Tag: Restaurant

Spearfish Canyon and on to Gillette

We definitely had a nice trip through Spearfish Canyon. I wanted to check out the Forest Service campgrounds, and we did. Sadly they were either too small for our rig or too crowded. We took the loop through Lead and Deadwood back to Spearfish. The only pictures I took were of Bridal Veil Falls.

We also visited the High Plains Heritage Museum in Spearfish. Wow! I highly recommend it. The exhibits were very good and obviously recently refreshed. It covered some Native American history and lots about the western settlements, mining, and forestry. Veterans got in free, but Kevin made up for it when he bought a raffle ticket for a gorgeous commemorative rifle. I assisted by buying a raffle ticket for a beautiful painting. We also enjoyed a lovely dinner at Guadalajara Restaurant almost next door to the KOA. They had a sangria special that I really enjoyed in addition to the food.

We didn’t get in a huge hurry to leave Spearfish, but we were still in Gillette just before 11:30. We saw lots of pelicans, geese, and quite a few pronghorn along the way. The FMCA rally was a zoo. The parking guys obviously were new at their jobs, and they didn’t communicate well at all. Kevin and I were both steaming by the time we got settled in our (very close) site. We got a site with 50 amp power and water, but no sewer. We would be fine for a week without a dump, but it is more comfortable if we have one. They do have a pumper service available, so we will see about using that on Thursday or Friday. We will leave on Sunday morning, and I just got reservations for Sunday night at a private campground just outside of Custer, SD. That will let us get all the laundry done at least since we are going to an electric only site after that for a few days.

We did get one item installed already, a SeeLevel tank monitoring system. The installer had said Monday and Tuesday were the only days he was available, so we called him as soon as we got settled. Our current tank monitors are just 1/3, 2/3, and Full. That isn’t nearly enough knowledge about status to comfortably dry camp. This system shows in 10% intervals, and it uses inductance through the side of the tank instead of internal sensors.

We are ready for the road!

We finished our 2 day RV driving class today. It was very helpful. The saleswoman at the dealer had done some quick instruction, but we found out quickly that it didn’t work for all situations. The instructor (Jimmy Johnson from RVDrivingschool.com) showed us all kinds of methods to doing turns, backing, and just moving around in traffic. Both of us feel much more confident in traffic now, so I think it was well worth the money.

One nice thing about being with a local is finding all kinds of good places to eat. Yesterday at lunch we ate at Fiesta Mexican in Tuscumbia, AL which was very tasty. Last night we ate at Swamp John in Florence, AL, a hole in the wall fish place. I had a nice meal of fried catfish, fried okra, and hush puppies along with sweet tea – a truly southern meal like I grew up with. Today at lunch we ate at Smokin’ on the Boulevard in Florence, AL with the best smoked chicken I had ever had. Wow! A whole smoked chicken was $10, and it was worth every penny. Kevin got a smoked pork loin that was also good. We were disappointed they were out of brisket and ribs, but we can try them if we ever get here again. I ended up buying a second chicken that I will piece apart and freeze for later.

The motorhome is doing great. We closed the bedroom area off and ran the generator so we could have the air conditioner in the “living room”. The dahs air is cold, but there is a lot of space to cool down, so it is common for motorhomes to drive with their generators running when AC is needed. It was well into the mid 90s with a dew point of 70+, so I was quite pleased at how comfortable the coach was.

We head back to Iowa tomorrow morning. We plan on staying at a state park in Missouri tomorrow night then being home on Monday. It turns our Mississippi only gives 7 day temp tags, so we won’t be legal after that. It will be an expensive trip to the DMV!