Weather update: This morning it is 49 and sunny. The high today in the low 80’s which keeps the string of carbon copy beautiful days going. Forecast for Sunday is cooler temps in the 40’s with highs in the 60’s. We will probably need jackets by Sunday.
Today we go into Rapid City and will tour Ellsworth AFB, home of the B-1 bombers plus B-52s. On the way in Monday we saw a B-52 take off over the interstate, impressive.
Yesterday we had the continental breakfast (free) at The Bavarian Inn and set off for Hill City for the 1880’s train ride. Hill City is basically a one street town so you can tour it in about an hour. The train goes to Keystone and then returns on the same track. There were only 15 minutes before the return departure so we stayed on the train. Not sure how we all were able to avoid going to the bathroom for that long but we did. After returning to Hill City we dashed for the public restroom facilities only to find them overwhelmed with the seniors from the several buses parked at the train depot. THIS IS SO NOT GOOD. The older retirees seemed to be a happy lot and they should be as they were able to use the restroom. We limped into town and found restrooms there.
The conductor said that in Hill City the place to dine for lunch is the Alpine Inn right on the main drag and only a block away from the depot. Their specialty is German food. When we got there we again found that the seniors had beat us to it making it too crowded so we went across the street to a small unassuming Mexican place named “Rico’s”. The lady proprietor was a delight and this may have been the most authentic and great tasting Mexican food I’ve ever had. They even had Mexican Sombreros for us to wear while eating. We all enjoyed it plus there were no lines for the bathroom. Good thing too as I was about to break out the “Man Toilet” from the van which I purchased back in Louisville for $5.99. It’s still brand new as we have not had to use it yet but its good just knowing it’s there as a back-up.
After lunch, we drove to Keystone and encountered the best town to date as far as being a tourist trap shopping Mecca. They had everything. Carlos was off on a quest to find some wood carving sculpture to represent his trip (a Buffalo) and Earl was looking for thimbles of the $2 variety. However Earl kept getting distracted and would find other items for sale like the Alpaca wool blanket for only $350 but since it was ‘end of season’ he could have it for just $250. No sale, back to thimbles. Mike H. was looking for a t-shirt but was very particular so he again parted with no tourism dollars spent.
We then headed back to Custer City (our home base) and the museum of wood carving where Carlos would again look for his buffalo. He did find a treasure there but it was a carving of some mythical dragon for only $90. Not sure how he got off the buffalo theme.
At this store, like several stores earlier, Earl kept trying out the lotion samples and coming over to show us how they smelled. I’m getting worried about Earl and glad he’s rooming with Carlos.
Later that evening we had a light meal at the “Budget Burger” in Custer City. From the night before we found everything in this town closed down by 9:30 so we decided to go into town earlier and found several places still open. Okay, several was a stretch as there just is not a lot here, so we found about 4 places open that served food and only one of those was a chain—Pizza Hut. Budget Burger was about the only game in town which explains the $4 burger prices. I’m not sure where they get the name “Budget” and I think some of those kids working that place were no more than 14 years old. It was like that movie “Children of the Corn”.
No comments:
Post a Comment