Month: May 2021

This was our third trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Or first was just before we took off on Subject to Change for our Great Loop adventure. We drove up Labor Day weekend 2016 for my nephew, Jessie’s, wedding to Mackenzie. Last year in the RV, we took a route through Kansas and Nebraska to visit Jessie and the pregnant Mackenzie, in Rapid City before heading east to Cheboygan and the boat. So of course seeing them and now 7 month old baby Tristen was a must do. I tell you this so you understand why sight seeing in the majestic Black Hills was not on our agenda. Everything I need to see was found at The Marina at Sheridan Lake, Jessie and Mackenzie’s recent addition to their Black Hills Outdoors, MasterCraft and Pontoon boat dealership in Rapid.

Ok, this is the part you may be waiting for. Here we combine the stark time worn beauty of the Badlands with the here and now mighty power of Mother Nature, AKA -The Mother of all Storms per me. Once again, Campendium pointed the way to an amazing boondocking area, Nomad View Dispersed Camping, just south of Wall. We found a pretty level spot about 10 feet from the canyon edge, allowing us to enjoy cocktails while looking down at the folds of the canyon below.

Everything was great, hunky dory. Since we’d been to the Badlands in 2016, we didn’t feel the need to be too touristy. We took a drive and again enjoyed the scenery and as good boater/RVers, we stayed weather aware.

I now know I do not like South Dakota Thunderstorms that come in the middle of the night while I’m parked on the rim of a canyon in a RV.  We knew there was a slight risk of severe storms overnight, but in looking at the future radar track, they were supposed to come through Rapid City to our west and then skirt our location and head north east.  Even so, we decided to put away our cocktail chairs and roll up the outside rug in case of rain. Around 11:30 I woke up to  near constant lightning flashes to our west.  I woke Tim and we watched as the storm drew nearer and as the wind and rain began we dashed about closing windows and vents.  Then suddenly, everything quieted for a few moments as if the storm were holding its breath before blasting our rig.  Please understand, I like storms.  I have fond memorizes of being a kid and the whole family would head out to our front porch in Central FLORIDA TO WATCh summer storm clouds gather and heat lightning flicker in the clouds.  I love a good storm.  But this was not going to be a good storm; this was going to be a mean monster storm and I was beginning to not like it at all.  The rig began to bounce and shimmy with the winds, rain pummeled us and I wondered if there was hail mixed in.  I thought about our naked solar panels on the roof and how they were handling the torrent.  Would they survive the hail? The noise level inside the rig was scary- wind and rain and then for a few seconds a howling sound.  Now Ive never been in a tornado before, but Ive heard that a tornado sounds like a freight train coming.  Was that howl a freight train?  Holy crap.  Then I thought about the rim of the canyon that was just outside my bedroom window and how this giant, mean, bad storm could easily grab my rig and Tim and Maggie and I in it and toss us off the top of the canyon and into the steep rock below. Prayers began forming in my mind. After crouching low beside our bunks, I decided to move forward and sit in front seat. Should I put on my seatbelt just in case? Would it help me survive the tumble over the edge? Tim joined me up front as we watched a family parked ahead of us jump out of their travel trailer and seek refuge in their truck. No way would I want to be in a travel trailer in this stuff.   In time, I told myself to chill out, stop this nonsense, get ahold of yourself, girl.  Geez. At some point I grabbed my phone and started taking pictures and videos.   I I have no idea how long the storm lasted, but at some point we relaxed enough that Tim and I managed to go back to sleep.  We had survived that storm only to have a round 2 storm that snuck in around 3:30.  The rig never went over the cliff, the solar panels survived unharmed, and we saw no evidence of a tornado. In the morning, the only evidence of the brutal attack was some puddles that were rapidly soaking into the dry ground. I still don’t think I like South Dakota thunderstorms.

