Heading East + GPS Review

Hi all, Dianne here.  Check out the "other" Falls Park in our adopted hometown -- (for the uninitiated, our former hometown (Pendleton, Indiana) also had a Falls Park and waterfall in town).  The park above can be identified by the beautiful pink granite that makes up Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The falls are really gushing right now, due to all the rain that has occurred in this area.  


 In fact, the reason we went to Sioux Falls and not Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota is due to the flooding Missouri River.  Record snow melt and flooding rains have closed many roads and campgrounds where we had planned to go.  Guess we'll have to make that trip another year.

Once we drove east from the Badlands a bit, the terrain flattened out and, though still pretty, started to become monotonous.  

I got the brilliant idea to play our iPod playlist using the dock.  Good idea, but just as we were really getting into some of our new iTunes (James Durbin) the battery in the dock failed, and then we were back to monotony.  Gotta remember to charge it before we hit the road!  

Once the music was gone, I got out one of our favorite road games.  We bought this auto bingo game years ago, when we traveled with our girls.  They never wanted to play it, but Roger and I over the years have used it from coast to coast, trying to get through all five pictures of every cube in a trip. We've never played it as intended (Bingo).  One year, on a trip home from Idaho, we even drove around the block in Pendleton, Indiana (our former hometown) when we arrived, in order to turn the last square (a barber pole that we knew was there).

  The picture above shows some of the easier squares.  As the cubes turn over to different sides, the items get more and more difficult to find.  What can I say?  I still think it's fun!  We tried audio books on one trip, but it made Roger sleepy -- not a good thing when you're driving a huge motor home down the highway.  

We intentionally crossed the Missouri River on I-90, feeling that was the safest area to get across. We decided to stop in Sioux Falls to get our motor home title updated (it was paid off in 2009, but still had the bank's  name on it).  While in the court house, we even registered to vote.  Hopefully we won't get called for jury duty in South Dakota in the dead of winter!


Roger here...  The trip all the way across South Dakota was actually Plan C.  After abandoning Roosevelt National Park due to water, Plan B was to cross the Missouri River in the middle of South Dakota on I-90 (which we did), and then head straight north on local roads to Highway 2 in North Dakota.  The night before our departure from the Badlands area, I did some checking on the computer.  Every county going north from I-90 in SD and ND on the planned route was under a severe flood warning along the James River, and further rain was in the forecast.  Some of the roads were surrounded by water to the point that cars needed to take turns crossing the narrow stretches.  Not worth the risk.  Besides, there was the mundane paperwork to take care of in Sioux Falls. Nice to have that done.  Nice to be able to vote again.  Back to Dianne...

No trip to Sioux Falls is complete without visiting the lovely park and falls, so while there we walked through the park and stopped for lunch overlooking the falls.

From Sioux Falls we headed north on I-29 and spent a $10 overnight (with full hookups) at the Dakota Magic Casino in North Dakota.  (R:  Finally, a night in North Dakota, albeit only one.)  We've never overnighted at a casino before.  It's probably a cheaper choice for us than wineries, because we're not tempted by gaming. We've read that it's a good deal.  Some are free, and the buffets are usually cheap for an easy travel meal.  


We'll probably stay at a casino again sometime, but might skip the buffet.  The food was plentiful, and they were featuring snow crab legs (all you can eat), but the waiting in line, cramped dining room, smoky interior, and just-okay food wasn't worth the hassle or the $15 each.  (R: I did a lot of grumbling waiting in the line -- lots of empty tables, but no hurry to seat people.  Also, I ate way too much greasy fried seafood that was not on my diet and not really that good.  I must admit, though, that the soft-serve frozen yogurt at the end of the meal was a highlight.  Tasted soooo good.)


I'll let Roger finish the blog with his review of our new Rand McNally RV GPS (spoiler:  he LOVES it!)


