2019 Summer Trip To South Dakota

[JEBar]

with us arriving out here one day, our daughter flying in the next, 280+ miles making two round trips to the airport in Sioux Falls, the steady arrival/departure of relatives, the rodeo coming to town, thunderstorms, a day spent fishing, another working on a boat, etc, the last week has pretty much passed in a blur .... it was really nice today to have things slow down a bit ....

[PT7]

Always good while away or traveling to let loose of housekeeping and grab hold of relaxation, Jim. Way to go.

When we did tent camping years ago, a comfortable lawn chair, cool evening, and gentle fire were great relaxation.
Even when not on vacation, often during my working years, along with maintaining our KS two-story farm house and property, the one relaxation spot that always soothingly called me was my hammock. It was great to "hang out" with that hammock, enjoy the blue sky and white clouds, looking through the branches of those two large maple trees.

[JEBar]

I've never paid more than a casual glance at a hammock which I now tend to believe has been my loss .... I do enjoy sitting around a fire with family and friends .... in recent years we've camped at more and more campgrounds that do not allow traditional wood fires .... for them we use a Campfire-In-A-Can which I believe is no longer in production.... it burns propane

[JEBar]

yep, a clear blue sky was the order of the day

[Mags]

.
There are other brands that make them.
https://www.amazon.com/Outland-Firebowl ... ay&sr=8-10
https://www.sportsmans.com/camping-gear ... gJXLfD_BwE

.... for them we use a Campfire-In-A-Can which I believe is no longer in production.... it burns propane

[JEBar]

There are other brands that make them.

there certainly are .... we camp with some folks who have a Little Red Campfire .... it has been around a long time and performs as advertised .... it is smaller in both size and BTU output than the Campfire-In-A-Can .... ours could use a new ceramic log, the OEM one in ours has cracked .... unfortunately none are available .... all that being said, ours should last longer than either of us and one of our kids can worry about trying to find a replacement

[JEBar]

Sunday has been designated as the day we have 30 +/- of my wife's relatives over for a gathering featuring a Frogmore Stew (pictures from a previous year) .... consequently preparations have already begun .... Thursday - buy and put ice in our big cooler .... Friday - shopping for all of the ingredients that aren't already on hand (example, we bought a bunch of extra large shrimp before leaving home) .... Saturday - precook as many items as possible, begin stocking up RO cooking water, remove and clean the necessary pot and burner out .... Sunday - put it all together and have a good gathering .... projected weather ===> high 79 with 76% humidity, 40% chance of scattered Thunderstorms, 8 mph SE wind .... all-in--all, not bad

[JEBar]

its been a beautiful 4th in east central South Dakota .... understand from our kids that they've had pretty strong thunderstorms back home .... at noon we grilled burgers at a relatives and later mowed under our slide overhangs .... we have to get serious in the morning about getting ready for Sunday's Frogmore .... we've been in Estelline for 3 weeks and since our arrival we have put over 500 miles on our truck .... if things continue as they appear, we'll be pushing 4,500 miles covered by the time we get back home

[JEBar]

yesterday in what has become a family tradition we had my wife's relatives over for a family gathering featuring a Frogmore Stew .... for those who may not be familiar with Frogmore, this video ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqtxKcAzUuo might offer some info .... the pictures below give a short view of the way we prepare them .... for us its one of those things that we really look forward to and are somewhat relieved once its over ....



for the most part, today was a relaxing one and for the most part, a beautiful one as well .... 2 housekeeping chores taken care of --- cleaned and placed the Frogmore cooking gear back in storage --- had to drive 3 blocks to town where we refilled one of our camper's 40lb propane tanks .... sadly, refilling tanks is expensive out here but its cheaper than hauling it 50+ miles to save a few bucks at the next place where we can get it filled ....

[JEBar]

the picture below was taken yesterday .... it shows Highway 81 7.5 miles south of Arlington .... 81 is a main north/south 2 lane Federal highway with a 65 mph speed limit .... that area is about 18 miles south west of where we are camped .... the only thing on our schedule for today is a 40 mile round trip to Brookings for grocery/supply shopping

[The Wiz]

What river is flooding?

