Three States in One Day!

June 23 -  After I closed up the computer from writing my journal last night we started having some major wind.  Gusts of 25-30 MPH.  I HATE being in the RV when it’s windy.  Bill was already in bed and the toppers on the slides were so noisy I could barely close my eyes.  First thing this morning I had him go out and check that they were intact.  All was well!  Phew!

We really enjoyed our time in SD.  It was sad to break camp and head out.  About a mile up the road was a Flying J so we stopped to fuel up and hooked the car up and off we went. We discussed the issue with the water tank as Bill had left our mobile tech a message last night and he text back that it is a faulty backflow valve.  We knew there was a Camping World west of Rapid City and had hoped they might have one in stock and squeeze us in.  The service guy was not the sharpest tack in the bag.  He did say if they had it there was a 2 week back log.  So Bill thanked him and called Winnebago and they are shipping the part to us in Idaho.  We can manage until then by just filling our fresh water tank and using it.  About 30 minutes after that we decided maybe some of the GPS issue is one of our roof antennas is almost broken off so he called back and fortunately got the same lady and added the antenna to the order.  I think I can put that on but not the valve as you have to remove the whole front panel of the water/sewer connections.  There were a couple of mobile techs that came to the RV Park when we were there 2 years ago, so we’re counting on them.  If not it’s about 70 miles one way to the RV repair guy.

Once that was out of the way we could try to enjoy our drive and stops for the day.  We had planned to stop in Belle Forche, SD to see the spot (that has a monument) that is the Geographical Center of the Continental US.  There’s a VC there so we knew there’d be parking but as we approached it didn’t look good for an RV to park or get turned around to get out.  Bill suggested pulling in some where and try to go back and maybe park across the street but it’s not that easy to maneuver in a small town so I nixed the stop.  Boo hoo!

Why they're called the Black Hills

Now that's a long flat road

The next hundred miles or so was low rolling hills, empty fields, fields of cattle with lots of antelope mixed in, fields of baled hay and very few houses, towns and traffic.  Now the traffic thing was a good thing! 

We crossed over into Wyoming for 20 miles, but it didn’t look any different.  Then it was on into Montana.  As we approached Ashland where we were going to stop, there was road work and no workers.  It went from one paved lane to one kinda paved but mostly gravel and was looking smooth enough and I was only going 25-30.  Well, wouldn’t you know without warning there was a dip and you couldn’t see it until you were on top of it.  THUMP! THUMP! Oh, no, that did not sound good at all.  The nose of the RV dipped and we were sure it was hit and then I checked the camera to see if the car was still attached and it was rolling along.  Deep sigh, but we still needed to check everything but it was torn up almost all the way to St. Labre Mission School where we were stopping.

St. Labre Church

We visited the school about 10 years ago and have been donors for longer.  The church is beautiful and the campus is well cared for and the staff is so nice.  We wanted to stop and see it again and make a donation.  They had plenty of parking for us.  Nothing wrong with the RV but the bottom section of the front bumper of the car took the hit and it came loose from the rest.  Bill said it looks like the clips are broken and he’s hoping we can duct tape it until we can get the clips from Ford.  We really will look hillbilly with our duct taped car.  However, it could have been far worse. 

We first met the new Priest and he took us over to the museum and we visited with him and

the lady on duty at the museum and a student who is working there for the summer.  They have a great museum and old and new native crafts.  The beadwork is so delicate and fine.  Bill was bummed they didn’t have a t-shirt his size as the school colors are the same as his high school, purple and gold.

From there we were only about 45 miles to GarryOwen, MT where we will be for 3 nights at 7^th Ranch.  It’s a Good Sam park and so nice.  It is on a hill but the spaces are kind of close to level and all pull though.  When we left the main road and then the pavement ended and went to gravel we had some

Some of the campground

apprehension but then I saw a Good Sam flag and knew it was fine.  They are full and the reason is for the same reason we came here; Reenactment of:  Custer’s Last Stand AKA Battle of Little Bighorn AKA Battle of the Greasy Grass.  The name depends on who is telling the story.  The events started today and we considered going to the rodeo tonight but we decided to spend all day tomorrow at the Reenactment and then in town at the rodeo and festival.  Sunday we plan to visit the Custer Museum and the Little Big Horn Museum.  This stuff it right up Bill’s alley!

I cooked tonight since we’ll be eating out all day tomorrow.  Panko seasoned cube steaks was the meat with sides of mashed potatoes and broccoli slaw.  For dessert we finally cut the peach jello pie I made a couple of days ago.  Bill did the dishes as usual and we reclined in our new recliners for the first time.  So nice!