We arrived at our summer (and legal) home base, Hart Ranch Resort, in Rapid City, SD at the foothills of the Black Hills about a week ago. The weather was hotter than I’ve ever experienced it here. In fact, one day my computer gadgets reported that it was 103 in RC but only 82 in Benson, AZ, our winter home base. Maybe we should have stayed south this summer! During the week, however, several thunder/rain storms cooled us off some and brought much-needed moisture to the area.
We were lucky enough to cross paths with our good RVing friends Barbara & Tom Westerfield while they spent a few days at the Rapid City Elks Lodge.
We met them for dinner at Dakotah Steakhouse, a fairly new restaurant on the rapidly developing east side of town. Outside the restaurant there’s a huge bison sculpture made of scrap metal.
With people next to it, you can get an idea of the size of the sculpture.
Happy trails, Barb & Tom. It was great seeing you, and I look forward to our paths crossing again!
Our next visitors were two friends/colleagues of mine from my working days. Doris Helfer (left) and Marge Wilson drove from Chicago to see me and meet Don. During their visit, some of the heavy rainstorms hit, as you can see by the wet window.
Actually, Marge drove from her home in Bryan, Ohio to pick up Doris in Chicago. Doris is a Librarian at California State University, Northridge and lives in Topanga, CA. She attended the annual conference of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) in Chicago, where she met up with Marge. Marge is retired from a successful career in the library/information industry.
The three of us never worked together for the same employer, but we were closely tied through our involvement in SLA, especially in the Information Technology Division, and we became close friends. We’ve stayed in loose touch since I retired 9 years ago, mostly through email, although I visited both of them when I first started full-time RVing. I was excited when I learned of their road trip plans and made sure Don & I got to Rapid City in time to connect with them.
We went to the Alpine Inn in Hill City for their special filet mignon dinner on Friday night. Don grilled his wonderful Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip for us on Saturday night.
Our visit was brief but fun. Safe travels, Marge & Doris, and thanks for driving such a long way to visit us. I hope to connect again with you both in the future!
I’m sorry for not posting more pictures in this blog post. The few I did include were taken with my somewhat limited phone camera. My Canon PowerShot SX130 IS camera is in the shop for examination and cleaning. The quality of pics seems to have been getting increasingly worse since I purchased it last summer and had it cleaned in the fall to remove visible dust inside the LCD. I hope it will perform as well as when it was new after I get it back, hopefully within the week.
