My families Great American Adventure

[washparkhorn 9938]

13 minutes ago, luke duke said:

Remember that we’re talking about a guy that spent an afternoon trying to unscrew a rivet.

 

No stabbing!

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

2 hours ago, luke duke said:

 

Remember that we’re talking about a guy that spent an afternoon trying to unscrew a rivet.

 

This is true. I’m the least handy person ever. I’m trying to learn but I’m in kindergarten. That’s advance calculus. 

[SHOOTER12 8799]

13 hours ago, luke duke said:

 

Remember that we’re talking about a guy that spent an afternoon trying to unscrew a rivet.

 

He probably stripped the head on the darned thing, lulz

[RPM 26303]

Don't know what your path is going West, but I highly recommend visiting Little Bighorn. The site is a running battlefield with details of the fight along the way.

Edited August 12, 2020 by RPM

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

On 8/10/2020 at 8:05 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

 These pictures suck. You can’t really get a feel for how vast and incredible this place is from an IPhone camera.
 

Oh it is vast. I love the plains, have grown up spending many many hours in the midwest and upper midwest. It is one of the amazing things about America and I love the unique and differing places from coast to coast. It really is America the Beautiful (where humans don't litter and clutter it up anyway).

While not a "nature" book, your children might enjoy Sarah, Plain and Tall if they haven't read it(or had it read to them). There is a movie  and although it is nice enough, read the book, her descriptions describe some of the awe that inspired your pics . One of the Little House books is about South Dakota too, so that is also not too far from your location. The Little House books have fallen on hard times due to cultural references, but we talked about that with our children. If they'd like to know more about the native people of the area, here are two more books: Red Cloud: a Lakota Story of War and Surrender (told from the POV of the indigenous people) and Buffalo Bird Girl which is about a girl from the Hidatsa and her life as a young girl.

 

I forgot to add, even if your campers aren't always happy campers, they are spending time with the people they love and who love them and all the memories, good and maybe not so good are worthwhile.

Edited August 12, 2020 by Mrs Whiggins
Edit

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

3 hours ago, SHOOTER12 said:

He probably stripped the head on the darned thing, lulz

I’m dumb enough that I thought I did. Yes. 

[gmr548 16569]

What is so bright in NorthCentral North Dakota?  oilrigs i guess
This must be relative to surrounding or something.

It's the rigs. They're obscenely bright all together. You can see thr same thing in Texas in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale in very sparse areas of TX. It could become as issue in big bend.

[gmr548 16569]

Didn't know that- thanks.  I sort of need to cheat with the little lines on the map to see exactly where I'm oriented. It's amazing how few people live west of the Mississippi compared to east of the Mississippi, truly.  Especially when you consider how much prettier it is West of the Mississippi, how much better the climate is, etc.  400 years seems like a long time since Plymouth Rock, but in human geographic migration terms it's really not all that much time.  
Also, it's funny to think that without the development of Air conditioning the sun belt would likely look like the plain states on that map. Humans are amazing creatures in a lot of ways.  

West of 35 is a very harsh place without modern engineering and supply chains for water, food, ac, etc. Can't grow much there. Not an appealing life until post WWII. Climatically, that boundary is creeping east while the population center moves west (It's now west of the Mississippi in MO)

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

2 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

On 8/11/2020 at 10:44 AM, Wulaw Horn said:

Didn't know that- thanks.  I sort of need to cheat with the little lines on the map to see exactly where I'm oriented. It's amazing how few people live west of the Mississippi compared to east of the Mississippi, truly.  Especially when you consider how much prettier it is West of the Mississippi, how much better the climate is, etc.  400 years seems like a long time since Plymouth Rock, but in human geographic migration terms it's really not all that much time.  
Also, it's funny to think that without the development of Air conditioning the sun belt would likely look like the plain states on that map. Humans are amazing creatures in a lot of ways.  

