Mammoth Site and more-May 31, 2012

About 50 miles south of here is Hot Springs, SD where there is an active dig for mammoths. They built a big building over the site and they conduct tours. They have dug down 22 feet of a 67 foot deep sinkhole that might hold over 100 mammoth skeletons. To date they have uncovered 58 Columbian and wolly mammoths. They are not petrified so the bones are very soft. They dig spring, July and fall. What they uncover in July  takes a complete year to clean, document and catalog. The bones were so easy to distinguish. All skeletons have been males between 12- 29 years of age which is considered to be juveniles in the mammoth world.

A complete jaw bone with 2 full sets of teeth. Tusk is just above the jawbone.

These creatures were just enormous. Tusks were ivory.

We left there and drove through Wind Cave National Park. It was beautiful beyond words and loaded with buffalo. Wait, I think they are correctly called bison.



The one in the middle said, "So what are you looking at?"

And this one said "Leave me alone, I'm moving as fast as I want to".

Single lane bridge and beautiful scenery.

We saw bison, Pronghorns, deer and prairie dogs in Wind Cave NP and some breathtaking scenery. Then we went through Custer State Park. It was not as open and had fewer animals, but still pretty. It was a wonderful day of uncharted waters for us. Now we are planning what we want to do tomorrow. So much to see. 





Prairie Edge-May 30, 2012

The wind got worse today. Don't know how, but it did. So we made today a house cleaning and laundry day. That's fine. I did want to tell you about a store in downtown Rapid City. Prairie Edge Trading Company and Galleries contains art of the Lakota and more. Part of the first floor is a Lakota store which has leather, feathers, silver, beads and everything that Native Americans use to make their costumes. It was wonderful to go through that. We don't remember that being there during our last visit. They have some fabulous jewelry, most of it Lakota related. The second floor has a book and music store in one section and and Italian glass bead library in another section. I cannot describe what that is like except to say it is the world's largest selection of glass beads composed of 2600 different styles and colors. Just following the change in colors around the room leaves you with your jaw on the floor. It is just spectacular. When this library was established it started with 70 tons of beads. I can't wrap my mind around that. The third floor is the artwork, from jewelry to oils, acrylics and water color originals plus blown glass. A great deal of it is done by Native Americans but not all. One artist is from Longmont, Colorado. It's all very, very unique and, it goes without saying, a touch on the expensive side. This is not a store you walk through. It is a gallery you experience. I hope we can go there every time we are in this area. It is absolutely wonderful. This is a must see if you are in the area.

City of Presidents-May 29, 2012

The wind let up a little so we headed downtown to have a late lunch and walk our legs off. It's just too much to take pictures of all of the presidents, but I will share a few. The best statue was that of George Bush (son). It was so much like him. Bill Clinton was much thinner than I expected. These bronze statues are life sized and are remarkably like the pictures we have seen. It is quite a walk to see them all. Nixon's was good, too, but he was seated on a bench. I really did not want to sit beside him. The others I could clown around with.

Bill Clinton

Ronald Reagan (why am I not sure how to spell his last name?)

George Bush (son) and I forgot the dog's name

And there was a nice park in the middle of town.

It was a really nice day ahead of what is supposed to be an ugly day tomorrow. If the weather forecast is wrong, we'll head toward the Badlands. It is spectacular there. And if the forecast is right I'll tell you about an art gallery downtown called Prairie Edge. 

Computer and wind-May 28, 2012

My computer will be repaired under warranty. Asus even has a one year warranty for full replacement if you spill liquids on your keyboard. That's wonderful. It has not happened to us, yet, but it could. It might take two weeks to ship it to Kentucky and back. We were going to stay anyway, so that's fine. I will use Jerry's computer to try to stay as caught up as I can be both on emails and this blog. The wind has worsened. We cannot believe that's even possible. We are getting by with two slides pulled in. It's not very comfy. I will spare you, but you may still guess where we had lunch today. The initials are OTB. It is brand new here and already doing well. Then we went to Menard's. We had been in the one in Salina, KS last year and loved it. This one was bigger. Oh my goodness at the merchandise they have in that store. And their prices are as good as Wal Mart and in some cases, lower. Such a wonderful store. Too bad they are not nationwide. We bought a few things and made sure we walked the whole store so we got plenty of exercise today. We will have to accept the wind as our friend if we are going to be tourists here. We really want to go downtown and see all of the presidents statues. They have finished their project. When we saw them last they were only about half done. I hope you are having wonderful weather and enjoying a nice Memorial Day.

