Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013 - Delightful Train Ride on the 1880 Steamer

After a nice quiet morning, Hubby and I headed down to Keystone just to see some of the sights, and after finding a parking spot, we walked up to the train depot to see when the next train was leaving. Turned out to be immediately! I quickly bought two tickets (not even sure where we were going, but it just seemed like such a cool idea!), grabbed a couple of ice cream cones and bottles of water at a store across the street, and got into the back of the line at the train station. We were boarding within minutes, but being at the end of the line meant we had to keep moving forward until we FINALLY found two seats together in the front car. Fortunately, the seats were padded in the Keystone car, as opposed to many that had wooden seats, but being in the front meant it was pretty noisy, both from the engine and especially from the whistle, which blew often! What a blast it was! The trip climbed out of Keystone, up some quite steep slopes, and very close to the rocks on each side in many places. Hubby was reminded of his youth when steam engines were the norm in pre-WWII England, and the smells took him way back. The trip was about an hour to Hill City, where the engine unhooked and moved to the front, quickly heading back the way we came. We changed sides so we could see the other side of the tracks on the way back to Keystone, and we left the station soon thereafter. It really was a worthwhile trip, though if I were to do it again I would probably leave earlier in the day, stop in Hill City for a while, then catch a later train back. In any event, it was delightful, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After disembarking, we walked back down "restaurant row" toward our vehicle, then decided to get a meal in the Mexican restaurant nearby, as we haven't had Mexican food in quite a while. Headed back to camp, where the horses and dogs were patiently waiting for us, got everyone else fed and tucked in, then settled down for the evening.

Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 - Travel Day with Tunnel Trouble

Woke up to the unfortunate sound of rain on the roof this morning, making everything wet just before we packed it up, although once it passed through there wasn't a cloud in the sky! That helped dry a lot of things out just in the nick of time. Managed to get everything packed and were out of there by 9:00 or so. Followed the route I had previous planned, which quickly turned out to be a mistake. I thought the west side of the Black Hills wouldn't be as twisty and windy as the east side when we came in, but within a couple of miles we came to a tunnel, which turned out to be impassible. The height was okay for us, at 12'2", but the width was marked at 9 feet. Thinking of my other RV, which was 8 feet, I figured I could make it and started through, slowly. I forgot this new unit is actually 100+ inches, more like 8 1/2', which, with the awning and slide toppers on both sides, actually made me wider. I soon realized I couldn't make it, so we had to back out, which is when I caught one of the slide toppers on the edge of a protruding piece of rock, so we tore it up a bit, unfortunately. But we managed to get out okay, and fortunately there was a dirt road leading up to a logging area that was convenient for us to turn around, though we did hold up a little traffic in the process. So we headed down to the nearest detour, which took us through the entrance to Custer State Park (which we had avoided by coming from the north previously, otherwise I think we would have had to pay an entrance fee), through the town of Custer, past the Crazy Horse memorial carving, and on to the Willow Creek Horse Camp, which was just off the main road, so all of the roads going that way were easy and straightforward, with no more excitement, thank goodness. We quickly found our spot, which was a bit odd, with us on one side of the road and the highline for the horses on the other, but no big deal, we can still see them out the back window. The place is empty, and we can certainly understand why. They consider this a group camp, but the size of the sites aren't much bigger than a single , or at most a double site in most other places, yet they charge an exorbitant fee for them. I'm guessing that's because the KOA across the street charges twice or three times as much for horsecampers, and you think that would be an influence, but obviously most people have concluded it's not worth it. For example, we're in a site that's rated for two rigs and 6-8 horses (though I don't know how they figure that, it would be more than 2 horses per highline), and it's $44 per night, with no Golden Age Passport discount allowed apparently. So it's going to be an expensive weekend, and that's just for camping! Anyway, after getting set up and putting the horses on their anchors so they could graze, we disconnected the van and I ran into town to the Post Office to pick up mail, though there was only the Dish receiver and not the hearing aid. Apparently, the UPS truck doesn't arrive until just before the post office closes at 2:30, so I would have to come back then. I ran down to a little grocery store and found an open Wi-Fi signal nearby, so I spent some time on the computer looking for replacement parts for the slide topper, as well as a new motor cover for the main awning, I apparently just brushed that too. I heard from one local store in Rapid City that there was a hailstorm going on there, even though all we had was a few clouds in Keystone. Eventually I found out all I needed, and just as I was getting ready to go into the grocery store, a UPS truck pulled in front of me and parked! I ran out to see if I could get my package from him, and sure enough, after he finished his drop off, he found my other package, saving me from another stop at the post office. That done, I ran into the grocery store for bacon and ice cream, then back to camp, which only took about 10 minutes by this nice road, and discovered Hubby had managed to get a good satellite signal using the old receiver, so all I had to do was plug it in and within minutes, it was ready for activation. Which means we needed to find a way to call and get it activated, and there's no phone signal here, surprisingly. We headed across the street to the KOA for two reasons, one to activate the Dish and the other to send in Hubby's quarterly heart monitoring, which we needed a landline for. After checking around, we ended up at the lodge, where the woman was extremely helpful, even taking us up to one of their hotel rooms to plug into one of their phone, because that was the only one with the right end. Then we went to restaurant row (also in KOA) and there were a couple of courtesy phones, where I could make my Dish 800 call with no problem, and by the time we got back, the Dish was up and running and we had achieved all of our goals for the day. Eventually I put up our highline on the poles here (though they have a cable, I don't like to use them because the horses can't move around as much), and settled in for the evening, at last recording some new programs and back to being able to pause and hold live TV, something we haven't been able to do since the hard drive crashed!

