Go West! Part 2

If you thought we "squoze" a lot into Day 1, just wait til you see what we did Day 2!

We were rather overambitious with our Day 2 itinerary. Before we could even leave The Badlands, we took time for an early hike up one of the nearby rock formations:

I think the photos speak for themselves. It was a great start to the day, and got us a bit of exercise. From here, we drove the scenic route, which I highly recommend, over to Mount Rushmore!

Yep. Those are the guys!

State flags line the walkway to the scenic overlook.

The best selfie we managed. Don't know who the guy is behind Andy, but we hope he had fun. :)

Is that him again? Hmmm....

Photobomber replaced by my water bottle. :)

Andy and I had just visited Mount Rushmore the year before, but it was fun travelling with Jeff and Kathy and the two cute campers!

Our attempt at a photo op with the campers and the faces:

Well, we tried anyway...

No time to waste. It's off to Devil's Tower! (Cue Close Encounters soundtrack music...)

Scenic overlook before Devil's Tower. Both campers, Devil's Tower, and...Andy?...all in one pic.

Though the trip was getting long, we at least had lots of sights to look forward to seeing. We stopped briefly for a photo op and break here before continuing to the park. 

The line to get in was slow-moving, but that's ok. Like any good tourist, I took the opportunity to hop out of the car and get a pic of both the Scamp and B@R T@B heading in to the park entrance! Love the sign and the tower with the two tiny campers. :)

Parking was surprisingly easy. We were told the RV parking area was full, and to go to a drop off point to leave the two campers, unhitch one vehicle, and drive it with all four of us, up to the visitor parking. Yeah... no.

As we drove up, we noticed several (like, a dozen or more) large RVs leaving. We reasoned they left perfectly good parking spots at the top. We were correct!

It was probably easy for us as we both had tiny rigs, but here we are, parked in the RV area, with an awesome view of the tower!

We filled our water bottles, emptied our bladders, and began the easy walk around the tower.

Jeff walked part way with us, then due to stupid painful plantar fasciitis, decided to wait while the other three of us did about a 15 minute walk, only partway around the tower, before turning back. Once again, worth it! Got some great pics and even learned some stuff!

Kathy, on the rocks.

Me, in front of the rocks, still on the path, because rules. :)

Andy and Kathy "climbing."

Only the best pic ever taken by anyone, anywhere! 💖

My teaching skills these days. Take a pic of the explanation, tell readers to zoom in to read. :)

After a brief stop at the visitors' center and gift shop, we took off for Sibley Lake Campground in Wyoming.

This was what I'd call an "uphill drive." Kathy and I had selected and reserved this campground months ago, as geographically, it put us 1/2 way between Devil's Tower and our campground outside of Yellowstone, Henry's Lake. What we didn't realize at the time of booking, Sibley Lake is located at the top of a mountain! All was well, except for one little oxygen sensor that went out on our Escape. It just meant a lot of stopping so we didn't overheat as we pulled the suddenly somewhat heavier T@b up the mountain side.

Yeah...we started aaaaaaalll the way down there!

The more we climbed, the cooler it got! We watched as the outside temp continued to DROP!

The campground itself was rustic. We had an electric hookup, but no running water. Andy filled our freshwater tank with water from a spigot, and we used it for showers and cooking. As far as the bathroom goes, we were actually pretty close to what might have been the cleanest vault toilets I'd ever seen! The campground hosts told us they clean them about 3x a day. Their efforts were much appreciated.

I loved the campsite we had. Unfortunately, we weren't close to Jeff and Kathy, but we made the best of it. The sites were spectacular! Lots of mature trees and personal space!

I took these pics before it got too late in the evening to have any light, then went in the camper to change to something warmer while Kathy and Jeff set up their site, and Andy chatted with the campground hosts. When I came out of the camper to get a fire going, my neighbor reported to me that I had just missed the elk walking through the back of my campsite. BUMMER!

Since we arrived so late, we did a quick meal and had a couple of drinks around the campfire before bed. We all wished we could have spent more time here, because we didn't know ahead of time what a treasure this place was. We decided to wake up early the next morning and do a little exploring before heading to Yellowstone.

