

....we chose their alfresco dining option and quickly began to peruse their draft options.....I chose their Rail Splitter, a London style Porter........

.....and TLE their Holy Terror, a whiskey barrel aged Porter.....

....we ordered an appetizer of deep fried pickles, which were some of the best of this type we have ever had.....

....for our main course I had their Fish 'N Chips, and TLE a Brat....both were quite tasty, and paired wonderfully with our draft choices.  Sitting outside in the shade of the building feeling the balmy zephyrs softly caressing our collective epidermises was the perfect pairing with the earlier 2 hour soak, and I think we both could have taken an hour nap right there on the spot, but we still had to do a small shopping at the local grocery store before completing the final 30 miles of our drive home, deferring the naps until then.

We arrived home sometime after 4:30 pm with big smiles, and new memories to cherish....a perfect day spent with The Lovely Elaine......you can believe I took a nice nap then!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - I neglected to add about 11 pictures to yesterday's blog post (On the Town), but have done so now....check them out!

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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!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!