more changes coming

The last several blogs I have written about changes, mostly about weather changes. This blog will be a bit different. Most of you that have been following us for awhile know we have had some challenges in the past couple of years. Some of those challenges were expensive and stretched our budget to it's maximum and we have struggled trying to recover. We are certainly not destitute but with our savings account all but gone we had to make some decisions. Since I am not yet 59 1/2 dipping into our IRA's is not a good option with the penalties imposed for early withdrawal. Right now our seasonal jobs (Crazy Horse, Amazon and gate guarding) supports our lifestyle but just barely. Our biggest fear is another costly repair while on the road will put us into spiraling debt that is all but impossible to climb out of while only working lower wage, part time jobs. Trust me, I have lost a ton of sleep the last year worrying about the "what if's". Another thing is we are tired of "pinching pennies". We both love being full timers and the experiences it gives you but frankly I would love to splurge and buy a can of Folgers coffee one time instead of the cheapest generic I can find on the shelf. :-)  Another reality is we are going to need to new vehicle soon because the Dakota is wearing out and will likely be needing more and more repairs. We, quite frankly, were not sure what direction our lives should take and were discussing several options when, this Spring, my boss here at Crazy Horse announced his retirement. We both enjoy working here and being involved with the process of carving the memorial. We also love the area, it is so beautiful here in the Black Hills. So with the support of several of the full time employees who approached me encouraging me to apply we made the decision that I would put my hat in the ring for his position, Director of Visitor Services. The selection process was long and involved but as things progressed over the summer my chances looked better and better. My final interview was just after labor day and I was told they would make their selection by the 19th of September. Needless to say the last two weeks have been the most stressful. The day finally arrived and I met with one of the CEO's (there are two) and the COO. The first thing they told me was that the position had been given to another candidate :-(
Then they threw me a curve ball, they offered me a different position, a brand new position created just for me! Needless to say I was humbled, flattered and confused at the same time. The salary that came with the job was within the range that Rudee and I had discussed and the job would be very similar to what I have already been doing with some added responsibilities.  I accepted the position and am the newly created Senior Assistant Director of Visitor Services at Crazy Horse Memorial. The CEO then excused herself from the meeting and went to Rudee in the gift shop. She let her know that I had accepted a position and asked if she would "help me manage the gift shop". There was not much time for her and Rudee to talk but she said they would sit down next week and discuss the details.
So what do we do now? Well first of all we are taking 2 weeks to go back to Indiana and visit family and friends. We will also take care of some medical appointments and get our medical records to give to our South Dakota doctor once we select one. We have also made arrangements with a campground that is open year round in Custer but are also keeping our eyes open for a house to rent. We have experience living in our rig in very cold climates so that isn't something new to us but we wont pass up a good deal on a house to rent either. :-)
So there is the big news, Rudee and I are putting our full time travels on hiatus and settling down in the Black Hills. We are looking at staying in or near the Custer area and, as long as our jobs work out for both us and them, we will likely be purchasing a home nearby at some time in the future. As far as the blog is concerned I'm really not sure. Do you readers want to hear from us since we are not work camping but just working? Leave a comment and let me know and I'll keep you posted.

Oh no, I said a four letter word!

I mentioned in the last blog that things were starting to change some around here. I guess that was an understatement because look what we woke up to last Thursday morning.

The snow continued all day Thursday finally quitting just before dark. We ended up with a total of 10 inches of heavy wet snow. Thursday is our first day of our work week so it was dark by the time I got home and of course our roof mounted satellite dome receiver was covered in snow and would not receive a signal. We were able to watch some movies we had on the DVR and rather then listen to the motor run on the antenna (it was constantly adjusting trying to tune in a signal) I shut it off. This turned out to be a bad thing because now it is not working correctly. I called Dish Network and everything checks out OK on their equipment so they are saying it is a Wineguard issue. I can tune in one satellite but it will not switch to the other satellite that carries some of the channels we receive. This used to be totally automatic but now has become a giant pain in the you know what! I climbed up on the roof and took the lid off the dome, no loose connections but one of the two bundles of wires going into the dish is dry rotted and splitting. I could not see any bare wires exposed but feel like this may be my issue. I plan on calling Wineguard tomorrow and see if there is any trouble shooting I can do from here to make sure the wire harness is the issue.