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013 - Rest Day

We all had a nice quiet rest day today, did some computer work, watched a few movies, generally relaxed most of the day, except for putting a lot of stuff away in anticipation of our move tomorrow.

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 - Ride Day to Mt. Rushmore!

Well, the day arrived, and we were met with the perfect combination of clouds and sun, even though the forecast had been predicting a 30% change of rain. It was going to be a bit warm, but we figured in the forest it would be cooler, and we were right. After breakfast, we walked down to the water trough, then to the horse trailer just a few more steps away, and got saddled up, booted (with my new Cavallos that I had picked up at the post office in Keystone on the way in, having lost one in the Badlands earlier in the month), and on our way by 11:00. We headed up the Centennial Trail (the same one we travelled on up in Ft. Meade), climbing through some rough rocky terrain (so happy we had boots on!) until it flattened out a bit on the other side and we enjoyed some long stretches of fairly easy trail where we trotted quite a bit, through narrow meadows, across brooks and streams, climbed a few more rocky stretches, until we reached the well-marked turnoff to the Mt. Rushmore monument, crossing into national park boundary where the trail got very challenging, lots of rough stretches of rocky trail, until we arrived at the end of the line, where we met up with a half dozen other riders, including the four women parked next to us at the horse camp. With Hubby staying behind, I walked over to the monument for a closer look, wandering through the visitor center and taking lots of pictures so Hubby can enjoy them later. I think I'll suggest we drive back here so that Hubby can see it in person. We've been here once before, very briefly, back in '87 or '88, and it seems they've added a lot since then (if memory serves, which it may not : -), and I know he'd enjoy the extensive exhibits on how they build it. They were also playing a recording of the MLK "I have a dream" speech, since it's the 50th anniversary this week, which added a certain atmosphere. After wandering around a bit, I walked back to the trailhead, where Hubby and I had a quick lunch, took a few pix with Mt. Rushmore in the background, then headed back up the trail the way we had come. With several stops for well-deserved grazing on some clover along the trail, we made it back by about 4:00, dumped a few buckets of cool trough water on the horses to cool them off, got everyone settled in for the night, enjoyed two movies back to back before heading off to bed.

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013 - Rest and Chores Day

No luck getting an internet signal this morning, except to download some of my email (though not all). Had an easy breakfast, and afterward, the camp host came by to say that we didn't need to move the horse trailer all the way out of the campsite, that we could move it down next to the manure dumpster, which is only about 100 feet away! Fabulous! Now we don't have to unload all our saddles and other equipment, we can just walk the horses down, as usual. Fantastic! We got a few last minute items out of the trailer and moved it down there after breakfast, with Hubby in a much better mood now, he wasn't looking forward to having the horse trailer so far away. I still couldn't get on the internet, but I had to make a phone call, so on the suggestion of one of our departing neighbors, I climbed up the hill to our west, which did indeed, produce two bars on my phone, enough to make a phone call. Hubby spent the day repairing one of our collapsible rain barrels, as we had discovered a few leaks, and wanted to put a new cock on it. He found an old can of that rubber sealant stuff, you know the one they spray onto a screen that has been fitted into the bottom of a boat? He figures that should fix it up, fingers crossed! I did some writing and resting, and kept making attempts to get on the internet, so far no luck! That's okay, this is the slowest week of the year anyway, except between Christmas and New Years! No one will miss us this week!