Roger here, again....  What a difference!  Waldo rocks in so many ways!  He speaks clearly, thoroughly and logically.  We don't wonder about what he means to say.  There is a boatload of information on the display screen, including the current speed limit, our speed, miles to go, info about our next maneuver, and the ability to easily, look at the next three turns.  It is simple to program.  I have been using the POI (point of interest feature).  So far, all three of our camping destinations were POI's that were actually on the GPS, so programming involved only a few clicks. 


It is advertised to be programmed specifically for RV travel.  So far, that has been true.  When I made an adjustment to the route, Waldo recognized what I was doing, and immediately reprogrammed and did not insist that I make a u-turn.   Waldo verbally warned us of a speed zone ahead.  He also warned of some (not all) of the construction along the route.  I think this will be better after I update it on the Rand McNally website.  Oh, and the tether connecting Waldo to the 12 volt battery doesn't fall out and drop to the floor when we enter a heavily-congested area.  


Dianne again:  Here's a link to Amazon if you want to read reviews and learn more.  We bought ours directly from Rand McNally, because Amazon didn't carry them yet.  I think the price is similar.

We decided to continue to use Sacajawea in the car.  We may change our mind about that:  In Sioux Falls, she did not recognize the county courthouse as a POI, and she made several routing mistakes. She identified the destination on the wrong side of the street, told me to turn right when she meant left.  Ugh!  I was tempted to throw her into the falls, but that would be littering, wouldn't it?  

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido peeking out from under the driver's seat, where he had gone to spend quality time with Charlie (who was hiding under the driver's seat to get away from Bandido!)

Badlands National Park near Wall, South Dakota

Hi all, Dianne here.  Another spot we wanted to revisit from our early 1980s trip west was Badlands National Park near Wall, South Dakota.

  One of our favorite all-time vacation photos occurred on that trip, when we weathered a severe thunderstorm in our pop-up camper and were rewarded with a fantastic rainbow as the skies cleared.


This year as we toured the Badlands we had a perfect day to explore; sunny, 70s, gentle breeze.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed out to take several short hikes in the park.

Much of the scenery looked as we remembered from our earlier trip; the difference this time was that we could hike without meeting the needs of two little girls. 

 Gotta say, though, that that trip is etched into our memories as an all-time favorite, for obvious reasons!


Roger will now describe the Notch Hike that we both started and he finished without me, and why!

Roger here...  Ah, the Notch Hike.   We had already taken two short hikes on the east end of the park.  Both provided wonderful views and opportunities to walk on the formations.  Fun.  

However, I was wanting something a little more challenging.  The Notch Hike departed from the same parking area.  It was only a one-mile round trip jaunt, but the literature said that it was a moderate to strenuous hike.  It also said that people with a fear of heights and small children should pass.  Unfortunately, Dianne read the description before we departed.  She has a fear of heights, and a definite fear of ladders.  I knew that there was a ladder on the trail, but since it was not free-standing and bolted directly to the rock, I didn't think it would be an issue.  


After some mutual fussing, Dianne agreed to start the hike with the understanding that if she saw something she did not like, she would go back.  Fair enough.  

Off we went.  The first part of the hike was on a canyon floor and reasonably flat -- a little hopping over some of the formations and some mud, but nothing major.


Then we arrived at the ladder.  As you can see, it was not steep at the bottom, but became much steeper at the top.

Dianne decided that I should go first.  She followed behind.  As I neared the top, the ladder started to sway with each of my steps.  Dianne did not like this.  She told me that I needed to finish before she went any further.  I scampered on up and looked down.  Dianne took a couple more steps, then said, "I can't do this."  She told me to go ahead.  I felt badly, but knew of her fear and knew that she would be much happier waiting back at the parking lot.  I went back down to meet her half-way to retrieve the camera, then climbed back to the top and snapped this picture of her making her retreat.

After walking a few minutes, and turning a corner, I looked down at the trail below and watched Dianne until she disappeared from view.  If you look closely at the center of the picture.  The dot of pink color is Dianne.

