We couldn’t have planned the day any better. After breakfast at Mickey D’s, we located the football field where our grandson Mason’s game was to be played. The whole area was absolutely beautiful. One thing we can say about Rapid City is it has countless beautiful parks. The football field was first rate and the surrounding flower gardens, soccer fields, bike and walking paths, all following along a clear creek, seemed to go on forever. 

We arrived early and enjoyed a long walk with the dogs before Mason’s team got there. Mason Sr, Amy, and Ethan made it a little before game time. By then, Kip and the dogs had attracted quite a crowd.

The right team won. The Thunder Basin, Bolts beat the Rapid City, Cobblers 32 -0. Mason had a great game!

Ethan is in 4th grade. He plays quarterback on his league football team, the Steelers.

Just as the game was finishing up, Kip’s cell phone rang. It was the RV shop calling to tell us SeeYa was ready to go. Kip took the dogs and went to check it out before meeting all of us for a celebratory lunch at The Texas Road House.

After saying goodbye to the family, we picked up our beautiful home and took it to a self service place to wash. Afterwords, we went to Perkin’s Restaurant for more food…and more dessert.

Sometime tomorrow, SeeYa will be rolling into Murdo with the king and queen of roly poly… Kip and Murdo Girl, along with their three worn out puppy dogs, and one very bored cat.

Does The Murdo Drive-In still make those delicious rhubarb milkshakes?

I sure hope we haven’t lost any of you who have been hanging in there hoping Kip and I, the three dogs and the cat would be able to continue our epic journey. 

I have not complained once about the disappointment I have experienced because I have not been able to write much about actually going somewhere. I did tell Kip today that if we had to spend one more night here, I was going shopping for new drapes and a BBQ grill.

Calvin Coolidge downtown Rapid City

We drove out to Dakota RV this morning expecting to be told the parts were in and we could pick up SeeYa in a couple of hours. The dogs and I waited in the car while Kip went in to check on things. A few minutes later, I saw him walking back to the car. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but let’s just say, all his teeth were showing but he wasn’t smiling.

“They put the wrong zip code on the package of parts and they were overnighted to Vermillion, SD instead of here.They won’t get here until Monday now,” he informed me. “Let’s go grab a bite to eat and figure this out.”

“We just had breakfast,” I calmly replied. “You had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and cinnamon bites. I had a bacon and cheese McGriddle with a large sugar free vanilla iced coffee. Just like we’ve had for the last eight mornings.”

A few minutes later, we pulled up to our new favorite sub place. It’s called Jimmy John’s. While Kip was ordering, his phone rang. He told me to grab a pen and write down the tracking number the guy on the other end was going to give me.

We brought our subs back to the motel and Kip got on the phone to the people who mistakenly sent the parts to Vermillion. I was proud of the way he handled the situation. He convinced the supplier to overnight another package of parts to Dakota RV, who said they would have the mechanic there tomorrow to do the work. I believe this time it is really going to happen and so does Kip.

Meanwhile, our grandson, Mason’s first season football game is right here in Rapid City tomorrow morning at 10:00, and we will be there to cheer him on.

From left, Ethan, Mason Jr, Amy, Mason, me and Craig 

Tonight, we went downtown and treated ourselves to a nice dinner. The downtown area is really fun and as I keep saying, the weather couldn’t be nicer.

We’re excited for tomorrow, and it looks like we won’t need new drapes.

 LEAVE THE LIGHT ON…HERE WE COME!!

Source: Murdo Girl…the cabin

We’re afraid to make plans. When we bought the motor home, everyone we knew who had an RV, told us to be ready for everything, but don’t count on anything. If you decided on the camping life to save money on restaurants and hotels, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. If you are unable or unwilling to be flexible, maybe a cruise would be a better option.

Kip and I listened to all of this, and I’m glad we did. At least we went into it with our eyes wide open. 