Monday, Aug. 26, 2013 - Travel Day to Iron Creek Horse Camp

Didn't worry about an alarm this morning, as according to everything I've seen, it's less than 60 miles, and isn't supposed to take that long. Nevertheless, we were packed up and moving by 10:30, stopping at the interstate rest area to use their dump (I love it when that happens!), Tractor Supply, and RV store next door to pick up a 10' hose, Flying J just up the service road for propane, Perkins down the road for breakfast, Wal-mart for shopping, the Keystone Post Office for my general delivery mail (though they officially closed at 2:30, it was already past 3:00 when we got there, but when I knocked, the lady was kind enough to give me my mail), gas at the only station in town for generator gas, then finally on our way, much later (as usual) than we had planned. Then we started twisting and turning up Iron Mountain, mostly 15-25 mph, with sharp curves, tunnels with 12'2" clearance we barely squeaked through, and a few lovely signs warning large vehicles that travel on this road wasn't recommended for vehicles over 40' (yeah, right). Saw some lovely views, and even though it's only about 5 miles from Keystone to the campground as the crow flies, it was much longer by road, and we ended up arriving around 4:00! This campground is just one large loop, but the center is fenced off so it's unusable and the sites are essentially just parking along the edge of the loop, no back-ins, and only room for one vehicle. There were nice big round pens for each campsite, so we quickly got the horses squared away. Since the site next to ours wasn't going to be occupied until tomorrow, we left the horse trailer in it, since all of our stuff for horse care was in it. It seemed we would have to park the van and trailer outside the campground on the side of the road, so we decided to break out a little canopy that we had bought years ago and never used, and put it over the picnic table. Between that and the awning, we figured we'd have enough room to keep all our horse food, saddles, and everything else we would need, so we wouldn't have to run all the way out to the horse trailer for stuff. It actually turned out to be pretty easy to put up (despite the instructions recommending three people!), we managed to do it pretty quickly, and it did create a nice covered "porch". It was hot enough that Hubby broke out both generators so we could run the air conditioning for awhile, though fortunately the temps dropped well into the sixties by the time we turned them off shortly after dark. Had just enough of an augmented cell phone signal to check my email and do a little web surfing before I lost the signal again. Got the satellite up and running (though the receiver hard drive crapped out, so we only have live TV, yuck!!!) but we found an old Clark Gable, Yvonne DeCarlo, Sidney Poitier film that was perfect, with no commercials, so the evening turned out to be quite nice.

Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013 - At Last, A Ride at Ft. Meade!

Apparently all of the walking around yesterday helped Hubby's back, because he woke up this morning feeling pretty darn good, so we decided to take a short ride today, as we really hate to leave a place without riding at least once! I had found a mountain biker's trail map and created a loop that was half Centennial Trail, half the biker's trail, programmed it into the GPS and off we went! Passed a family picking wild plums, which I'd never seen before, and the mother gave me one to try. Small, with a big pit, and the skin was pretty astringent, but you could tell the fruit was going to be lovely with a few days of ripening. Reminded me of my persimmons back home, very astringent when eaten slightly green! We headed across a meadow on the clearly marked Centennial trail, having to go through several gates along the way, then a steep climb up the hill to a beautiful view of the freeway and the Black Hills to the south and west, and several places with a good view of Bear Butte, THE landmark for this valley, a geographical anomaly that looks like a giant sleeping bear in the middle of the plains, visible for many, many miles, probably why they chose to build a fort near it, so the troops could find their way home! Rode along the ridgeline for awhile, before coming back down the hill on a longer, gentler slope. Got a little unsure when we reached the road, but stayed on the Centennial trail, and following my GPS, went around a little pond where a young couple was sitting, then headed back up the hill again, though not as steep or long. Eventually we came to the top, which was mostly meadow, and finally came to the turnoff that took us away from Centennial and on to the biker's trail, which was really more our cup of tea anyway. A fairly narrow, single track trail that hung onto the side of the hill for quite a ways, until we came around to a nice long meadow where we had a nice canter, then a switchback to take us parallel to the utility lines, then finally right back to the Centennial trail, and to camp. All told it was just about two hours, a perfect length for Hubby to see how his back went. He survived! We did some chores afterward, though, in preparation for our departure tomorrow, and by the time we settled down for the evening, he was a bit achy again, though no where near as bad as earlier this week. Just glad we had a chance to ride here, and to discover a number of other trails and grasslands for next time!

Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013 - Birthday, and First Day Out in a while

For the first time in four and a half years, when I reached for my bottle of water for a drink this morning, I didn't suffer a twinge of pain in my shoulder! I've been suffering for so long, I'm not even sure how to deal with it! I sure hope this is hre to stay! I've been working on it almost every day, with miniscule progress that I sometimes wonder is doing any good, but apparently it has, because this is a major breakthrough! And what a great way to start my birthday! Hubby feeling much better, so we decided to do some special things today and try taking a short ride tomorrow. After a leisurely breakfast, we drove down to Ft. Meade to tour the grounds and stroll around their very comprehensive museum, which filled us in on a lot of the history of the area as well as the fort. Afterward, we drove down to Deadwood for a car show festival they were having down there, had dinner at a wonderful little restaurant (and former brothel) called the Deadwood Social Club for a fantastic dinner, (with a piece of cheesecake for my birthday dessert) walked the streets to view the cars, listened to a little music from the live stage, then headed out so that we got home just before the sun went down, and took care of the horses which were patiently waiting for us. Settled down for the remainder of the evening, though our satellite receiver died again, and the hard drive crashed, but we managed to get it on enough to watch live TV. Ordered a new one, due in Keystone on Wednesday. Indulged in a little brandy before getting to bed, after a fabulous day! Hoping to get a ride in tomorrow.

Friday, Aug. 23, 2013 - And Again

Hubby starting to feel better, I gave him a nice massage and we've been doing some stretches to relief what has now become a bout of sciatica. Felt much better by the end of the day, looking forward to doing some other activities tomorrow!

Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 - Same Again

Another day of rest for Hubby, more computer work for me!

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013 - More Rest and Work

Spent the day working on logistics for future destinations and letting Hubby rest.

Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 - Some Rest, a Few Errands

Hubby still having trouble moving around, so we spent the morning resting, though in the afternoon we had to take a trip into Sturgis to receive and send a fax so that he could claim a replacement hearing aid. We stopped at the Chamber first, and a very cheerful woman there suggested I go to the City Offices, which we did, and they were extremely helpful. We had a very nice chat with the ladies there while we waited to exchange faxes. A quick useless trip to the post office, then back to camp where we rested the rest of the day as well. Horses spent half the day on their anchors, half on their highline. Cleanup involves collecting manure and putting it in the dumpster provided, easy enough when you have the right tools, and we do! Relaxing evening for all!

Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 - Travel Day to Fort Meade, SD (State #44)

