After spending two wonderful cool fall days and nights at Historic Fort Robinson State Park we made our way down U.S. 385 to our next stop at Sidney Nebraska.
Free RV & Truck Parking
This location is the World Headquarters for Cabela’s and has two very large multi-story office buildings behind the store, loads of customer parking out front and lots of free truck and RV parking along with free dump station and fresh water fill for the RV’ers. Thank you Cabela’s!
This Cabela’s also has a full hook-up campground (for a fee of course) but if you can get by with out needing hook-ups and you can sleep to the constant hum of diesel truck engines and their refrigerator trailers running all night … well then – free is good!
We arrived mid-afternoon, the four of us grocery shopped across the street at Walmart, ate dinner at a nice little Mexican joint just down the street, and then settled in for the night. We really were not bothered by the trucks and we have ample fresh water/waste water capacity along with plenty of solar and batteries to run the TV in the evening and the furnace in the morning to take off the chill.
We did just fine, but it is fall and the temp got down to 49 degrees last night so all our windows were closed and the hum of the motors was dampened somewhat. If it was summer, the noise might be too loud.
As always, you can click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger image
My Burrito Platter
Chips & Avocado
The girls both had Shrimp Tacos
David’s Nacho Supreme
In the morning we went on into Cabela’s and did a little shopping (mostly looking). They have SO MUCH STUFF! It’s fun to look at all their offerings from knives, to tents, clothing, shoes/boots, camping supplies, guns, and more. It’s always great to look at their wild game displays too.
After Cabela’s we decided it was time for a late breakfast and Kathy found this great little place that serves breakfast until 10am, then closes until they open for dinner at 5pm. It’s family owned and operated by the same family since the beginning. We enjoyed great atmosphere, super service and outstandingly tasty food!
We knew that after Spearfish SD, we wanted to work our way down by Custer State Park. This was so we could meet up with our friends David and Sue once they finished their volunteer gig there on October 1st.
Our plan was to hook up with them and we’d mini-caravan together on our trip back to Rover’s Roost by November 1st. David and Sue are leaseholders there as well.
We had considered staying in Custer State Park, but we were reminded that during the time we would be there, the annual Buffalo Roundup would be taking place and the park would be mobbed with about 25,000 EXTRA visitors, all coming to see the excitement of the roundup.
If you’d like to see and learn more about the Buffalo Roundup, follow this link.
We really wanted to avoid the crowds and the noise of a busy state park, so we looked for another opportunity south of there since that’s the direction we’d all ultimately be heading.
I use a number of apps and web sites when looking for a place to camp. We have found that there are some nice city or county parks in little towns off the main interstates. We also like state parks and Army Corp of Engineers campgrounds as they are less “commercial” like RV parks and more like campgrounds were meant to be.
We’re now completing 2 weeks here at the park and we’ll be here a couple more days, leaving for Nebraska on Friday.
The park has four campgrounds within it’s boundaries and we just lucked out that we were able to get one of the Camp Host sites with full hookups because it’s the end of the busy season and the hosts have left for the year. All of the other sites have electric only so you have to go to the dump station to empty your waste tanks and take on fresh water.
We’re in the Cheyenne Campground at the top of the hill overlooking the lake. I guess if it was mid-summer we might have preferred one of the other campgrounds down by the lake but then we’d be putting up with more crowded conditions too.
The fact that it’s fall and we are up and away from the lake has afforded us the luxury of having an otherwise vacant campground around us most days.
If we’re sitting outside and see someone walking by we’ll always wave and say hello and sometimes they’ll come on over for a short chat. Sometimes we’ll meet other campers as we take our daily walks and we’ll strike up a conversation. Sometimes the folks we meet and talk with are full-timers like us and often-times they are Weekend Warriors or on an extended vacation from their Sticks-N-Bricks home.
New friends Clark and Anita that camped next to us at Angostura for a few days (their great Oliver trailer in the background)
Today, we had something unusual and unexpected happen. It was about 8:30 am or so and Kathy and I were sitting here having our morning coffee and watching the news on TV. A knock on the door. Who would be knocking on our door?
