The Needles & Crazy Horse!

Wow what a day! We left out in the am on Tues. to sightsee in the Black Hills and didn't get home till late in the evening, but it was well worth it! We started here at Mt. Rushmore, well actually this is as close as we got, because we had already been there (done that!),  so we headed back to Rt. 16a,

Debbie with the Presidents

The Needles which is rightly named, not because of the protruding rocks that seem to pierce the sky, but, in my opinion, for the hairpin turns and switchbacks on the route that get you there that put you on pins and needles! Good thing ole Bigfoot was back at the KOA resting up from our ride to get here, she wouldn't have made the tunnels very well!

We really enjoyed the scenery as we had not been through the area before, it is well worth the short side track to get there! After that Hill City seemed like a nice place to have lunch. We looked around in town awhile as it is your basic tourist trap, in my opinion, and met some nice folks who were driving a 1971 Red VW Beetle with an OSU 2002 Nat'l  Football Champs license plate bracket, so you know I just had to compliment him on both the car, as Dad had a red 1964 VW, and the plates, haha. Lunch was at the Bumpin' Buffalo Bar & Grill, food was OK, fish & chips, service was poor, some younger boy, who better be working on a degree in something, cause he will starve as a server, lol.

Later, we took off for the Crazy Horse Monument, as I figured it would be the highlight of the day, and we were not disappointed! I have read the blog of Phil and Rudee on Hitchitch, Workin' Rv'ers and knew they had a gig going at Crazy Horse, and I'll be darned if Phil wasn't manning the gate we went into! We introduced ourselves and paid our small entrance fee and headed in. We were reminded by Jane & John Dawson, to be sure and stay for the lazer show in the evening, but what we didn't know was it was also Ruth's 87th Birthday, so there is a special night blast on the mountain each year to commemorate the event on June 26th, she is the widow of Korczak Ziolkowski, the original sculptor of Crazy Horse Monument, who passed away in 1982. She still manages the operation, along with their ten children, and we are told is quite the lady! The monument is very interesting and is a great tribute to the Native American Indian, although they have been working on it for 65 yrs., there is still alot left to complete, but if you take into account the size of this project, being funded by the tourism and private donations only, not any Gov't funding, Korczac himself had turned down $10 Million in Gov't funding TWICE! The story goes, he had worked on Mt. Rushmore and saw the bureaucracy behind it, that he wanted to be sure it didn't happen here! We took the bus ride to the base of the monument, and it is unbelievable how huge this project really is, when complete, it will be the largest monument ever built, including larger than the pyramids in Egypt! We were not allowed any closer because the birthday party for Ruth was to include a ceremonial night blast, so it limited access to the site, which was ok by me as I have seen the effects of drill & shoot methods in the strip mine operation for coal I worked back in the day and I know first hand things don't always go to plan! haha Anyway, the night show was a blast, literally, and one of the most outstanding experiences I've ever seen! If you plan to go to The Crazy Horse Monument, make arrangements to go later in the afternoon and stay for the Lazer show, it really is a moving experience, knowing how the Native American was treated by the white man and this is something their people of today can be very proud of!

This is a beautiful area and time should be set aside for it, if traveling west to Yellowstone, etc. as we had not allowed enough time ourselves in past trips. That is one of the things we want to do in our fulltime experience, is to slow down and enjoy all America has to offer, and I believe we are staring to realize just that!

See you Soon!
Russ & Deb

Sunny Skies and a Super Moon!

