Finally........Sunshine in Rapid City Today (Sunday)

We are near a Flying J and this was
the sign one morning about 11 a.m.

I started this blog yesterday afternoon (Saturday) and it was still ugly outside.  Finally about 8 p.m. the wind magically died down and it was a most pleasant night for sleeping......finally.  It is now Sunday morning and we haven't had any rain in about 24 hours, the sun comes and goes, and the breeze is picking up.  We aren't supposed to have winds over 15 mph today and no rain so we're going to take a drive and check a few things out.  In the meantime, this is what I had written as of yesterday.

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Once again as I start this blog, I must pay tribute to the folks yet again in OK that were hit with more tornados this week, as well as parts of MO.  Plus the four brave firefighters in Houston that died while fighting the hotel fire on Friday as well.   To all the families of those lost and injured in both disasters......God Bless You all!

Wow........we cannot believe how much wind, rain and even some hail we have seen these past two weeks.  And with all the wind, 30+ MPH most days AND nights, the temp doesn't get above 50-55 and feels a lot colder plus the rain.  Basically, it has been miserable all except for a day or two.  After watching the above mentioned catastrophes on TV, I really should not complain but it just doesn't make it any fun to go out sightseeing in the rain so we have pretty much skipped that for this trip especially since we've done a lot of the 'well known' touristy things in this area before (Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Bear Country, the Black Hills Steam Train, Sturgis, and Deadwood are the ones I recall at this moment).   We have all the new car 'stuff' done that we can do here in Rapid City and will be heading out on Tuesday.  We had planned to go to Pender, NE next where Blue Ox, (the tow bar company) is located, but they cannot get us in until late June so they referred us to a place in Elkhart, IN where we will get everything installed so that we can tow the new car behind the motorhome.  In the interim, I will follow behind.......ugh!!!  Actually, it will be Murphy and I following Dick because Murphy much prefers riding in the car than the motorhome it seems.  We will be at my brothers in IL by Thursday and spend the weekend with them and then head to Elkhart.

We are hanging out here an extra day to get together with one of my former bosses from Verizon in Phoenix.  She & her husband will arrive here Sunday evening and we will visit on Monday and then head out on Tuesday.  I haven't seen Kay for several years so it will be fun to catch up as they are full-timers too based out of VA.  Todd is a musician and Kay is still working in the healthcare field so their traveling hinges on his 'gigs' as she calls them and where she needs to be for work.

Abraham Lincoln Statue

Rapid City, known as the City of Presidents (and we also read somewhere it is the most patriotic city in the country) is a growing city.   I've talked to several natives here and they can't believe the growth and especially the ladies are excited to see some new shopping here and some new chain restaurants such as Famous Dave's Barbecue, Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse over the last couple of years.  They even have two WalMarts now (the new one is beautiful and HUGE) which folks are excited about.  They are also trying to renovate the downtown like many cities are doing and we must say that they are doing a nice job.    As you walk around downtown, there are 43 life-sized bronze presidential statues on the street corners, many art galleries, shopping, restaurants and even a graffiti-painted alley known as 'art alley' that is beyond unique and there is even a YouTube video on it.

We both like Rapid City, perfect size in our opinion....not too big, not too small with about 70,000 people.  One thing they do have is an abundance of restaurants for a city this size.  Of course, some better than others but we tried a few we liked.  Downtown there is one called The Firehouse Brewery, a unique brewpub housed in the city's original firehouse.  Sanfords is another favorite with so much garage memorabilia on the walls you could be there for hours just walking around looking at everything from hundreds of parking meters to tire rims to antiques.  The menu is overwhelming and very cleverly written with such things as gizzards, lots of variations on a hamburger such as a Pants on Fire burger which is a hand-patted burger basted in wing sauce topped with bacon and melted bleu cheese and then a fried egg on top (yuck in my opinion).  There's also a Piggly Wiggly salad which is mixed greens with southern breaded pork tenderloin strips, cheddar/jack cheese, egg, red pepper, walnuts, purple onion and tomato.  I think you get the idea what kind of place it is.  We also tried Murphy's Pub & Grill and he would have approved of its burgers and salads too.  Just a lot of fun places ranging from casual to more formal and then, of course, all the fast food you could ask for.

Sanfords

There is also a very nice 18 mile bike path through Rapid City that was on our list to do but that didn't happen this time due to the weather.  Another must for next time is the George Mickelson Trail which is a 100+ mile multi-use (bike, walk, run, horse) trail through the Black Hills.

Art Alley

The site across from us on a rainy/foggy morning.

From our campsite a beautiful sunset one evening.  That
was the day the sun came out about 3 p.m. and then this sunset.

All of the above was written on Saturday afternoon.

I must also add that we heard this morning about the wildfires burning in California and send our thoughts and prayers to those folks as well.  I'm afraid this is going to be a bad year for fires in many parts of the country.

Today, Sunday was beautiful and about 70 degrees.  We took a drive out to Hill City, stopped at the Prairie Berry Winery and bought some 'Bad Ass Rhubarb Wine' (that's the actual name) for my sister-in-law.  We bought some a couple of years ago and it was a hit with her.  The drive out to Hill City, Keystone, and Custer is a beautiful drive especially since all the rain everything is very green and lush.  We checked out a few RV parks in that general area for next time and there will be a next time for sure.  A wonderful day, the new car was a joy to drive and ride in, and we wish the weather would have been better to have enjoyed more days like this.  Oh well...........there's always next time!

Have a great week....