I moved pretty slowly on the upper portion of the hike.  Much of it was right on the edge of a vertical drop with only 3 feet of pathway, sometimes covered with loose gravel.  

Dianne would have been miserable.  I am so glad that she turned back when she did.  I found it exhilarating, but I must admit to being a little nervous and more careful of my footing than usual.  

The trail went up and down along the canyon edge.

I spent quite a bit of time on all fours, either climbing or crab-walking -- not trusting my balance near the edge of the cliff. 

Eventually, the "Notch" became visible in the distance.  The final walk to the notch was veered away from the canyon drop.  Whew.

The expansive view was of the green valley below. It took three tries to get all of my head in the self-photo below.

Back at the ladder, I talked with several people about the treacherous sections ahead, including one family with three kids.  I am guessing that they were all under the age of eight.  Very scary.

Dianne again....  We saw some fabulous scenery that day, way too many photos to include in the blog.  Something neither of us remembered from our prior trip were the beautiful colors of the hills on the west end of the park.  We decided that we must not have made it that far into the park in the 1980s.  Here are two more of my favorite photos from this area:

For the complete slideshow of all photos from that day, here's the link to my Photobucket Badlands album:


http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DianneN/Badlands%20National%20Park%20South%20Dakota/?albumview=slideshow

Of course, no trip to Wall, South Dakota is complete without a kitschy trip into Wall Drug.  Our visit there in the 1980s trip produced an indelible, favorite family memory:  We let each girl pick out a souvenir there, and Amanda (our animal lover) picked out a flocked prairie dog bank.  She LOVED that bank (never used it as a bank).  She slept with it, played with it, and kept it for years, long after all the flocking had worn off.  Roger and I hoped to find one and send it to her in Florida, just for old times' sake, but alas, the only flocked banks now are buffalo or "jackalo" banks; just not the same!  

Here's a photo of Amanda on that trip with her precious prairie dog.  No souvenir this time, but through the wonders of technology, with my iPhone I was able to send her a snapshot text message as we walked through the prairie dog village back at Devil's Tower with a "Wish you were here."  I got an "Awww, me too" text back from that one.

The pet photo of the day is entitled "Some cats have all the luck."  This motor home was parked next to us here at the Sleepy Hollow RV park in Wall.  Check out the outdoor pen they attached to the outside of their motorhome for their two cats.  To say Charlie was jealous is an understatement, to say the least!

Jeep Ride + Chuckwagon Dinner - Custer State Park

Hi all, Dianne here.  Our last event at Custer State Park was a fun jeep ride on the back roads, ending with a chuckwagon steak dinner.  More on that later.

To get into the spirit of this place, we bought some buffalo steaks at a local grocery store, and Roger grilled them to perfection.


 Just as a side note, one of the things I've learned from fellow RV'ers is an easy way to cook corn on the cob in an RV.  For two ears (which is what we usually cook), you simply husk them, rinse with water to add moisture, seal in a Ziploc gallon bag and microwave.  Turns out tender and delicious; no muss, no fuss, no clean-up.  Microwaves vary in strength, but for mine I cook two minutes, then flip the bag over and cook two minutes more.  (The recipe called for one minute per ear, but that didn't cook them fully in my microwave oven.)  It wouldn't work for a large group, since you can only cook two ears at a time, but it sure is easy!  

The back roads jeep tours are a popular attraction here.  We started out on the same Wildlife Loop Road that Roger and I took on Sunday morning, then veered off onto some rough dirt tracks through the park.

More pronghorns and more buffalo babies.  More beautiful scenery.  We realized how lucky we were on Sunday, because the herd of wild burros were nowhere to be seen this time.  There was a young family in our jeep, and we were disappointed that their two young children did not get to experience the burros as we did on Sunday.  Ironically, the family was here on vacation from Columbus, Indiana, so we dubbed our jeep the "Hoosier Express."

Did I mention that Custer State Park is absolutely beautiful?   Especially in the spring with the fresh, new grass.

