Sonya's Blog Day 7 - To Mount Rushmore

Sonya’s Blog - Day 7 - Monday, June 29th - Driving to Mount Rushmore KOA

I made the latte’s this morning and I thought our machine was indeed broken. I had to dig out the manual and figure the thing out. Some buttons got pushed during it’s fall and I figured it all out and got the latte’s made before we hit the road. Works fine, which is a relief.

We are on the road again so that we can get to the Black Hills in South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. It is not a long drive, but we don’t move the fastest. Blake looked up the area around Mt. Rushmore and there are no huge cities or towns close by so we decided to go to Gillette, Wyoming first and go to Walmart - groan! We needed some hooks and various other items to make the trailer even more organized and we thought we would stock up on groceries while we were there. We got there fine and managed to park the RV in a nice spot, but Walmart was a nightmare. So busy and big and it just took forever. It was a necessary evil and I am glad it is over with.

We were traveling on the I-90 to get to South Dakota, but just after we left Gillette Blake saw a sign that said Scenic Route to Mount Rushmore, take Highway 16. So we stopped at a rest stop and looked that up to see if it would take hours longer, but it was actually less time so we decided to check it out. I took over the driving at this point. Highway 16 was a good secondary highway with pretty decent shoulders so it was a good drive. We went through all sorts of small towns that were very quaint and it was much prettier than the I-90, plus we saw Antelope! That was pretty cool. Everything was good until we entered Custer National Forest and all of a sudden we were descending down a very windy, narrow road with a sheer drop off on the right. Blake asked if he should take over the driving - uh where! The shoulder was non-existent and I had a line up of cars behind me so I had to suck it up and not kill us. Luckily, not too many cars were going the other way and I could hog the road going around some of the bends because that RV doesn’t corner the smoothest. It is hardly like those Slingshots we saw which corner like a dream! We survived and Natasha got a picture of the last part of the road as we were pulling out of it. It was a beautiful area, but I missed most of it as I was so focused on the road and not going off the edge.

We got to the Mount Rushmore KOA in Palmer Gulch around 5 PM, which was great. No supper on the road! It is a massive KOA, the largest we have been in yet. It has 2 swimming pools, a small waterslide area, large splash park, climbing wall, horseback riding stables (Natasha is so excited), tons of camping spots and tons of cabins. I am sure it has other things too. We biked around and it just seems to go on forever. We are going to find out about the horseback riding in the morning and hopefully get on a trail ride. We are also going to visit Mount Rushmore and hike around, hopefully Kizzy is allowed to come with us. There is a lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore that is supposed to be quite good so we will go to that tonight as well. Mount Rushmore is only 7 miles from the campground, so it won’t take too long. Hill City is quite close as well and it is supposed to be quite nice. We also took a picture for a family that is visiting Mt. Rushmore. They met here for a little reunion of sorts. Some are from Iowa and others from Florida. Blake was chatting them up, or course, and getting some travel tips. The one couple lives in the Florida Keys area in a town called ? We exchanged cards and we are supposed to give them a call if we make it down there, which we must do as it is something to see! Everyone drives golf carts around the town there and they said they would get out the golf carts and tour us around! It’s going to be awesome.

I also finished my book, The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns by Margaret Dilloway and it was okay. It is about a lady that has kidney disease and is waiting for her third transplant. She has been on dialysis for 8 years and she is hard to match due to the ravages her body has been through since she was a trial. The doctor’s missed something when she was a kid and that led to the destruction of her kidneys. It is a look at the complex world of waiting for a donor and how people are rated and put on the list. The main character also grows roses, not only grows them but also to hybridize them, this is her hobby. She lives on her own and has no family of her own, mostly due to being so sick growing up. It is about growing roses, the process of hybridizing and going to Rose shows and trying to win for your new breed. There is pretty big money in it if you can get a rose that is Queen of Show and the distributors want to pick it up to breed and sell. Who knew. There are also some family drama issues that come up in the book when her 15 year old niece shows up to live with her. Easy to read and covered topics I hadn’t read about. I understood more about the the organ donor process and the fear of waiting for an organ as we had friends in Rocky whose daughter needed a heart transplant. Taylor got her heart transplant and we still exchange Christmas Cards with them, she is the same age as Natasha. The ongoing health issues, even if you get your organ transplant, are life long and transplanted organs don’t last as long as someone with a healthy set of organs. There is always the fear of infection and rejection and just so many issues that healthy people don’t even think about. It was interesting to learn about dialysis and the process involved and how restrictive a person’s diet is as well as how limited their fluid intake is. I liked this part of the book the best, but it made me think a lot about Taylor and how her heart is holding up after almost 10 years. I sure hope all is well and that she will get at least another 10 years before needing another heart.

I think I will read The Last Juror by John Grisham next. I don’t think I read it yet and it was on our bookshelf and I always enjoy Grisham.

Unfortunately there is terrible wifi at this campsite again and hardly any cell service. We are right in the Black Hills, which are amazing! However, this obviously affects the internet and cell service. Well the poor internet connection is because so many people are trying to get on all the time and it is just painfully slow, about an hour to load a page. As a result our posts will be delayed until we get to Kansas city. We are writing them up, but will not be able to post them. I am really behind on mine as we had a good internet connection in Buffalo, but Tash stole the computer and updated all of hers then proudly handed us back the computer and said “I’m all up to date”. Meanwhile it is after 10 and Blake and I cannot even keep our eyes open and ours are not uploaded and up to date! She is a huge brat.

Isaac’s learnings since heading out:

Pictures of trees in Montana (Lodgepole Pine) and Wyoming (Aspen) - which one is Coniferous and which one is Deciduous?

Learned how to convert miles to kilometers, what is the equation?

Learned how to convert gallons to litres? Is petrol cheaper in the States or Canada? Why?

Cooked supper and made lunch

Helped take care of Kizmet’s needs

Physical - lots of hikes and walking around, bike ride on Monday

Reading?

Natasha’s learnings:

Books read and comments

Can convert miles to kilometers and vice versa, gallons and litres.

Helping to plan routes and schedule our days.

Cooked supper and made lunch

Helped take care of Kizmet

Physical - lots of hikes and walking around, bike ride on Monday