Computer-May 27, 2012

My new computer had a collision with our vacuum cleaner. I won't say anything else. However, you may guess which one lost. I am sick.
Plus we have an ugly black mark on our tile floor from the crash. I may be offline with both my blog and my emails until I decide I am ready to spend that kind of money again. It was a great computer. RIP. Hang in there with me until I am back online again, hopefully in the not too distant future.

Cabella's buffalo-May 26, 2012

It was in the high 40s and still raining this morning, so no tourist things for us today. It is supposed to clear tomorrow and be in the low 70s. We did go back to Cabella's because I wanted a picture of the bronze Buffalo statue they have out front. We have been to other Cabella's and have never seen anything this big.

Doesn't look all that big, does it? Look below.

Here's me standing in front of it. That's a whole lot of bull, is it not?

We hope it clears so we can go to the Crazy Horse monument tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning. I hope you have a restful Sunday and a wonderful Memorial Day! And please remember our military men and women on this special day. 



Residents-May 25, 2012

Say hello to the newest residents of South Dakota. We have declared residency in Box Elder, SD, we have our new driver's licenses. We have registered to vote and have already requested absentee ballots. Ah, no more state income tax for us!! Since we have our paperwork behind us, we can now have fun, but only if the weather cooperates. It was 46° and raining when we left this morning. We stopped for lunch at Dave's Famous Barbecue (there's one in north Denver we've been to), went to the visitor's center and walked through Cabela's. Now we are studying where we want to park this land barge next. For the most part we know most of the local places we want to go while parked here. As long as this rain does not change to snow, we are very happy!

Rapid City, SD-May 24, 2012

There was no room in Custer, so we drove on to Rapid City. We went from terrible wind to rain. Now the sun is out and we are in this park for at least a week. We have plenty to do so we don't mind. We came into South Dakota on a state highway (which was wonderful) instead of the interstate (which is horrible) so we have never seen this part of the state. It was so gorgeous neither of us spoke for a while. Then I wore out the phrase "Oh my goodness, this is breathtaking". It was every bit as pretty as Montana. And it is so peaceful. That is the only word I can think of to describe South Dakota. Peaceful. We have so much to show you here, so give us a few days to get our paperwork done and I will be sending pictures galore. You really need to see the life sized bronze statues of all of our past presidents. They are fabulous. We may move to another park in a week and stay there a month. You know I will keep you posted.

Lake McConaughy-May 23, 2012

The wind continues to rage and we are about nuts over it. We had to get up in the middle of the night and bring in both slides on the passenger side of the coach. Still it rocked and the wind howled. There was no way we were going to travel in that today, so we stayed one more day. We could not stay inside and listen to the wind so we got out in it. We went to Lake McConaughy and drove across the second largest earthen dam in the country. The lake is really pretty, larger than we realized. It is 20 miles long and 2 miles wide at its widest point. It is long enough that looking at the horizon is the same as the Gulf coast. It's so far away it just sort of blends together. This picture does not show the distance, only the color of the water.

This is the hydro electric plant. It is actually situated on the North Platte River. There's a really pretty park built around it.

To our dismay this is what Nebraskans call a beach. Rocks We must remember they are landlocked so they don't really understand what a beach is. The road getting there was simply horrible.

And lastly, this is downtown Ogallala. They actually still have cattle drives here during the year.

So, it was a nice day windy though it be. Tomorrow it should all be past us and we hope to make it to Custer, South Dakota. However, if we get tired before then, we'll stop.





Ogallala, NE-May 22, 2012

The wind today cannot be described in print. It was beyond horrible. We felt so blessed to make it this far without incident and to have landed in a wonderful little place with fabulous owners. Our next planned stop is Custer, SD. But we just checked the weather and it does not sound appealing to us at all. Lows down to 34°, no thanks. We may stay here a week. Will decide in the morning. We were puzzled today by the immense number of private lakes along I-80. Every house has a private lake in front. It was unreal. Why? We also discovered that it is very, very easy to tell the difference between corn rows that are planted with GPS and those that are planted the old fashioned way. We had to laugh about that. Personally I saw enough corn that if I never see another corn field, I will not be sad. Of course this is the cornhusker state, so what can I say? If we stay here a little longer we can see Lake McConaughy which neither of us has ever seen. Plus Boot Hill, the real one, is here. So we can find plenty to do. Will let you know