This is our third, long RV trip, and being sidelined this week was our biggest hiccup so far. I’m proud to say, we have handled it pretty well. Considering we are traveling with all of our animals, it’s been rather remarkable. The cat is the only one who is displaying crankiness. We watched her tonight and had to laugh at her antics. She was laying in wait for a dog to walk past her so she could bat them with her paw. They didn’t know they were supposed to be her punching bag, so she finally ran and jumped on Pattie, who was the closest to her and whacked her a couple of times. It dawned on me that she is like the spoiled little sister in the family. The one who is allowed to act how ever she wants to because the word no just upsets her and nobody wants to deal with the fit that will follow.

Pattie looked at me with resignation. She knew it was easier to let the cat be mean than to do something that would irritate her even more.

Tomorrow we will have been residing in room 161 of the Motel 6 for a week. Sometimes it’s better not to know the outcome of certain situations. It’s best just to deal with each day as it comes and hope for the best. Stay in denial as long as possible.

If we hadn’t been stuck here. I never would have found these cool rain boots!

Since we haven’t told any Murdo family we’re coming, we will only stop to say hello to those we can catch. I plan to drive Kip by the places he hears me talk about all the time. Billy said I have to take him to the Pioneer Auto Museum and he has to have a steak at the Buffalo Bar. We will drive the parade route which will take him by the Mack’s Cafe building, and the Harold Thune Auditorium. We will go to the cemetary, and see everything south of old Highway 16. Can you think of anything else? Maybe we can have a cup of coffee at the truck stop and someone I know will be there.

After Murdo, we will be heading East. We’ll be going places I have never been and seeing good friends along the way. We really do love the RV life. We just didn’t know the Motel 6 was going to be such a big part of the experience.

I know this isn’t much of a blog, but at least it’s short. I was on the verge of making plans and that’s never a good idea for seasoned campers like us.

Before I begin my story, I must correct myself on the origin of the word, annigrocery. My brother, Billy, first replaced anniversary with annigrocery. Our cousin Valerie and Billy himself, informed me that it was indeed Billy that first said the word that is now a family favorite. If you like the word, go ahead and use it. As far as I know, he doesn’t have a patent on it, and it’s such a great word!

*************************

We travelers needed something fun to do today while we waited for the call that our motor home was ready. I suggested we take the dogs to the petrified forest.

It was sunny and a comfortable 73 degrees as we prepared for our trek into the wilderness. The start of all the trails into the petrified forest is at the top of Skyline Drive. It is up past Dinosaur Park, which is on a pretty steep hill.

We put the leashes on the three dogs and picked a trail, which was a blind choice, because there was no map telling us where any of them led or how far they went.

As we walked the narrow trail single file, we serpentined around the mountain. We finally came to a fork in the road. Kip asked me which one I thought we should take. I said that walking downhill was hurting my knees, so we needed to either stay on flat ground or go up. I’m also afraid of heights, so if at all possible we needed to stay on a flat trail.

Kip sighed loudly and asked me how we were going to find a flat trail on the side of a hill? He told me to choose so I did.

I kept seeing these signs that said we were in the Skyline Wilderness Area and to call 911 in case of an emergency. It even told us our location number, which I assume would be given to the rescue people who would come to search for us.

I started to get hot and very thirsty. I had left my cold drink in the car. I silently chastised myself for not getting a free refill of my diet coke at Wendy’s. I vowed to give what little was left to my dogs if they needed it.

We had been wandering in the wilderness for about fifteen minutes when it dawned on me that we hadn’t seen any petrified trees. I told Kip we needed to hurry up and find the petrified wood soon, so I could take some pictures before we all became too parched. My throat started to feel like I was trying to swallow sawdust. I felt like that guy in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly movie. He was hallucinating in the desert. He had flies landing on his face. He kept seeing water only to find out it wasn’t water at all, but a mirage.

“KIP,” I yelled! “My knees are hurting! We’re going downhill too much!”

He told me to walk backwards.

When I looked out, I was acutely aware of how high up we were. Rapid City was way down there. I began to doubt any of these trails would get us out of this unending wilderness area.