Not a bad view to wake up to, huh?

Kathy and I decided to take a walk down to the actual lake we hadn't had time to see yet. The hosts gave us good directions, and in about four minutes, we made it to the lake. The walk there was downhill, tree lined, and so pretty.

Such an easy trip!

Once I had phone service again (as it didn't work anywhere around the campground), I posted this pic to my Facebook page. My brother commented that he swears he could see a bear watching us, so I looked a little closer and found this:

OMG! A BEAR!

Heh. Now that we found this friendly fella, he would be appearing in more of our trip photos... 

Anyway, the lake was clear, calm, and wonderful! Take a look:

We were the only people there, which was a welcome surprise. We found out later that often the elk are there bathing in the morning hours, and we were bummed they weren't there with us.

Still, we walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed the scenery and solitude.

Lakeside selfie!

This is my second favorite pic from this trip. Serene.

I snuck in a little of Day 3 here, because I wanted to share the whole experience at Sibley Lake before tackling the next post...Jellystone! I mean...Yellowstone! Part 3 gets us to Yellowstone National Park, and our campsite at Henry's Lake, ID.

Happy Camping!

Peggy

Go West! Part 1

On August 19th, 2016, we left with our Scamp buddies, Jeff and Kathy, for a trip out West. We made a lot of stops along the way, so I've decided to separate the trip out into segments. Part 1 will include day one of our trip, from Emmetsburg to Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

We got an early start to our day, as we knew we wanted to make some stops and sightsee before dark. To hold true to our camping experiences, our day started out with rain and thunderstorms. Super. We drove a very soggy few hours and took a break in Mitchell, SD to see the world famous Corn Palace! 

Scamp butt! :)

Now, I don't know if you've ever been there, but it is certainly a sight to see. Words can't describe it, and pictures simply don't capture what it really is. You have to go! There. I've done my part to support tourism of the Corn Palace. Here are some pics from our stop there:

An opportunity for a corn cob selfie? Don't mind if we do, thank you!

Yep...that's the Corn Palace. Huge panels of the exterior are decorated with corn, and 2016's theme was Rock of Ages. Each year, the Palace has a new theme, you know...so you won't get bored coming to see it more than once. While it may be a bit on the cheesy side, I do marvel at the skill it took to conceive and produce the art with such an unusual medium.

And that's just the outside! But wait! There's more!

Inside, you'll find all kinds of (interesting?) information about the Corn Palace, see lots of photos, have the option of purchasing several touristy souvenirs, and taking some funny photos!

It is exactly how it looks.

Ooh! Did I mention they have one of those penny squishing machines? Yep! Cuz you don't want to forget your time at the Corn Palace! 

It only costs 50 cents to ruin one perfectly good penny!

Just look at those faces! That is our honest to goodness real reaction to Mitchell's Corn Palace. Time to go on with our trip, I'd say!

While leaving Mitchell, we spent priceless seconds reliving the fun that we had there, but we were looking forward to our next stop, our campground at Badlands National Park! 

By this point in the trip, the rain had stopped, and we were faced with an unbelievably stunning day. Sun, puffy clouds, absolutely brilliant blue skies. THIS is what we'd hoped for as we approached The Badlands.

Now those are views that would never get old! Every time I looked out the window, I was greeted with a fresh, new landscape.

We drove right to our campground in the park with ease. The campground itself was a little disappointing, nothing more than a large circle of asphalt with campers parked on either side of the pavement. Boring, but at least the views were pretty!

We did get rather excited as we arrived...there was another T@b already there and set up! You can see it in the background of the pic:

The owners weren't home at first, but Andy met them later at the water spigot, and had a nice chat. This was their first trip in their new camper, and they were really excited!

The yellow bucket I bought at Big Lots turned out to be a fabulous water carrier!

