Life is good in the Black Hills....

We made it from El Cajon to Hot Springs South Dakota in 4 days with NO mechanical difficulties…and our fuel mileage was better on the trip up here than it’s ever been while pulling the trailer.

Downtown Hot Springs, South Dakota

On our way, we cut north out of Rawlins Wyoming across the Oregon Trail to Casper Wyoming. Along the Oregon Trail, we stopped at a roadside rest area that was packed with buses, trucks with horse trailers, cars and lot’s of people dressed in “Pioneer” attire. From speaking with some of the people at the rest area, we found out that the people dressed as “Pioneer’s” were members of the LDS (Mormon) Church on their Annual Pilgrimage…walking in the footsteps of the early Pioneers and Settlers. The guys and gals on horseback we later found out were re-enacting the ride of the “Pony Express”.

When we hit Casper Wyoming, we rolled in to a WalMart Super Center. Before we could park, our 2 meter radio came alive with a guy calling Linda’s call sign. She gave me a puzzled looked said “I don’t know anybody here!” She picked up the mic and responded. Turns out it was Tate KA7O who was behind us in the parking lot and saw both of our call signs as well as “146.520” on the back of our trailer. Was it coincidence? It just happened that the Casper Amateur Radio Club had a meeting that evening and invited us to attend. Their meeting was at the Casper EOC, so about 6:00pm, and hour early, Linda and I rolled in to the EOC parking lot. Their Meeting was casual with about 10 or 12 members in attendance and was (thru some “cuttin’ up”) very informative. At the meeting, they discussed the communications they provided for a Marathon last month, Field Plans, and the communications they were still providing for the “Pony Express” Ride that day. They would have had a larger turnout at the meeting, but, some of their members were on the “Pony Express” trail. After the meeting, we left Casper and traveled to Lusk Wyoming...just a little over an hour from Hot Springs. We found a place to park in a truck stop…and boy was it HOT and a little humid! After we went to bed, Linda opened the bedroom window and while watching the lightning in the distance and she commented that there was no breeze at all…and that she wished the wind would pick up a little. I had no idea that Linda has powers, but less than 30 seconds after she made that statement, the wind picked up from zero, to about 60mph. Thankfully, we were nose to the wind rather than catching the wind broad side. The lightning and thunder were so intense; she said she’d never seen a storm like that before…she has now! Speaking of severe storms, take a look at the Hail in Linda's hand…we went to Rapid City for the day and on the way home, we stopped to watch and wait out the storm while it passed in front of us. We got home about 45 minutes after the storm passed. The hail must have been huge not to be melted in that amount of time with an outside temperature of 75 degrees. Nat'l Weather Service was warning of golf ball sized hail...I think they probably under estimated the size. Now that I mention the National Weather Service, the ability to monitor their Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado “WATCHES” (when conditions for severe weather are favorable) and “WARNINGS” (eminent storm danger exists or a tornado is on the ground) is a requirement. Afternoon Thunderstorms (quite a few are severe with quarter sized or larger hail), and the Tornado Watches are something we’ve gotten used to already.

Storm and Hail

The day after arrived in Hot Springs, we went to the courthouse and changed title and registration for the trailer and registration to the truck to South Dakota (no DMV in town...gotta do all that stuff at the court house). I had to take the pic of Linda installing our temporary South Dakota plate...our total cost was $44..and every year from now on, they'll be $50 for the truck and $26 for the trailer. We have already changed our drivers licenses. Get this, the state License bureau rep is only in town to give exams and issue Driver licenses on Friday mornings from 8: - noon at the Bowling Alley. South Dakota Driver licenses only cost $17. to renew and don't expire for 10 years.

A few days after we arrived here, we ran about 10 miles south of town to the "Wild Horse" sanctuary and took some pic's of the horses. It was really cool to watch a herd of horses running across the prairie. From what we understand, this “Wild Horse” sanctuary holds the largest herd of Wild Horses in North America. This is a picture of just a few of the hundreds of horses at the Sanctuary.

Driving along the road to the Sanctuary was an old original "homestead"...the sign in the pic says it all

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in South Dakota a month and a half already. We love it here so much that we started searching for a house just 3 days after we arrived and after only a 3 day search, we found a house to rent...on top of a hill, 3 bedrooms with an unfinished basement (storm shelter), surrounded by Ponderosa Pines and meadows...on well over an acre of land...and comes with a huge cleared antenna field, an outhouse (we do have indoor plumin’), and a space (with water and 115vAC power hookups) to park the trailer…all for only $585.00 per month. At that price, we can afford to keep the house and travel too...and have a place to hang our hat’s when we tire (temporarily) of traveling.

On the down side, if we’re going to spend any time here during the winter, we’ll need new winter jackets, scarves and gloves. I don't think our southern California jackets will do us much good here in the winter.

Our house, side yard, back yard and outhouse…don’t worry, we gots us indoor plumin too!

Is there wildlife in the area? Yup…we have wild turkey and deer in the yard daily

We took this pic of the wild turkeys through our living room window. These guys drop in on us 2 - 3 times a day

Fawn with Huge Ears

We took the pic of this 8 point Buck last night just a block or two from Downtown

"Jackalope"

Our “Shack” is now set up in the house. The soil here is really shallow. I tried to pound a post in the ground to mount my 5-BTV HF vertical antenna, but nothing doing, so, I stuck it back on the mount on the rear bumper of our trailer. The radio, antenna and amplifier are working so well, my first contact was with Norberto CO6NC in Cuba on 20 meters (on my very first “key up”), the second with David W7WW in Yuma AZ, also on 20 meters who was working a contest and told me I had the strongest signal he’d heard all day. I later talked to Brooke VE4PF in Winnipeg Canada on 40 meters with my amp on (500watts). He told me that at “60 over”, I was overdriving the receiver on his TS-940. I had to turn off the amp so we could hold a QSO. Since then (other than Field Day), I’ve talked to San Diego 3 times…Paul KC6QLS, Tom N6JOJ and Tom KE6YNH (about a mile east of Mission Bay).

Field Day with the Hot Springs, So Dakota ARC “K0HS” – KzeroHotSprings

Dinner on site Saturday afternoon of Field Day weekend was similar to ARCEC Picnics. The Club provided the Burgers and Brats, buns, etc., and the rest was pot luck. Set up and tear down were well attended and I think, 6 of us who got on the air over the weekend. CW contacts totaled 525 and phone 152. We were set up at the “Mammoth” site in Hot Springs.

What’s a Mammoth site? http://www.mammothsite.com/default.htm

Paleontologists have been digging and removing 26,000 year old fossils of 55+ Woolly and Columbian Mammoths, Giant Short Faced Bear, Prairie Dogs, Wolf, Camels, Llama, fish, etc…since 1974 when fossils were uncovered during excavation for a housing project.

We have so much more to tell you…how well the Veterans Medical Center is treating us, the corner fireworks stands, 4th of July fireworks, fishing, and much, much more. I hope to have another update posted in the next couple days.

73 and Happy Trails,

Steve and Linda