I heard Kip exclaim, “Here it is!”

“What?” I hollered! “Can you see the end of the wilderness?”

“Huh? No..Here is the petrified wood. Hurry up and take your pictures. I’m starting to get hot.”

“All right,” I answered. “I’ll take one of you, and then you take one of me!”

After the photos were taken, I looked up from the trail and saw the sun reflecting off the Jeep. Hoping it wasn’t a mirage, I continued up the hill. I remember being grateful that it was uphill and my knees didn’t hurt

Kip, the three dogs and I, finally emerged from the wilderness. I wiped my brow before the moisture got into my eyes. (That can really sting!)

We gave the dogs a drink from the water bowl Kip had remembered to bring, and turned the Jeep toward the Motel 6.

Yes..we’re still there. The brand new motor they put in the RV turned out to be defective. We will find out what our options are tomorrow.

It all started with Tommy. He convinced me to run off with him. Oh it was a fun adventure at first, I guess. We hung out near the garbage of the finest restaurants in town. I preferred the catfish at Hector’s. It’s lightly breaded and not too spicy. We ran around so much, I ate my fill and still had the body of a kitten.

I don’t care if you are a Beasterhop, get your bicycle off my table.

Then one day our world turned cold. It began to rain and the wind came up. “Tommy,” I said. “Please take me home.”

Have you ever hung out with a tomcat? The reason they’re always tomcatting around is they have no sense of direction. They’re not full of wanderlust…they’re lost all the time. Tommy didn’t know where he had picked me up. He wouldn’t even ask other cats if they knew where I lived. All I knew is that it was too far as long as it was raining cats and dogs.

This is much better.

We cats hate to get wet. Tommy and I began to look for shelter from the storm. How we ended up in Kip’s pole barn I will never know, but I’m sure happy we went down that country road.

I’m afraid of that cat and I’m not even real.. I’m stuffed.

We couldn’t catch any mice, so by the second day we were getting very hungry. On the third day, we spotted Kip walking out to the pole barn. We had seen him out there before, but we had hidden.

By this time we were flat starving, so we decided to throw caution to the wind and let him see us.

Is she supposed to have her bicycle on my fireplace?

Well, Kip went to work and built us a condominium. It was up off the cold floor, and it was complete with a king cat bed and bowls of cat food and water. I heard him tell Miss Mary that he wouldn’t bring us inside. She said, “I should hope not! We already have six dogs in here.”

MG…what’s your password for this tablet thingy?

Tommy: YIKES..Did she say six dogs? I won’t be sticking around here. I’m a wandering tomcat, and I’ve gotta wander.

Me: Suite yourself Tommy…Don’t get lost! I’m staying. I think I can work this deal out. Those six dogs don’t know they’re in for something catastrophic.

I was almost ready to make my move…into the house.

The rain continued and I enjoyed my condo with fresh food and water each day, but I had loftier goals. I wanted to rule the house. Those six dogs would be catatonic by the time I was finished with them.
I have huge cat eyes so I made them work for me. Each time Kip came to feed me, I meowed and made my eyes look sad and lonely. I knew I had to move fast because it was getting pretty cold in the pole barn. That’s when I started to practice shivering. The very first time I looked at Kip with my sad cat eyes and shivered…well, it did the trick. He bought a big wire cage, put my king cat bed in there and faster than a kindergartener can spell c-a-t, I was on the inside. I knew that all I had to do now was prove I could handle the dogs and my homeless days were over. I vowed to never be caged again.

This is the cage I went to the vet in, but you get the idea…torture for a cat

MG, as she likes to be called, required a different catstrategy. I acted like I loved her best. The first time I climbed into her lap and purred, she was putty in my paws. She loves me now. All I have to do is jump into her lap every single time she sits down and let her scratch my ears.

As far as the canines go, we’re down to three now… through cattrition. I bat them on the head once in a while, just to show them who’s the boss. They can’t drink out of the water bowl until I’ve had my fill first.

How many copies of the blog do I need? Please don’t call me a copycat!