Work is slowing down to a more predictable pace and several of our fellow work campers have left or are packing things up to leave. We are contracted through the 30th of September so only 2 more weeks of work for us. :-) I'll keep you posted

We survived Sturgis

Once again the Black Hills were filled with the sounds of thousands and thousands of motorcycles. Yep, it was time once again for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This is the "Mother" of all motorcycle rallies and draws an estimated 1/2 a million bikers from all over the world. Work is, of course, a zoo with two of our larger parking lots blocked off for nothing but motorcycle parking. Rudee and I look forward to this week and is one of the reasons we enjoy this area. We like to make the trip to Sturgis and ride "into the center of the beast". We find a parking spot and spend most of the day just walking through the crowds people watching and looking through the endless vendor tents. Monday was our first day off during the rally and we made the hour long ride with Steve and Joan (and several thousand others) :-)

We passed on the bikini bike wash and oil change. I'm still trying to figure out why you would want to try and change the oil in a bike while wearing a bikini but this "is" Sturgis after all. :-)

We made it to Main Street and even at 11:00 am it was difficult finding any parking spaces and we had to park several blocks away.

Vendors of all types line the streets selling just about everything. We saw motorcycle parts, t-shirts, hats, sunglasses, helmets, and even one booth selling ..... ahem...."marriage assist devices". Yep, Sturgis has just about everything! :-)
We found a spot for lunch where we could watch the parade of people and bikes driving by.

We all enjoyed our day but Sturgis "after dark" is something we have agreed to avoid so we left in the early afternoon to make our way home.

Tuesday Rudee and I made another ride passing through Sturgis once again. We arrived early and I had the mufflers replaced on our bike to give it a little more "rumble". Once that was completed we headed West and ended up doing a drive by of Devils Tower. We have visited the park in years past so this was just another scenic ride for us.

We made it back home just before a thunderstorm opened up on us, another great day motorcycling in the Black Hills. :-)

Work will start slowing down some now that the kids are starting back to school and the vacation season will be coming to a close. All of us work campers are starting to realize our time together is coming to an end. Some are considering coming back for another year here while others are researching their next summer destinations. Most are wintering someplace warm after visits with family or maybe a side trip on the way South. In our case we have only 7 more weeks and our contract will be up. Let's see what we can get into next. I'll keep you posted.

ps: this is the end...... "Sturgis Style"! :-)

the "hidden" Black Hills

One thing we are doing this year that we did not do a lot of last year is exploring the back roads of the Black Hills. This area has a large amount of National Forest Service lands that are accessed by gravel roads that twist and turn for miles and miles. Most of these roads are accessible by almost any type of vehicle although you do need to be careful and 4 wheel drive comes in handy at times. We rarely, if ever, meet another vehicle driving these roads and now that the summer tourist season is in full swing the main roads and tourist areas are really busy. We have been treated to some great sights on these drives and enjoy the peace and solitude they provide, it's good for the soul!

We are keeping very busy at work and each day seems busier then the one before. The large motorcycle rally kicks off in less then 2 weeks and our visitors change from families on vacation to thousands of motorcyclists enjoying their "adult" time away from home. We rarely, if ever, have any issues with the bikers and I have found them to be respectful and happy for the most part. The truth is that most of them are hard working folks who love to travel on two wheels similar to our passion to travel in an RV albeit with a slightly different "dress code" :-)

Speaking of Sturgis, we took a ride over to check out their preparations yesterday. Joan's (friends of Steve and Joan)  cousin Kevin and friends Mike and Julie arrived earlier this week. They were riding their Harley's from Ohio on their way to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We showed them around the Hill's a little and they rode to Sturgis with us to check things out. We had a great time with them and look forward to running into them again some day. Joan snapped a photo of Kevin and I trying on hats, we both wished we had more time to fix our hair! :-)

My hours have been shifted some for at least a couple of weeks. I am staying late on at least 2 nights per week because one of our summer employees left. They have hired his replacement who is starting today but then one of our work camping couples are taking a short "vacation" so they can explore Yellowstone and I will be covering for them for several days. The bright side of it all is I will be putting in some OT hours and we can always use the extra money. :-) I'll keep you posted.

just hangin' around

We are quickly moving into summer here in the Black Hills, at least the calender says so. The weather has not caught on that it is almost July and we have had some really cool nights and it seems that most everyday it clouds up and we have storms move through. Rudee's schedule for last week shifted inexplicably to evenings each day. In the weeks prior she would work a couple of "closing" shifts and then her hours would be closer to my 8am - 7pm. We think it is just an oversight as her manager just took over the scheduling duties and was receptive to a change to get closer to my shifts. She doesn't mind closing but would not get home until around 11 pm and I just couldn't stay up that long, just look at any picture of me ..... I need my beauty sleep! LOL

