We have been to this area a couple of times in the past and have done Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Badlands, Wall Drug, the town of Sturgis and Deadwood so we might do some 'repeats' if the weather permits, but the main purpose of our visit was to look at a new car (since this is our legal state of residence and the sales tax is less here) and some other social security business, plus we like this area.
Our mail forwarding service, Americas Mailbox, is based out of here and they have a small
campground on the premise so we are parked here. Unfortunately, with all this rain there is a lot of mud around and Murphy loves all the mud so I have done a lot of cleaning each time he/we go in and out. Oh well.......it's only mud right? When you arrive here and check in, they say 'welcome home' as this is 'home' for many full timers, construction workers, traveling nurses, or anyone who travels and needs to get their mail. There are several of these services throughout S. Dakota but we are very happy we chose this particular one as we have had very little trouble with our mail, they also take care of licensing vehicles, voter registration and and anything else you might need while on the road. Of course, all for a fee, but we expect that.
Wednesday turned out to have a non-rain afternoon so we headed out to the one Ford dealer here in Rapid City to look at a Ford Edge. We had narrowed our choice down from previous car shopping, and wanted to wait to purchase until we arrived here. An Edge can be towed four wheels down and that is what we wanted. Apparently, business has been very good the last few weeks (weather permitting the sales lady told us) and they only had two Edge's in stock that we were interested in.....a black and a white one. We drove the white one and it has everything we wanted so we sat down to see what they could do for us. They gave us several thousand more for the Honda than we expected and would have even let us keep the Honda for another week until we could get the braking system removed, so we went away with a new car. In fact, if we wouldn't have taken the white one, there was a couple at another salesman's desk that were waiting to see what we would do because they wanted it too. According to Penny, our sales gal, they had 7 or 8 Edge's just last week and now they were down to two. I would say that while we were at this dealer for several hours, all the sales people were busy and at least 3-4 vehicles were sold that afternoon. Business is good I'd say for Ford. Thursday we went back for a two hour orientation on the navigation system (oh my gosh.....for this non-techy gal, this is going to be interesting). Dick is already familiar with GPS systems from driving the motorhome but I've never learned so this will be my time. We agreed to let them have the Honda in order to 'prep' it for sale and then they will meet us this week at the place that will remove the braking system and once that's done it will be ready for them to sell.
I would say the new car is our news for the week. We finished our Social Security business too and have tried some good restaurants in the area so life is good. We are planning to leave here next Monday if we can get the licensing done on the car later this week and head to Pender, NE to get the towing equipment installed on the new car. In the meantime, we will see what the weather does and how it affects some sightseeing before we leave.
Our thoughts and prayers have been with the folks in Moore, OK this past week and now with the terrible flooding in parts of TX. Mother Nature has shown us a pretty unusual spring so far I'd say.
As we all celebrate with barbecues and family gatherings this Memorial Weekend, let us remember the real reason for the holiday and that 'all gave some........but some gave all'. God Bless!
Wednesday turned out to have a non-rain afternoon so we headed out to the one Ford dealer here in Rapid City to look at a Ford Edge. We had narrowed our choice down from previous car shopping, and wanted to wait to purchase until we arrived here. An Edge can be towed four wheels down and that is what we wanted. Apparently, business has been very good the last few weeks (weather permitting the sales lady told us) and they only had two Edge's in stock that we were interested in.....a black and a white one. We drove the white one and it has everything we wanted so we sat down to see what they could do for us. They gave us several thousand more for the Honda than we expected and would have even let us keep the Honda for another week until we could get the braking system removed, so we went away with a new car. In fact, if we wouldn't have taken the white one, there was a couple at another salesman's desk that were waiting to see what we would do because they wanted it too. According to Penny, our sales gal, they had 7 or 8 Edge's just last week and now they were down to two. I would say that while we were at this dealer for several hours, all the sales people were busy and at least 3-4 vehicles were sold that afternoon. Business is good I'd say for Ford. Thursday we went back for a two hour orientation on the navigation system (oh my gosh.....for this non-techy gal, this is going to be interesting). Dick is already familiar with GPS systems from driving the motorhome but I've never learned so this will be my time. We agreed to let them have the Honda in order to 'prep' it for sale and then they will meet us this week at the place that will remove the braking system and once that's done it will be ready for them to sell.
I would say the new car is our news for the week. We finished our Social Security business too and have tried some good restaurants in the area so life is good. We are planning to leave here next Monday if we can get the licensing done on the car later this week and head to Pender, NE to get the towing equipment installed on the new car. In the meantime, we will see what the weather does and how it affects some sightseeing before we leave.
Our thoughts and prayers have been with the folks in Moore, OK this past week and now with the terrible flooding in parts of TX. Mother Nature has shown us a pretty unusual spring so far I'd say.As we all celebrate with barbecues and family gatherings this Memorial Weekend, let us remember the real reason for the holiday and that 'all gave some........but some gave all'. God Bless!
