Paused again

Aug 26  Its up and at em early this morning, we only have 55 miles to go, but it is 55 miles to a service center to get the gray tank repaired, we think.   So CaptDan emptied the black tank and we got a rank odor....Don't borrow trouble.  We arrived at Green Star, dropped off the Lake House and headed over to check on a new latch for the "ramp door"  Seems that close encounter with a highway pole caught it and popped it right off.  as well as a mark down the side of the rig which he says he can buff out.   The one new rule of driving has emerged from this, when medication says "don't operate heavy machinery" it means 5th wheels too.  So the Capt will not drive for at least 48 hrs after taking any of those meds, ever. and for that matter neither will I.

We followed the shopping up with a really great breakfast at the Campbell Street Cafe in Rapid City, I mean really good food!  Then off to find a laudramat  and catch up on the clothes.  About the time I got the washers going the phone rings and it is the Service center calling to say the news is bad and worse.  We have lost both the gray and the black tank, and they both need replacement.  So CaptDan heads over to the center and I stay with the clothes.  About an hour later he is back and we are staying at least 4 weeks in Rapid City for a full replacement of the tanks.  We'll keep you posted on this escapade as it unfolds.  So I make the reservations for 2 nights at motel 6 and start looking for pet friendly places we can spend the next 4 weeks.

Aug 27  Its hard to focus on this project but Saturday in the day to get the accommodations handled.  After about 20 phones calls, and 50 internet searches, I succeed.  We have 9 nights at the Elk Creek Resort, in a cabin.  Then 2 nights in Hulett, 2 nights at Fish & Fry, 2 nights at Deadwood Station, 2 nights at Badlands Inn, then back to Elk Creek for 10 more nights.  It sounds crazier then it is, really. We will get to tour all around this part of the State and while here we will establish residency in South Dakota.  Making these kind of reservations is really exhausting and I really am glad to finish.  We may still need a day or two ate the end but we can handle anything after this.

Aug 28  We move out of Motel 6 and into the Elk Creek Resort in Piedmont SD.  This place is great! Little cabin up on a hillside above a green meadow where the deer and the turkeys wander.  We get settled in for 9 days and line out the schedule for the week.  First order, get CaptDan a passport, get duplicate titles coming from Oregon. Actually first we make one more trip to the Lake House and try to locate those papers.  No luck on the document hunt.  Well almost no luck, I did find Dans birth certificate and a few other important papers.  Did I mention that we purchased a small safe for all the important papers?  Well we did.  Just a few months too late but we will be better about this.  So tomorrow we will get forms printed and filled out.

Aug 29  Its always fun to deal with intermittent internet.  The frustration level rises and we finally head into town.  We go to Office Depot and get the forms we need for Oregon titles printed out.  Get a few other errands run and decide to take a breath, relax, we're retired!  Sometimes I need to be reminded.

Aug 30  We head into Rapid City and make a big circle getting passport pictures, then by the post office to pick up passport application, then go get a Chai while we fill out the application, we did find Dans birth certificate (yippee).  Then back to the post office to file for a passport, with expediting.
The picture from Walgreens was bad, they won't except it so he gets another one taken at the P.O.  Then we have a little confusion about zip codes and I have to correct all the forms and get the right zip code put down, thank goodness we caught that before everything went in the mail.  So we have ordered replacements for the vehicle titles from Oregon and a passport.

Now we decide it is time to get up to the Petrified Forest right beyond our little cabin on the hill.  Its time to relax and enjoy where we are.   The Petrified forest is really very interesting and Butter gets to walk along with us.  They have an introduction video, a self guided tour, and then a stop at the rock shop.  The sky is clouding over and we are not anxious to get caught in a thunder storm.  As we are talking to a guy at the rock shop he goes to chase a turkey, its a big turkey and its standing on the hood of our truck, nervy bird!  Now its dinner time and we head home and get out the gas bar-b-q that we borrowed from the owners here.  We have this beautiful tri-tip that has thawed out from the rig and we grill that up along with several packs of links.  We open a bottle of wine and have a really nice dinner, added some grilled zucchini and a baked potato, this is as it should be.  A neighbor is walking by and stops to visit, we end up sharing the wine and talking quite awhile.  She highly recommends going out to Box Elder to Americas Mailbox and they will guide us through all the paper work to get domiciled here.  That sounds like a great idea for tomorrow.

Aug 31  Off to Box Elder, which is literally just the next exit east of Rapid City.  We meet Carla and get started setting up an address and talk about what else we need to do.  We can go get our drivers licenses, except we need Dans birth Certificate, which we just sent off with the Passport application.  Yep, we got things just a little backward.  Now we will order another (2) birth certificates from Minnesota and then get the Drivers Licenses.  Meanwhile we can go down to the SSA office and get copies of 1099.  Seems South Dakota DMV does require a few pieces of identification.  BUT, its Wednesday and the Social Security Administration office is closed on Wednesday.  Okay we can deal with this,  after all we have weeks in South Dakota to take care of all this.  I do get the form to order birth certs filled out but we need to get it notorized.  Now tomorrows rounds are shaping up.  Social Security, then the bank, the post office...walk the dog.

Hello September.  And we head back to Rapid City, first to the bank, get our address changed, get the notary done on the birth certificate request.  Then to the SSA office.  What a nice easy experience, we had a minimal wait and the gentleman that helped us got our addresses updated, got copies of our 1099s.  And I explained that I had been having trouble getting a Medicare card with my married name on it, he even figured out why that was happening.  And he gave us a great lunch recommendation for when we are in Hill City in a week. So now our SS cards are going to be coming in a week or two and I might get my Medicare Card with the right name on it, and I got a letter of coverage for the mean time.  We have met the nicest people in South Dakota!  After a lunch at the Firehouse Brewery we are ready to go find the Museum of Geology at the SD School of Mines and Technology.  We follow the GPS and end up in a parking lot with permits required, so I stop a young lady and she directs us where to go and it was very easy to find, as we pull into a parking space, the young woman pulls in next to us.  She just wanted to make sure we got where we wanted to go.  Did I say we have met the nicest people in South Dakota!.  The museum is terrific, great Plesiosaur skeleton, fantastic T-Rex skull, and more rocks and bones and stuff.....Really a nice look, and its free.

We wanted to take in a movie this afternoon, but we discover that as most smaller towns, the theaters don't have a lot of weekday matinees so we need another activity and its time to go to the Reptile Gardens.  This tourist attraction is just South of town and when we start in we see signs that dogs are welcome, in most of the gardens.  So while I think $15 each is pretty steep, the lady tells me that if we are staying in the area the admission can include a pass to come back.  So now I have a pass to visit again, until Sept 25th.  We take our time, check out about half of the place, got to pet a ball python,  and then call it a day.  The movie was really very good and so was the popcorn.  Hell or High Water, if you want to know.