When last heard from, your intrepid travelers were poised to set off from Iowa to head west into South Dakota. We actually got an early start (for us) and headed down the road. Then the leveler alarm went off saying that our jacks were down. This is, to us, a known false alarm that in the past was warning us that the hydraulic fluid was low. And by low, I mean like a millimeter. It went off four times in 4 miles. Now, a false alarm is a bad thing in that a) it gets my adrenalin flowing and b) if we start ignoring alarms, it will be real one time. Not good. This issue was one of the repairs we had taken care of last week, so we were a bit perturbed. Back to Winnebago we went.

Winnebago was great. They took us right in and worked on the problem. Four and a half hours later we had a new hydraulic sensor and were heading down the road for real. Great.

The plan was to head about halfway across South Dakota, stop for one night, and then finish the run the next day into the Badlands for a couple of nights. We made it to our planned stop very late due to the delay, set up, ate dinner, and checked the forecast for the next day. Which was not good. Sustained winds of 25 mph, gusts to 40/50 mph, strong rain. Discretion being the better part of valor, we extended our stay, cancelled the Badlands, and hunkered down to let the weather blow through. This proved to be the right decision since the next day was like riding out a tropical storm in an RV. More good times, but these things are to be expected, hence our motto: “Adapt and Overcome”.

The day after the storm, we took a field trip to Mitchell, SD, home of the “World Famous Corn Palace”, which was pretty much as advertised. It’s a nice venue in a small South Dakota town with huge murals, inside and out, made of split ears of corn in various colors. Strange, but interesting. We enjoyed it.

Finally, the next day, we headed to Custer, SD, for an extended stay in the region. Check out the photos below for what we found upon our arrival.

Sometimes it feels like nothing’s easy.

The Corn Palace. All of the murals are made of ears of corn. Mitchell, South Dakota, 5/19/19

The Corn Palace. 5/19/19

The Corn Palace. 5/19/19

Some appropriate artwork we found inside the Corn Palace. Mitchell, South Dakota, 5/19/19

Our arrival in Custer. We’re from Florida. Sheesh. Custer, SD 5/23/19