Waco, NE-May 21, 2012

No, it is not Waco, Texas. It is Waco, Nebraska. It's in the middle of nowhere, just off I-80. We need some extra time to rethink our route to Rapid City since we discovered that Nebraska, like Colorado, is not RV friendly. We did not know that ahead of time. So, tonight we'll gather our maps and the internet sites and study where we go tomorrow. This is state #22 for us so far. May 7th marked one full year we have been living as geriatric gypsies. We've only put 10,000 miles on the coach because we spent two months in one spot during the winter. Plus other stops we stayed 2 or 3 weeks. Then we had all those weeks spent in Derrick's driveway. We enjoy the stops. We are not sure we want to constantly be moving, so 10,000 may be our average yearly mileage. The countryside north of Salina was actually quite pretty. Neither of us has ever been there before. Rolling hills and lots of green grass. The wheat was very green, nowhere near harvest like the wheat we saw going to Oklahoma, but pretty anyway.

Salina, KS-May 19, 2012

We just stopped in Salina, Kansas. This is one of our least favorite parks, but on the road north to our destination, it is a necessary stop. We'll stay til Monday morning. At least we can find a place to get the Cute Red Vehicle clean enough to be red again. And not too far from here is that wonderful Menard's mega store. I would love a walk through that place again. It was extremely windy today but the only time it bothered us was when we were not going directly north. Otherwise, it was a very pleasant traveling day. We will relax the rest of the day and then take tomorrow off as we try to do as often as possible. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a peaceful Sunday.

Still in OKC-May 18 ,2012

When we got up this morning we realized we were just too tired to move on down the road, so
we stayed another day. We went out for a late lunch. Think carefully and see if you can guess where we went. ON THE BORDER!!! By now you have to know how much we love that place. We had a great lunch but more fun afterward. There was a lady diagonal from us who had the most beautiful red purse I have ever seen. I could not take my eyes off of it. She got up to go to the restroom just as we were leaving. I asked Jerry to wait a minute. When she returned I told her that she got back just in time as I was going to grab her beautiful red bag and leave mine in it's place. We all laughed. She got it at Dillards so I am sure it was a handbag, not a purse. It was just stunning. If I thought I could have afforded one I would have gone to the mall across the street and bought me one. Instead we went to Target! No red purses there. When we came out the wind was so bad we could hardly walk to the car. It was just unbelievable, so we skipped going downtown to see the 1995 bombing memorial. I can't believe it has been that long, but it has. We were in downtown a year before that. We saw the capital and we saw the Murrah building. So, when that awful thing happened we knew exactly where it was. There are no words to tell you how Oklahoma City has grown since then. They have 10 lane interstates (5 in each direction) that probably weren't even dreams back then. This is a huge city, nothing like the little western city it used to be. Plus whatever speed limit is posted, that appears to be the minimum!

Oklahoma City-May 17, 2012

Today was a safe day, thankfully, but there are so many really bad drivers on the road, it takes both of our sets of eyes to watch out for what people will do. I really did not want to stay here. I don't like this park, but apparently we were supposed to be here. After we were all hooked up Jerry found we had a flat tire on the Cute Red Vehicle. If there is one thing we have learned it is to never ask anybody in the park office for suggestions or directions. But I did anyway. We aired the tire up and went to where we were directed. Wrong place. So we stopped at a gas station and asked for directions. There was a brand new Discount Tire shop at the next exit. We made it! Something poked a whole in the sidewall. A truck had a blowout somewhere down the road and we missed the steel belted radial pieces on the coach but it struck the side of the car tire. It is truly a miracle the tire maintained enough air to make it to this stop. It goes without saying they did not have our particular tire, so we negotiated the price of two down to an affordable amount and bought two new shoes for baby. They are really good looking shoes. The two we bought cost only about 25% of the cost of a single tire for the coach so it could have been so much worse.  We stopped and grocery shopped, then came home and cooled down. This area is already into record heat and no rain. It is a repeat of last year. On our way back, we went under this crosswalk on I-40 in the middle of Oklahoma City. I found it to be quite extraordinary and wanted to share it.

I have no idea what this represents or what it means, but it is beautiful and appears to be stainless steel. I wonder what it looks like to the people walking beneath it?

