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.