The Black Hills

Tuesday morning we drove up to Sidney, NE and stayed at the Cabelas campground at their world headquarters.  The Cabelas store was a typical Cabelas, really about the size as the one in Gonzales.  Nothing special considering the location.  We have some friends following us that met us in Hudson.
I had the generator shut down as we were driving to Sidney.  After checking everything and narrowing it down to probably a fuel issue (thanks Newellgurus.com) the next morning I found a wire that had come off of the fuel pump.  We got power!  Ran the generator during the drive Wednesday and it ran great on the drive to Custer, SD.  We drove through a section of the national park and had to stop to let the buffalo cross the road.  Really neat and it was a beautiful scenic drive, much better than interstates.
The campground we're in is nice in the pine trees but the site took a bit of maneuvering to get into.  I love trees but why do they leave trees right at the corner of the sites?
Thursday we rode with Rudy & Carol through the park up to Mt. Rushmore.  That is something everyone should see.  So inspiring and a testament to how great our country was.  Now it's up to us to get it back on track and keep it great!
Today we had planned to drive around more but the rain and hail woke us up so we just hung around and enjoyed a lazy day.  Just to the north of us in Rapid City they reported baseball sized hail.  Ouch!
So we have the coach ready to leave in the morning for Spearfish and meet up with 20 + other Newell owners.
And then I saw on the news that Calgary is flooded.  We're planning on staying in Cochrane and the campground there is right on the Bow river.  But they are ok for now.  But we don't know if the flooding will affect the Stampede or not.  It'll still be a nice trip.

On the road again, finally

Well after just over a month in Thibodaux we flew out on father's day after an enjoyable lunch with Scott & Mike.
We really enjoyed our time spent with family, especially Ella!  Cindy and I took her to the BR zoo one day.  Unfortunately pawpaw tripped over a rock in the middle of the sidewalk.  Who cements a 1' high rock in a sidewalk?  That hurt, I scraped my shoulder, left arm, right shin, sprained both wrists, my left big toe, and destroyed a pair of glasses.  Ouch!  Could barely walk for 2 days.  My shin still needs a bit of healing and my right wrist still hurts.  But it was still fun spending the day with Ella.

Our flight with  American was ok, that's all I'll say about it.  But sitting at our gate in Dallas a ticket agent comes over and asks if these 2 pieces of luggage belong to anyone?  HUH?  Nobody claimed them.  So a few minutes later here comes a security guard riding her scooter.  She starts looking at the luggage tags and moving the luggage around.  I told Cindy I thought it would be a good time to take a stroll.  I mean come on now, abandoned luggage in an airport?  We don't know what ended up happening because I wasn't hanging around.  So we took a walk and didn't hear any booms so it turned out ok.  Who in their right minds leaves their luggage unattended now a days?
Well we finally made it into Dallas, got our luggage and walked out into 70 degree temperature with NO humidity!  Wow the weather is once again pleasant.  We got the truck and drove to the campground.  The coach was fine but real dusty.  We spent yesterday picking up the RZR and making groceries and getting the coach ready to travel again.  Two couples met us at the campground and are following us to the rally in Spearfish.  We had a nice drive up to Sidney, NE and are at the Cabela's campground at their World Headquarters.
Tomorrow we drive up to Custer, SD and spend a few nights.  We plan to see Mt. Rushmore, Custer Battlefield and a few other sites.  Then drive to Spearfish on Saturday morning.
More later....

Back home in Thibodaux

I guess it's about time for another update.  We're back in Thibodaux for a month.
We got the coach settled in at the campground in Hudson then drove to the airport to fly back.  This was the first time I've flown on American since the nightmare getting back from Madrid last year.  I had a voucher that was about to expire so being the tightwad that I am we flew on American.  I have to say that the experience wasn't bad.  They seem to have their act together since the "strike" last year that stuck us in Dallas.  The only complaint I had was $50 for 1 checked bag?  Really??  Since we used air miles + my voucher we didn't get the free checked bag.

Mike and Jessica picked us up at the airport and brought us to the Carmel Inn in Thibodaux, a locally owned hotel that gave us a 2 room suite with kitchenette for a fantastic price.  The room is working out great.  I've finally gotten over my major sinus attack and feel better.
It's nice to get back to the heat and humidity….not really.  It's just as uncomfortable as I remembered it.  More so now since we've gotten so used to the wonderful weather we've been chasing.

Mike & Jessica picked up Ella from school Wednesday afternoon.  We met them at the ice cream shop.  Ella was very excited to see us.  And the ice cream was good too.
We've been spending a lot of time with Ella.  She has slept over a couple times too.

Mike finally graduated from LSU on Friday morning.  We are so proud of him for sticking with and doing so well with the 5 year program.  And he has a job!  He starts on June 3 with a firm in Baton Rouge.  It's really great to see your children accomplish so much.  Scott and Bevi have been married 6 years this July and Ella will be 5 in a couple weeks!

Saturday we had a grad party at Dave and Rhonda's (Cindy's sister) and enjoyed the day.  Dave bbq'ed his famous burgers and we all enjoyed swimming and a few brews of course.
The following Saturday we had a crawfish boil at Rhonda and Dave's again to celebrate an early birthday for Ella since some family wouldn't be able to make her party.

 Also celebrated Rhonda's retirement from teaching.  Congratulations Rhonda you're gonna love it!
And since the celebrations were going so well we decided to celebrate Ella's new shirt:

I'm going to be a big sister!

GG  (Cindy's mom) just realized what was on Ella's shirt!

Yes Scott and Bevi are expecting around the middle of December!  We're all so excited for them.  Especially since we'll be in from November through March.  Ella is excited to welcome a new sibling.

For those of you that have never been to a crawfish boil this is a great tradition.  It starts around mid morning and goes through the day.  First you have to wash the crawfish since they are mud bugs and can be pretty muddy.

Then start adding the ingredients and start the water boiling.

Then boil for a few minutes and let them soak for 15-20 minutes while sampling them.  You need to make sure they have soaked up enough seasoning without sticking to the shell and becoming hard to peel.  Then when they're perfect you scoop up a tray and start eating.  Sucking the head is optional, I just like to scoop out the head with my finger.  But be sure to not eat the dead ones!

Then after stuffing your belly with crawfish it's time to hit the pool.

What a great day with family!

Since I've been in I had another back procedure for my herniated disc pain and have another scheduled next week.  Hopefully that will allow me to get more mobile again once I recover from the abuse my back took with the move in December.

This Sunday is Ella's dance recital and she is very excited to perform on the stage.  She has been showing us a few moves and is so cute dancing.