Onward to Wyoming.....

After about 3 fabulous weeks, it was time for us to leave South Dakota and head onward to Wyoming. We had a beautiful day to travel....no severe thunderstorms, hail, or tornadoes, thankfully! Apparently this has been an unusually rainy spring in South Dakota. We were talking to a local rancher, who said he couldn't remember such an unbelievably green spring. Of course, it was due to all the rain. We also overheard a local say that he had never seen the fire danger sign anything less than "moderate" except for this spring....its "low". So my memories of South Dakota are of green fields...everywhere....when actually, they are usually quite brown. Especially by the end of the summer.

driving through South Dakota near Sturgis

South Dakota Visitor Center-near Wyoming Border

We had a beautiful driving day, with little (or no!) traffic heading into Wyoming. The clouds were like big cotton balls in the sky, rolling forward. Really cool.

the sign says it all!

Check out those clouds....right?

I think we've seen this airplane before-right Chris?

Driving along

Mountains coming up 

 As we headed towards Buffalo, Wyoming, the Big Horn Mountains appeared around a bend. Magnificent! Some of the peaks were still snow-covered. And some of the landscape also looked a bit like the Badlands.

snow-capped mountains right under the clouds

heading towards Buffalo, WY

pretty

looks a bit like the Badlands

Our campground in Buffalo is right off of the interstate, and it is only about a 5 minute drive to town. As we pulled in to the campground, we noticed "snow" falling. We thought they had quite a dandelion problem, with all the fuzz flying around. Once we were set up, we went into town to the local grocery store to stock up, and the fuzz was just flying everywhere, including inside the store near the door. Wow, and we really didn't see that many dandelions so we couldn't figure it out. I had to find out what the deal was. The cashier told us it was cotton....from the cottonwood trees. It lasts about 3 weeks or so, and he mentioned good-naturedly that everyone in Buffalo has allergies! I'll bet! That stuff was just flying everywhere.

Here's our campground now

heading into town...note the traffic! haha

cotton...from the cottonwood trees! I wasn't exaggerating

On our way back, we made a beer run for Tom, after all, it was Father's Day! I actually bought a bottle of wine too! Hope to drink a glass some time this summer, and actually finish the bottle before it goes bad. 

Crazy Woman is everywhere

skype-ing with Chris...Happy Father's Day!

We began our exploration of Buffalo by walking some of the Clear Creek Trail. For more detail on the walking, and scenic drives, click here. The trail is used by locals and tourists alike - walking, running and biking. The part of the trail we walked was relatively flat and easy, and VERY scenic! The view of the mountains was awesome, and much of the trail was next to Clear Creek, which you could hear for most of our walk. It was very refreshing. We did spot some wildlife-that Tom with the eagle eyes!!  

the trail system

Clear Creek

starting our walk

we see you!

and you

The views were so nice, and the wild flowers were blooming everywhere. We had a spectacular day.

Nice view of the mountains!

wildflowers everywhere

the creek

great trails for biking!

how many petals?

nice 

its starting to get a little warm now

the breeze from the creek feels like air-conditioning...really!

One part of the trail goes through a cow pasture, with cows walking around just trying to  mind their own business. Reminds me of the A.T. in NJ, near the Stairway to Heaven trail, where there is a boardwalk through a cow pasture. I always found that a bit unnerving, especially when the cows started walking towards us.

hey guys....don't mind me...just walking through

no worries!

beautiful wildflowers everywhere

more

At the end of our walk, Tom spotted what we thought were bald eagles. I'm not really sure what they are. Does anyone know? Looks like some type of eagle or falcon nesting.

eagles?

falcons?

We thoroughly enjoyed our peaceful walk...the mountain and meadow views, the wildflowers, and the ponds hidden in the brush.

so sweet

another view

a snake swimming through...

end of our walk

Later, we took a "scenic drive" to explore just a bit more of Johnson County, near our campground. We picked an easily accessible drive, according to the visitor information we had from the camp office. We drove through the Bud Love Winter Range, described as some of the most scenic mountain views around. We were not disappointed!

long country road

beautiful isn't it?

odd landscape

lots of rolling hills

antelope

lots of shades of green

It looked as though we were driving through a painting. Really. I am amazed at how beautiful this country is! We spotted antelope on this drive, and magpies too. And the cutest little deer with huge ears!

magpie

vibrant purple flowers

US flag atop one of the hills

Farm nestled in the foothills

cutest little thing! Check out those ears!!

There was still time in the day to relax, though I admit not much. Hahaha. Still can't get myself out of vacation mode. There is so much to see and experience! 

I think Tom is reading his Kindle?? That's what he told me!

Even the sunsets are a big deal for me. These shots were taken from our campground, right behind our campsite. Our new backyard! At least for a few days anyway.

great subdued colors

like a painting-huh?

good night!

Whirlwind of a week......

