Moved to Hot Springs (Hot Springs, SD)

We have relocated to Cold Brook Lake Corps of Engineers park one mile from Hot Springs South Dakota.  Dan was able to get short notice VA appointments at the VA Health Care system in Hot Springs.  We are dry camping (no utility hookups) for only $4 per night with our National Parks Access pass.  The park itself is large and spread out, but the camping area is smaller with only 13 total sites.  The locals use the swimming day use area at the lake as well, and there is a archery range.

It turns out the camp host is leaving on Monday, 23 June, and the lead ranger asked us if we were willing to fill in for a while.  Duties are simple, help any arriving campers who need assistance with self registering, be a on site presence and call authorities if any problems, minor restocking of pit toilet supplies, and minor trash pickup.  Two summer interns do all the major duties around the large park.

This camp host position has water, 50 amp electric, and a sewer dump into the pit toilet vault via a sewer solution hookup.  This camp host position will be fine for us while Dan is working with the VA.

Our broadband (cell phone tower) internet connectivity is slow in this area.  Connectivity is decent early in the day, and very poor late afternoon and evening as locals return home and connect via the cell phone tower for their own internet access. 

We will be spending less time on the internet, and limiting the size and number of pictures we post and look at.  We may check out internet access at the local library or elsewhere to supplement our connectivity.

Yesterday we drove into Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State park.    Buffalo were blocking the roadway in one area, and burros in another.  The burros were begging for food from the vehicle occupants.

 

 



 

Camp Hosting in Wyoming (Glenrock, WY)

We moved to Glenrock, WY on 6 May.  Glenrock is just 20 miles east of Casper.  This was our first view of our new home at River Platte RV and Campground.  Sandy wasn't too pleased with what she saw when we pulled in next to the office.  No trees, too much dirt, and very little in business facilities.  

Despite our first impressions, we decided to stay to give it a try.  We found out that this is the first year for this campground to be open and they were still building RV sites.  The pipeline and petroleum business has hit this area and business is booming.  Workers are scrambling to find a place to live near their work and many come with their own rigs.

There were only eight sites with full hook-ups when we pulled in, but the owner was starting work on a new section for another four sites when we showed up.  They are about to open up two more sections for a total of 28 - 30 sites.  All the sites have already been reserved.  Dan has been assisting in opening up new sites with sewer, water, and electrical connections.  The office gets calls everyday from people and companies looking for open sites.

View from our site

The campground has access to the river which is nice for campground residents to go kayaking, paddle boarding, or just tubing.  We enjoy the walk down to the river and looking for different birds, but we have not been in or on the river.

North Platte River

Across from the campground

There are a lot of tent sites available.  Right now, it has been a little slow.  Maybe once summer gets here and stays, the tent sites will start filling up.

Snow in May

In the meantime, the campground is filled with pipeline workers and a few have their families with them.  Needless to say, this is not what we were expecting for a summertime campers.  It is very quiet even on the weekends.

From the tent/rustic sites

So far, our work has not been what we were expecting either.  Our contract said we would only be working as camp hosts, but that has not been the case.  Our so called part-time work from Thurs-Sun has been all week long with Dan working some long manual labor hours while Sandy is barely needed in the office.  Do we like our new jobs?  Not really, but we will probably honor our contract and stay for the agreed time.  Then again, since the contract did not disclose the duties properly, we may not.

We drove to Douglas a couple of weeks ago to do a little shopping and exploring.  On our way to Douglas, we took a small side trip to Ayers Natural Bridge park.  Many of the Oregon Trail settlers wrote about this unusual natural water feature  bridge while they were stopped here on their way west on the Oregon Trail including one man from the Donner party.   Many settlers stopped here to hide from Indian attacks and some actually lived in the caves nearby.

There is a small park here with 12 sites, picnic tables, and facilities.

There is also an old power house near the bridge that was quite interesting to walk around.

old power house

We climbed one of the trails leading to the top of the natural bridge.  A little rough going and a little steep at times, but very short.  The view was worth the climb!

So, we would say we are getting into a routine, but we never know what we are doing from one week to the next.  

One thing we can say - we know it will not be a boring summer of the same ol' stuff.   As you may recall, we plan to work the holiday season at a Amazon.com processing center in Kansas starting in mid September.   Despite Amazon's 10 hour-days, they are starting to look pretty good.  We already have a good clue as to what to expect from Amazon's emails and we expect they will honor the contract as written with proper disclosure of duties and expectations.   They are organized and they communicate.
Happy Trails!