West of 35 is a very harsh place without modern engineering and supply chains for water, food, ac, etc. Can't grow much there. Not an appealing life until post WWII. Climatically, that boundary is creeping east while the population center moves west (It's now west of the Mississippi in MO)

Yeah- that was the point I was making about it being 50-75 years is small since interstate roads, trucking, trains and planes made it really easy to live somewhere outside of a major body of water that you could float your trade goods to rather efficiently. 
there’s also the matter of government land. I think Utah is like 50% government owned and Nevada something like 70% government owned?  It’s pretty hard scrabble in Nevada and I wouldn’t ever expect many people to want to move there (outside Vegas or the Sierras) but if they wanted to could they even?  

[gmr548 16569]

Yeah- that was the point I was making about it being 50-75 years is small since interstate roads, trucking, trains and planes made it really easy to live somewhere outside of a major body of water that you could float your trade goods to rather efficiently. 
there’s also the matter of government land. I think Utah is like 50% government owned and Nevada something like 70% government owned?  It’s pretty hard scrabble in Nevada and I wouldn’t ever expect many people to want to move there (outside Vegas or the Sierras) but if they wanted to could they even?  

Honestly no one should live in Nevada lol. It's in the middle of the desert. Same for Phoenix.

[BevoSwag 272]

Some things are going right, Wulaw Horn.  You were able to get out of eastern Dakota's and Iowa/Illinois before last nights land hurricane.  Winds of 100 mph and RV's aren't made for each other.

[gmr548 16569]

land hurricane.

[BevoSwag 272]

@gmr548

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/11/derecho-chicago-midwest-iowa-storm/

[washparkhorn 9938]

Derechos are a bitch out on the plains. 

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

1 hour ago, BevoSwag said:

Some things are going right, Wulaw Horn.  You were able to get out of eastern Dakota's and Iowa/Illinois before last nights land hurricane.  Winds of 100 mph and RV's aren't made for each other.

Holy crap really? 100 mph winds in corn country?  Wow, that's just crazy.  Yeah, that might have been a scary night for sure.

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

1 hour ago, gmr548 said:

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Yeah- that was the point I was making about it being 50-75 years is small since interstate roads, trucking, trains and planes made it really easy to live somewhere outside of a major body of water that you could float your trade goods to rather efficiently. 
there’s also the matter of government land. I think Utah is like 50% government owned and Nevada something like 70% government owned?  It’s pretty hard scrabble in Nevada and I wouldn’t ever expect many people to want to move there (outside Vegas or the Sierras) but if they wanted to could they even?  

Honestly no one should live in Nevada lol. It's in the middle of the desert. Same for Phoenix.

I absolutely love the desert, for 2 or 3 days at a time.  After that it's like nope.

My wife asked me what I found beautiful about it and I said that the vastness and isolation and loneliness make for some contemplation and thinking about our place in the grand scheme of things, and how vast this world is, and with the great big skies and the stars how vast this universe is.  She rolled here eyes and said "that sounds stupid- it doesn't make me contemplate anything."  Then I said- do you ever find yourself in such a mood like that and she was like- Nope, never.  Ah, such is life. Opposites attract, yada yada yada.

[SHOOTER12 8799]

2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I’m dumb enough that I thought I did. Yes. 

Lulz, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made a mistake.

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

2 minutes ago, SHOOTER12 said:

Lulz, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made a mistake.

It sure does look like something a screwdriver should be able to take off, and it sure does act like a stripped screw. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

4 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Holy crap really? 100 mph winds in corn country?  Wow, that's just crazy.  Yeah, that might have been a scary night for sure.

Yep, nothing between O Canada and the Gulf except bob waar so when it blows sometimes it gets a little crazy.

4 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I absolutely love the desert, for 2 or 3 days at a time.  After that it's like nope.

My wife asked me what I found beautiful about it and I said that the vastness and isolation and loneliness make for some contemplation and thinking about our place in the grand scheme of things, and how vast this world is, and with the great big skies and the stars how vast this universe is.  She rolled here eyes and said "that sounds stupid- it doesn't make me contemplate anything."  Then I said- do you ever find yourself in such a mood like that and she was like- Nope, never.  Ah, such is life. Opposites attract, yada yada yada.