As Kathy went to the door to open it she looked out the window and remarked “I know this lady”.
Kathy opened the door and the lady apologized for knocking so early, but explained that they were leaving the campground and heading to Cody Wyoming but she just HAD to come over and say hello before they left.
Turns out that the folks that pulled in to the site next to us last night were actually from Ohio. Not just Ohio, but the same county where we used to live. Further, she (Janet) used to do Kathy’s mother’s hair when Lois lived in the local nursing home!
Not only that, but Janet and Homer’s daughter (Staci) and her son (Sammy) were traveling with them and I had sold Staci her home in Cardington back when I was a Realtor in Morrow County. What a hoot!
Janet, grandson Sammy, daughter Staci, and Homer all from Cardington Ohio
We had a nice conversation (although short because they were anxious to get on the road) with them and wished them well on their trip over to Yellowstone and eventually down to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
As we’ve said before … this mobile lifestyle has afforded us the opportunity to see so many places and things that we would never see if we still had our Sticks-N-Bricks home. But far more meaningful to us has been all the people we’ve had the opportunity to meet along the way. Some of these folks are “passing through” like Janet and her family so our visits are short. But there are others who we get to spend more time with through our Workamping and volunteering gigs, so more meaningful relationships develop in those situations. We are so thankful to be able to be exposed to these situations and to meet so many wonderful people. Who knows how long this lifestyle will continue for us? But in the meantime, we’ll make the most of it.
Thanks again for riding along – we look forward to connecting with you again in our next post when I’ll share with you a little about the City of Hot Springs South Dakota.
It was a long drive (335 miles) down US-35 from Miles City Iowa to Kansas City Missouri. Normally we don’t push it this hard (we are retired after all) so we usually take our time.
We were on a schedule to get to Spearfish (South Dakota) before the Labor Day holiday weekend to make sure we could get a spot in the city campground and spend a few days with our friends Matt and Sherry before they were to leave Spearfish for points south.
But we wanted to stop and visit our friends Ron and Judy who live at Lee’s Summit (a Kansas City suburb) They had put us on to a great little city park just a few miles from their home. Once we were in the park and settled, Ron came and picked us up at the campground and took us back to their home where Judy had prepared a wonderful dinner for us.
Our nice shaded site at the Lee’s Summit City Campground
We had first met Ron and Judy when we all worked as volunteers at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in fall of 2019. We met up with them again when we were all at “The Big Tent” RV Show in Quartzsite Arizona in January of 2020. It was great to hook up with them again.
Our friends Ron and Judy
Kathy and I had also planned to meet up and visit with Carl who we had met in February of 2020 when we traveled with about 50 other members of our Escapees RV Club down into Mexico. While in Mexico, Carl had told us about his family’s mausoleum in Holden Missouri (near Kansas City). I was intrigued and wanted to see it if we were ever in that part of the country. Now was my chance!
We had told Ron and Judy about this over dinner and invited them to come with us the next day. They jumped at the chance as well. After all, how often do you get an invite to tour a mausoleum?
The next day the four of us jumped in their car and headed to Holden Missouri, about 30 minutes from the campground.
Carl was expecting us and gave us the “Grand Tour”. His Great-Grandfather built the mauseleum in the early 1800’s for his family, both those who had pre-deceased the construction and those that were to come in the future.
Carl aquuired the mauseleum from the family trust. He didn’t set out to own it, he was doing some family genealogy work and as a result of his research, he came across the mauseleum as part of the family history.
The more he looked at it and saw what a state of disrepair it was in, the more he was drawn to do something about it.
The roof has been replaced to stop any further water damage. Electric has been installed as well as a security system. Carl has opened the building and the surrounding grounds to the community for public events like craft fairs, scout campouts, church picnics and such.
There were 23 occupied crypts when Carl took possession and he has taken all the legal and ethical steps necessary to move the occupants to other locations. All the remaining caskets are now empty.
