From Black Hills to Northern Minnesota

We have made it to our summer destination. Loon Lake in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. It was quite an adventure with a new storm on our tail at each stint. I have heard of Storm Chasers, but what do you call people who are chased by storms? FREAKED OUT!

We left towns in the Black Hills under water in our wake but somehow we made it out, dried out and headed towards the Bad Lands. Before we arrived, I expected to see ugly, black, moon-like earth, but the Badlands are beautiful!

I was told the Bad Lands got their name from pioneers trying to cross them. Not only did they have the obvious problems with the terrain, but any water in the area was very alkaline. Plus, there are no porta-potties anywhere!

Our first Minnesota stop was at a resort called Schreier's. 

A little bumpy on the entry . . . but we were warned. lol

Inside it was huge and very well kept. Our site was tight in between two other seasonal rigs, up on a hill overlooking Lake Shetek .This is a picture of the main entrance and the putt-putt golf course.

Mark's oldest friend . . . stop, rewind . . . Mark's friend since they were in grade school. Pat's not old, he is Mark's age . . . wait, that IS old! lol Pat has a nice chunk of property in the nearby area so he came by, stayed with us and showed us around. 

His uncle's farm, now inhabited by his cousin, her family, a dog and a gazillion very tame and loving cats; was one of our stops. We took a walk down to the "crick" (instead of creek; it's a Minnesota thing). We had to literally walk through a herd of cows. I have never done that without a fence in between me and the cows. FUN! It was very hard for me not to reach out and hug a cow, but as soon as I noticed there was a bull in the bunch, I lost my courage.

On our way back to the farmhouse, I noticed the cows had begun gathering some furniture for their bonfire that night. Looked to me like somebody must have let the word "beef" slip out . . . I told Mark we should probably get a move on, so we gave Pat a nudge and we headed on out.

This was one of the smallest towns I have ever been in, yet they still had a JOHN DEERE dealership and a DAIRY QUEEN. Nobody uses a push mower in Minnesota. I think it is so they can move faster than the bugs when they mow their giant lawns.

Where Pat's property is located in Fulda is absolutely stunning. You can see forever. 

Fields and fields of corduroy and plush velvet land moving softly in the breeze.

An occasional farmhouse encased in trees for protection.

And the local pub food was delish!

PAT!

MARK

Yes I married him. He is a hand full, but I give him a good run for his money too.

It all works out in the end.

As we headed back in toward the city, there were just some things that left me wondering . . . 

WHY?

 

Maybe some things are best left a mystery.  Our first stay in the city was at Lebanon Hills where I was able to do some shopping with my fashion guru, Debi. Then we moved on to Ham Lake Resort RV Park and found a great little site right on a pond.

We had a lot of space to stretch out, have a bonfire, entertain and it was so private.

THINGS I SAW WHILE HERE:

Fireflies

Orioles

Blue Jays

Indigo Bunting (bird)

Yellow Finch

Cardinals

Wood Duck and her 1 to 2 day old babies

Merganser Duck (dives underwater)

Fluffy Geese babies

Goats

Mules

Emus

Chickens

THINGS I DIDN'T SEE BUT HEARD:

Frogs

Peacocks (their call sounds like, "help me")

THINGS I DIDN'T SEE BUT FELT:

No-see'em bugs! (Damn things bit right thru my thick sweat pants and my nickers!)

The humidity...(Ugh!)

Next time I pack for a summer in Minnesota I will bring only dry-wick sports clothing. I wonder if they make bras out of that stuff.

I think I figured out why they call this the Land of 10,000 Lakes. They aren't talking in the ground, they are referring to the lake in the middle of every buxom woman's boozies! (And I am sure there are more than 10,000!)  

Pat and his wife Dawn hosted a barbecue at their house with the whole group of guys (and their spouses) that have been friends since college, some since high school.

Mark, Pat, Ted, Tim, Mark and my Mark

The Whole gang, minus my Mark, who was taking the photo

I was sad to leave Ham Lake and our friends, but we were anxious to get set up for the summer. Packing up and unpacking every time you relocate is tiring after a bit, even though as time goes by we get faster and faster at our routine.

My observations so far of Minnesota? Dairy Queen and John Deere are the faces of Minnesota. Often a Dairy Queen on every corner. Houses, yards and power poles are giant in size and so are the hearts of every Minnesotan I have met.

I am blessed. I married my best friend (stop gagging; this is what married folk say), I love his family, AND I love all of his friends! Added bonus, his friends are all married to amazing women. 

Hard to put into words the uniqueness of a born and bred Minnesotan so I wont try, other than to say; if you find one, keep 'em. They make the best lifetime friends!

Boom Boom Pow!

We pulled into Horse Thief Campground Friday afternoon. While checking in, Mark spotted a newspaper from Wednesday. On the front page was an article showing that Lusk, that idyllic little town that I posted about, had about half the rain in one day that they normally get in a year. Consequently, the rain washed out their bridge and flooded the town.  How sad.

We got set up and shortly afterwards Mark became very ill. He was like a Roman candle; shooting from both ends. I tossed him some water with electrolytes in it, along with a can of Lysol spray and closed him off in the back of the rig to quarantine him and his cootie-germs.

Cotye and I pulled out the sofa bed and slept out front. He may only be 40 lbs, but he sleeps like he’s a 125 lb dog. I spent the night curled up like a ball in the corner of the bed, while he stretched out like a king. He usually sleeps in his kennel, but it was in the back with the sickie-guy, and I didn’t want Cotye bugging him. So this was his first sleep on a bed. I didn’t have the heart to spoil it for him. The kink in my neck was worth it.  =)

This morning Mark was back to normal and we were planning on driving into the little town of Hill City for a bit of shopping. However the weather got nasty real quick so we stayed in and watched a video.

