Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

26 Aug 2017
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Scouting for Campsites

After overnighting at the Cabela’s store in Rapid City, South Dakota and listening to the subtle strains of reggae music blasting across the way from a gathering at a nearby parking lot all evening, I set off to visit the South Dakota Air & Space Museum the following morning. After that, I had all afternoon to locate a campsite suitable for a week’s stay.

Truth to tell, I was somewhat intimidated. The Black Hills National Forest is huge, being comprised of four districts. With another heat wave rolling in, my task was to find a workable site at somewhere above 5,000’ elevation. I made my way to the Mystic District Ranger Station for any advice they might have on what areas are highest. They were nice, gave me two MVUM’s and a sheet with a list of rules (like how far to stay from developed areas and water sources, and the maximum distance from roads), but they had no advice about where elevations were generally higher. After I downloaded those MVUMs onto my old iPad to help me know where on the map I was at any given time, and headed in, I soon found out why the lack of Read more…

Posted in Campsites and tagged
24 Aug 2017
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South Dakota Air & Space Museum

This is what greets you at the museum’s entrance. Imposing.

Rapid City, SD is about a thousand feet higher than Wall and the Badlands. That means the upcoming temperatures would be 3 degrees lower there. The Black Hills National Forest is reputed to range from 5,000-7,000 feet, meaning that I could look forward to a 6-9 degree reduction. That can turn game-ending heat into mere mild discomfort, so off I went.

Before reaching Rapid City however, there was the siren call of the South Dakota Air & Space Museum, which is next to the Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder. Yep, another aircraft museum. Can’t help myself, apparently. This one has its aircraft displayed outside, and you can be the judge as to what’s displayed. The inside is modest, relating mostly to uniforms, insignia, equipment, scale models, and a few specialties as shown in the photos below. The museum is free, though they do Read more…

Posted in Tourista! and tagged
23 Aug 2017

Driving Through the Badlands

[I have moved to a cellular-friendly location that I found on my own, so I’m resuming posting, but in the original sequence.]

Emerging from the camper with a typical old-man groan, I instantly heard a rumbling. A herd of Antelope was apparently startled and dove off the plain down into the erosion, and stayed there until I departed!

Yup, With temps being forecast to be in the high 80s and low 90s for almost a week around Wall, I reluctantly decided to vacate the premises. I had considered doing a week south of the Badlands (in the vast grasslands that surround it) because a Ranger had recommended it for its wildlife, but livable weather has its priority with me. I needed significantly more elevation.

So I packed up and instead of making the short hop to Wall and I-90 west, I looped back down into the Badlands National Park in order to take advantage of the free hot shower, potable water and dumpsters available at the campground next to Cedar Pass Lodge. The Badlands Loop Road is nearly 30 miles long, so at the Park’s 35-45 MPH limits, it takes a Read more…

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20 Aug 2017
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A Cellular-Challenged Campsite

Just letting you know that I’m in a very notable campsite at the moment, but the cellular signal is one bar, and the Internet is unreachable throughout most of the day. The only exception is email, which works on its own unique time table. Viewing websites and uploading even one photo is not possible, let alone some videos I have waiting. The stories that I have in mind depend on them. I am amazed that I can, with difficulty, even post this bare notice! It’s a fluke of timing and atmospherics, I guess. When I move to a more cellular-friendly site, I’ll post some more useless fluff.

So, we wait.

Posted in Miscellania
15 Aug 2017
7 Comments

The Badlands Photo Extravaganza

Sometimes it’s best to just show a place for what it is, and not distract with words. I haven’t been here for three decades, and although the people-herding side of the Badlands National Park has changed a lot, the natural features have not.

Read more…

Posted in Tourista! and tagged
13 Aug 2017
2 Comments

Camping on the Rim

This is, in point of fact, where the antelope play.

This is an optimal camping site. A little intimidating at times, but pretty much great. The views are something else, and the nearest neighbors are at least a half-mile away. It’s a toodle to get to the highway leading to Wall, but the trip is quite convenient overall.

The weather here is the conundrum since, so far, it’s either/or. It’s been either sunny and peaceful with a slight breeze, or it shows off just what a thunderstorm can be all about. With the Mighty Furd’s nose pointed westward, that’s usually just a little off of facing the wind. The weather warning yesterday was for a thunderstorm with high winds, and it delivered.