Woke up with the alarm, but jumped out of bed immediately because when I heard a whinny (from Clio) and looked out my window, my bad boy Apollo was eating hay off the back of my pickup! He had escaped yesterday once, but I put on more line on the corral, but evidently on the wrong end, as he got out once again. I heard a vehicle, as well, apparently someone was concerned enough to follow him, though it really wasn't necessary, as the entire campground is fenced in, with cattle guards at several road crossings, so he wasn't going anywhere. Anyway, I got up and dressed quickly, tied him up near the corrals, and set about getting ready leave. We were out of there by about 8:10 Mountain Time (which, btw, is an hour later than across the Little Missouri River which the campground bordered, which is in Central Time). My phone has been reading Central Time the whole time we've been here, apparently the nearest tower is on the north side of the bridge. In any event, we headed south on the still very busy US 85 (which has had non-stop traffic on it the entire time we've been here, even throughout the night, including Sunday morning!), stopping at the intersection on the interstate to get gas and grab some breakfast. We had hoped for a fast food place because of our long drive today, but choices were limited (to one, essentially), so we stopped at the only restaurant we were likely to find between here and our destination, a hotel restaurant called Trappers, which turned out to house the "Trappers Hall of Fame." Buffalo and elk were on the menu (though not for breakfast, or I might have tried some), and the atmosphere was pretty unique, lots of old western and trapping gear around, and the salad bar was actually a beautifully-lacquered wood canoe full of ice. Hubby ordered two blueberry pancakes, not realizing that one pancake was about 12 inches across, I just had a regular bacon and egg breakfast. When we were leaving, we noticed that behind the hotel was "Horse Lodging," a row of corrals and run-in sheds for hotel occupants traveling with their horses. That's one thing I really like about the West, few people are surprised that you're traveling with a horse! Anyway, we crossed the plains uneventfully, stopping at Walmart in Spearfish, then gas at the Phillips, before taking the final 30 minute journey to Sturgis. Well, actually, it turned out to be a little longer than that, for reasons of my own making. I never found a park map for Ft. Meade, so I wasn't sure where the horse camp was, so we ended up coming in the north side of the park. The gravel BLM road was a bit twisty, so instead of just diving in head first not knowing where we were going, I call the office and discovered the horse camp was just a half mile off the freeway along the south end of the park, so we decided to return to the freeway and go down two exits to #34, which, indeed, had us in the campground in no time. A very nice spot here, small but well wooded, with enough openings for Hubby to get a satellite signal with no problem. Highlines were already in place, but I ended up putting ours up underneath theirs, because they didn't allow for as much movement as ours do. We were set up and settled in by about 5:30, though Hubby was struggling a bit, his hip hurts more now than it did when he fell a few days ago, so we put an ice pack on it and are keeping him medicated on acetaminophen. Watched a movie and went to bed, tired from the long drive.

Sunday, Aug. 18, 2013 - More Like a Rest Day

Other than waking up to the applause of the awards ceremony that started about 8:30 am, today was a bit more like a rest day. I indulged in sleeping a little later, had pancakes for breakfast, and the only real chores we did was to get ready for our departure tomorrow. I was hoping to give the horses a quick washdown with some of the leftover water we had, but discovered that one of the barrels had been leaking, so we didn't want to chance using it up for that. We gave them a good fly spray anyway, then settled down for the evening. We considered going for a short ride today, but Hubby's hip was still a bit sore from one of his falls the other day, and I'm still feeling a bit tired as well, not having really had a day off yet. Besides, we've now ridden in three different place in North Dakota, so I guess we can say we've done the state now! Oddly, quite a few campers came in during the evening, surprising since usually on Sunday everyone leaves and we end up with the place to ourselves. Furthermore, they all seemed to want to park near us, rather than in the many other empty spots in the park. Weird! Looking forward to the Black Hills next week!

Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013 - More Curtains Done!

Bikers moving around before dawn this morning, apparently the start of the race was about 5:00 am, so we heard voices early. Then they all rode of into the sunrise, and it was pretty quiet the rest of the afternoon, with some folks drifting back during the day, but most arriving after 10:00 pm on a shuttle that carried all their bikes back with them. But not much rest for me today, though. Hubby read his Kindle all day, while I slaved over a hot sewing machine and accompanying iron, but once I hung the new drapes on our big side window, the temperature inside the RV dropped at least 5 degrees, probably much more! While we've done a great job staying in 70 degrees until earlier this week, the last few days here have gotten pretty hot, up to the mid-90's, though luckily it does cool down at night to the low sixties, and the humidity has been really low, so it's still been comfortable sleeping. Had enough sewing for a while though, the machine went back into the van along with the leftover curtain material by the end of the day!

Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 - Rest and Curtain Day

Not surprisingly, getting out of bed was a slow process : -). The horses seemed no worse for the wear today, and we weren't as sore as we thought we would be (thank heavens for tylenol and ibuprofen!), so we rested most of the day, except I spent a little time working on the drapes I started back in May at home. Lots of folks coming in during the day, as there is a 100 mile bike race starting here tomorrow morning (at about 4:00 am, apparently), so tents are going out all around us. A quiet bunch, though, very serious, so the day was uneventful (thankfully!)

Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013 - Strenuous, Stressful, Spectacular Ride in the Badlands

What a ride! It must be said that the most memorable rides aren't necessary the most fun rides, and today was certainly a case in point. Today was a day of many firsts, several losses, lots of close calls and countless spectacular views. We began by entering the National Park and driving down to the parking area across from the entrance to the campground, where there was a trailhead to the Buckhorn Trail, our trail for the day. After quickly saddling up, we headed across grassland, doing our best to follow the trail, but there seemed to be countless variations, and no sure direction. We made our way until a marker, essentially a post in the ground with an unreadable plate on it, so we figured we must be going the right way. I had brought my GPS and created a map of the trail, but in several places, the hard copy map which I had overlaid on Google Earth didn't completely match the red trail markers already placed on Google Earth, so I split the difference on my GPS map. As time went on, though, it seemed some sections of the trail were a moving target. Anyway, we made our first small climb, a ravine about 20 feet high, the first of many we were to make today. As we crossed the grasslands, we were faced with many small ravines, steeper and deeper than a simple creek crossing, and probably narrow enough for a hunter to jump over, but we aren't riding hunters so we had to persuade our horses to essentially drop into a pit and climb back out again. Just as they were starting to get used to that, we came to another deep ravine, this one probably 15-18 feet deep, down and up. Just as we got to the top, and I was just getting Apollo ready to head down, suddenly his head went up, his nose flared and he snorted in defense mode, because about 20 yards beyond the top of the opposite side of the ravine was a great big buffalo. Even though he had mostly gotten over his anxiety about cows, apparently a buffalo is a completely different matter. Needless to say, Apollo wheeled around, wanting no part of it, and Clio followed suit. We spent the next 15-20 minutes trying to settle them down, though they were truly in flight mode. We tried to find another way around, but there wasn't one. After staring at the buffalo for some time, they eventually weren't quite so frantic (the buffalo was ignoring them completely), they got a tad bit quieter. Fortunately, the buffalo started moving away a bit, down into another hollow, and laid down, so it could no longer be seen by the horses (though obviously the smell was still strong). I managed to persuade Apollo to go back to the top of the ravine, but I still couldn't get him down it, so, as a last resort, I got off and walked him down the ravine. He seemed a bit more calm because I was ignoring the buffalo, which helped, but of course, he was too anxious for me to get back on him, so I had to lead him up the ravine. Naturally, he ran past me and practically dragged me to the top, it was fortunate my Mccarty lead was just long enough not to throw him off balance, as it was a considerable drop had he done so. Anyway, I climbed to the top and started walking past where the buffalo had been (and still was, just off the trail a bit more than previously), and Hubby and Clio crossed the ravine with no problem, as usual when we lead the way. I continued to walk for another 100 feet or so, enough to get Apollo settled down, and finally remounted and continued along the trail. More grasslands, more steep little arroyos, more uncertainty about which way the trail went, since the markers were few and far between, and there were uncounted trails made by the buffalo here. We finally came across a marker and headed for it, only to discover that just beyond that, and along the trail where we were headed, was a whole herd of buffalo! Granted, it was a small herd, but a herd is a lot more imposing that a single buffalo, and there were young one's around for the bulls to protect, so we had to be extra careful. Fortunately, they seemed to be heading away from the intersection (and away from a hiker that evidently was trying to get closer to them), and that emboldened Apollo a bit (bravest coward I know, besides my little dog Billy), he was tossing his head at them as if to say, "So there! I'm not afraid of you anymore!" Of course, that lasted until the herd saw us, and, like the cows last week, turned around and headed for us, apparently just out of curiosity. We headed away from them as best we could, but we were going in the opposite direction that we wanted so we just went far enough so that the herd lost interest for the time being. We tried to get around them, but they just come toward us, but eventually they just started heading down the trail where we wanted to go, so we hung back and slowly followed them, stopping every time the bull in the rear turned to look at us, then starting up again when they resumed their progress. Eventually, the plain widened out enough, and the horses had settled down enough, so that we could give them a wide berth and walk around them. It's a good thing the buffalo walk so slow, it made it possible to get around them at a walk. Whew! What an experience! By the time we passed the herd, the horses had apparently gotten over most of their fear, so this was a big step for them today! Shortly thereafter, we arrived at the Prairie Dog Town, a wide area full of low growth and scores of little heads and wagging tails and lots of holes to avoid. We observed them for a while, very cute and cuddly looking, and the horses only gave them a cursory look, thank goodness. We stayed on grassy plains for a while, and just as we were leaving the Prairie Dog Town, we saw a good size fox loping away from us, apparently disturbing his hunt, though I can't imagine it would be that difficult to get a meal of prairie dog, considering how