Being the good yachtsman Tim is, he checked his SailFlow app to find out what the winds had been. We had a period of steady 20-30 mph winds and then the spike to 60. Today as I began to write this section, I went back to Campendium and found this review obviously written by the dad of the family we watched saving themselves from their travel trailer.

After all this excitement, you may be bored by my next post.we’re heading into the green, serene farmlands of Minnesota. Hopefully you’ll hang with me.

Leaving Capital Reef, we headed north toward Provo for a good sleep at Rowley’s Red Barn, a free Harvest Host just off the highway with the mountains for a backdrop. We planned for the next two nights to also be Harvest Host locations as we neared Jackson, Wy.

We chose Melvin Brewing in Alpine, Wy thinking it looked like a good spot for our next evening. It turned out better than good. It really was great! We had our choice of sites on a small peninsula that jutted out into the reservoir. Not only did we have beautiful views, but the beer was darn good too.

The next day was a short drive into Jackson and an opportunity to be a tourist and do some shopping. We weren’t as thrilled with the location of Jackson Hole Still Works- notice I didn’t take any pictures- but their vodka laced slushees made up for the lackluster location.

Just something to throw in here. As we like to do a lot of boondocking, finding places to dump and take on potable water is an important piece of business for us. I may have mentioned before that we use the app Campendium quite a bit for this and for finding places go camp for the night. Campendium led us to the Afton City Park RV Dump Station. But after watching the Lady in front of us dump her black tank contents onto the pavement and using the hose to wash the sewage into the dump, we decided to move on. Up the road, we filled our propane tanks at the Exxon station. They were even kind enough to allow us to use the spigot on the side of their building to fill our water tank. Using Campedium again we found KJ’s Alpine, a gas station/convenience store. The town of Alpine and KJ’s put in a dump for RVers. Cost- just a donation. Not a bad deal. We are constantly impressed by the resources some small towns provide for travelers. We greatly appreciate it.

It was time to think about heading west to Rapid City and we chose a route that would take us through the Bridger-Teton National Forest, through Casper, Douglas and the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. We saw snow banks in the mountains and cattle drives in the Grasslands. That evening was spent at Douglas’ free Riverside Park; a nice little find right on the N. Platte River. Free potable water and dump. You know Tim and I enjoy a bit of history along with our enjoyment of scenic beauty. Well little did we know when we chose Douglas for our overnight stop that the town played a very important role in the discovery of the first Jackalope. It is said that two hunting taxidermist brothers “discovered” the Jackalope in the 1930s and sold its carcass to a local hotel thus beginning the search for the elusive creature.

Continuing east through North Dakota, we were surprised to find Freedom Mines, the largest lignite mine in the US.

Coming up- The Marina at Sheridan Lake, Boondocking in the Badlands, and the mother of all storms.

This little gem is the reason I’m delayed in getting another post out. Right now we are at Sheridan Lake Marina just outside Rapid City, visiting my nephew and his wife, Jessie and Mackenzie and this sweet, adorable babe. It’s been wonderful spending a few days in the Black Hills at their newly purchased marina. I’ll get back to this later.

When I last wrote we were on our way to Moab and Arches NP. Our route took us through Monument Valley.

As we were nearing the end of Monument Valley, we passed a sign warning of a major slowdown area and people standing in the street. This was a strange sign. Why would people be standing in the middle of the street? There were plenty of pull off areas for picture takers. As we reached the top of rise, we could look ahead into the next alley and sure enough, far ahead of us there were people standing the middle of the highway. Then we realized they were actually videoing themselves. That’s when I turned around and looked at the road we had just driven from their perspective. I recognized this view. To confirm, I googled Forest Gump in Monument Valley. Sure enough. Remember in the movie when Forrest stops his cross-country run? This was it!

