New Friends in Deadwood!

After finishing our job at Hot Springs KOA, we headed north, stopping at the Fish n Fry CG, in Deadwood, SD, for a couple days because we we not due into Bismarck, ND until Sunday, so what the heck, let's play tourist!
Deadwood, SD is a great little Gold Mining town that has transformed itself into a recreation mecca for all kinds of activities, gambling casinos, gunfight recreations, ATV rentals, you name it! Of course, the most notable character from the past, Wild Bill Hickok, tours the town as he did back in the day, until some wannabe decided he would be a real hero to shoot him in the back of the head during a poker game for killing a relative, or whatever. To Deb and I, it's alot like the other tourist traps that think you should be separated from your hard earned money. We just kind of walked around town seeing the sites and listening to the street musicians.
The neat thing about this trip to experience America was we met a really cool couple in the campground the evening before! Don and Genie Frierson, from Tennessee. They have been full timing for almost three years in their beautiful Alegro Bus and are having the time of their lives!

Don and Genie Frierson  

They had lived in Tenn. for the previous five years before going full time, before that, they lived in South Carolina and are dyed in the wool South Carolina Gamecocks! Well of course, that soon brought about much debate on the subject of college football and who's team, there's or our beloved Buckeyes, would have the best season this year! All in jest, and as we had been friends forever! We spent a great couple of days getting to know them and enjoying our time together. The last night was the the best as Genie had been telling us how she loved to play the guitar and sing and had been in a couple of bands before the F/T thing, so we got together Sat. evening and went out to eat, then went back to the community campfire area and Genie brought out the guitar and proceeded to entertain half the campground with lively renditions of good ole classic rock n' roll and a little country mixed in! What a treat it was! All my life, I've wanted to learn to play acoustic guitar and hearing someone like her, who can play her heart out is a true treat!                                                                                                       During the evening, I leaned over to Deb and said, nights like these, with the full moon coming over the Ponderosa Pines with a bed of stars for a background, and a roaring campfire, with new friends and people you haven't even met, sharing the evening, is why we are doing what we're doing!                Full Time Rving 

See You Soon!

Russ & Deb

WHEW!! What a week!

   Escapade is over and (WHEW! )what a week it was! We had a great time here in beautiful Gillette, Wyoming. The weather was really good all week, low humidity, clear skies, and temps in the mid-eighties, but of course, it had to rain for the fireworks show, but theses folks out here don't let anything slow them down when they have a party, lol!                                                                                           The Escapade is held this year at the Gillette Camplex, which is a great venue for all kinds of activities, like RV shows, Horse Shows, Rodeos, etc. this place is huge! There is several large parking areas, with full hook-ups, surrounding the main buildings, which are all air conditioned and very well maintained. There are around 700 rigs here for this event and two weeks ago, we were told, there was over 2000 rigs for the FMCA rally.The parking area is so big, they could have had both rallies at the same time and still had plenty of room!                                                                                                                  We attended many good seminars and learned a lot, including what to do, now that we are considering full time Rv travel, about claiming a domicile to call residency. South Dakota, Florida, and Texas are the big three states that most folks use for domicile, and each state has it's good points depending on your own personal situation. There were many vendors in the Camplex and a large Rv dealership from out west to help you decide on a new rig. We didn't... All in all, it was a good time, seeing old friends and meeting new ones and finding out where everyone is heading to next! Several rigs pulled out on Fri. right after the banquet and closing ceremonies on Thurs. eve, but we are in no hurry, for a change, and that is hard to get used to! In the past, whenever a rally was over, we would be the ones scurrying around to get loaded up and head back home to Ohio to go to work next week. But this lifestyle doesn't make you want to hurry anywhere, anytime soon!                                                                                We will just take our time and probably head out Sunday afternoon back towards the Black Hills as we have a campground there in Hot Springs, SD we are scheduled to start updating their maps next week. With the sale of the house being delayed a couple weeks and getting everything sorted out as what to take and what to get rid of, we haven't been able to work for almost six weeks, so getting back to doing something on a regular basis is kind of refreshing! What we do for Southeast Publications, Inc., is not what we call work, as it is more fun than a regular J.O.B., as all you do is go around talking to folks about the campground you're working with. We are really starting to enjoy this phase of our life and being involved with a company that really is customer conscience and cares about getting the best product out, instead of bottom line dollar quotas and deadlines, is a refreshing feeling in this day and age!
Well, Deb is all ready to go site seeing and she says they have a Farmers Mkt. here in town on Sat. mornings, so that sounds like a good way to spend the morning! So before I start getting the "stink-eye" for not being ready to go, I better get my butt up and get going! lol.
See you Soon!
Russ & Deb