649 Miles

I think my horse (aka driver) is heading to the barn!  Really though, it was just a matter of circumstances that we traveled so far today.  Leaving the state park in Missouri after dumping our tanks we both noticed our fresh water tank registered 1/4 full.  OK, that’s enough to get us a ways.  The dump station water was not operational and we would have had to drive back into the park, find a spigot and run a bunch of water hose to take on more water. 

This afternoon I wanted to wash my hands—oops, no water, tank dry.  YIKES!!!  This girl can do without electric but water is another matter entirely!!  Now we are in South Dakota, every rest area has a dump station—nope, not in the winter time (yes in spite of the fact the flowers were blooming and the trees were leafed out in Florida it is still winter up here).  Most RV parks are not open until April 1 and some not until May 1.   When we left home in December we stayed our first night in Murdo, SD parked in a closed museum parking lot.  That became our destination this evening—we arrived there about 5pm, perfect. 

No, not so perfect—Murdo is not a city, not even a town, just a wide spot in the road.  There was not a working outdoor water spigot anywhere.  Michael wanted to press on to Rapid City so off we went.  I drove about 2 hours today giving him a break.

As we are cruising down the interstate Michael noticed a sign “RV parking, electric only, $5/night.”  In Wasta, SD, about 50 miles from Rapid City.   We pulled in, there is a dump station, no water again.  But attached to this quasi RV park is a self service credit card only gas station and eureka, there is a spigot on the outside of the building which works.

We are tucked into our little spot with a full tank of water, electric, blazing fast aircard speeds and cellphone service—what more could we ask for??

What did we do before the internet??  We carried around those huge volumes—Woodall’s and Trailer Life.  Picking parks which received good reviews, arriving in these parks to wonder why in the world anyone would have given the place one star much less five stars!!!  We now use RVParkReviews.com almost exclusively when searching for a spot.  We recently purchased a copy of the Escapee’s Days End download and we look for Elk’s Lodges.  It helps to have the internet while traveling down the road but today in a state where it is still winter, nothing helped much except the eagle eyes of my dear (still sick) husband. 

Karen and Al, here is the granola recipe:

GRANOLA (from my Kansas City friend, Kelly) 

Makes about 10 cups

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 ½ cups sliced almonds (1/2 lb)

1 ½ cups sweetened flaked coconut

¼ tsp salt

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup honey

1 cup dried cranberries (5oz)  (we don’t like fruit in our granola so I leave out both fruits)

1 cup golden raisins (5 ½ oz)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°. Line a large shallow baking pan with foil and oil foil

Toss together oats, almonds, coconut, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together oil and honey, then stir into oat mixture until well coated. Spread mixture in baking pan and bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Stir in cranberries and raisins, then cool completely in pan on a rack.