The kids did get to see a cute prairie dog peeking at us from a culvert.

After riding through a large herd of buffalo (and waiting for them to vacate the middle of the road), we finally arrived at the chuckwagon venue.

While waiting for dinner to be ready, we enjoyed a cup of coffee in tin mugs and listened to live performers singing fun western songs.  

A fun bit singled out three people from the audience (the only three who raised their hands when the question was asked "Who wants their steak cooked well done?" 

When Roger reserved our spots for this tour, the choice was for burgers or steaks.  He chose the steaks, and boy, were they ever good!   

We were expecting "Ponderosa" fare, but these steaks were tender and delicious.

Some of the children in the large group were really "playing the role" at the chuckwagon dinner.  They wore cowboy boots, chaps, holsters with toy guns, bandanas and cowboy hats.  It was obvious how much they were enjoying the evening, with the way they "sidled up" to get their food.   So cute!

More music and a large group dance of the hokey-pokey and chicken dance after dinner.  Sometimes the hokey-est, cheesy-est activities turn out to be fun if you allow yourself to get into the spirit!  After the two short dances it was time to get back into our "Hoosier Express" and ride back through the buffalo herd to the starting point, which was next door to our campground.  


Today was cold (50s) and rainy.  The first day in a long, long time that we've spent inside due to rainy weather.  


Tomorrow morning we leave Custer State Park for a short trip into Wyoming to visit the Devil's Tower.  From there we had planned to head into North Dakota to spend some time at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (north part).  However, due to the terrible flooding in North Dakota right now, the campground there is closed until further notice.  Our revised plan will bring us back into South Dakota to spend a few days near the Badlands National Park before heading east.

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido napping with his favorite toy.  He has a whole toy basket full of balls, bones, Kongs and other toys, and he plays with them constantly.  What a fun dog!  Now if only I could teach him to put his toys back into the basket when he's done!  

Mickelson Bike Trail + goodby Sacajawea!

Roger here....  A disappointing morning, followed by the fun arrival of a new electronic toy....


The plan for the day was to load up the bikes, drive 15 miles to Custer, SD and do a five-mile (ten mile total) stretch of the (110-mile plus) Mickelson Bike Trail.  The Mickelson Trail is part of the Rails to Trails program -- the conversion of old railroad lines into lengthy biking and hiking trails.  I picked this particular stretch because it was nearby, and would afford us a view of the Crazy Horse Sculpture.  


The day started well.  It was sunny with a forecasted high in the mid-sixties.  Rain was predicted later in the day, but not during the morning hours.  As we approached the town of Custer, the skies clouded up and the temperature dropped.  By the time we unloaded the bikes, purchased our $3 permits, and biked to the trailhead there was no sunshine and the temperature had dropped to 50 degrees.  Oh, and a cold wind started blowing.  


I brought a thin windbreaker, just in case.  Dianne (being totally unprepared, in shorts and a thin t-shirt --  D.)  donned a bright blue rain poncho that was in the car, that seemed to inflate like a balloon when we started down the trail.  We figured that the exercise would keep us warm.  (Believe it or not, the thin poncho helped a lot by stopping the cold wind, at least when the wind was behind our backs.  It was a "Maid of the Mist" poncho from Niagara Falls.  I have no idea where it came from, because I've NEVER been there! -- D.)

The trail was smooth and very pretty, after we got out of town.  At the two-mile marker, we stopped to assess the situation.  My hands felt like ice.  Dianne was not happy about the gradual uphill ascent.  (Why are bike trails always uphill?  This was uphill all the way.)  We decided it was not worth being miserable on such a crummy day, so we turned around.  

We hardly pedaled on the two-mile return trip due to the gradual descent;  however, the wind was in our faces, and it was cold.  Here is a shot of Dianne upon our return.  She is standing between a painted buffalo and a bust of General Custer.  Notice the big smile -- very happy to be back.