A couple of weeks ago I repaired a leaky pump in our Splendide washer/dryer. The repair worked and we have no more leaks however it started acting up and would stop in mid cycle, right when it needed to pump the water out. We would have to manually advance the dial to get it to start working again, sometimes it we would have to advance it several times before it would start. I figured I would wait until my first day off, yesterday, to take it back out of it's cubby hole and see if I could figure out the problem. Lo and behold, it started working again just like it was supposed to. We have now done 5 or 6 loads and it worked perfect. Guess I'll wait and see what happens next week but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

A couple of weeks ago we made a stop in Sturgis to see the town before all the rally in August. We parked on main street and checked out a couple of shops, one of which was a thrift shop ran by a local womens club where I found a Black and Decker space saver coffee pot. Our motorhome had one at one time but had been removed by the previous owner. I looked it over at the store and quickly paid the $2.00 they were asking for it. I installed it when we got home and the brackets lined up with the existing holes in the shelve, Sweet!

I ran a few pots of vinegar water through it and it works good as new.

One of my jobs at Crazy Horse includes taking people up to the top of the mountain for a "private" tour. I love going up and seeing the monument close up and have met some really nice people on my trips. We sometimes see the mountain goats walking around and the view is always fantastic! One day last week we got to see some of the crew preparing the mountain for our summer night blast.

Look closely and you will see there are two of the workers that have rappelled off the top. They were attaching mount brackets in order to string the explosives for the blast.
I keep having to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming about the cool stuff I get to do, and I get paid for it too! :-)

Last Wednesday we got together with Dan and Jonell, liv2RV, and they all thought I needed to add a little culture to my rough and tumble life. We started with dinner at a nice restaurant in Keystone, The Powderhouse, where we had a nice meal. Then they took me to the "theater", pronounced with a British accent. :-)

The playhouse is located in Custer State Park and is free to us on certain evenings with our VIP passes. We saw a 22 act musical based on a childrens fairy tail and it was quite enjoyable. The cast were all very talented and we are looking forward to the next one. I still have to work on getting my pinky extended when I am hoisting my beer bottle but these things take time. :-)

We are looking forward to the night blast this Thursday at work. Should any of you readers find yourself in the Black Hills be sure and look us up! We are the ones that can't wipe the grins off our faces, we are having such a good time here. Of course our blog is not complete without a Buffalo picture.

He was a cutey! I'll keep you posted.

Horsin' around

One if the benefits of work camping at Crazy Horse is the VIP pass your provided. The pass is good for discounted, or often free, entrances to a lot of the tourist attraction nearby. Last year we enjoyed visiting some of the attractions but there were many more we wanted to go to but ran out of time. We are planning to revisit some of them this year as well as visit the ones we missed last year. We decided that the one we really wanted to see was the Wild Horse Sanctuary near Hot Springs, SD. This is a large (over 10,000 acres) ranch where they are dedicated to saving the wild Mustangs. The ranch was established in 1988 by Dayton Hyde who wanted to give the wild Mustangs a safe home where they can live as free and wild animals. They give tours as a way to support the ranch and reservations are a must. The tours are given on small school buses and are limited to around 20-30 people. We were able to take the two hour tour, normally $50 per person, for free with our card. The bus driver/tour guide was a very nice young lady who was very knowledgeable about the ranch and the different breeds of horses they have there. She took us up on the very high plateau that overlooks the ranch and the Cheyenne River which winds it's way through the valley.

I can certainly see why this would have been a prime place to live in earlier times. The Cheyenne Indians used this valley as a camp and in later years ranches were established by homesteaders who settled in the area after the Indians were removed to reservations. The first white family to settle on this land used this cave as their winter home when they arrived to late in the year to build a proper structure. That must have been one hard winter :-o.

Oh ya, they had some wild horses there too. :-)

We enjoyed the tour but both agreed that we would have been somewhat disappointed if we had to pay $50 per person for the tour.

Our work week has been moving along and we are settling in nicely to the routine. Our schedules rarely coincide but we do get the same days off and occasionally have the same lunch hour. My hours are pretty stable at 8am - 7pm but Rudee works a couple of nights closing so her shifts are variable throughout the week. We both agree though that this is a great place to work and live for the summer! I'll keep you posted.

work, work and more work?

Yes folks, we are still in South Dakota working away and doing fine. I guess I have neglected the blog a little and I apologize for that. I'll try and do better. :-)
We are slowly getting back into the groove of our four 10 hour shifts per week and for some reason I am having a little more difficulty getting my "body clock" to adjust to Mountain time.
The weather here in the Black Hills has been warming up some but that has also meant afternoon thunderstorms most days. We have avoided most of the severe weather but it sure interferes with our motorcycle rides.
We have taken in some pretty scenery though, even on the stormy days.

One day last week I decided to make some homemade noodles. My Mother In Law is the champion noodle maker and she taught me all her secrets.