The contemplation. I dig that. Was spending some time running along a gravel road in flyover country and the nearest town (population 200) was many miles away from the farm. Nothing but me and dried corn stubble and beyond that grassland. Any trace I might leave on the planet will be small and insignificant in the overwhelming bigness of the planet's life, however much longer that will be. That is okay, it is enough to have lived and known what I have known.

 

 

 

Going back to your comments about the suitability of the land. My late FIL rode a horse to hs and was in college before electricity was available to his family farm. His mother passed away when my oldest was a baby and I lament that I never recorded her stories which were many and memorable. She actually lived in a sod house as a child. She grew up to become a school teacher and taught immigrant children who lived on remote farms to bring in extra money while her husband managed their own farm.

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

14 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Yep, nothing between O Canada and the Gulf except bob waar so when it blows sometimes it gets a little crazy.

The contemplation. I dig that. Was spending some time running along a gravel road in flyover country and the nearest town (population 200) was many miles away from the farm. Nothing but me and dried corn stubble and beyond that grassland. Any trace I might leave on the planet will be small and insignificant in the overwhelming bigness of the planet's life, however much longer that will be. That is okay, it is enough to have lived and known what I have known.

 

 

 

Going back to your comments about the suitability of the land. My late FIL rode a horse to hs and was in college before electricity was available to his family farm. His mother passed away when my oldest was a baby and I lament that I never recorded her stories which were many and memorable. She actually lived in a sod house as a child. She grew up to become a school teacher and taught immigrant children who lived on remote farms to bring in extra money while her husband managed their own farm.

However hard anyone thinks life is in America right now (and it’s harder than it needs to be for many there is no doubt) you hear stories like that, people living in sod houses, and it’s just amazing how far we’ve come. Most of us. Most of the time. 

[BevoSwag 272]

2 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Yep, nothing between O Canada and the Gulf except bob waar so when it blows sometimes it gets a little crazy.

The contemplation. I dig that. Was spending some time running along a gravel road in flyover country and the nearest town (population 200) was many miles away from the farm. Nothing but me and dried corn stubble and beyond that grassland. Any trace I might leave on the planet will be small and insignificant in the overwhelming bigness of the planet's life, however much longer that will be. That is okay, it is enough to have lived and known what I have known.

Going back to your comments about the suitability of the land. My late FIL rode a horse to hs and was in college before electricity was available to his family farm. His mother passed away when my oldest was a baby and I lament that I never recorded her stories which were many and memorable. She actually lived in a sod house as a child. She grew up to become a school teacher and taught immigrant children who lived on remote farms to bring in extra money while her husband managed their own farm.

Something in common.  My mother rode her horse from the farm in Missouri to the only school available to them in 1919.  My paternal grandparents lived in a sod house in the Texas Panhandle near the Oklahoma line.  I still remember the party line telephone.  Two longs and a short lol.  My grandparents thought they had it made when the phone company reached the farm.

[Buzzrock 14889]

Damn some of y’all are old.

Also I’d never heard of a sod house.

Tough news on the roof Wulaw, but glad you’re soldiering on. The rat race is wearing on me right now so your adventure sounds awesome. Part of me thinks that liquidating and setting out on the road for a couple of years would be awesome. But wife would never go for it and oldest is starting high school so it’s not happening. In another life maybe.

[Biff Tannen 45641]

12 hours ago, BevoSwag said:

Something in common.  My mother rode her horse from the farm in Missouri to the only school available to them in 1919.  My paternal grandparents lived in a sod house in the Texas Panhandle near the Oklahoma line.  I still remember the party line telephone.  Two longs and a short lol.  My grandparents thought they had it made when the phone company reached the farm.

My great grandmother was born in a sod house near Waynoka, Oklahoma in 1903.  Great grandfather was a railroad man so the family ended up all over the Panhandle throughout the years.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

12 hours ago, BevoSwag said:

Something in common.  My mother rode her horse from the farm in Missouri to the only school available to them in 1919.  My paternal grandparents lived in a sod house in the Texas Panhandle near the Oklahoma line.  I still remember the party line telephone.  Two longs and a short lol.  My grandparents thought they had it made when the phone company reached the farm.

