Friday, May 28, 2010 ---

       Well, I got it done…I renewed my driver’s license, so I guess that I will continue traveling ‘legal’ for the next five years. South Dakota is one of the first states to mandate to the federal 2017 regulations whereby each new/renewal for driver’s licenses will need certain documents and verifying information. Required in brief is either a valid passport or certified original of your birth certificate, a social security card or other acceptable form of SS verification, two pieces of residence verification such as utility bills, local bank statement, or other form of acceptable residence certification. At the same time a ‘Homeland Security/FBI’ check is made (albeit rather fast) as to your standing with the feds and state agencies (I would assume that a “no-fly” listing would not be in your favor). So anyhow, got ‘er done, and out of the way. By the way, every state in the nation is required to have this in place by 2017, so the rest of you can wipe that smile off of your face now, as your time is coming up soon. SD decided that they would start off early so as to ‘de-bug’ their system, but according to the very nice (and smiling too!) lady behind the counter, it started on January 1st of this year and it has gone quite smooth. And once it is done, it does not have to be repeated on subsequent renewals, providing that there is no change in your name. And oh yes, the driver’s license has a ‘gold star’ in the upper-right corner which signifies that you have been checked and verified (as in ‘A-OK I would take it). As of 2017, everyone boarding planes, trains or other forms of ticketed public transportation, will be required to have the ‘gold star’ in order to proceed (...no starry, no goey).

       We have run around and taken care of a couple other minor errands that we wanted to get out of the way.

       I did note that they are still building here and according to local word, the real estate market has not returned to where it once was, but it continues to increase in strength. One of the biggest concerns currently is the lack of inventory. It appears that the market has fared better here in western SD than in many other areas of the country.

Saturday, May 29, 2010 ---

       I spent some time earlier today working on our Discovery Club web site so that I can get an update made to it within the next few days hopefully. Also, got some long over-due emails answered and probably surprised a few with just making a response to them.

       Weather has been very nice, although there is a slight chill in the breeze, but for a few fluffy clouds in a bright and clear azure blue sky. Now if this will just continue. I mean after all, this is Dakota, and they say if you don’t like the weather, then just wait a few minutes.

Monday, Memorial Day, May 31, 2010 ---
       Memorial Day…a day for remembrance of those who have sacrificed for our freedom and prosperity. Freedom is not free…All gave some, some gave all.

       May God bless them all…and the United States of America.
       We took a leisurely drive north of Rapid City this morning, and paid a visit to the Black Hills National Cemetery, to pay our respects to our fallen warriors on this Memorial Day, and also to view the multitude of American flags placed at each and every grave site in the National Cemetery.  There were a number of others there, and as usual, it was quiet and solemn with the exception of the singing birds around us.  It was very pleasant and the visit was rewarding personally for both, Marilyn and Jim.

       We have had a rather quiet relaxing day otherwise, with some reading, taking a nice long walk (well, long for us anyhow…about a mile and a half or so) with our Kalua (she is getting to be the elderly ‘daughter-dawg’) which was very pleasant out among the wildflowers, all the green and Rapid Creek, next door to us, as it flows eastward from the Hills.

       We did a little grilling with a couple of our neighbors here at the Elks RV Park. The weather once again has proven to be ideal for such a great holiday, with bright blue skies and lots of sun with the local temps in the upper-70’s, and a very pleasant and soft breeze.

       Hey, it’s time to grab another cool one and join the others in the stories, jokes and RV veteran experiences from across our great nation, gotta go y'all…Happy Memorial Day to all!

Ahhh, those Black Hills are...green!

There is ample green every where you look.  Spring has sprung in the Hills and the Spring/Summer transformation from the white Winter has now taken place.

Coming on through Wyoming, we made a "mandatory" stop at Sierra Trading Post at it's headquarters store (and a large one it is) in Cheyenne.  Of course Marilyn could not leave without a couple pair of new summer shoes (O.K., yes they're cute...I guess...).

We delayed our start out of Cheyenne for about an hour while a very heavy black layer of clouds along with a good deal of wind, lighting and thunder which produced a sudden but short lived rain storm with some initial light hail.  The sun soon broke through again, and we were on our way.

From Cheyenne we headed northeast to Newcastle for the evening and a great dinner.  Along the way we saw a number of Pronghorn Antelope.  The rivers and streams are running at about full capacity it appeared, mostly from melting snow-packs in the higher elevations. 
We awoke to more sunshine and less wind than the evening before.  Once we got breakfast out of the way, we continued our journey northeast from Wyoming into South Dakota and the Black Hills.  We stopped for lunch in Rockerville - The Gas Light Saloon, which is a large restored saloon and restaurant that serves surprisingly good food and great libations.  Of course at this point we are only about 20 miles from our Rapid City destination at the Elks Lodge on the east side of town.

We are now settled in at the Elks Lodge RV Park, along side the Elks beautiful 18-hole golf course that is situated along Rapid Creek.

There are some Memorial Day festivities planned in and around the city, as well as throughout the Black Hills as well over this holiday weekend. 

Marilyn and I hope that all of our friends and family have a very safe, relaxing and fun Memorial Day weekend!  If you haven't already broken out the barbie grill, then ya better get busy, as some serious barbie time is right around the corner now.

It is great to be back in our "home base" (for those that may not know, Marilyn and I moved our residence from California to South Dakota back in 2005, when I finally took to full-retirement.  SD is a much friendlier state for retirees than that of CA.  There is no state income tax, no property tax, no inheritance tax, no estate tax, and the state sales tax is only 3% on vehicles, and 4% on any other taxable sales goods.  The vehicle licensing fees are only a small fraction of CA (example- one care is only $26 a year, another is only $42 a year), so licensing for all of our three cars and our 43' Monaco Dynasty motorcoach is less than $300 per year here in SD, whereas in CA it would well exceed several thousand dollars for the same period and vehicles.  There are a number of additional positive reasons for making our residency in SD, but I think you probably get the drift here anyhow.  So this is our "Home", if you will, and it is a great place to have it located.  Nice scenic area, a lot to do and see, and of course, some great local folks to boot.  A hard combination to beat, for sure.