We have made it to the Black Hills of South Dakota! WooHoo!
    After packing all the leftover stuff we couldn't sell or give away into the back end of Bigfoot, we handed the keys to the new owner of the River Cottage and headed out around 5:30 pm on Wed. June 19. Not thinking of any real destination in mind, Elkhart, Ind. was our goal, however, we had no reason to hurry there on this night! Well, once ole Bigfoot gets going, she likes to keep on truckin', so thats what we did! So much for the laid back, easy travel days we had imagined. Around 11:30 pm we meandered into Elkhart Campground for the night and ended up staying a couple nights to re-coup from the 20 hr. day on Wed. and all the anxiety of the packing and moving and preparation we had just been through!                                                                                                                                             This whole process was really stressful, bittersweet and heart wrenching, maybe more so than we imagined! We have moved several times in the past, but this was different, not only were we selling what had become one of our favorite places we have ever enjoyed together, but with no real destination in mind, the whole thing was an experience like none other! In one way we are really glad we have done what we did, but on the other hand, there is always the thought in the back of your mind,"oh no what HAVE WE DONE NOW"!
Time will make the whole picture seem clearer, and we both know that, it's kind of like being newlyweds all over again, in a way, because we are beginning a new life together and even though we have talked about doing it for years, there's always that hint of doubt, no matter how well you have planned or how smoothly everything is going in the process, did we really make the right choice?
In reference to the title of this post, we have made it to the land of Beautiful Sunny Skies and a Super Moon to go along with it! Bigfoot wanted to do a couple more long travel days because we were excited to get to the area of the Black Hills and all the attractions it offers. Now we are at the KOA in Rapid City, SD for the next week to see the sites!
See You Soon!   Russ & Debbie & Emmi

SOLD!!!! Life in a "Sticks & Bricks" as we know it is over!

    Well, after a longer than expected, imagine that, closing time on our "Sticks & Bricks" house, we finally had the closing today! Even though we were told a 20 day closing, when we accepted the offer on our little river cottage early last month, we knew that was very optimistic scheduling for sale of a house but it was quite an easy sale and very fast!                                                                                              We signed the final closing papers today and received  a nice check to deposit in savings, paid the tire man for six (6) new tires on "Bigfoot" boy are his shoes expensive!, and will finish the packing this weekend and be heading out on the road by mid-week! We are heading west, for the first leg of journey, probably running over to Elkhart to look for a new drivers/co-pilot seats for the rig. We are then going to ,where else, Escapade in Gillette, Wyoming over the fourth and then on to work some campgrounds in the area for the summer.

In our earlier posts, I said we would discuss our plans for funding our travels. We have been sales associates for Southeast Publications, part-time for the last several months, and really enjoy meeting new folks and receiving a complimentary full hook-up site every two weeks while building the parks guest guides.                                                                                                                                 Southeast Publications Inc. (SEPI) is a nationwide publishing company in Tamarac, Florida that makes the guest guides that every registered camper receives when they reserve a camping site in the campground. We had learned of this opportunity several years ago and studied the company and the other associates, learning from them how the company operates and how the maps are made and what is expected of the independent contractors. Because we had been independent contractors in other business ventures while working our full time careers, we knew what we wanted and what to expect, when looking for a company to partner with. SEPI is a company that met most of those expectations from the start, and we have done several parks for them with very good beginning success! We have done renewals, where you are simply going back to a park that has been built by another representative and the yearly time frame for renewal is due so the park does not run short on supply of maps. Contacting the park manager and verifying the design and set-up and renewing the advertisers on the map from the previous year and making any necessary changes and adding new advertisers, if needed. We have also done new parks that have not had a guest guide service before. These parks are a little more time consuming as they need a campground map designed and the advertisers need to be contacted to be offered a spot on the area map on the reverse side of the guest guide so folks new to the area will know where to go for dining, shopping, or emergency repairs and towing from area businesses. We really like the way SEPI allows you to schedule the parks you want to work, in the area you want to be in, working as little or as much as you would like, throughout the year. And, of course, the compensation package is very nice also, depending on how hard you want to work!

Our goal is to see the areas of the country again that we already know we love to go to, while adding areas that we have never visited and having the time to stop and smell the roses and give the kids and grandkids a big "I Love You This Much" hug!

See you Soon!

Russ & Debbie