My FIL was going to school in the 1950s, so a little later. I think the electricity reached his farm around that time or a little later. REA was a godsend to those rural places.

6 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Damn some of y’all are old.

Also I’d never heard of a sod house.

Tough news on the roof Wulaw, but glad you’re soldiering on. The rat race is wearing on me right now so your adventure sounds awesome. Part of me thinks that liquidating and setting out on the road for a couple of years would be awesome. But wife would never go for it and oldest is starting high school so it’s not happening. In another life maybe.

Never heard of a sod house? There are a some still standing (barely) and I know of at least one in Nebraska that has been refurbished and turned into a museum. The sodbusters didn't waste a thing, and fewer trees available back then. We used to drive by one in Macon not too far from the farm (not the one my grandmother-in-law was born in) but I have no idea if it is still there as we haven't been back for a number of years since my FIL passed. The one that is a museum is north of Hastings/Grand Island IIRC.

Wulaw--if you ever find yourself heading through Nebraska, there is a museum (The Archway) they installed on I80 near Kearney that has info about the pioneers crossing the prairie to the west coast. Also, Grand Island (middle of the state) has the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. It is (or was, haven't been in awhile) very nice and lots to see. If you want to continue your nature theme, stop in eastern Nebraska and see Nebraska City where J Sterling Morton's (Arbor Day founder) former home has been turned into Arbor Lodge State Historical Park and Gardens. He was a bit of a character. The best way to see the plains states is often not on the interstate which is kinda boring, the back roads are much more interesting but like all things, take a little time to appreciate. Without getting off the main east/west route, you wouldn't even realize that there used to be a huge ordnance works outside of Hastings and Grand Island and that some of the old buildings (which were covered with sod for concealment from planes) have now been turned into farm buildings. That one might take knowing a local to drive around and spot them, though.

 

 

Oh and @Biff TannenI forgot to add this: small world, my dad was born in Amarillo but his dad worked for the railroad too and that's how they ended up in Oklahoma. Crazy!

Edited August 13, 2020 by Mrs Whiggins
addition

[BevoSwag 272]

@Wulaw Horn   Where are you these days?  North Dakota?  Wyoming?  Montana?

[mdmost 42993]

Having spent just a couple nights in an Airstream with my wife and a 10 & 12 year old, te salut Wulaw Horn! Not sure I could sign up for an extended stay in that. 

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

We just checked in to a pretty shitty motel in Rapid City South Dakota. 
We are staying on the third floor, no luggage carrier, I had to haul just about everything we own up 3 flights of stairs in the roach motel- for a place costing me $928.00 for 8 nights and it sucks. 
After I finished with that I got to do the family’s laundry in a laundry mat for the rest of my fun filled day 

Amazing but true fact, we left Dickinson North Dakota today and drove for 100 miles without seeing a gas station until we pulled into a town of 6 people that had a combined gas station (1 pump) diesel and premium only, grocery store and post office. What an utterly strange place to live out there- I don’t get it at all. 
We rolled  through Sturgis and saw tens of thousands of bikers (not my thing but whatever) at their little rally. 
Got to admit- I’m a little down right now. Miss the RV. We went on a couple five mile hikes and the badlands was amazing to me (wife and kids weren’t impressed) but not the same sense of nature as before. What was ok last week with a nice hotel for $63 a night feels pretty sucky this week with a shitty hotel for $110 a week. 
Also, next week is supposed to be Yellowstone and the week after that glacier  and it’s just really expensive to stay there. 
I got fired last week (the day before I was looking to quit) and haven’t been paid from my main job in 45 days and am almost out of money while just loading up the credit card debt. These are the times that try mans soul. Except nothing compared to how the men were tried back in Valley Forge, about who those words were penned.
All that said I have all sorts of good things to look forward to I guess. Family is healthy. Relatively happy. Wife is doing a good job with school. Kids are doing really well at school. I’m getting more exercise than I’ve gotten in years, I should have some massive commission checks headed my way which would wipe out debt and put a couple coins in my pocket by end of September if I can hold on. 
I have to think that there are better days ahead- but this thing is feeling pretty rough right now. 
This week we have my sons birthday and he wants to go to the reptile zoo (largest of its kind in the world), we will go to Rushmore, and badlands national park and Custer (state?National?) park as well. Then figure out what comes next.