Dianne dove into the warm car while I reloaded the bikes.  We decided to salvage the morning by having lunch in one of the many restaurants in downtown Custer.  We picked the Wild Sage Grill on the main street.  It was a good choice. The hot salmon wild rice chowder was delicious and warming.  I opted to try what I thought was a local dark beer named Buffalo Sweat.  Despite the name, it was actually pretty good.  I was disappointed when the waiter told me it was brewed in Kansas.  He told me that if I wanted a local beer, I would have to order a Pile 'O Dirt Porter, bottled in Spearfish.  After enjoying the Buffalo Sweat, I decided to wait for another time to drink a Pile 'O Dirt.


After lunch we dropped by the post office to pick up our general delivery mail.  It was full of goodies, including a french press coffee pot for boondocking (camping without electricity), a new battery for our computer, and a new and improved GPS for the motor home.  


We said a not-so-sad goodbye to Sacajawea, our old GPS, relegating her to possible use in the car.  Like all GPS units, Sacajawea frequently made poor routing decisions.  My nickname for her in those instances was Sac-a-sh__.  I am sure that the new GPS will also have instances of bad judgment, but there were other problems with Sacajawea.  Take a look:

1.  Hard not to notice the scotch tape! The tether connecting Sacajawea to the 12 volt outlet no longer stays in the port located on the bottom of the unit.  Without the tape, gravity causes the tether to drop out of the unit.  The tape (lovely isn't it?) works most of the time, but fails on bumpy roads at least once per trip.  This usually happens when I need to know what lane to be in, in heavy traffic.  Shoving the tether back in the port and rebooting all over again is the only solution, and of course, you should not do this while driving.


2.  The battery no longer holds a charge; therefore, it must always be tethered with the tape to the 12 volt battery.


3.  Take notice of the left-hand side of the unit and the bottom right-hand side of the pedestal.  If you look carefully, you can see two ends of a long piece of scotch tape.  It is no longer possible to tighten the mounting mechanism, so the unit swings back and forth on the pedestal.  It obviously does me no good if I can't see it.  The scotch tape holds it in place.


4.  We paid a bunch of money to have her reprogrammed last year so that she would know about new or reconstructed roads.  She goes nuts when she thinks we are driving off-road.  Unfortunately, the upgrade did not seem to make much of a difference, AND now I cannot mute her on the touch screen.  When we don't follow her directions, we are forced to endure an endless stream of, "Make a U-turn, when possible," with no reasonable means to tell her to shut up.  She does not listen to voice commands.  If she did, she'd probably tell me to piss off.


4.  The suction cup that holds the pedestal no longer works well.  Sometimes she just tips over like R2D2 did in Star Wars. 


5.  Sometimes, when programming her, she misreads the letters that I press.  For example, I press "S", she says "T".  Arghhhhh! 


6.  Finally, I am beginning to feel sorry for her.  It is time to put her to rest.  The old girl just doesn't need any more of my verbal abuse.  And, I also think that she is intentionally doing things to get back at me.


We have recently been reading about Rand McNally's new GPS system that is specifically programmed for RVs -- the TripMaker RVND 5510.  Dianne read so many good things about it on the RV.Net message board, that we found money in our budget to order one.

It has a lot of advantages over poor Sacajawea.  


1.  You can enter the size and weight information for your RV and it will automatically avoid routes that don't accommodate it -- underpasses too low, roads too narrow, turns too sharp.


2.  You can plug it into your computer to load road construction information that the unit will warn you about.


3.  The screen is larger and easier to see.


4.  You can request separate RV Points of Interest that include RV-friendly gas stations and restaurants.   


5.  It will warn you, in advance, of steep grades, sharp turns, and speed limit decreases.


6.  It will show you a picture of the exit sign, before you get there enabling you to know for sure what ramp to follow.


7.  The tether port is on the side, no more gravity disconnects.


8.  The battery holds a charge.


9.  The screen stays in place and does not tip over.


10.  We don't have to buy more scotch tape.

I spent the afternoon entering our RV information and preferences, and programmed our first trip -- very simple and intuitive.   I then mounted it on the window to the left of the steering wheel.   