Shortly after this, we came to the road to Valley of the Gods. My dad had strongly suggested that we go there. He had camped there several years ago and loved it. Sorry Dad, we tried. But the dirt road into Valley of the Gods was very rutted and steep. Not meant for our rig. Friends David and Gayle did go in but they have a 4 wheel drive high clearance van and they said it was beautiful, but a bit of a hairy drive. Instead we continued on toward Moab and some National Forest land just beyond.

Moab was not on my “gotta do” list.  I had heard the streets could be zooish; crowded with lines of cars and OHVs.  After driving through Sedona, I was not keen on having a repeat.  But Tim wanted to go and check it our, so we looked into it further.  Ok, Arches NP was very close, Canyonlands NP and Capital Reef were also not too far, so we headed on.  So very glad we did.  We had to drive through Moab to get to the entrance to Arches.  Moab was more like what I hoped Sedona was.  Yes, it has its share of fancy, but it also has a more earthy feel- lots of tatted arms and dred locks, but Patagonia jackets too.  Unfortunately, our arrival at Arches was not what we hoped.  The park was full and therefore closed. “Turn Around” was message on the sign.  ”Try again in 3-5 hours” was flashing.  Using the app Campendium, we found several Forest Service campgrounds off Hwy 128 between us and Arches.  We’d read that these sites fill up fast, but we hoped the fact that it was a Monday would help . After stopping at the first few campgrounds only to find all sites taken, we were a little concerned.  That concern grew after we tried a few more.  Getting close to the end of the choices, we found the Big Bend Overflow Camping Lot. It was perfect. What a backdrop and just across the street was the Colorado River. For our evening entertainment, we watched some young adults practicing their bouldering .

I set my alarm for 5:30 wake up so we could hit Arches before the rush. So glad we did. When we arrive a little after 6am, we drove right in. By the time we left at 9ish, cars were lined up and waiting. Just a note, we did not do any lengthy hiking in the National Parks. Dogs are not allowed on the trails in the parks and we weren’t comfortable leaving Maggie for too long alone in the rig.

I have to add a couple pics from the funky little town of Hanksville where we stopped for diesel. A little yellow school bus that had been converted to an RV pulled up beside us. Believe me, we have seen all kinds of rigs on this trip.

As we nearedCapital Reef, we traded red stone for whites and tans.

Capital Reef-

From here, we headed north toward Provo and beyond to the Tetons before turning east to the Black Hills. That will be in the next blog.

There’s not much better than going to breathtakingly, beautiful sites other than going to breathtakingly, beautiful sites with great friends. A few months back as Tim and I roughed out our plans for this trip, we talked to David and Gayle about their travels through this area and the possibility of them meeting up with us somewhere on our journey. Soon Roy and Karen were added into the mix and before we knew it, a plan was being formed.

Heading north from Silver City, the landscape made some amazing changes. From mountains, to rocky riversides, and then flat desert plateaus.

Petrified Forest National Park

Forest? Not necessarily. What is here actually was a riverbed. 225 million years ago what we now see as dry desert land was lush and green rain forest. Trees upriver “died or were knocked down by wind and water, many were carried downstream and buried by layers of sediment. The logs soaked up groundwater and silica from volcanic ash and over time crystallized into quartz. Different minerals created the rainbow of colors seen in many places.”

As you look at these pictures, notice the sky. Rain showers skirted the area, but it seemed that most of the time the clouds rained, but the drops never made it to the ground.

The land the National Park is on was also once the home of prehistoric People who left petroglyphs and evidence of pueblos.

I love these hardy wildflowers.

The Painted Desert

Winslow

“Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.  Such a fine site to see.  There’s a girl, my lord, in a flat bed Ford slowin down to take a look at me”.  

The beginning of the second verse of Take It Easy.  Who doesn’t know this song?  OMG!  It’s a classic.  Written by Jackson Browne with the help of Glenn Fry and made famous by The Eagles.

I’m not sure either Tim or I knew that Winslow, Arizona was even a real place and we sure wouldn’t have guessed that the local Winslowians would commemorate this rock classic with a park.  BUT, we were driving along old Route 66 and one never knows what slice of historical memorabilia you might find beside the road.