I used to hate the name MG gave me. They call me Dollie. I taught the dogs to say, “Hellooooow Dollie,” when I enter the room.

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a fat cat now, and once in a while I crave Hector’s catfish, but up until we took up RVing, I was on my way to living nine wonderful lives.

We got stranded in Rapid City. We’re living at a Motel 6. They put me in a small animal crate whenever they take me somewhere. I sure hope Tommy doesn’t see what my life has come to.

Ironic isn’t it? I’m the one who’s tomcatting around now. Tommy would be jealous of my lifestyle. Do you think I’m being too catty?

 Tell the Motel 6 maid to come back in an hour. I’m napping.

MG and Kip aren’t very much fun to over eavesdrop on. I don’t mean that in a vicious dog way. I will give you an example.

Day 4 at the Motel 6… Rapid City, SD

Kip: If you stop and think about it, this time at the Motel 6 isn’t really costing us that much more than if we were staying in the motor home. We would still be paying for our rv parking space.

MG: There is some truth in what you said…translation.. It is averaging about twice as much as the park space…and we would be moving on.

Kip: And no matter where we are, we would have to buy food.

MG: Why I never would have thought about it that way…translation..McDonalds, Perkins, and Pizza Hut cost twice as much as buying groceries to prepare in the motor home.

Kip: And we’re not spending near as much on fuel.

MG: Good point…translates to.. Could it be because we’re not moving on?

Kip: I’m sure glad we didn’t rent that cabin. It didn’t even have a television. I couldn’t have watched football today.

MG: Right…which translates to…he pulled a fast one on me.

I heard MG say she needed some retail therapy. She spent $26 at the Goodwill store. Is that a lot? I like my tail just like it is!

Pattie, Sammie, Dollie and I took long catnaps today. We’re even getting used to sleeping on the beds instead of the recliners. We’re all very, very close to our humans every minute of the day. They can’t make a move without us. They had to hide the bones in plain site, and they can forget about eating anything without us looking all sad faced so they will give us a bite.

Are you going to eat that all by yourself Kip?

Today, we got to go to Dinosaur Park. It was way up on a big hill. There wasn’t much for dogs to do there, so we drove to another park. It had a long trail and we walked 4,682 steps. We were all dog tired when got back to the Motel 6…

That’s about it for today.

Come and see us! We’ll leave the light on. Habark.

It was hard work pulling Kip all those steps.

I hope we go someplace and do something tomorrow. I heard MG say she was going to dye her roots. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds like fun.

Love…Cyndie Lou

It’s me, Cyndie Lou..I’ve got the dog blog job tonight. MG has a headache. She complained all day about her sore head.

Maybe if she would quit wearing that stupid hat she wouldn’t get a sore head. It happens every time she wears a hat. She gets cranky and growls at us for the littlest thing. MG with a headache is almost as bad as when her eye twitches.

To top it all off, we went someplace today that wasn’t dog friendly.

We saw a bunch of old guy’s faces carved out of a rock and we canines couldn’t go near them! It’s not like we can lift our leg on them or bite their big noses. What did a dog ever do to them, I ask?

We didn’t stick around there very long. We obeyed their command and high tailed it out of there.

Let me paws here for a minute. I want to throw a ball to you. I love my little cocker spaniel sisters, but do I look like their mother to you? They’re twelve in human years and I’m only seven, not to mention the fact that I am NOT a cocker spaniel. I don’t have children and I like it that way. On a bad dog day, four or five people ask my humans if I’m Pattie and Sammies’ mother.

I know what you’re thinking. I’m like a dog with a bone and I should learn how to let it go. 

The next place we went to had another face carved out of a rock. It had an even bigger nose. They named this one Crazy Horse. I bark at horses, but it didn’t come to that because there was no horse…which did seem a little crazy to me. We canines got to walk around in designated areas which were hard to find.

Oh yeah…this bronze is of fighting stallions.

