Monday, September 16, 2013

Monday, Sept. 16, 2013 - Travel Day to Halsey-Natick Horse Camp


Woke up good and early, knowing we had several stops today and wanting to still get to Halsey reasonably early, so we were on the road by 8:00. Stopped at Ft. Robinson to dump, then on to Chadron where we went to the Country Kitchen for breakfast while I did some quick work on my computer, and Hubby Skyped his sister in England to wish her birthday greetings, all of which took more than an hour. We then ran down to a farm supply store and Walmart before heading out of town. We stopped again in the town of Alliance to pick up fuel and propane, then finally arrived at the Bessey Ranger Station much later than we anticipated, right at 5:00. Fortunately, I had called ahead to confirm where spigot water was available, and when we arrived we headed straight there (next to the Rec building before entering the main campground). We filled the RV and both portable water barrels, as we have another 8 miles to Natick and we didn't know what kind of water situation was there, other than a hand pump. Those 8 miles turned out to be painstakingly slow in an effort to not spill any more water than possible, and the roads, though mostly paved, would have been better off being gravel, they were so rough. Fifty minutes later, we arrived at the camp. On the left were a row of wooden, seemingly dilapidated corrals and a windmill with a large stock tank of water. On the right was a camping area. At first, we thought that was the entire campground, which didn't make sense, but as I walked up the road I found the main entrance to the campground loop, which had a much nicer selection of sites. We drove in, and Hubby reconnoitered the area, deciding that site 15 was the best one for our purposes. It was a large site, and about 20 yards behind it was another row of pipe corrals, mostly shaded, but with a line of site that was clear for a satellite signal. We got moved in as quickly as we could (though we didn't bother with the satellite dish, as we were now in Central Time and it was getting dark by the time we finished setting up) and finally got settled in. We had a late dinner, watched a movie and headed to bed, exhausted.

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