I doubt if I will ever be able to make them as good as she does but I get pretty durn close.

We have also been experience a problem with our Splendide "all in one" washer/dryer. The thing has never really dried the clothes very well. We would set the dryer selection for maximum time (2 hours) and the clothes would still be damp even after all that time. Our neighbors and friends Steve and Joan (FOSJ) were also having problems with their unit and had tried several things before calling for a technician to come and look at it. Talking to Steve I was hoping to correct mine with just a simple cleaning of the dryer vent and he suggested I take it apart and try that on the same day the tech was coming to fix theirs in case it was more complicated.
Yesterday morning was the day and I removed the unit from it's cabinet. The dryer vent was totally clogged with a big ball of lint and looked like it probably had never been cleaned. That was an easy fix but, as usual, nothing is that easy. When I pulled the unit out we found water under the unit and it had been leaking for quite awhile. Not a big leak but any water leak is a bad thing in an RV. I was able to get the service tech to stop in and he found the pump was leaking. He said we could rebuild it using a kit for under $40 (which he had on his truck) or he could order us a new pump for $120. He told me how easy they were to rebuild and gave me some pointers so I decided to give it a try and save a few $'s. The kit is just a new rubber gasket that seals the interior impeller shaft of the pump.
I removed the pump which was held on by two bolts and I had to disconnect two hoses and a couple of wires.

Once I had the pump in hand I removed the screws holding the two halves of the housing together. Inside the housing is the impeller that is screwed onto a drive shaft and after unscrewing the impeller you can remove the rubber seal which keeps the pump from leaking.

I cleaned everything up and installed the new gasket using the grease they provided with the kit. I put it all back together and hoped for the best as we gave it a test run. Whoo Hoo, no leaks and it is blowing hot air from the dryer vent!
I put the back in the cabinet and reattached the anchors that keeps it secure. We have done a few loads since then and the clothes come out warm and dry in 1/4 of the drying time as before and Rudee is happy to have a fully functioning dryer again.

The weatherman says the next several days will be cool and rainy so we are just planning on running some errands and "chillin" in the rig. I'll keep you posted.

a few signs of Spring

We have been enjoying our days off after our long week end of ten hour shifts. Our days off are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and our work schedule for the summer should stay fairly consistent. The ten hour days are pretty long but we sure enjoy the three days off in a row plus this will help us "condition" for working at Amazon this Fall.
Last week I ordered a new cell phone since I was eligible for an upgrade. I did everything on line and the phone arrived Friday. I activated it and have been getting used to using it and figuring out it's features, it is a Samsung 4S and so far I am pretty impressed with it.

The weather has been pretty cold here for May. The highs have struggled to get into the 40's and we have had to either disconnect the water hose or leave a faucet running each night. The wind has been pretty brutal as well. We invited Steve and Joan to ride into Rapid City with us to see the movie Draft Day. We enjoyed the movie and it was a good roll for Kevin Costner, would make a neat TV show too.

Yesterday the temps started to warm up a little and reached the low 50's but we still had some wind as well as some passing showers.

This didn't stop us from doing some sightseeing  

and we did see some signs of Spring

We met with Dan and Jonelle in Hill City for dinner. They started work this morning and will have orientation today before beginning their normal schedule. Hey Dan, this next photo is for you.

Will be kind of tight but "no guts, no glory". :-)

We will likely just have a lazy day today hanging around the rig. We are both hopeful the weather will cooperate and we can let the Harley out of it's stall and do some of this running on two wheels! I'll keep you posted.