Fun with DirecTV-May 16, 2012

Our DirecTV receiver totally croaked a week ago. We called for a new one which meant we had to stay here one day longer. It arrived this morning. Would you care to guess where this goes from here? Yep, it's the wrong one. So we both have been on the phone all morning. I finally found someone who figured out the problem. When we called to discontinue service at the house, no one made a note of that. So, they were trying to upgrade the service at the house on Ono which was sold in January of last year. Hmmm, no wonder we got the wrong receiver. When she asked for a service address, I replied  "It's wherever we happen to be". That doesn't compute well in a technical world. But finally we got it all figured out and corrected. Now we have to wait until we stop long enough to get another one sent to us. That could be another week when we get to Rapid City, SD. That means two weeks without decent TV coverage. We feel like we are in a cave in a remote part of the world! We love our DirecTV and we miss it. But we will find something to do and we will keep going forward. Once we get to Rapid City we will have plenty to do. We love that place and might stay there for quite a while. I hope your day goes better than ours! It is still a beautiful day today, lots of hot sunshine with record temps. We don't care for the heat but otherwise, this is actually a great place to stay.

Mission Accomplished-May 14, 2012

How many times did I say I was going to find Terry Bradshaw's ranch? Well, I did it! I told Jerry I wanted to drive because I thought I knew exactly where to go. And I went right to it. I spotted the first pretty dark green metal fence and beautiful house and I said I'd put money on the fact that was the beginning of the ranch. I thought following the mail delivery person could be good so I did just that. Right onto Bradshaw Lane. There was a big security fence. Once inside I turned around and left the property but we saw the miles of horse barns before we left. I think we might have gone further, but we had no right to be there, so we respected his privacy and left. We know he has two huge attack trained German Shepherds and we did not want to meet them. So, that being done, I'm sorry we did not take pictures. He has a spread of several thousand acres and it is very, very clean and attractive. As for the Game Show at the World Events Center, I was not selected to go onstage. I think they ended up calling 35 names out of a completely packed convention center. When I saw the number of people putting tickets in the hopper I gave up all hope of being picked. But we stayed through the whole show and loved every minute of it. It is a huge production that ended with a guy from Texas winning a 2012 pearl white Cadillac. I was really happy for him. It was worth every minute to see such a show. And it was a wonderful weekend with our friends from Texas. We had such a good time. It was worth coming back this way to enjoy.

Amber Waves of Grain-May 11, 2012

Ripening wheat by I-35 in Oklahoma



As we have traveled from western Kansas to Wichita and then south through Oklahoma, the wheat has become lighter in color. That means it is getting closer to harvest. Again the picture does not do it justice. Some of the wheat fields were just beautiful. We drove in rain today and encountered traffic inching along so slowly it took us 30 minutes to go 2 miles. What a mess. That made us get here in Thackerville later than we planned but we arrived safely nevertheless. Our friends from Texas were about 2 hours later. They encountered the same traffic in Fort Worth. But we have spent a fun evening laughing and having a good time. Now for the reason we are here. Tomorrow in the Global Events Center at WinStar they are having an Ultimate Game Show. My name was drawn when we were here last time. That gave me and one guest (Jerry) a chance to put our name in the hopper to be chosen to play the game show onstage. There will be 30 names drawn on Saturday and again on Sunday. Those 60 people will stand a chance to win $150,000 in prizes. I will not go in with a negative attitude. I have as much of a chance as anybody else. Linda and Burtis came to offer support just in case I am selected to play the game. Will let you know what happens!

Wellington, KS-May 10, 2012

We arrived in Wellington, KS this afternoon. It's windy but the park is not close to the road so we will sleep well tonight.
First, let me tell you about these irises. They started out at our house when we lived south of Loveland. We transplanted some to our house on Ono. They would not grow in that salt air, so we put the bulbs in a bucket and took them to Derrick in Greeley. He has such a green thumb, he revived them. They are starting to bloom and look so pretty.

These irises have a lot of miles on them

Today we passed one of the top ten largest wind farms in the US. It's near Ellsworth, Kansas. It has at least tripled in size since we saw it last. Sadly, only about 80 or 90% of them are working. No one realized that the electricity generated by those huge windmills cannot be stored. So when there's no place for it to go, they have to shut the windmills down. It takes electricity to turn on the motors, to set the speed and to turn the motors off. What a sad waste of tons of money.

In and around Russell, Kansas is Post Rock country. When Kansas was being setttled, those incredibly strong people went to a rock quarry and dug up slabs of rock. They turned it into boundary posts. That's how they marked off the land they owned. Those post rocks, aka boundary stones, are still in place. I'm not sure of the real reason, but I want to think it is because of Proverbs 22:24 which reads "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers". One day we are going to stop there and tour the entire area. When you are driving down the road at 65 mph and holding a camera to the window, the pictures are not the greatest, but you can see I was trying to show you what the boundary stones still look like. It's extremely fascinating.