Last week, we left our RV to get serviced (the little things in the coach that are under warranty) at Dakota RV in Rapid City and then proceeded to the airport for a quick trip east to take care of business, and of course to visit with as many family/friends as we could. Since we had to be at the RV shop very early, we basically packed up and put the slides in early in the evening before we were leaving. Then look what came by! I tell ya, the weather here is something to watch!! (By the way, we give great reviews for Dakota RV in Rapid City!).

Oh no Susie, another storm coming

We flew to NJ with quite an ambitious agenda. The main reason for the timing of this trip was to take care of business on our house. We finished cleaning/moving out, met with the buyers to show them how things work, met with our lawyer and real estate agent, and visited family and friends. We had only 4 days in NJ to do all of this, so I was really happy to be able to have lunch with some of my former co-workers. I was also really lucky to be able to meet with some of my knitting friends-I really miss our weekly meet-ups!

my work buddies! 

We enjoyed our deck for a few last meals at our house. We've spent many hours out there over the years, and it was nice to wind down out there. Seemed only fitting. The house is still under contract, with the closing scheduled at the end of the month. We are not expecting any problems now, as everything has been inspected/approved etc. (You never really know until its over-but we are all optimistic!)

our last relaxing breakfast on the deck

the new family will enjoy this

on our way to the closing

We were thrilled to  celebrate family June events at my sister Lisa's house. Everyone was able to make it, and it was just great to see everyone before we heading out west again. It was very comforting to see that everyone seemed to be doing well. That is the only really hard part about this lifestyle....not SEEING your framily, but with skype, google hangout, texting, cell phones, emails...it is a little easier.

catching up 

getting the latest news in person

relaxing

Nice pic E and Steve!

Cheers

exciting game

close game...the girls are winning!

the fans watching the tight game

So many things to celebrate...besides just life in general. And a cake to celebrate each!! WOW! We celebrated Katie's 21st bday, Tom/me new home, Grandma's birthday...and though there was not a separate cake, we also celebrated Father's Day. Did I forget anything? Needless to say, a good time was had by all! A few more pounds could have been gained too!!

already?

cake boss cupcakes-yum!

there she is .... 21!

delicious! 

we each had our eyes on a favorite cake

lots of choices

relaxing

I totally forgot to take pictures of my dear knitting friends, who I was able to meet up with the day before we drove to Virginia. I think I was just so happy to catch up in person!

The morning we left for Virginia was our last morning at the house. No more keys! I took pictures of every room...pretty much empty except for what the new buyers wanted. We tried to take another last walk around the 'hood to bid farewell again to some of the neighbors, but between time and weather, we missed a few.

We had a fabulous life in our house, and we leave with very good memories-beginning with the actual building of the house by Tom and his father, among others. Lots of personal investment, that's for sure. We were very lucky and had a life well lived in that house, and hope the new young family moving in will have the same! Funny, but we have no sad feelings moving on. It just feels right to both of us.

leaving today!

after 30 years!

okay...time to go

its been wonderful here

heading down the driveway

Jersey Traffic...5 lanes each way, all backed up! Fun times!

After NJ, we drove to Virginia for a short visit with Jess/Andrew in Charlottesville, and a quick trip for a meet-up with Chris in Roanoke before heading "home" to South Dakota. Remember, "Home" is where we park it!

I don't know what happened, but I totally forgot to take pics in Virginia, which I KNOW my kids are happy about...ahahah....right? They all look good...healthy and happy!

Our flight out of Charlottesville was cancelled due to very bad weather, so we stayed at Jess and Andrew's another day and caught the 6:20am flight Friday. Travelling early has many advantages! After a couple of flights, we were back in South Dakota by 10:00am, ready to pick up the camper. Later in the day, when the weather was severe, Rapid City airport clocked winds at 64 mph. If we were on a later flight, it would either have been delayed/cancelled or pretty wild!

We celebrated our return with dinner out at the local Pizza place around the corner from the campground. Tom is bionic, but I admit I was pretty beat after waking up at 4:00am, and having the day elongated due to the time changes. Wow! It is nice to have 26 hours in a day once in a while!

Cheers! Back in South Dakota

Cheers!

Of course, we were greeted with more weather and severe storm warnings by the evening. Luckily the storms went around us. Must have hit Rapid City (airport)! The horses next to the campground didn't seem worried at all.

Time to hunker down again?

Nah, I think this storm is going around us

they don't look worried either

too bad you can't see/hear the wind

Today I got up around 5:00am (since I'm a little messed up with time/day/location after the past week) and witnessed a severe storm while Tom was still peacefully sleeping. Thankfully, we didn't get any hail here this morning, but the warnings over the radio were for baseball sized hail in the next town over. Whew! We got plenty of lightening/thunder and rain though.

woah...lots of cloud to ground lightning

through it all, a rainbow

It was the weirdest thing...while this storm was going on, with all the rain and lightning and thunder, a rainbow appeared in front of my view out the front window of the camper. Amazing!