Dec 14, 2024

It's Getting Cold

 November 17, 2024

Where do you winter? That's one of the top questions we get asked. So far we've spent winters moving around. We haven't gone to Florida, Arizona, or Texas for three months or more at a time. We do typically move further south or visit family, but we don't just stay in one area the entire winter. This year, due to some medical stuff, we're still in the Rapid City area and expect to be here for another three weeks. While we have yet to see snow, we are starting to experience some freezing nights. So how do we prepare for freezing temperatures?

We start with a heated waterhose. The hose is wrapped in a heat tape. A thermostat that measures ambient air temperature turns the heat on as needed. 

The campsite water spigot also needs to be protected. Our current campground has wrapped the water spigot and added a heat tape. Harold has also fashioned an insulation tent to drop over the spigot. this has come in handy since some campgrounds do not wrap their spigots, expecting the campers to completely unhook their water hoses when not in use. 

We also have an insulation wrap to place in the giant windshield if we deem it necessary. Typically the weather has to be well below freezing before we drag that out. 

Since we typically don't stay in place too long, we don't mess with skirting. However, a lot of seasonal campers will do so to help insulate. 

Inside, we're plenty warm with our heated floors and our hydronic heating with diesel burner kicking out the BTUs. 






Where Are We Going Next? 


Dec 7, 2024

Badlands - Saddle Pass

November 8, 2024

It was hard to believe that we had been in the Rapid area over a month already. I was feeling like we needed to take more advantage of being in this scenic area. We opted for an afternoon drive out to Badlands National Park, taking Route 44 east from Rapid for something different. The concessionaire at the park had closed the lodging, dining, and campground for the season. The visitor center was still open with reduced hours. After stopping there, we headed toward the loop drive. 

One of the trails we had been eyeballing, Saddle Pass, finally had parking available at the trailhead. We love off-season! Saddle Pass is a short, but strenuous, climb that connects to longer trails at the summit. We felt we were too late in the day to take a loop trail at the summit, but we did make the climb. We were quite thankful for hiking poles to aid our way up and down. Beautiful views gave us plenty of opportunity for breaks. 

We finished our day with a stop at Wall Drug and dinner next door at the Salty Steer. : )


Bighorn sheep by the road

Beginning of Saddle Pass Trail


At the top





Spurs for sale at Wall Drug
 

Where Are We Going Next?