The post rocks are on each side of the picture. I'm not

sure what is in the middle to the left of the trees.





Oakley, KS-May 9, 2012

We departed Greeley a few minutes ahead of schedule this morning and arrived in Oakley, Kansas a little while ago. It was a very pleasant drive and we are thankful for that. We probably won't use this route for several years. They have started digging up I-70 westbound all the way down to the dirt. So that means one lane traffic on the eastbound side. This interstate is going to be under construction for a very long time. We have still set as our goal to arrive in Thackerville, Oklahoma by Friday afternoon. We will meet up with friends from Texas there and have the weekend to get caught up on things. We only saw prairie dogs and antelope today in addition to the normal cows and horses. Actually I think they are technically called Pronghorns. We always thought a Pronghorn was an antelope. We have recently found out they are related but are not the same thing. So, we saw Pronghorns today. Farmers are out everywhere working hard to get crops planted before the weekend rain rolls in. The goal for tomorrow is Wichita.

Yaks!-May 8, 2012

Since we arrived here I have been trying to take pictures of a herd of yaks that are living on a farm near Derrick's house. Finally I was successful.

Yes, I know the creatures look very small, but this is as close as I could get. There were 2 or 3 cattle in the herd also. That prompted me to google these animals. They are bovines. They can only live at high altitudes. They are extremely strong and can be used as pack animals. They produce milk and their long hair is usable for fabric. So, my mind wonders if this farm is trying to cross breed them with cattle? I have no idea. I just found it fascinating that they are even living here. I look forward to seeing if they are still here when we return in the fall.

Oskar Blues-May 6, 2012

The three of us went to Oskar Blues Liquids and Solids for dinner tonight. Yes, that's the name. It's in Longmont. What a wonderful time we had. The food was phenomenal. The place was full of people having a good time and upstairs was a live band. The music drifted over the wall and we enjoyed it. It started raining while we were there. What a blessing! It is so badly needed. We will sleep well tonight because it is that slow rain that sounds so good on the roof. We could not relax to go to sleep last night because the wind was so bad. No wind tonight, just wonderful rain! Above 8000 feet, it's snowing. Glad we are a bit lower. This is going to be a very busy week, but that's ok. Time flies when you are busy.

Crazy weather-May 5, 2012

Cumulis Congestus with a Lenticular on top

I could not resist taking a picture of these clouds while standing by the coach. That is one wonderful thing about Colorado. You can see the tops of storm clouds from many miles away. These were actually dropping rain and golf ball sized hail in the northeastern part of the state. We were only having light wind. Then the wind increased here. I would estimate, after 15 years of weather spotter volunteer work, that the wind is now blowing at about 30 mph with gusts to about 40 mph. We are out in the middle of the country with nothing to block the wind. We are really feeling it in here tonight. This area needs rain, not drying wind. There's a chance we will have a rain/snow mix tomorrow afternoon and into Monday. Then, perhaps not. But it will be quite a bit cooler. We are sure hoping the wind blows this on out of here and we can have a restful, peaceful day tomorrow. I wish the same for you. 

Still here-May 4, 2012

We are still parked in Derrick's driveway. Jerry celebrated his birthday by cleaning and sealing the tile floors in our home on wheels. He worked really hard. It was an extremely hot day. I tried to catch up on the usual household work. I'm always behind. We will leave here as early as we can on Wednesday of next week as we have reservations in Thackerville, Oklahoma on May 11th. I'm entered into a drawing to particpate in the Game Show at the WinStar auditorium on the 12th. It's a long and fun story I'll share later. The three of us celebrated Jerry's special day at Okole Maluna restaurant. It's an authentic Hawaiian restaurant in the small town of Windsor. The food is so exceptional that it was a real treat to get to eat there again. We try to go every time we are here, but I think we missed it last trip. It is so odd to find such a restaurant in this part of Colorado but we are delighted it is here. Happy Birthday, Jerry!

Sad day-May 2, 2012

We were awakened by a phone call this morning with sad news that one of Jerry's nephews passed away in his sleep last night. Mike was about 46 years old and was an all around good guy. He will be missed by all of us. We are blessed to have decided to stay until this morning so that we can be with family at this time. Blogs will be sporadic until we are on the road, probably early next week.