many of them there were. We continued along reaching another steep arroyo, and just as we were approaching, the head of another big buffalo appeared at the top of the ravine. If this keeps up, we'll never get home, we thought! The buffalo started growling (yes, growling!) for a bit, then swung around and headed away from the ravine, though we could still hear his growl, albeit further away. We waited a few more minutes to make sure he was gone, though we couldn't be sure until we got to the top of the ravine, since we couldn't see past the edge. I finally headed up, and Apollo was fearless despite having seen that buffalo there only moments ago, and fortunately, the buffalo had already moved off a ways, almost out of sight. Well, at this point we lost the trail again. We didn't know we had, in fact the trail looked clearer here that in many spots along the way, but afterward, when I compared it on Google Earth, we definitely got off track. Anyway, we followed what we THOUGHT was the trail, and that led us to a cliff wall that seemed to got practically straight up. There were lots of tracks there, though, so we knew it was possible, but it was definitely a bit heart-stopping to think of what would happen if someone's hoof slipped. Well, undaunted, we headed up. Fortunately, it was in a couple of stages, so we had time to rest in between each stage. At one point, I saw two elk on an almost invisible narrow trail along the edge of the cliff. I pointed them out to Hubby, but he only saw one because the other one had already leaped away. Just before we reached the top, Clio (who was in front of me at this point) lost one of her boots. There was no way I could stop on that incline and pick it up, so I waited to the next stopping point before dismounting, walking back down to get it, and climbing back up again. I mounted again, and we made it the rest of the way to the top, when Hubby discovered, that I, too, had lost a boot! We had no idea where, though, and I wasn't about to climb down this entire incline looking for it, so we let it go. Too, bad, too, we really didn't even need boots out here, there's almost no stones or gravel, it's all dirt and grass. Anyway, we made it to the top safely, that was the important thing. I should mention that the views in every direction were spectacular, every time we stopped to take a look. That just wasn't as often as we liked, since we were so busy handling everything else. At the top, it turned back into grassland, and we were able to relax for a short while. Before long, though, we were climbing down ravines and crossing creeks, at which point we got lost again, crossing one creek and going left, when we should have crossed the ravine and gone right, so that was another mistake that took us a half hour to resolve. At one point, Clio took a misstep and her leg when into a washed out area of the trail (and by washed out, I mean the ground had separated, fallen off, and left a drop-off as tall as the ravine), which made her drop completely to ground level. Hubby got dumped, but it would have been so easy for Clio to break a leg or otherwise hurt herself, but she pulled herself out of it and upon close examination, didn't seem any worse for the wear, though we kept an eye on here for the rest of the trip. Thank goodness for my GPS!! If it hadn't been for that, we would never had figured out how to get out of there, as our "wrong" route took us to a near dead end, with only extraordinarily dangerous possibilities from there, and frankly, we weren't ready for that. After retracing our steps for a half mile or so, we managed to get back to the trail, seeing out mistakes (no trail markers ANYWHERE to be seen!) and got back on track, climbing yet another ravine to more grasslands, almost getting lost again before getting back on track. Finally we found trail markers again, passed yet another stray buffalo, stopped for lunch and rest, before descending off the other side of the plateau, often going through trees so thick and hanging down so low we could barely hang on. Again, more washed out ravines that were barely passable, but we finally made it down. My GPS died about halfway down, and I couldn't find the spare batteries (turned out they were in the saddle bags on my bareback pad back in the trailer!), Hubby had lost his stainless steel water bottle that we'd had for a long time (by now we had drank everything else we brought with us, and were parched, couldn't wait to get to water), plus he lost a hearing aid somewhere along the trail, probably at one of the three times he came off Clio during the ride. At last we reached the road, and followed that for a ways, before venturing off south of the road to sort of stay on the trail, which would bypass a couple of climbs on the road. The plains here had several swampy areas, but nothing deep enough for the horses to drink from. Clio had managed to get a drink from a puddle earlier, but Apollo hadn't had anything since we left the parking lot. Finally we reached a bank of the Little Missouri river, and they had a pretty good drink there. According to where I thought we were on the map, if we turned due north we should just about run into the parking lot where we started, but without my GPS, I couldn't be sure. We turned north anyway, figuring if we got on the road we'd know where we were, so we did, and discovered we still have about a mile left, up a hill and down another. By now the sun was getting low, and we were literally riding off into the sunset. We reached the trailer at last, gave everyone a good drink, including us, spoke to a passing ranger about the items we'd lost (he said he'd report it to the lost and found), loaded up and drove the 10 minutes back to camp. I gave the horses a good liniment rubdown, extra rations, and lots of hay, settling them in their rope and pipe corral before we finally settled down for what little was left of the evening. Pain-killers for all tonight!