Despite being just a little off in orientation, well, I’ve never yet seen the clear vinyl window flaps bulge inward like they did. Fortunately, the Velcro strips keeping them in place held well, but Velcro is not really airtight. As a result, both roof vent covers seemed determined to jitter their way open to let the air pressure out. Didn’t matter how tight the mechanism was cranked. I finally got the bright idea to Read more…

Posted in Campsites and tagged
12 Aug 2017

The Nature of God – Part 9

[If you are just now stumbling onto this post without having read the various parts in this series from the beginning, I strongly urge you to go back to the start and continue on from there through each successive post. None of these individual entries stand on their own, and you may wind up with little but confusion and unanswered questions by starting here. That is easily done by entering “The Nature of God” in the search box on the home page, which will list links to all available parts.]

This is a short post along the same lines of healing as I described in Part 7, except it’s less embarrassing. Headaches are highly preferable to talk about. Perhaps a couple of years later, I was pulling into a production facility for my new employer, and another migraine headache was signaling an impending strike. I’d frequently had them since high school. Fortunately, they weren’t the cluster type, or accompanied by puking or curling into a fetal position. They were more ordinary migraines. You get flashing blind spots in your vision and can’t see to read or drive safely. The only way to see straight ahead is to glance off to the side and use your peripheral vision as best you can. Then you lose your appetite, and a deep, attention-absorbing constant pain sets in, and brightly lit areas become hell to be in. No pain killer could dampen it back then. You needed to lie down in silence, with something over your eyes to completely block out the light for several hours. It was difficult to fake being Read more…

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11 Aug 2017
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Wall, South Dakota

Ugh! The view out my screen window was like an RV park just for tenters. And this is after some had already moved out!

My second night at the Sage Creek Campground was much like the first: crowded, with lots of chattering going on until all hours. It obviously appeals to many, but it’s not my favorite camping experience.

The window view out the other side was better, except for more vehicles packed in close beside the Intrepid.

After a mediocre night’s sleep, what’s a budding hermit to do? Move out. I headed for greater metropolitan Wall. Despite a cloudless sky, I had to go to an alternate location on my list but do it in a timely manner, since storms were predicted to arrive about 2 PM. In sufficient quantities, rain can make trail passage difficult, and my alternate location is known for mud in wet weather. Downtown Wall offers Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Tourista! and tagged ,
10 Aug 2017

Buffalo in the Badlands

I offer for your amusement this very brief video (about 40MB) which I captured with my Pentax DSLR on the road to camp.

https://vimeo.com/237482740

During filming, the optical eyepiece is blocked out and the rear LCD display shows what is being captured. In bright sunlight, that’s a problem. I could only make out what was land and what was sky – pretty much, anyway. Afterward, stabilization in software helped with the result. Looks like I’ll be unpacking the ancient Canon digital tape videocam while I’m here. It has an optical eyepiece.

This place hit 85 yesterday, then a low of 48 last night. A severe thunderstorm skated past in the late afternoon and early evening, but it was far enough off to the south to merely rumble in the distance. The campground was pretty well packed out with young Read more…

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09 Aug 2017
3 Comments

Entering the Badlands!

Not too much of this in Illinois, I must say. The scenery is great, but the lack of tire-swallowing potholes is a bit unnerving.

The start of the day saw the Mighty Furd being refueled at a Sinclair station, seeing as how it seems to like Sinclair diesel fuel best. In airing up the tires behind the station, their system got both fronts to 75 PSI, but the couldn’t top 70 after that. I could hear the inside air pump re-pressurizing the tank, but it didn’t make much difference. The station next door didn’t have any air supply, so I popped the Ford’s hood and hooked up my Viair pump to finish the job. The new ARB digital pressure gauge thingie worked better than I’d hoped for, but I’ll save that tedium for another time.

Did I mention lots of bikers?

After quite a few miles through Buffalo Gap National Grassland, I hit the eastern-most entrance to Badlands National Park. My America the Beautiful Senior Pass netted me entry and a very helpful brochure with map. This being a Wednesday, there were lots of visitors, the majority being refugees from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally still ongoing. Most of the drive through the park is on the paved Badlands Loop Road, which has oodles of viewpoints distributed Read more…

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