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Wulaw Horn

[Paco 1934]

Hang in there amigo, we're all with you in spirit!

[RPM 26303]

I'm thinking any motel room in SD is gonna be 2-3x normal pricing during Sturgis.

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

3 hours ago, RPM said:

I'm thinking any motel room in SD is gonna be 2-3x normal pricing during Sturgis.

Yeah- it ends today. 
I went and talked to the night manager and she said weekly pricing is $385 ($500 with dog) so if I can get hotels.com to cancel then it goes from $925 for 8 days to $700 for 9 days. That would be a lot better. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Wulaw Horn

[troph 24761]

However hard anyone thinks life is in America right now (and it’s harder than it needs to be for many there is no doubt) you hear stories like that, people living in sod houses, and it’s just amazing how far we’ve come. Most of us. Most of the time. 

Worst Hard Time is a great read about those that stayed in the dust bowl. One of my all time favs.

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

Didn’t let me cancel and save money 🙁

[Kennythetiger 9371]

2 hours ago, troph said:

Worst Hard Time is a great read about those that stayed in the dust bowl. One of my all time favs.

Wulaw, if you have time, read “The Homesman” while you’re out here in God’s country.  It’s fiction, but Swarthout put quite a bit of research into it. 100 years after that time period, my mom’s only complaint about raising us on the high plains was the unrelenting wind and dust. And she had air conditioning and electricity. I don’t think many people realize the shit the women went through compared to the men, who get all the credit for settling the frontier. 

[BevoSwag 272]

Damn.  Our grandson lost his job last Friday too.   This is the second time for him in twenty years.  The last time he just said to hell with it and went around the world for two years before settling into the second job three years ago.  You are the modern day version of The Oregon Trail.  Keep on trucking and never look back :).  Great to hear wife is in good spirits.  That always helps instead of having someone say "I told ya so".  

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

No big deal on the job. I was just waiting on the last reimbursement draw. Truly. I am already hired on and  licensed at my new place. Better platform, lower rates and better working conditions. I’m beyond thrilled. I’m a 100% commission guy in sales so I’m basically self employed- just need somewhere to plug in. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Wulaw Horn

[BevoSwag 272]

3 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

No big deal on the job. I was just waiting on the last reimbursement draw. Truly. I am already hired on and  licensed at my new place. Better platform, lower rates and better working conditions. I’m beyond thrilled. I’m a 100% commission guy in sales so I’m basically self employed- just need somewhere to plug in. 

Got any openings for a 40 something grandson Mechanical Engineer . Congrats on the new place.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8815]

We just checked in to a pretty shitty motel in Rapid City South Dakota.  We are staying on the third floor, no luggage carrier, I had to haul just about everything we own up 3 flights of stairs in the roach motel- for a place costing me $928.00 for 8 nights and it sucks. 

After I finished with that I got to do the family’s laundry in a laundry mat for the rest of my fun filled day 

Amazing but true fact, we left Dickinson North Dakota today and drove for 100 miles without seeing a gas station until we pulled into a town of 6 people that had a combined gas station (1 pump) diesel and premium only, grocery store and post office. What an utterly strange place to live out there- I don’t get it at all. 

We rolled  through Sturgis and saw tens of thousands of bikers (not my thing but whatever) at their little rally. 

Got to admit- I’m a little down right now. Miss the RV. We went on a couple five mile hikes and the badlands was amazing to me (wife and kids weren’t impressed) but not the same sense of nature as before. What was ok last week with a nice hotel for $63 a night feels pretty sucky this week with a shitty hotel for $110 a week. 

Also, next week is supposed to be Yellowstone and the week after that glacier  and it’s just really expensive to stay there. 

I got fired last week (the day before I was looking to quit) and haven’t been paid from my main job in 45 days and am almost out of money while just loading up the credit card debt. These are the times that try mans soul. Except nothing compared to how the men were tried back in Valley Forge, about who those words were penned.