In looking at the pictures below (click on any thumbnail to open a larger view) you’ll notice that the entire structure is made of concrete. The walls, floors, stairways, and ceilings are all concrete. The crypts are also concrete with ornamental marble fronts that have the deceased name and dates engraved.
Carl is restoring the mauseleum
Front View
Side View
Note the concrete ceiling
Now it was time to continue our trek west. We said our goodbyes to Carl and Ron and Judy and headed back to the campground for the night before starting our travels to Spearfish South Dakota the next day.
More to come in Installment #4 in the next few days.
We took a walk this morning from the campground over to the city park and back around through the hatchery.
Had fun feeding the fish like so many thousands of others have done this summer.
Couldn’t help but catch a short video of this little fairy enjoying life and her time with Mommy & Daddy at the hatchery.
It’s been really great to volunteer here this year and meet all the folks from all over the country (and some other countries too!). They all marvel at what a beautiful facility it is here and the fact that it’s a FREE attraction makes it that much better!
Some families .. local and otherwise come back time and time again .. especially if they’re lucky enough to have little ones. Both the kids and the adults get such a kick out of feeding the fish and the ducks.
Next time you find yourself in the Dakotas, make your way to the northern Black Hills and be sure to visit the cities of Deadwood and Lead. Then head north on Route 14a through beautiful Spearfish Canyon stopping along the way at Cheyenne Crossing, Roughlock Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Devils Bathtub, and then end your day trip at the wonderful little town of Spearfish. Here you can enjoy a picnic lunch at Spearfish City Park and then walk over the footbridge to visit DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery. Although we will be off to some other destination yet unknown, we’ll be here with you in spirit. Have fun!
Our traveling friends Mike and Dawn regularly post You Tube videos and Dawn writes some of the most beautiful and thought provoking blog posts. I wanted to share with you one of her “Sunday Snapshots” posts that made me think back to my earlier days with my Dad.
If you’re not already subscribed to this blog, you can easily do so by scrolling up to the top of any page and entering your email address in the block on the right side.
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We’d love to hear from you. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page, you can send us a note. Again, thanks for riding along. ’til next time – safe travels.
Well, here we are at Spearfish South Dakota nestled in the cradle of the northern Black Hills. The DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives actually sits in Ames Canyon at the south end of town right next to the beautiful Spearfish City Park and across the street from City Campground.
We’re continuing to enjoy our stay here and as the end of our time here nears, I thought I had better share with you some of our experiences here.
As I’ve said before, the friends we’ve made here and the relationships we’ve developed will stay with us as we continue our travels and we look forward to meeting up with these great folks again “on down the road”.
As non-bikers (motorcyclists) we weren’t really all that excited about visiting Sturgis during Bike Week. It’s only about 20 miles down the road, but the thought of fighting all the traffic (both road and foot) didn’t really get us enthused.
But … since we work at the hatchery 3 days on and 3 days off, what’s a person to do during the 3 off days? Matt and Sherry had been there last year, convinced us to go along with them, and after all … no grass to cut, no house to maintain, … so what the heck … go have some fun!
Estimated attendance was about 500,000 people over the 10 day time span of the rally with an economic impact to the area of over $800,000,000! (yea, that’s $800 MILLION!)
The pictures below show just SOME of the sights (and bikes) we saw along the way on Wednesday (mid-week) of the rally. There are other sights that we saw that would not be appropriate to share here on a public forum.
As always, if you click on any of the thumbnails below, you’ll be able to see a larger view of the image
Here’s a video of our campground during the rally. Although it was at full capacity with over 80 full hook-up sites and host to hundreds of tent campers scattered throughout the grounds, it was really a pretty calm environment for us – even during Bike Week. We’d hear the rumble of all the powerful bikes coming and going during the days, but at night it quieted back down.
Spearfish City Campground during Sturgis (79th annual) Bike Week
The park quieted right back down after Bike Week was over and we had the park nearly to ourselves again.