Once we were set up at the campground, we unhitched one car and drove through the park to see some more fabulous views, and take a trip into Wall, SD to experience the wonder that is Wall Drug. :)

We pulled over at a scenic overlook, figuring it would be one of the best places to catch big views, and it certainly didn't disappoint. However, I had to face my worst fear: snakes. There was a sign, quite clearly posted, alerting tourists to native rattlesnakes in the grasses. OMG. Snakes. No! Just...NO. For those of you who know me well, you know I really had to be brave. We crossed the wooden boardwalk through the tall grasses to reach the overlook, and I didn't see a single, icky, horrible snake. Didn't stop my toes from sweating and my head from spinning...

WORTH IT!!! Loved looking out at all the formations, and swapped cameras with another group so we'd each be able to have a whole group pic. :)  After a windy, gorgeous experience, I hightailed my butt back across the boardwalk and with much relief and feeling of personal victory, jumped back in the car to head to Wall Drug.

(Pause for applause.)

Wall Drug is an entirely different cheesy experience than the Corn Palace. There's way more souvenirs and touristy things to occupy your time, and I have no trouble admitting I love all of it. I'll post all the rated PG and under pics we took. Jeff and Andy are responsible for the NSFW pics...

Here it is, in all its glory!

A spot to hitch yer horse.

Kathy riding a giant Jackalope!

Me, cheesin' with a bull.

You meet all sorts of beings at Wall Drug.

She was driving really, really fast!

Distracted driver! Dropped the reins to take a pic!

The perfect Melodrama pose.

Our first glimpse of Mount Rushmore was underwhelming...

...so Andy and Kathy "picked" a new pose!

Finally, we headed back to the campground to enjoy a quick bite to eat, and an enjoyable evening of sunsets and stargazing!

 Thanks for sticking with this long post! I hope you enjoyed this little window into Day 1 of our Go West Adventure! In my next post, I'll cover our experiences of Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, and an incredible campground in Wyoming!

Happy Camping!
Peggy

The Icky Side of Camping

Not all parts of our camping experiences are glamping. Some of it is just gross, like the emptying of the gray water and black water tanks.

Our gray water tank is 19 gallons, and it includes shower water and sink water. This is only a little bit gross. The black water tank holds 6 gallons of yucky used toilet water! That is a LOT gross! Fortunately, for both of these things, our modern camper is set up to have very little contact with either one.

As we camp, the tanks under the camper fill up. Now, I'm going to possibly share TMI here...we do use the toilet...but we don't use it for solid waste. We've decided that particular usage will be for emergencies only. :) Anyway, this keeps our black water tank from being too disgusting, and it doesn't fill up too fast. We are able to camp for 3 days without needing to dump. When we finish camping, we stop by a trailer dump station, usually located within the campground we're staying in. Sometimes, if a campground doesn't have a station, they have a deal worked out with a nearby campground so you have one to use. You can also stop by a campground and talk to a campground official and offer to pay to dump.

Let's start with what a dump station is:

Here's one!

Basically, what you'll find at the station is a hole/drain in the ground with a cover, a fresh water (non-drinkable) hose, and sometimes a potable (drinkable) hose. As you can imagine, the goal is to dump the contents of your black water and gray water tanks with as little spillage or contact as possible. It's a pretty straight forward process, and if you do it right, you'll barely come in contact with the water. This particular site had a sign posted to explain what to do.

That's most of the story, but it leaves out a few obvious and some unspoken rules. The rule that I feel is most important: wear disposable gloves! It is possible that you'll come in contact with icky things, so be smart, and protect yourself. When you've finished dumping, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer to prevent spread of germs! There are many more, and I found this blog post that kind of sums them up:  http://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-dump-station-etiquette-rules/ The overall ideas are

1. Make sure your gate valves are shut tightly. Drips and spills are gross.

2. Don't spread germs.

3. Dump black tank first, then gray.

4. Pull forward, away from the dump area, to use the potable water hose. Avoid cross-contamination.

5. Be quick! Don't make others wait for you while you multitask.

SO far, this has gone well for us. We do think it's a little funny when we pull into a dump station next to a big rig. We are in and out so much faster because our tanks are tiny like our camper!

I hope you've learned something, and I hope it didn't bore you too much. It's a part of the camping experience, so I wanted to share!

Happy camping! (and dumping)

Peggy