All that said I have all sorts of good things to look forward to I guess. Family is healthy. Relatively happy. Wife is doing a good job with school. Kids are doing really well at school. I’m getting more exercise than I’ve gotten in years, I should have some massive commission checks headed my way which would wipe out debt and put a couple coins in my pocket by end of September if I can hold on. 

I have to think that there are better days ahead- but this thing is feeling pretty rough right now. 

This week we have my sons birthday and he wants to go to the reptile zoo (largest of its kind in the world), we will go to Rushmore, and badlands national park and Custer (state?National?) park as well. Then figure out what comes next.

 

 

Ah ya. Should’ve told you there’s places in the Dakotas that go miles without a gas station. They have warning signs on I94 in ND that says “there’s no gas station the next X amount of miles”

 

Southwest North Dakota is for the birds, great views tho. Dickinson is currently spiking in covid btw. I believe more active cases than Fargo with 1/10 of the population, just an FYI

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Ah ya. Should’ve told you there’s places in the Dakotas that go miles without a gas station. They have warning signs on I94 in ND that says “there’s no gas station the next X amount of miles”

 

Southwest North Dakota is for the birds, great views tho. Dickinson is currently spiking in covid btw. I believe more active cases than Fargo with 1/10 of the population, just an FYI

Well, they sure as shit aren’t into wearing masks there (or South Dakota). First place on my trip wheee masks aren’t mandatory, seemingly, and my guess would be the mask rate is under 50%. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8815]

Well, they sure as shit aren’t into wearing masks there (or South Dakota). First place on my trip wheee masks aren’t mandatory, seemingly, and my guess would be the mask rate is under 50%. 

Oh yeah. Western ND is blowing up like a wildfire. But a blow up in Any ND county is 20 cases for the day

[Wulaw Horn 19059]

2 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Oh yeah. Western ND is blowing up like a wildfire. But a blow up in Any ND county is 20 cases for the day

Ha. They rank up with the most sparse places I’ve ever been. I-10 out west Texas, Canada up through Yukon territories, Texas A &M hall of champions. 

[Kennythetiger 9371]

19 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Oh yeah. Western ND is blowing up like a wildfire. But a blow up in Any ND county is 20 cases for the day

20 cases out here is 10% of the county’s population. 

[washparkhorn 9938]

On 8/12/2020 at 6:04 PM, Mrs Whiggins said:

The contemplation. I dig that. Was spending some time running along a gravel road in flyover country and the nearest town (population 200) was many miles away from the farm. Nothing but me and dried corn stubble and beyond that grassland. Any trace I might leave on the planet will be small and insignificant in the overwhelming bigness of the planet's life, however much longer that will be. That is okay, it is enough to have lived and known what I have known.

Well said.

My kids' mom grew up in a small farming town in Nebraska about an hour off I-80. Her grandparents owned a silo/general store/dance hall and lived a long time (RIP). I met them when they were well into their golden years, but I loved their life stories. Resilient folks on the Plains. And lots of room. I loved the tranquility of those trips back to Nebraska. Gave me time to ponder.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

Weddings in those dance halls are amazing. I learned how to polka drunk at a wedding in a small town in Nebraska. Fun times.

 

@Wulaw Horn glad you landed somewhere, work-wise. Keep on trucking. (at least until the RV is fixed and ready to roll and then it's keep on RVing I suppose!)

If you end up hiking around the Black Hills, like at Custer and around * Harney Peak, have your geology books handy. That's some old old stone.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Mrs Whiggins
Edit--I keep forgetting that Harney Peak is now called Black Elk Peak; sorry for the confusion. It was called that for so long that I revert back to it in forgetfulness.

[dcbc 14453]

If you venture into Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, keep a lookout for my great aunt's grave.  Her taken name was Dora Dufran.  She was a woman of some infamy.  Cool gargoyles and stuff around the grave. 

[horn4life 3758]

You might consider renting a pop up camper to tow behind the truck if money is tight?  The white collar layoffs are slowly starting to come to fruition now.  My wife dodged the bullet last week, but her company shed a shit ton of $100K jobs last week.  But nursing homes are in trouble and her business is servicing nursing homes from the pharmacy side.  One poor bastard just closed on a new house last week...