[JEBar]

the water ends up in the Big Sioux on its way to the Missouri

[JEBar]

busy, busy day in the neighborhood .... second day of a 10 year old and younger baseball tournament that has drawn teams from miles and miles around .... all campsites are full, families with kids are everywhere .... heavy thunderstorms are all around but its been dry here in Estelline since mid morning ... a big walleye fishing tournament over on Lake Thompson with several relatives participating in it has been stopped early due to lightening .... its spooky still right now, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a storm moves through here at most any time .... we don't see too many pickup truck slide-in campers back in NC .... one moved in next to us yesterday and will be here for a couple of days

[JEBar]

for the last week since I added to this thread, our time in Estelline had pretty much settled into a routine .... almost daily storms with heavy rain and strong wind come and go .... various family members stop of a visit and "coffee" at mid morning and mid afternoon .... campers come and go .... that all changed shortly before midnight last night .... my wife began having intense pain from an ingrown toenail .... I took a look at it and yes I could have cut out the part causing the problem .... that said, there is no way to do so without causing her even more pain .... so, off we go to the Emergency Room at the hospital 20 some miles south in Brookings .... road construction down there requires driving a poorly marked path through residential / business areas so as to be able to come into the hospital from the rear ... we did make it .... the Emergency Room staff was exceptionally nice and we were impressed with both them and their facility .... back to the camper and finally settled in for the nigh just before 3AM .... back to Brookings early this morning to pick up antibiotics, pain pills and bandage items .... on the way took on good solid fuel for the first time since the day after we got here .... during those 5 weeks we put 899.7 miles on our truck, over that distance she averaged 12.1 mpg .... that's about as good as she gets .... tomorrow we have to schedule an appointment with a Podiatrist for my wife so we will most likely go back to Brookings again .... she's doing fine but the Emergency Room doctor said more work needs to be done to help insure the problem doesn't come back

[JEBar]

on Monday my wife had surgery on her foot .... today was spent at the camper allowing her rest as much as she is willing and to begin her recovery .... we've changed her bandages twice and so far things have gone as we were told to expect by the Podiatrist who did her surgery .... with us camped by the city park and its swimming pool, our camper has become the central location for her nieces and nephews .... a place to change clothing and to eat homemade cookies after their lessons .... the kids are all doing well and my wife enjoys watching their lessons ... a prescription run to Brookings in the morning is our only planned outing for the rest of this week .... that said, something else is bound to come up

[JEBar]

this morning, following our 4th medically related 40+ mile round trip to Brookings in the last 5 days .... after getting back in the early afternoon, we settled in to spend a beautiful day taking care of a few minor housekeeping items .... once again my wife's nieces and nephews came to the park for swimming lessons .... happy to report they are all doing well .... best news of the day is we may well not need to crank the truck tomorrow ....

[JEBar]

time is passing way tooooo quickly .... only 18 days from today we are scheduled to head home .. .. much of tomorrow will be spent sprucing up the camper in preparation for the only family event left on our schedule is the reunion of my wife's mother's side of the family that was mentioned above .... it will take place on Sunday in the town park, literally a few yards behind our camper ....

[JEBar]

as previously noted, our absolute and final plans have a way of changing at any moment .... heavy rain moved the family reunion mentioned above had to be moved from the park to a room in the local convenience store .... different setting but it went well .... if we are on schedule two weeks from right now we should be about half way from where we are camped in Estelline to our next campground located just east of Kansas City ... taking care of some minor pre-trip details has begun .... this morning I removed our Pressure Pro monitor, took care of a minor wiring problem, and reinstalled it in our truck .... seems to be good to go .... replacement scare light LED bulbs and rubber grommets to replace the badly worn ones on the cooking grate of our Atwood stove should arrive today .... hope to immediately install the grommets and start working on installing the bulbs tomorrow

[JEBar]

productive day ..Smile .. in the post above I mentioned fixing a wiring issue with our tire pressure monitoring system .... well, yesterday's fix failed to resolve the problem .. .. so my first project today was to find and actually fix the electrical issue with our tire pressure monitor .... as noted, I thought I had it fixed earlier but yesterday power to the unit cut off again .... I have what I've been told is a very good volt meter and I can only say I have no reason to believe that isn't true .... that said, I know very little about how to read it so, for me, its basically a paper weight .. .. I didn't try to use it to find a short/bad connection but that proved to be a waste of time .... eventually I came to believe that the problem had to be one of two butt connectors .... naturally their location made it impossible to get the tool into position to properly crimp the replacement connectors .... lets just say our folks who get excited about "proper" electrical connections wouldn't approve but after I got through the Pressure PRO Monitor works as it should .... as is normal, the fix involved more tools and time than anticipated .... next project was to install 2 replacement LED scare light bulbs ... doing so involved working 10+ ft off the ground on a ladder .... pictures below show the scare light .... much brighter than the OEM 1156 bulbs .... tomorrow more work on the truck to reinforce the floor of a storage compartment and to install the other scare light LED's ....

[JEBar]

another beautiful day, happily, another productive day .... finished installing replacement LED bulbs in the camper's scare lights .... picture below shows my wife inspecting her new bright lights .... recaulked front end cap ... tire pressure monitor working fine .... activated it and found that the off door side front camper tire is low ..Frown .. will have to pull it tomorrow and see if I can figure out what's wrong with it ....