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013 - Rest/Work/Gas Day

A fabulously quiet night, Hubby and I both slept great, though I was up fairly early, getting a start on getting the horses out and some bookkeeping work I needed to do. After breakfast he drove off to Watford City for gas and a couple of other things we could use, while I continued getting work done (I get so much more done when he's not around : -). He came back proclaiming that Watford City was booming ten times as much as Dickinson, and described the chaos now overtaking this once small burg. Apparently traffic moves at a snail's pace, and in an event unique from most other towns we've been in, while the grocery store parking lot was packed full, every handicapped parking space was open! Now THAT'S a working community, and a considerate one at that! Anyway, I got most of my work done, including getting caught up on my blog, while Hubby read and napped, before we settled down for the evening.

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013 - Travel to CCC Camp, Little MO Grasslands

Woke up early to the alarm, knowing that while the trip was relatively short, the errands and stops we had to make would make it a long day, and sure enough, it did. First stop, breakfast at Burger King, next stop, Runnings Farm and Fleet, third stop, Walmart, where I filled up the RV, the horse trailer and BOTH portable barrels, as the only water at the CCC camp at the Little MO Grasslands National Forest was a single hand pump and we planned on staying a week, so we would likely need it all, but I accidentally hooked up the water to the black water flush intake for a while, and by the time I noticed it, the black tank was practically full. Fortunately, at breakfast I noticed that the Cenex gas station next door had an RV dump, so on our way out of town, we stopped there, both to dump and to top off my fuel tank. Unfortunately, Hubby forgot to get gas for the generators, an oversight he didn't notice until we arrived at the CCC camp, 15 miles from the nearest gas station. We still had enough for the night, though, and once we got settled in, we ran the generator long enough to charge the batteries just fine. The CCC camp is only about a mile off the main highway, 85, but far enough away you can't hear a thing, but from where we parked (site 4), we can see the road as it crosses the Little Missouri River. Across the river is the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where we plan to ride once or possibly twice while we're here. The views all round us are quite spectacular. Two of the three loops allow horses. The containment strategy is pipe hitching posts parallel to one another, making it possible to create decent-sized corrals when you put a couple of strands of rope on each end. Loop A has hitching posts at most of the sites, while Loop C seemed to have them all in tandem at one end of the loop. None of the trees were really suitable for a highline, so we opted to put rope between a couple of the rails and create a corral, one for each horse. Meanwhile, they grazed contentedly on their anchors. Clio had been suffering from weight loss for a while (she still isn't thrilled about the hay she's being forced to eat when not on grass, though this last batch seems to be a bit more appealing to her), but now she's started to fill out nicely, no doubt because of all the natural grazing she's been doing. In the early evening, it started to rain, and we had a deluge that lasted for more than 4 hours. At one point, when we realized it wasn't going away any time soon, we decided to put the rain sheets on the horses for the night, so we donned our ponchos (and me my Carlsbad Caverns miner's hat with flashlight) and headed out, getting them all wrapped up in no time. We also put buckets along the awning and gutters to catch as much rain as possible, to supplement our already pretty abundant supply of water, just in case. Once we got back in and dried off, it wasn't long before bed was calling!