Glad as hell you are just in a liquidity gap WuLaw!

I guess the only near miss with excitement was missing the monster storm in Iowa. However, that might have been an opportunity to sneak one in with the wifey... if the kids thought the rocking was the weather.  OR your daughter would have PTSD just imagining how hard you two were going at it to make the RV shake like that.... 😉

 

[Mango4 189]

On 8/15/2020 at 10:50 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

We just checked in to a pretty shitty motel in Rapid City South Dakota. 
We are staying on the third floor, no luggage carrier, I had to haul just about everything we own up 3 flights of stairs in the roach motel- for a place costing me $928.00 for 8 nights and it sucks. 
After I finished with that I got to do the family’s laundry in a laundry mat for the rest of my fun filled day 

Amazing but true fact, we left Dickinson North Dakota today and drove for 100 miles without seeing a gas station until we pulled into a town of 6 people that had a combined gas station (1 pump) diesel and premium only, grocery store and post office. What an utterly strange place to live out there- I don’t get it at all. 
We rolled  through Sturgis and saw tens of thousands of bikers (not my thing but whatever) at their little rally. 
Got to admit- I’m a little down right now. Miss the RV. We went on a couple five mile hikes and the badlands was amazing to me (wife and kids weren’t impressed) but not the same sense of nature as before. What was ok last week with a nice hotel for $63 a night feels pretty sucky this week with a shitty hotel for $110 a week. 
Also, next week is supposed to be Yellowstone and the week after that glacier  and it’s just really expensive to stay there. 
I got fired last week (the day before I was looking to quit) and haven’t been paid from my main job in 45 days and am almost out of money while just loading up the credit card debt. These are the times that try mans soul. Except nothing compared to how the men were tried back in Valley Forge, about who those words were penned.
All that said I have all sorts of good things to look forward to I guess. Family is healthy. Relatively happy. Wife is doing a good job with school. Kids are doing really well at school. I’m getting more exercise than I’ve gotten in years, I should have some massive commission checks headed my way which would wipe out debt and put a couple coins in my pocket by end of September if I can hold on. 
I have to think that there are better days ahead- but this thing is feeling pretty rough right now. 
This week we have my sons birthday and he wants to go to the reptile zoo (largest of its kind in the world), we will go to Rushmore, and badlands national park and Custer (state?National?) park as well. Then figure out what comes next.

 

Yeah, unfortunately hotel rooms spike in the Black Hills during the summer and especially during Sturgis.

Glad you are getting out of Rapid City. Custer State Park is a pretty great spot, as mentioned, hike Black Elk Peak. It's a pretty great view from the top and it's relatively easy. Wind Cave National Park is right next to Custer State Park and also a really cool spot. Unfortunately the caves are closed. The Badlands are different in South Dakota compared to the ones you saw in North Dakota. Drive through Spearfish Canyon and go to Lead and see the Homestake Gold Mine and the Open Cut. 

[washparkhorn 9938]

4 hours ago, dcbc said:

If you venture into Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, keep a lookout for my great aunt's grave.  Her taken name was Dora Dufran.  She was a woman of some infamy.  Cool gargoyles and stuff around the grave. 

She was played by Melanie Griffith in Buffalo Girls:

Edited August 17, 2020 by washparkhorn

[dcbc 14453]

16 hours ago, washparkhorn said:

She was played by Melanie Griffith in Buffalo Girls:

Yep, dear Aunt Amy Bolshaw---my dad's mom's sister.  She was acquainted with Wild Bill, and an occassional employer of Calamity Jane.  She brought in cats to deal with the rat infestation at her brothels, including Diddlin' Dora's, which is why they're often referred to as cat houses.

Also, I should have said imps and demons as opposed to gargoyles. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by dcbc

[washparkhorn 9938]

Your Aunt was eulogized as a "noted social worker."  Quite apt. What an interesting history. Hook 'em.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

Lots of 'interesting' histories out there in the world. You just need to lend an ear and an open mind for what determines whether those histories get told.