Speaking of never knowing what you’ll find, did you know that the best preserved meteor impact site in the WORLD was just outside Winslow?  It’s amazing what you find out when you travel!  It’s about a mile across and can hold 20 football fields on its floor.  It also cost $20 a head to see it. It was cool, and offered a short movie and a 1 hour, 1 mile guided walking tour.  We decided to skip the tour and head to Sedona.

Our spot for the night was just Homolovi State Park. In the morning, Maggie was intent on something outside.

Sedona

And then there was Sedona. The sudden beauty of red rock mountains after the flat desert made both Tim and I let out a murmured “ oh wow”. But what soon followed was “Oh Shit” as we encountered the line of cars and the congestion of tourists, shops, and hotels on narrow, round about laden streets.  I have heard about Sedon for years and have always thought of it as a quaint mountain town with artsy farts craft stores, home brew joints and backpackers cruising the streets. Boy was I wrong.  This town said “Money” as in they had it and they wanted you to give them more.  Being there in a 25’ rig didn’t make driving through town or finding parking easy.  Class A rigs need to stay away!  This place is not for you.  After a couple attempts at finding parking, we managed to find lot that we could fit in.  Being who we are, we checked with Google and found a local brew pub a couple blocks away and headed off.  Sedona was just not meant to be for us.  The brewery was closed and we had had our fill.  We’d seen enough of Sedona.

Just some thoughts-

Have you seen the movie, Nomadland ? Tim and I watched one evening and found myself really getting the Frances McDormand character. I felt I understood a lot of her choices. A widow who lost her home and chose to live in her van, traveling around working in various spots as she wanted. Tonight as Tim and I spend the night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot for the convenience of it, I look to both side of us. To my left is red van that appears to be a mid 90’s vintage. I’ve watched a heavy set man straightening what appears to be all his belongings inside. He has put his shades up and seems to be settled in for the evening. To my right is a senior woman eating her dinner in the front seat of her silver mini van. She is alone and has put away the map that she studied earlier. Scattered across the back of this parking lot are travelers of various sorts. Some I believe are like us, on an adventure of our choosing. We have choices. We could be living happily in our home in Clear Lake Shores or sitting on our boat. We do not have to be parked in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. It’s just convenient. I wonder if this place is just a convenience for some of my neighbors or is it more of a necessity. Do they need to find a spot for the night. Are these the homeless people I read about who spend their days and nights drifting because they have no place to go? Are they house less and prefer to live in their vehicle rather than be tied to a building? Or are they like us, enjoying being able to travel as we please and see the wonders of the US? Part of the intrigue of traveling is meeting people with different life experiences and different life expectations. It deepens my awareness of how truly fortunate I am.

I realized as I reread my last post that I haven’t said anything about our long term plans. This blog started as a way to document our boating travels. In prior years, I have told you about our adventures aboard SubJect to Change, our 49’ trawler. So what are we doing in New Mexico on a 24’ RV? A short recap here- Our trawler is still snug in heated storage in Cheboygan, Mi. Heated because it is still very cold up there. Tim acquiesced to my wanderlust February 2020 and agreed to buy the RV as long as I agreed to continue boating. Not a hard deal for me since I love traveling on both. So the RV has become our mode of transportation to wherever the boat is. This year we plan to be on the road to the boat for about 6 weeks. We’re heading west, thru parts of New Mexico and Arizona then north thru Utah to maybe Idaho, possibly into Wyoming, definitely South Dakota, on to Minnesota and we are booked Memorial Day weekend in Bailey Harbor, Door County, Wi. The boat is scheduled for drop in on June 9, but we can adjust that a bit if we want to. As with most of our travels, some stops are scheduled, but many we leave to whim. We should name the RV -Subject to Change II- but that would be unwieldy. Anyway, that’s what’s happening.