Well, enough for today, but I will return in another day or two and let you in on our adventures here in the area.  Hope that this finds all of you in good health and getting along well these days.

-Jim and Marilyn

From Utah into Wyoming...

Our journey from Fillmore, Utah we continued north on I-15 through Nephi, Provo, Spanish Fork, Sandy, Orem and Salt Lake City, were we picked up I-80E toward Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

The mountains down to about 7,000 feet are still in heavy snow, but the valley was very lush green and breaking forth with spring growth.

Another beautiful day for travelling.  We have had bright sunny days with blue skies and temp's in the low to mid-60's range.

We passed by the campus of Utah Valley University earlier today, and the reason that I make note of that here is that the UVU dance team was featured on "Dancing With The Stars" in tonight's finale.  And if you happen to see that, you know that they won with a winning dance routine.

I am always rather surprised when I pass through the Park City area up in the Wasatch mountains.  It seems that it is always growing by leaps and bounds with more and more housing, along with more and more strip-malls and big-box stores as well.  Tanger Outlets have a large 'factory outlet' mall there, which they have just expanded once again I noticed.  I would assume that business must be good in Park City. 

After a fairly short drive east of Park City and you are in Wyoming.  We re-fueled at the Flying J in Evanston, and then continued on to our days destination, a nice local campground in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Tomorrow we will continue east on I-80 to Cheyenne where we will pick up I-25 North.  The weather forecast is for continued nice sunny weather, so that is always a blessing in itself.  More on this tomorrow...

     We said our goodbye's this morning in Pahrump, Nevada and then headed out for Rapid City.  We picked up I-15N at Las Vegas, and on through the northwest corner of Arizona and into Bountiful Utah at St. George.  Now about 160 miles north of St. George in the little 'burg of Fillmore at a nice RV park for some dinner, evening TV and hopefully a good nights rest.  It has been an uneventful trip so far, and we like it that way.

     Our elevation here is just under 7,000 feet, so it will probably get right down chilly by morning.  It is only about 53F here at sunset (we are expecting 36F by sunrise tomorrow morning).

     We have travelled this route a few times before, and it has always been so lush and green with heavy snow in the mountains just a few miles up in the Wasatch east of here.  Very pretty to say the least.

     After making our way through Salt Lake City tomorrow, we expect to end our drive in southwestern Wyoming.

     Weather has been great, albeit somewhat cooler than we like, but nice blue skies and lots of sunshine make for a very pleasant time.

A true oasis in the desert

Looking toward the lake from our coach site at Terrible's Lakeside

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here we are in Pahrump, Nevada at Terrible's Lakeside RV Resort & Casino, which is really like an oasis in the high desert of Nevada.  Pahrump has continued to grow each time we have visited here, with new strip malls, stores, and housing tracts slowly filling in the wide-open areas around the city.
We are conducting our May rally for Discovery Club of California here once again in Pahrump.

The weather has been great over the past several days with highs in the upper 80's, a slight breeze and cloudless blue, sunny skies.

Pahrump is located one-hour (or about 60 miles) north of the Las Vegas Strip, and over the years we have found it handy for making a run down to Vegas, have dinner and take in a good show, and then return later that evening, back home here in Pahrump.
Pahrump being located in Nye County is one of the many "old west" counties of Nevada where prostitution is legal and where there are several notable brothels (more on those later).  It is also an 'open-carry' county where one can pack some 'heat' without any permit requirement.  You will occasionally see 'cowboys' in town wearing 'iron', as they have a holstered pistol on them.  You can carry any firearm in the open or concealed, even loaded and in your car/truck, if you wish. 
And of course the usual gambling and liquor sales are a 24/7 business with many people taking advantage of it all.

We have 17 coaches at this rally and as usual for Discovery Club, it has been a fun time for socializing, eating along with some good libations and excellent camaraderie.

I will bring this blog up-to-date over the next couple of days, along with a few photo's of our rally here at Terrible's Lakeside.

Hang loose y'all...I shall be back shortly...

Summer is just around the corner...

We've been back in California now for about three months, with a couple trips over to the coast (Oceano/Pismo Beach and Rincon on the ocean at Ventura) for some nice 'sea-breeze' time.

Leaving Visalia in about ten days to head over to Pahrump, Nevada for a rally.  We love Terrible's Lakeside RV Resort & Casino located there.  It is a real oasis and with many of our Discovery Club of California members making it a real fun time and never a dull moment.

After six days in Pahrump, we leave and head for Rapid City, South Dakota and our beautiful Black Hills.  Got to get up there by my birthday so as to renew my driver's license (boy, how those years seem to fly by!) We will spend some time there at the RC Elks RV Park and visit with a few old friends in the area, plus have a couple things on our 'Hills agenda' that we want to take care of.

Our plan at this time is once we depart from Rapid City and light out for Flathead Lake and Kalispell, Montana up in the Glacier country.  Don't know how long we will be there, but probably for awhile since several of the kids/grand-kids will be up there over the summer months, so that should be fun.
We'll keep you posted on all that a little later.

In the meantime, Marilyn and I would like to wish all of the mother's out there, a very Happy and pleasant Mother's Day tomorrow.  And of course, wishing all a safe, happy and relaxing upcoming Memorial Day at the end of this month.

More later (in about two weeks or so, probably).

-Jim

Visalia, California