23 July 2013: Rapid City, SD to Victor, ID

This was going to be a long day and so we planned to get out of Rushmore Resort Campsite no later than 7:00 am.

We were right on target, but when we hooked up the truck to the RV, we found the tow lights on the truck would not work. Our new found friend Grant and John worked on checking the connections, trying new wiring etc for almost an hour and finally got the lights to come on. But the turn signals would not work. It was not 8:30 am and we decided to get on our way. If were pulled up, we were going to say “Oh, really Officer, they were working when we left this morning”.

So that was 3^rd of our problems – perhaps that will be the end and we will not have such issues any more.

The first half of our trip was again very tedious. Flat land with no vegetation or habitation of any sort. All through out that day and also during our drive from Iowa to Rapid City along I-90, we saw signs saying: "Road closed when flashing. Go back to (and here insert the name of the little town we had just left behind us)". Once in a while, we would see a house (or homestead) all by its lonesome self set well back from the road. It boggles my mind to think of what their life must be like in the winter.

Again we had very strong cross winds. It was only after I pulled into the campsite, that night, did I realize how tight I had been gripping the wheel. 

Once we got closer to the Tetons, the scenery changed dramatically. Our campsite was 22 miles west of Jackson, WY, just across the border into Idaho, in a small town called Victor. To get to Victor, we had to go through a mountain pass that had a 10% grade going up for 5 miles and another 5 miles of 10% downward grade.  I could see that John was concerned about the steep grade, but knew me well enough to not ask to take over the wheel.  

We decided to take the next day off – to rest – but I put in 10 hours of work as I needed to get caught up. John worked on the towing lights with the help of another RV guy who happened to have had the same problem at one time. Mark knew exactly where the obscure fuse was located and not only replaced it, but gave us a second one as a spare. He also determined that the problem with the stairs was not a fuse, but a bad motor. So we have decided to wait till we get back home for that. In the meantime, we bought a sturdier aluminum folding steps from Lowes Hardware (in Rapid City) to help us in and out of the vehicle. At every stop, John very gallantly places the steps in position so I can get down from the RV. 

Custer State Park and Crazy Horse:

I think I will be running out of adjectives before long as every place we go to is so impressive and/or beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed our drive through Custer State Park; stopped at every lookout spot and took lots and lots of pictures.

We came across our first herd of Bison; just a stone’s throw away from the road.  One bull in particular was unhappy about something; he kept pawing on the ground and letting out this low, deep, rumbling ????? (what is it known as when Bison’s talk?) It was nice to see several little ones toddling along next to their mamas.

 

We also came across wild burroughs. “Wild” is a misnomer. It was obvious they were looking for handouts (though we were not supposed to feed them, we saw several people giving them carrots) as they came right up to our car windows and put their big faces in. All they got from us were some nice words and a few strokes.

Artistic bull in the town of Custer - there was one in every corner

From Custer State Park, we made our way to Crazy Horse Memorial. Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, it is touted as the world's largest mountain carving. The sculptor here was an apprentice to Borglum. When Lakota elder Henry Standing Bear decided he wanted to honor Crazy Horse (an Oglala Lakota warrior) with a statue that would be bigger and more impressive than the ones in Mt. Rushmore, he hired Korczak Ziolkowski. Started in 1948, the work is still going on and at this time we can see the face of Crazy Horse on the mountain face.
The place had a museum and a short film about the work and the sculptor. The sculptor started when he was in his 30s, worked on his own for many years since there was not enough money to hire workmen. He married and had 10 children – in the film he jokingly says he had to have that many children so he could have enough help. After his death, his wife and kids have kept the work going.  The museum has some fabulous examples of Native American work – all donated by various collectors.

This is a huge model made by Ziolkowski to show what the finished work will look like

Mount Rushmore

We have seen so many photographs of this place, that one almost feels as if one has been there. But nothing prepares one for the sheer immensity of it.  It is very impressive.

Just two weeks before we left on this trip, we watched a PBS special on Mt. Rushmore, the sculptor Gutzon Borglum and his life. So it was nice to go through the site with that so fresh in mind.

I will not bore you with the usual pics; but I did get a few unusual ones with my small but reliable coolpix camera.

