Since I'm 'Sunshine Lady' for our Good Sam Chapter, I had some cards to mail, one birthday, and one anniversary, so I started walking toward the office at the campground to put them in the outgoing mailbox.
Tom was sitting on the back of his pickup with a very perplexed look on his face, and was holding a big piece of metal! It seems that a bar that helps keep his 5th wheel from swaying on his hitch had broken off, and he was holding it in his hand! Now, everybody else had washed windshields, unhooked from utilities, stowed things away, and more or less was 'sitting on ready'. I told Wallace about Tom's problem, and headed on to the office. I asked there if she knew someone who could help, but naturally, being Labor Day, it would be Tuesday before we could find anybody that could help him! The situation was assessed, and Tom decided that since the highway was a good road, that he could make it on to our next stop, which was Wall, South Dakota! So 2 went to get fuel, and we sat, along with Tom and his rig, on ready and waiting on the others. It was our day to lead, so Butch took off first, and we all headed down the highway on our way to Wall.
Beautiful day for traveling, we have been using CB radios for communication between the 4 rigs, so when a sudden storm looked like it was ahead of us on the highway, we opted to pull into a visitor's center and wait out the storm! What a treasure we found in the Louis & Clark Exhibition Center. Beautiful facility, lots of historical information there, and some beautiful observation areas outside. James, Wallace & I went out there to see what kind of pictures we could take, and more or less, see what we could see from there.
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| The observation point |
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| some of the displays in the center |
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| Louis & Clark Exhibition Center (after the rain) |
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| Tom, Wallace & Judy check out the tepee on display |
Naturally, it began raining while we were out there 'observing', and we had to get back inside as fast as we could, but not before getting wet!! All of us prowled around the Center and looked at the exhibits! The rain didn't last long so we headed on down the highway, maybe thinking we were a little bit more educated on Louis & Clark than we were when we arrived! We were so glad we stopped, it was certainly a wealth of information!
Butch took off leading, once again, and we were all talking back and forth on the radios about some of the sights on either side of the highway! Traffic wasn't bad at all, and we were trying to maintain the speed at about 62, just to watch out for Tom! We were riding along, and Butch commented that he didn't see anybody in his mirrors behind us. Sometimes that's not unusual, as trucks, or various things will hold them up, and there will be a big gap between us. He slowed down some, but still they didn't come into view. I tried to get them on the CB radio, calling each one, over and over. I tried to call Linda on her cell phone, but to no avail, I called Judy and ended up leaving her a voice mail. We finally pulled off to the shoulder of the road, and waited! Finally I got a text message from Linda saying there was a problem! It seems as if, in the crosswinds, Wallace's awning over his slide and torn loose and was hitting the roof. Judy said she thought when it first happened, they had experienced a flat tire! Anyway, the 3 rigs pulled off the side and Tom, once again, came to the rescue, got his ladder, and climbed on the roof of Wallace's rig. They finally had to cut the awning off, and since there was no way to store it or carry it, they left it right where it was, tube and all. He said it wasn't something that was necessary for this trip, so he just took pictures for their insurance company so he could file a claim, and will worry about getting it taken care of when we get home. Such excitement!!! In the meantime, several phone calls had passed between us and the stopped crew. We waited beside the highway until Butch got a glimpse of them in his mirror, then he took off and we picked right back up where we started!!
We stopped for lunch at a rest area, and everyone's nerves had settled down,we headed back on our merry way! With, yet, another story to tell.
Today's stop is Sleepy Hollow RV Park in Wall, South Dakota. We got all set up and we all headed out to see what the Wall Drug was all about! We shopped and looked around at things, laughed, and managed to sit down and have some homemade donuts, some had ice cream cones, and you would have thought some had found their Holy Grail... a 5 cent cup of coffee!!! Woo Hooooo!!!!!!!
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| getting their 5 cent cup of coffee |
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| Wall SD |
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| enjoying our treats at Wall Drug |
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| Tom & Brenda heading for Wall Drug
We enjoyed our time there and while we were relaxing at our table and enjoying our goodies, several of us read the story behind the Wall Drug and it's very impressive.
After sitting and relaxing for a little while, we looked at watches and found out we had enough time to go check out The Badlands National Park. WOW, what an awesome site!! We drove all through the park, and went to the visitor's center to finish up our trek through the badlands!! These pictures just do not do it justice!!
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| James & Linda checking out the Badlands |
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| Absolutely breathtaking |
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| Tom at the Badlands National Park |
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| Wallace, Judy & Linda |
After a drive through the National Park and spending time at the Visitor's Center, we decided it was time for supper and a good nights sleep.
We ended up at Dairy Queen, sat outside and had our meal and enjoyed the pleasant evening air. Hamburgers & Fries....yummmmm
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| Dairy Queen Special... Tom's on his way!
Well the night is over... ...we've passed a couple time zones, so my computer says it's 12:39 AM, and the clock on the microwave says it's 10:30 PM! My body says it's got to be late, late, late!!! The end to another wonderful day!
A beautiful South Dakota sunset as we left the National Park to say goodnight and tomorrow will be a morning to finding a place to get Tom's hitch welded.
Next stop is Deadwood South Dakota!
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