like we never left ..... almost

I forgot to update you on my findings on our electrical issue. Last Saturday I disconnected the 50 amp extension cord and found that the "male" end had a crack in the plastic so decided to take the plug apart to investigate things a little further. Once I had the plug opened up I found our problem. The white wire had pulled loose and apparently had made contact with one of the other wires causing our issue. I was using our 40' extension cord because I thought the on-board cord would not reach. I pulled it out and could reach the pedestal but am sure glad it wasn't another foot away or we would be in trouble. :-)
Using my multi-meter I checked the campground plug and it tested OK so I plugged back in, turned on the breakers and VOILA we have 50 amp power to the coach. :-) I will be purchasing a new 50 amp male end for the extension cord because we have used the cord from time to time and it is very handy to have around.
Rudee and I both started working Wednesday. She was in the gift shop and went through training on their new computer system. Last year they were using an antiquated system and have upgraded to a more user friendly windows based system.
I worked in the Welcome Center where they had a special event occurring. We had around 300 High School freshman attending a program called "Freshman Impact" where they rotate through different "stations". There were professionals from various Police, Fire, EMS and Health Care who gave instructions on topics such as drug use, suicide and bullying. They had demonstrations set up showing how a person's body reacts in a roll over accident, first restrained by a seat belt and then unrestrained. They also had extrication demonstrations including Emergency Medical demonstrations at a mock auto accident complete with "victims". After lunch they attended a mock trial of a teen charged with OWI causing a death in an auto accident and then had to pay their respects to one of their "classmates", the victim of the accident. Very powerful stuff to say the least.
Besides all of this going on we had our regular visitors so we stayed hopping keeping everyone and everything on the right track. :-)
Last year I worked predominantly in the ticket booths on the entrance road. I really wanted to be more involved with guests so last year before leaving I discussed it with my boss. He was very supportive and this year I will be doing something new at work. My job will be as a type of "floater". I will work in the Welcome Center "area" but may be called upon to drive a tour bus for a special tour, take a van tour to the top of the mountain, run errands for the boss around the complex etc. I really wont know what I will be doing from one day to the next, sometimes even one hour to the next but that really doesn't bother me and I enjoy the variety. Plus I get to carry a two way radio, makes it feel just like the old days! HAHAHA
Most of what we are doing though is "old hat" and we fell right back into the routine. There are a few new faces but also a lot of folks we worked with last year have returned (or are year round) and welcomed us back with enthusiasm. We are both confidant we made the right decision to return and are looking forward to a great summer, the only bad thing is summer is a little slow in coming. Yesterday we woke up to this

We got about 4" of snow and it was pretty cold when we rolled out of bed. I was prepared though and had filled our on board water tank before disconnecting the hose so we wouldn't freeze up. The night before we found Amazon buddies Dan and Jonelle had arrived in their 5er and I had the chance to visit with them for a few minutes. Shortly after I took the photo I spotted Jonelle outside and she was cleaning the snow off the windows of the Dakota! Thanks Jonelle! I wasn't sure how I was going to do that since I have no idea where my ice scraper got to. :-)
We got the chance to spend some time with them last evening when we all went out to dinner. We had a great time and the restaurant even gave us a 10% discount for being work campers in the area. Nice! We took them to Crazy Horse afterwards to show them around a little so they will be familiar with the surroundings when the start work next Wednesday. We also showed them some of the local "sites", maybe they will expand a little more on their sightseeing on their blog liv2rv. :-)
Looks like we may be working through the week end but I have not seen the schedule past today. We have asked to work four 10 hour days versus our five eight hour days from last year. My boss has agreed and my days off are Mon, Tues and Wed. Rudee has a different boss and should have the same schedule but we have not heard "officially" yet. I'll keep you posted.

getting settled and doing some exploring

Saturday we made a Wal Mart run to stock up on supplies and once we got back I was able to make our site look a little more like "home" by getting the chairs, grill and clothesline out.

 That evening we were invited over to Steve and Joan's rig where they taught us a couple new (and fun!) card games. We played "golf" and "fruit salad", we had a great night and look forward to a lot more. Their days off of work are Saturday, Sunday and Monday ...... weekends off SERIOUSLY? :-) So we decided on Sunday to do some geocaching as a way to explore the area some. I'll let the photos tell the story.

Monday we ran a few errands and then had a lazy night at home watching TV.
Today Rudee and I decided to do some more exploring on our own and headed out in search of "out of the way" places. There are miles and miles of Forest Service roads winding through the mountains around us. They are not in the greatest condition but that is what makes it an adventure. We turned off the "main" gravel road onto this one because a sign said there was a dam and it was "only" 9 miles. :-)

We found some signs of past civilization.

I'm not sure how long it has been abandoned but it looked to be really, really old.
We finally came upon a small pond and the dam.

We took a break to explore a little on foot and to sit and enjoy the sound of the waterfall. :-)
Eventually we came upon the ghost town of Mystic, South Dakota. There were still a couple of houses around but not sure if they were occupied or not.

We saw this at the edge of town near a wide spot in the road.

Looked like two graves side by side and another, smaller one nearby. Made us think that it was maybe a married couple and a child.They were marked with white wooden crosses, with the graves outlined with rocks. They seemed very old and neither had any other markings so we were left to wonder what happened here. Maybe a homestead where the occupants fell ill or had some kind of catastrophe, interesting spot for sure.

Lunch was at a small pizza place in Keystone and then we continued our tour through Custer State Park. Rudee told me she needed her "Buffalo fix". This close enough for ya Honey. :-)

The parks and towns are just starting to come to life and it wont be long before the tourists return in droves. I have to report to work in the morning to help with a special event and then Thursday we both report for "orientation", I'll keep you posted.