MG and Kip must be hard up for fun. We drove more miles than I can chase a stick. We went to Custer State Park and saw Sylvan Lake. I kind of liked the lake, but the winding Needles Highway upset my stomach and Sammie got the “NO” word for whining.

The only good thing about today is we left the cat back at the closet we moved into. Although, when we walked in, she didn’t act like she’d missed us that much. I wonder if she had more fun than we did…

Excuse us…we’re talking.

I thought this was going to be another fab trip. The kind where we go fun places and ride in the mobile dog house.

How I long for the good old dog days.

Lady luck turned on me today…but it will be okay.

We started our day in Spearfish with a great morning walk with the dogs.

This huge field is behind the RV park. Kip and I met the gentleman who owns the farm and the beautiful horses. He was really nice. He even said we didn’t have to use doggy poop bags when we walk the dogs in his pasture.

Every morning at 8:30, all the kids in the rv park run to feed the animals in the little animal farm behind the park owner’s residence. They have two sheep, two calves and two goats for the kiddos to feed and pet.

Nestled in the foothills of Spearfish Canyon, this park is relaxing, friendly, and convenient to many attractions. We planned to stay there until Saturday.

It was not to be…but we’ll survive.

The air conditioner in the motor home has been working off and on. We thought we had it repaired before we left home. The man who services our RV said it was just a burned out wire and he fixed it. The last two nights when we got home, it seemed pretty warm inside. The nights have been on the cool side, so it didn’t bother me.

This morning, Kip talked to some other campers and was told it would be in the high 90’s through the weekend. He told me he was going to get on the phone and find someone to fix the two air conditioners. Thankfully, we purchased a warranty when we bought the motor home. Last year we got brand new hydraulic lifts and a couple of other things. John, who handles claims, knows us well by now, and he continues to do a great job putting our claims through.

On the way to Rapid City

We folded up our little home, hooked up the Jeep we tow, and took off for Rapid City, where John told us to take it. We spent the afternoon in Dakota RV’s parking lot while they worked on it, ran diagnostic tests, conferred with John and figured it all out. I just knew it was going to work out and we’d be back in Spearfish before the sun set. I really believed that.

Poor babies…so innocent…they didn’t know they would soon be traumatized 

I knew my good fortune was holding up when I found this at the truck stop where we filled up on our way to Rapid City.

They didn’t have a Queen Bing

When Kip came back to the, by now pretty hot rv, he said, “they’re going to put new air conditioners in…it will be ready Tuesday.”

I said, “okay..wait..what day is this? It’s only Thursday.” (I’m good at answering my own questions.) “That is four whole days away!!”

I happen to know that some of the people having their rigs worked on just hook them up to electricity, fill the fresh water tank and stay right there. It’s called boondoggling. Kip didn’t want to live in a parking lot.

My next suggestion was to take our house and go. We could bring it back on Monday when the parts are supposed to get here. That idea didn’t fly either. I wasn’t very friendly as we were packing up our three dogs and an upset cat along with all their food and water, the litter box, and our stuff, shoved it all in the Jeep and went to find a motel that would take us.

We were so hungry by then, we stopped at a Wendy’s for burgers and frys. We couldn’t go inside to eat and leave our poor nervous pets, so we ate in the car. The three dogs were drooling all over us and the kitty was in her pet carrier meowing as loud as she could….I’m sure we’ll all be fine.

I hate staying in motels, which is funny because my parents owned one. I like my own bed, my own sheets and my own towels…and…my own coffee in the morning. That is a lot to give up on a moments notice without being consulted.

Do you think I might be surrounded by bad carma because I told all of those stories about Kip at his reunion without consulting him? At least I haven’t noticed any cigar smoke from the Wyoming Territorial Penitentiary inmate. (I told that story a couple of days ago.)

Don’t worry, it will all be good. We are fine. I have no business complaining about anything. I have enjoyed so many good days and I know there will be more.

Tomorrow, I’m going to find us a little cabin in the woods and Kip will be okay with that as long as it has air conditioning, right?

As long as they get their treats, they don’t care if they have to stay in a motel.