JULY 5 - JULY 28: Life on the Prairie

Our stay at Bob's Resort, 15 miles west of Gettysburg, is down to the final 16 days. This campground has no resort activities, but it fits our lifestyle perfectly. The Central/Mountain time zone line is in the middle of the Missouri River below us, so daylight lasts until almost 10 P.M. There is no railroad nearby, no large airport, and very little traffic on Hwy. 212, so the quiet surrounds you interrupted only by bird calls and occasional truck noise from the highway. There are a lot of RV's here, but most of the owners only come occasionally. The few fulltime residents are always ready to wave and say hello.  The trailer park on the property is never busy, so we assume most of those units are weekend or vacation properties. Bob's Steakhouse is very popular despite being out in the country, especially with fishermen looking for a good meal after a long day on the river. The office in the convenient store is open until 10 P.M. The campground Wi-Fi is the best we've experienced, except that it does occasionally go down for several hours. Our Verizon cards work well most of the time. So if quiet time in a usually windy environment are what you're looking for, along with fishing and hunting venues, Bob's is definitely the place to come. The surrounding area is basically farmland for corn, soy beans, hay, wheat, sunflowers, and cattle.

Hank was able to get the damaged Eagle One antenna back up after putting a "cast" on it, made from PVC Pipe.

The owners of the Gettysburg Ace Hardware store were happy to help with cutting the pipe for him, and selling him what other items he needed to make his repair idea work. The antenna has been up for three weeks, and we're getting great reviews on how it's performing. Meanwhile, John, a ham friend from Raleigh who has since moved to Atlanta, sold us a "like new" Eagle One antenna he no longer needed, so we now have a backup on hand. We'll have to see if the mended antenna will still retract as it should when it's time to move on without taking it completely off the RV, but we're very glad to have its replacement ready to use.

We stay in touch with a group of hams in the USA and Canada via radio contact at least twice a day. We've met many of them on our travels.  If reception is not the best, we can listen on our computers using websites connected  Software Defined Radios.  Our TV reception is not very good, but most days we get ABC and NBC channels, and PBS is always available. Most of our free time is filled with our computer activities.

Other than our trip to Mobridge, SD the first week we were here, we haven't ventured out too much. About once a week, we go to town (25 minutes one way) to get groceries and visit the post office for package/mail pickup. In Gettysburg (population 1100), there are a couple of motels, one grocery store, one drug store (also has some grocery items), 2 restaurants, 2 hardware stores, churches, a city park, schools, farm-related businesses, gas station with convenient store, small auto dealer,  medical facility and hospital (10 beds), fire department, laundromat, florist, 2 banks, small bowling alley, American Legion post, and a few other businesses. Everyone we've met has had a smile and a pleasant greeting for us, probably because they're so glad to see another person!
Traffic is never an issue, unless you get behind a large farm vehicle, and you rarely have to wait in line for purchases.

Other than being windy, the weather here has been better than if we were further south. There was a week of 90+ degree days, many mid-80's, and now the past week the highs were in the 70's with cool nights.  We've had another storm or two, but nothing like the extreme winds of July 3rd. Most of the stormy weather has been north and south of us. Warmer weather will return in the coming week.

We'll be here until August 14 when we start a two day trek to Spearfish, SD in the Black Hills for an American Coach rally.

June 18 - July 4: Staying Put in South Dakota

We have been at Bob's Resort since June 18. This is near Gettysburg, SD  on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River surrounded by large farms. The campground section is basic, with full hookups, gravel pads, and bathhouse. This is fishing and hunting country, and many of the RVs here are long term, many with boats. The area is quiet and it's just the spot for sitting back and watching the wind blow....which it usually does. The campground wi-fi is better than almost any place we've been, although it does drop out every now and then. All of these amenities fit our plans to sit still for a while, and have the time to do what keeps us entertained most of the time (use our computers). Hank had some major website work to tackle, and the latest updates to Window 10 to deal with on both of our laptops. Ham radio provides some entertainment, and we do have some over-the-air TV reception from Sioux Falls, Lowery, and PBS. (although no CBS channel). Many camper residents are only here on weekends.

Our view of the river and beyond.

With the nearest grocery and post office in Gettysburg, 13 miles away, that's our prime destination for replenishing supplies and picking up mail. Gettysburg, SD (population 1100) is less than 2 square miles in area and was founded in  1884 in commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg. A large share of the early settlers were veterans of the Civil War, and the town motto is "Where the Battle Wasn't". Grocery options are one supermarket, one large drug store, and Dollar General. The closest Walmart is 48 miles away. The local citizens we've met are very friendly and welcoming. Hank went to the Barber Shop and found out the lady barber lives in the mobile home park at Bob's,and also works part-time at Bob's Steakhouse (also part of the resort).



Downtown Gettysburg, SD








Bob's Steakhouse

The view from Bob's Steakhouse patio









Last week, we drove to Mobridge, SD about an hour north of us. Mobridge is also on the Missouri River, population of 3500, and has a larger number of commercial outlets - two grocery stores, a casino/hotel, and an even larger drug store. The Mobridge pharmacy was the closest place to refill our prescriptions under our drug plan. While we were there, we checked out some camping places, picked up our medications, and shopped at one of the groceries. Compared to Gettysburg, it seemed like a large city!

We haven't experienced a lot of the extreme heat during our stay that many places south and east of us have been going through. We've also missed some of the severe storms that have gone around us, although we had two previous episodes of high winds - one with a dry gust front that woke us up about 3 A.M., and one with an evening thunderstorm. Both had wind gusts near 50 or 60 MPH that had Little House vibrating.

Last night, we watched big storms coming right toward us with even higher winds and predictions of very large hail. Before going to bed about 12:30 A.M., we pulled in the slides. We didn't have any hail, but 16 miles to our east, Gettysburg had wind gusts of 50 MPH,  and to our north along the river there was a reported  gust of 91 MPH, so we definitely knew Mother Nature was having a tantrum outside. By 2:30 A.M. things had calmed down enough for sleeping. Luckily, in all of these situations, we have not had the flooding issues that are plaguing many communities east and south of us in Iowa, Minnesota and southeastern South Dakota. It's been a very stormy time in South Dakota over the last 3 weeks.

The storm winds overnight did damage our 31 foot Eagle One ham radio vertical antenna.  The fiberglass tube flexed to the point that it broke where it was attached to the ladder at the rear of the motor home, and the top of the antenna folded over to the ground. We've never had a problem before in high winds, so the conditions must have been the worst we've been in while RVing. Luckily, there was no one parked anywhere close enough to us to be affected. Hank took down the antenna base today and is researching repair or replacement options. We have a second antenna in place all the time, but it's not very high above the coach and reception is not as good as with the Eagle One.

Overall, we're very satisfied with our stay in this part of SD. Our original summer plans were to go as far west as Yellowstone before heading back east. But as of now, we've decided to only go as far west as the Spearfish SD area for an American Coach rally and then make our way back to Osseo, Wisconsin by mid-September. Of course, like many RVers, our plans are written in Jello, so changes are always a possibility.

So far, the  Fourth of July has been quiet. There is a fireworks display tonight scheduled for a recreation area across the river from our location. So the rockets' red glare and resulting booms will be with us for awhile at dusk.