All in all, it was a great experience to be able to go to Sturgis during the rally and see all the beautiful bikes, eat some great food, and watch all the “different” people walking the curbs and sidewalks.
If you’re not already subscribed to this blog, you can easily do so by scrolling up to the top of any page and entering your email address in the block on the right side.
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel (herbnkathyrv) on You Tube.
If you’re curious (at any time) to know where we are at that moment then click the button at the top right of this page labeled “See Where We Are Now“.
We’d love to hear from you. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page, you can send us a note. Again, thanks for riding along. ’til next time – safe travels.
While Kathy and I were working (volunteering) at the USACE Fort Peck Montana Downstream Campground, we took a few days to visit Glacier National Park. Although we could have driven to the park, we decided it would be fun to take the Amtrak train.
The Amtrak Empire Builder runs daily from Chicago to Seattle and back again. The number 7 train runs westbound through Glasgow Montana at about noon daily and delivers to Whitefish (W. Glacier area) about 9pm.
The “Empire Builder” route from Glasgow to Whitefish
The return (number 8 train) runs eastbound daily and departs Whitefish at 7:30am arriving back in Glasgow around 3:30pm.
Round trip tickets are $108 each, a rental car (2019 Chevy Malibu) cost us $35/day and the room at a nice new Best Western (w/ king bed, fridge, microwave) was $94/day. Although the trip by train is more than driving in our own car, the trip was far more relaxing and enjoyable.
Riding on the train allows you the opportunity to move around at will from your car to either the lounge car, the panorama view sightseeing car, or the formal dining car. They have sleeping cars too, but we didn’t have an opportunity to see those.
Remember, you can click on any of the thumbnails below to see an enlarged image
Our comfy seats
The Sightseeing Car
The Lounge Car
Renting the car (with unlimited mileage) we were able to drive just under 600 miles in 2 days seeing both West Glacier and East Glacier. We were not, unfortunately able to take the “Going to The Sun Road” all the way across from west to east because 22 miles of the road were still closed due to not being cleared of snow yet (this was the end of May!). As a result (as you’ll see in the video below) we had to take Route 2 the long way around the bottom of the park from one side to the other.
Our Amtrak Trip to Glacier May 2019
Thanks for riding along with us on our adventures. Soon after our Amtrak ride to Glacier (celebrating our 45th anniversary) we packed up our coach at Fort Peck and moved on east to our next Workamping/Volunteer gig at Spearfish, SD. Post on our experiences there follows shortly.
If you’re not already subscribed to this blog, you can easily do so by scrolling up to the top of any page and entering your email address in the block on the right side.
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel (herbnkathyrv) on You Tube.
If you’re curious (at any time) to know where we are at that moment then click the button at the top right of this page labeled “See Where We Are Now“.
We’d love to hear from you. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page, you can send us a note. Again, thanks for riding along. ’til next time – safe travels.
Are you a current RV’er? Do you travel pulling a travel trailer or 5th wheel trailer? Or do you drive a motorhome and pull a car or truck behind?
We’ve had a fifth wheel trailer in the past and this is our 2nd motorhome. We enjoy the freedom that the motorhome gives us, along with the ease of parking when it comes to our evening camping spot.
We’ve owned this Airstream motorhome for about two years now and although we’ve looked at other rigs out there – both newer and older along with bigger and smaller … we think this 2002 36′ coach is just right for the two of us and our full-time RV travels.
I made this video of the exterior of our coach to give others who might not be aware of some of the features of many class A motorhomes an idea of what to expect. For those of you who might currently own a motorhome, it might be interesting for you to see some of the differences between ours and what you currently own.
Although there are a lot of similarites from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model, there are also a lot of differences and this video just points out some of the features of our 2002 Airstream 365 XC Diesel Pusher motorhome.
I hope you enjoy seeing our coach and what it has to offer. I’ll be publishing a companion video that will feature the interior and further explain some of the inside systems.
In the meantime, we just completed our interior remodel (paint, light & bath fixtures, etc) and you can see that video by following this link
