Another Day, another Wallmart

Tuesday, March 17

It wasn’t until after I read the tourist information guide from South Dakota - covering the Black Hills and Badlands area - that I realized that west of our current route are a lot of very well knows attractions, including Mount Rushmore.
We’re in the wrong area and should have been 50 miles west.
It’s very tempting to say: “What the heck, let’s go there”. But seeing the snow in the hills and the frozen creeks, that may not be such a good idea at this time of year. What we need to focus on, is getting our water lines winterized.
We can come back here some other time and spend several weeks there. After all, we’re retired and should be able to do what ever we want and whenever we want. (ha,ha).

I spent quite some time searching for RV parks, but the farther north we are, the later in the season they open. The earliest is April 1st. We need to find a way to drain our tanks and pump the antifreeze in the system.
With another four days from home, I am not to keen on the idea of having to wash in a bowl of water heated on the stove, but we’ve done it on the way down, so we can down it on the way up.
We find a truck stop at Murdo. “No sewer dump in this town”, we’re told.
We park on the side of tbe building, and with the use of air hose, (the one you use to put air in your tires), Ramiro blows the water out of the system, while I open the taps, one at a time, to make sure there is no water left in the lines.
Next we pump in the antifreeze we bought a few days ago. I open each tap slightly until the air is gone and pink liquid comes out. Then the antifreeze gets poured down the drains. So, that part is done. The drinking water tank is already empty, we opened the valve when we started driving this morning and those who drive behind us could follow our trail. We can’t do that with the sewer unfortunately, that could get us into trouble. We need a real dumping station.
In one of my books I locate Farm Island State Park, just east of Pierre, the capital of South Dakota. It’s another 50 miles, but we’re going for it.
We’re in for a treat. Although the park does not officially open until May 1st, there luckily is no gate that keeps us from entering.
It’s a beautiful park, along a long narrow lake. It reminds me of Elk Island Park in Alberta.
There is no one in sight and we drive right in. We dumps our black water and find a quiet spot for lunch. We open the windows and let the sun shine in.
It’s so nice, that we decide to go for a walk around the day use area and through the campground. The lake is still frozen and the Canada geese also seem to enjoy their visit. I bet these geese are on the same route as we are and are also heading north. That walk feels so good, I am ready for another three hours in the vehicle.
We stop at Wallmart to buy the latest version of the Rand McNally Map, which also lists all Wallmart Stores, which could come in handy.
While Ramiro continues to follow route 83, I read through the map for anything that may help us find a place for the night.
We pass an intersection and I hear Ramiro say: “Were we suppose to turn here and go to 83 North”? Oh, Ramiro what were you looking at? There no cute girls along this road. You’re suppose to look at the signs.
It takes a few extra miles east before we are able to turn around, but after 10 minutes we’re back on track.
The more north we drive, the more snow we see, or at least melted snow, much of the farmland is flooded.
Ramiro has already located my winter boots, the ear warmers and our winter jackets, whihc were packed away in the storage under the RV. We’re prepared for winter. Bring it on!!!
We’re going as far as Bismarck, North Dakota today. We driving through native country. You may not be able to tell just by driving, other than some of the signs along the road. But somehow we tuned into a native station and hear the drums and the high pitch and lower voices of the singers. Some of the songs have a mix of English and are actually very nice. With the music, the thousands of ducks and geese at every single water body, the many pheasants running across the road everywhere and the rolling hills, we feel the spirit. Even from within the RV we feel so close to nature. It’s not so bad after all to be back in the snow and the cold.

It’s 7:30 by the time we reach Bismarck, we follow our instinct and just before we leave town there is another Wallmart. That’s our only choice. In North Dakota, RVs are not allowed to overnight in rest areas or anywhere along the road, there are no truck stops and RV parks are still closed.
For entertainment tonight we watch a movie in bed and stay warm.