Even though our phones are out of range at this location, we both got a Flash Flood warning on them. Pretty sure one of the lightning bolts hit here in the park. We are in the middle of some nasty stuff at the moment!

Mark got on-line and checked out Weather Underground and found that Hill City was currently a foot under water. I think we’ll stay put for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, the thunder is so strong it shakes the RV. According to the alerts, it is supposed to continue until around 3:30 a.m. – hoping for a good light show come dark!

I say; Inflate the tires, we may have to float ourselves outta here!

If we disappear off the grid, I imagine it will be because we are floating away on a newly made river . . .

No worries!

(Random pic I found on the internet - fitting! - Only I'll be holding a wine glass

and my legs are not hairy!) 

Custer State Park, South Dakota

As many of you may know from my Facebook postings, we had quite a bit of excitement Monday night at Agostura Lake. 

The Rangers came around and warned everyone of high winds and severe thunder and lightning. 

(Something wicked this way comes!)

I was amazed at how much of a beating the Tumbleweed could take. No leaks. No dents. No landing in OZ. She did well. Us, not so much. It is hard to sleep when it sounds like you are in the midst of a hurricane. Wind, rain, gumball size hail; much, much louder in an RV than if you are in a house.

The following morning we packed up and moved to Legion Lake Campground in Custer State Park where apparently, it is all about the Bison.

Our first buffalo sighting was a bit different than expected . . .

(♫ I'm blue, da da dee da da doo ♪)

(They really take their Speed Control serious here!)

(Legion Lake)

Nice little campground, but no full hook-ups. (Boo) They did, however, make up for it by having a nice little restaurant on the lake, that also had a Starbuck’s inside. (Happy Camper)

"Daddy wait! You forgot to take me!"

:

(Mark takes Cotye on the most important part of setting up at a new campground;

marking all of the trees! Cotye was here!)

After we got settled in at our campsite, we all got into the Toad to take a drive around the wildlife viewing loop. We were surprised at how many critters we saw!

Very Large Herd of Bison - Lotsa Babies

Here we have Bison in the background, a Prong Horn looking at us, and a

Prairie Dog looking at the Prong Horn!

Baby Bison

Mommy Bison was right there keeping an eye on us.

It was a bit nerve wracking to have such a large creature eating right next to me.

I had to wonder if she was pondering on if I'd taste better than that grass she was grazing on 

"Sorry. My log. Get your own firewood." (Yes Sir Mr. Bison. No Worries)

We almost didn't get out of there when these two Yahoos decided to

 stand right in front of our car.

 

Cotye typically loves animals, all kinds - but he wasn't too sure about these Bison!

Bunny

Deer

Elk hiding behind small trees

Prong Horn

Turkey Vulture (close up)

Turkey Vultures playing Sentinel 

Chubby lil Prairie Dog

Chipmunk

Texas Longhorn's - Extremely grateful they kept these fenced in!

Wildlife is always the highlight of the trip for me.

Stopped at one of the park’s outhouse facilities, opened the door and out charged a bee the size of a Buick. He was obviously very angry about being locked inside for only God knows how long - so angry that he plowed right into me, nearly knocking me off my feet. Truth. He hit me so hard, it briefly knocked him out and he fell to the ground. (Better him than me!)

As I went to step over him, he flew back up with a vengeance (I think he thought I was going to step on him) and came at me AGAIN! This time I gave him a good, solid kick into the next campground.

Meanwhile, Mark had turned the car around and pulled up just in time to see what appeared to be me dancing about like a mad woman. How he did not see that bee is baffling. 

However, shortly thereafter when he got out of the car, he yelled; “Did you see the size of that bee?” "Uh, yah!!!" (I find that every once in a while it is good to have proof that you aren't completely bonkers!)

Tuesday we took another drive, this time to check out the area. Here are some photos of what we found:

Once again we have the road all to ourselves

Beautiful colors

Pristine

Jagged Skyline

Almost looks like the Hoodoo's you would find at Bryce Canyon, only gray

Very Bizarre Rocks

This one was called The Eye of the Needle. Appropriate.

This is a rock tunnel we had to pass through.

Glad we left the RV back at camp!

From inside the rock tunnel

These should be the rocks that they filmed, National Treasure 2, on.

We got back to camp just as it started to sprinkle and once again a Ranger came by and advised there would be a severe thunder and lightning storm. The sprinkle turned to buckets, followed by hail. We only heard small amounts of thunder in the distance; must have been on the edge of the storm. Cotye was not impressed and slept through the whole thing.

Baby loves his blankies! (He makes for a good foot warmer too)

Wednesday we left Cotye to man the RV as Mark and I headed to Mount Rushmore. 

It is hard to see, but they actually designed this tunnel to frame

the four presidents' heads.

Mt. Rushmore

FUN SIGNAGE:

Regardless of the rules, Mark fed me anyway. =)

Whatever . . . I'm keeping my panties on! You can throw yours out if you wish . . .

 

Honestly the BEST vanilla ice cream I have ever tasted!

A profile shot on our way back to camp

Last night we were all awoken by the strongest storm yet. No Rangers came a knockin' to warn us this time. I opened the blinds on my side of the bed and fell asleep with my nose pressed against the glass. LOL – I love a good storm. (Do not try this at home. Besides looking like a Pug for half the day, you're a sitting duck for a stray bolt of lightning!)

Today it is rainy and cold. We were lucky we did our sightseeing while the weather was good. Mark is in the back, happily snoring the afternoon away, while Cotye is here in the front (being my foot warmer) and snoring in sync with Mark. (Oh my head)

Tomorrow we pack up and go to Horse Thief Campground. (And I’m singing . . . ♫ “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves . . .♫ )