I know it will also have its flaws, but the fact that it will only route us where our RV can go is a definite safety upgrade.  Can't wait to use it and find out what else it can do.


We did, of course, name it.  Since I programmed it to have a male voice, we are calling it WALDO -- as in the comic strip,  "Where's Waldo?"  In our case, we will be saying, "Where are we, Waldo?"
(Here's a link to the discussion about the GPS if you want more info:) -- D.


http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25038544.cfm


The pet picture of the day shows Chaplin reluctantly sporting the bandana that Dianne tied around his neck.  Look at those sad eyes.

Custer State Park - The Wildlife Loop

Roger here...  You may be wondering what you are seeing in the above picture.  Is it a cave?  A blurry geological formation?  Another tunnel?  One of my sunset pictures?             


Actually, it is the head (specifically the teeth) of a wild burro inside our car searching to see if we had any more apples.


What a great morning we had.  Our sole itinerary was a slow drive through the eighteen-mile wildlife loop through the southern half of Custer State Park. 

 We took both dogs with us, anticipating a hike through the prairie.  


Soon after turning onto the loop we encountered a 

pronghorn.  Bandido let it be known through growling and low- volume "woofs" that he would not allow the pronghorn to hijack our car.


A few miles later, we drove by another pronghorn that was grazing within a few feet of the car.  Pretty animals.  More "woofing."

Bandido's machoism soon faded.  We rounded a corner and found ourselves in the midst of a herd of wild burros.  


Bandido quickly became Mr. Chicken Dog when the burros approached the car and begged for food.


Bandido here... "Hey guys.  Don't worry about me.  I'll just sit here in the middle of the back seat until we move on.  I bet mom and dad brought a bag of apples or something for you to nibble on.  No problem for me!"


I have to say that this was the most fun I have had in a long time, and I have been having a lot of fun lately.  We did indeed bring a bag of apples, anticipating some good times with the burros.  They did not disappoint.  Whenever we stopped the car, they quietly pushed their heads through the open windows, sometimes startling us because they were so quiet.  Dianne hooted (I refer to it as the Grandma Robison hoot) more than once, when burros nudged her, demanding another apple.  We went through a dozen apples in about ten minutes.  By the way, Chaplin stayed frozen in his normal car-traveling position, his head between Dianne and me with body on the floor of the back seat.

Bandido here...  "Hey dad, why are you petting that burro?  He looks like an ass to me.  Not that I care. I'll just sit here, quietly, in the middle of the back seat."

Dianne could not resist taking a couple of shots of the little ones.

Time to move on...  A few miles down the road we encountered a prairie dog colony.  Bandido regained his courage and woofed at the little buggers every time they scampered along the prairie.  Dianne went into the field, trying to get a good picture -- a difficult task.  Every time she approached camera range, they dove into their burrows.  She did get one decent shot -- not sure how.

When we arrived at the trailhead for the three-mile loop hike, we discovered a warning sign.  Beware of ticks.  NO THANKS.  We took the dogs on a long walk on a paved (non-tick) path when we returned to the campground. 

Just before exiting the wildlife loop, we hit the mother lode -- more buffalo (bison) than I have ever seen at one time.  Hundreds of them on both sides (and the middle) of the road.


Bandido here... It was fun trying to intimidate the prairie dogs.  However, these big cows (buffalo/bison) are the biggest animals I have ever seen, and they are right next to the car.  I'll just sit quietly in the center of the back seat."


Hard to decide which pictures to show.  Here are a few.

Bandido here...  Well, I am back at the campsite now and very happy to be chasing the occasional robin that gets too close to our motor home.  Not sure I want to see any more of those hairy, monster cows.


The pet pictures of the day shows Chaplin resting on my lap while Bandido guards the motor home.