Good view from the road - on our way to the monument

Looking between the trees as we walked the trail

Mountain goat - all the visitors gawking at her did not faze her one bit

While walking around the trail that took us to the base of the carvings, we came across a small display of a native American village – two Tipis and several demonstration of canoe carving etc. One of the park rangers was using a knee-spindle to spin Bison fleece (see below). I was told that if I wanted some yarn from Boson fleece, I should be prepared to pay something like $60.00 per ounce. We chatted a while and she was very impressed that I recognized her other demo – embroidering with porcupine quills  (known as quill work).

We went back that night for the lighting of the statues. Enjoyed it very much in spite of the impending storm and lightning.

17 July 2013: Mitchell, Iowa to Rapid City, SD

What a day! Started off with the retracting stairs refusing to come out. At least, we were lucky that it was not out all the way and then refusing to retract. That would have made it impossible for us to drive any further. Tested all known fuses and all seemed ok. So every time we stopped to fuel up, I had to use a small footstool to get in and out of the RV.

It was tedious driving across I-90 for long straight stretches, with nothing to break the scenery (if you can call it that), except for the huge billboards dotting either side of the highway. With nothing to break the vast open fields, the cross winds were pretty strong, gusting up to at least 40 mph at times.

Still it was not bad until the awning came lose when we were about 30 miles east of Rapid City. We pulled over to the side of the road and tried to get it back up again – but the wind was not helping us. A very kindly state trooper stopped and helped us out. It took the 3 of us about 30 minutes – John had to go up on the roof and cut the awning out (as it had half ripped) and then remove the long pole around which it would normally be rolled over. We then shoved the pole through the front window all the way into the vehicle. It now sits on the floor along the length of the vehicle – a 5-inch diameter 8 ft long metal pole.

So now we have a mal functioning stair and no awning to contend with. We got into the campsite just outside Rapid City around 2:30 pm and had barely set up camp, when the thunderstorms rolled in . Boy, was it impressive! Luckily it lasted just about a half hour.

Campsite is nice and people very friendly. Tomorrow we are off to see the 4 Presidents.

On the road to South Dakota

We left Raleigh on Monday July 15 at 6:30 am as planned. The drive to Shelbyville, KY was eventless and we pulled into a Walmart parking lot for the night.  Had to buy a new Tomtom (GPS) as our 2 year old device refused to charge up.
The next day saw us at the Walmart parking lot in Cedar Falls, Iowa. So far, so good. We have been averaging about 500 or so miles per day.  We had not asked for permission to park there and so when a guy drove up, parked close to our RV and started to walk around it, I quickly hid all evidence of beer, thinking it might be the Walmart manager asking us to leave the premises. Turned out that this guy was interested in how the towing (of our truck) device worked. We found out that he had graduated from the Fuquay School of Business at Duke and was considering buying an RV. I quickly informed him that ours would be up for sale at the end of the year!
Our third night was at Mitchell, SD. When we got there, there was just one other RV in the parking lot. When we woke up in the morning, it looked like RV city. Apparently, this is a popular spot for Rvers to overnight.
Mitchell is famous for its Corn Palace. So I coaxed John into visiting it. I remember seeing a program on it on TV and somehow, in my memory it was this incredibly wonderful edifice with the exterior fully covered in Corn Art (sounds corny does it not?). What i found was a brick building with a little bit of the upper part of the building covered in corn and corn husk. The inside is a theater (where events are held) and the only interesting feature was the murals on the wall above the stage. I was sorely disappointed. I think there was much ado about not too much.

 
A view of the Corn Palace and the front facade.


We enjoyed a visit to the museum of pre-historic indians that lived in the Mitchell area around 1000 AD. The excavations are still going on - they only work during the month of June as there is not enough money to keep it going all year. The site itself is enclosed in a climate controlled building called the Archeadome. The site and the accompanying exhibits were very interesting, as was the 15 minute video on the people and their lives.

Below are two photos of the "Bull Boat" exhibited in the Archeadome. So called as the boat was made by stretching the bison hide over a framework. The Mandan tribe used this as a boat.

Reconstructed skeleton of a bison - one of the exhibits in the museum of Pre-historic Indians.

Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

A sic hour drive brought us to Fundy National Park where we stayed for two days. The park is beautiful, green, and plenty of trees unlike a lot of the private campsites that try to crowd in as many RVs into a space as possible.

The main reason to visit Fundy Park was to visit the Hopewell Rocks. The whole Fundy region has the biggest tides in the world rising to as high as 50 feet at times. The Hopewell Rocks are the result of glacial and ice age geological effects. The huge tidal changes in the area have carved and separated these rocks from the cliff faces. These are also referred to as flower pot rocks because of the vegetation that grows on the top of the rocks. The high tides wash away any growth in the lower parts of the rocks.

We went at low tide in the morning - we went down 98 steps to the ocean floor and walked around the rocks. John was frustrated that he could not photograph the formations without people milling around. I thought that provided a good perspective to the size of the rocks.

We then went back at high tide - now we had to watch from the observation deck as the entire beach area was now under water.

The tall one to the right looks like a standing bear1

The neck narrows as it gets eroded and finally breaks away

Many of the low lying rocks get covered in kelp

At high tide: you can see the kayaks down where we walked earlier in the day

New moon was two days away and the tides were higher than usual. Here it has come up 40 ft.










Chalk this down to another wonderful experience.

Two weeks in Newfoundland - Part 3 of 3

August 20 - 28

We left St. Anthony on the 20th and the second day saw us in Tors Cove about 10 mi south of St. John's Newfoundland.

The campsite was once again a gravel surface with hardly any trees. However, the site was atop a cliff and the view of the Atlantic Ocean from there was beautiful. It was so nice to be able to sit out there and take in the scene even when it was shrouded in fog.

Here we met two couples from Murphy NC - our first interaction with someone else from our home state. We spend a pleasant evening sitting around a pit fire and chatting.

View of St John's Harbour from Signal Hill

We had a good time in St. John's. We visited Signal Hill. This is where Marconi waited to receive the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901.

More importantly it also served as a defense site for the harbour from way back in the 18th century to World War 2.

The view from here is again breathtaking particularly as the fog gently rolls in.

At the eastern most point in N. America.  A bad hair day for sure!

Cape Spear Lighthouse is a five minute drive from downtown St. John's. It has two lighthouses -the older one is now a museum and the relatively newer one is a functioning lighthouse.

Cape Spear juts out into the Atlantic and has the dubious distinction of being the eastern most point in North America. So of course, we had to have this documented.

Just in case you doubted me.

     


                       

View of harbour from restaurant downtown

A few more pics from the area:

As always I cannot resist photographing sunrises or sunsets.
This is sunrise, taken through the RV window on our last day before heading back east to take the ferry.









We had planned to visit the Bonavista peninsula just north of St. John's. I had heard that the puffins congregated very close to the shore in a town called Elliston. Unfortunately, John was under the weather for a few days and so we relaxed and stayed in. It was then time for us to head back east to Port aux Basques to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia.


In the meantime, Irene was threatening to head our way. We crossed over on Sunday. The crossing was very smooth and uneventful - just the way I like it.  We decided to stay in North Sydney for an  extra day to allow Irene to go by. We got some heavy rains and strong gusting winds until mid morning and then things quietened down.

Waiting in line to board the ferry back to Nova Scotia

In the meantime, Irene was threatening to head our way. We crossed over on Sunday. The crossing was very smooth and uneventful - just the way I like it.  We decided to stay in North Sydney for an  extra day to allow Irene to go by. We got some heavy rains and strong gusting winds until mid morning and then things quietened down.

So.... was Newfoundland worth it? Absolutely, inspite of many rainy days. The land is ruggedly beautiful and the people are friendly. If you are an outdoor type of person, there are lot of hiking trails to explore. I would not have missed the icebergs for anything - see my previous blog. However, I was disappointed at missing out on the puffins and the boat tour we took cheated us out of seeing any whales as the operator decided to not ventur too far out into the bay that day. John was disappointed at not finding any fresh fish to buy straight from the fishermen. We spent quite a bit of time in every place we went, trying to locate local fishermen - to no avail. I ate mussels at every opportunity and gave the Cod a miss - as far as I am concerned it is a very bland fish that even my South Indian pickle failed to improve the taste.

Well, until we get to New Brunswick.