We both love our jobs as entrance gate attendants at Custer State Park, but with the recent good weather and the start of the summer tourist season, we've been pretty tuckered out when we get home at night. Even with the longer days and warmer weather, its tough to fit much else in other than work. Here is a picture of me with one of our Custer State Park "friends" at one of our entrance gates . . . .
We have made time to see a few sights around our base in Custer --
The Mammoth Site near Hot Springs -- this is a really great paleontology excavation where significant finds have been made, mostly of wooly mammoths -- additional detail at mammothsite.com
Maybe we could move here if things really get bad . . . . .
We also visited Jewel Cave National Park, just west of Custer. We should know by now that cave pictures just don't turn out, but we tried anyway. Here are a couple of the only ones that turned out -- guess you've got to see the cave for yourselves !!
This formation kind of looked like a US map (at least we thought so) . .
Our good friends Al and Claire from Texas came and spent a week with us just recently, and Claire graciously cooked most of the dinners for us while they were here (and parked right next to us here at the Wheels West RV Park) -- what a treat!! We spent as much time with them as we could, as they re-visited all of the Black Hills sights that they had seen several years before. We're hoping to see them again later this summer.
Exploring at Sylvan Lake - Al and Claire with Elsa the wonderdog
At the lookout overlooking Custer, SD
On a hike around Stockade Lake not far from our campsite
Of course, just about the time the weather turned and we could get back on our bikes, the activity here picked up, and we're finding it harder and harder to get even minimal riding in. We haven't worked this many hours on this type of a schedule recently, and our cycling has taken a hit. Fortunately we're getting a fair amount of exercise with the job (we don't just sit in a booth and take tickets), and we're both eating well -- we just need to make the time to get out and see the country.
Not much else is new in our lives -- although one of us did reach an additional milestone: Mandy recently filed for her Social Security benefits which will begin arriving in October.
Speaking of other milestones, we'd also like to give our heartiest congratulations to our good friend, Paul Danhaus, who today finished bicycling's Race Across America (RAAM). Paul was the only 60+ male entry (winning his class) -- and finishing the 3000+ miles from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD in 11 days 10 hours. More on Paul's great accomplishment at pauldanhaus.org
An additional note: Just as we were getting ready to post this update, our Cradlepoint router went out, so we've been without internet access for 48 hours. A quick call to technical support at 3G Store, where we bought the router and Verizon USB "aircard" diagnosed the problem -- somehow the router had failed. They arranged for a replacement one from the manufacturer which should arrive in a few days. We've really enjoyed the on-line access that this system has given us, and the service we've received from the 3G Store -- we'd highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for a reliable mobile broadband system.
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