SharivilleLife stories from Shari

Well happy day, today we have been married 37 yrs and together a total of 38 and a half yrs. Anyone who knows me knows that’s a record event. I would do it all again, we consider ourselves very lucky that we found our soul mate.  Not everyone is so lucky.

We celebrated at a local casino with Melvin and Janola Uden, Jerry’s cousin and his wife. We did the buffet, nothing special, typical casino food. Not much luck either, but it was something we had not counted on doing. Melvin and Janola are newly weds, 4 1/2 yrs in Jan.  She was 69 and he 79.  Soooo sweet. and they just seem to adore each other.  They do have a long history though, they were both widowed, but the two couples grew up together in the same town and socialized together, went on trips, played cards, whatever you do in small towns.  So, it made perfect sense for the last two to stay together.They share  so many past memories and are now making some new one’s together. Its just so natural as each one knows what the other is saying or doing like they have been joined at the hip all their lives.

Well there is a big storm coming in so we may extend a couple more days, I could stay longer but we have to get on our way before we get snowed in. I have gotten some really nice pictures here.  All along the roadways are purple mum type wild flowers in various shades of purple. Of course the harvesting of the soy beans is fascinating, it will have to stop with the rain coming.

So, this computer has really lowered the boom on me.  First of all I am not a techno freak.  It’s mind boggling and I hate it. It’s first one thing and then another. So, today I took my computer to the club house to try to get on line, when I got up there I discovered my computer was hibernating.  Oh well, no matter what button I pushed I could not wake it up. Finally with the help of two ladies who work there, we woke up my computer. I never ever heard of a computer hibernating.  Well it only gets worse,  then I tried to get on line and could not, so this very nice fellow camper came by and told me I needed to have a blue lite on, on top instead of a red one.  After that I got on line and can now ever use my computer from the trailer with my wireless card.  HOOP DE DO.  Then of course I had been having trouble with my cell phone, only Jerry’s was working well with a very simple push of a button by Jerry my cell now works everywhere.  And after about 15 hours of Jerry trying to set up the satellite, thank goodness for cable, he has decided the trees here are to big and has discussed cutting them down.  Good luck with that plan. Well tomorrow is another day.              Hugs,  S and J.

This  morning we drove into beautiful Spirit Lake to meet another one of Jerry’s cousins.  She must be a cousin about 3 removed, Rita Bruckshus is her name.  We met her at her work place, she’s Vice President of a local bank.  I’m impressed.  What a nice person, she is researching the Greenfield family tree and she really had some good information to give us.  She even had a CD with lots of old pictures on it.  Some very interesting stuff.

Later we met Jerry’s other 3 cousins and took them to lunch at the only place to eat in the little town of Ocheyedan,” The Bar.”  It works like this, in the morning they post the days meal on the white board outside the front door, this is the one and only meal of the day, take it or leave it.  Today it was Goulash, a hamburger macaroni casserole with lettuce salad and garlic bread.  Actually it was very good and they definitely serve plenty of food.  What can you expect for 6 bucks.

Back to the cemetery found another family member, still no Grandma.  Went to the courthouse in Sibley to find out where the old Greenfield house is located.  It’s still standing and in use , looks like a hippie house , painted brite blue with different colored sheets hanging in the many windows.  I took pictures.  The courthouse is something very special, built in 1902, a wonderful example of turn of the century architecture.  Beautiful inside and out , not really ornate but tastefully splendid.

Since we had to pass right by Ocheyedan again and since it was taco nite at The Bar, we naturally stopped to partake.  On Thurs nite its hot wing nite.  Very good. Then we took some back roads to the RV park and took in some more of the country.  We are lucky enough to be here during harvest time so there’s lots going on with all the harvesters, etc.  They are trying to get in the Soy Beans before the next rain, don’t think they will be totally successful, and they still have thousands of acres of field corn to get done. Still no truck, but the parts came in, we were thinking of extending a couple more days anyway, it’s really special here.  Besides I think we are brewing a big storm.  More later.         Hugs.            S and J.

I can’t believe I just opened my Coast to Coast book and picked out such a very nice RV park.  Orginally we were only staying 3 days, but even before the truck took a dive I knew we would need to be here longer. This resort is a 5 star Coast Delux.  It has more than 300 full hookups, a store, snack bar, great ice cream, and a club house with everything including a heated indoor swimming pool, which we will use with the rest of the fogies here. Very very nice  place to be stranded.

Today we drove around whats called Iowa’s great lakes area.  It encompasses Spirit Lake and East and west Lake Okoboji. We are at the latter and it’s suppose to be one of the bluest lakes in the USA.  Its definately a pretty blue.  We drove around all three lakes today what lovely homes along the lakes.  Theres lots of retirees around the area.  We stopped and had Mexican food, very good.  Lots of  places are closed already for the season, but thats OK because its peaceful here.

These are glacier carved lakes .  West Okoboji is spring fed, a georgous shade of blue and 134 ft. deep,  They fish for Walleye here, have never caught one or eaten one either, but they swear by them here.  They have some antique shops here and yes Angie, I did find you something very pretty.  There are some really nice old Victorian homes In Spirit Lake.  They also grow the most magnificent Blue Spruce trees around here and I love, love, love Blue Spruce trees.  Well home early  to relax with our feline family, Winkum, Blinkum, and Nod.  They are loving their trip and especially this park.  There are lots of birds and squirrls and folks walking dogs right by their huge back window.  More Later,            Hugs, S and J

We had a really interesting fun and picture taking day.  We drove into the little town of Sibley where Jerry was born.  We went to the cemetery to visit the family plot.  Took pictures.  Think it was an emotional moment for Jerry, seeing the names on the grave stones.  We looked all around the town, nothing going on.  Around here on Sunday, everyone goes to church first then football or golf, we thought about church but thought it probably would be too quiet for us now.   know what I mean, Mary? Everything else is closed up.

We drove to the 4 corners where Jerry spent his first 3 yrs.  The old gas station building is still standing, believe it or not.  He and his mom and dad lived behind the gas station that his dad ran.  Actually, its called the Shabondais Corner, as that was the owner.  His dad got involved with the moonshiners at the time because it was a main corridor at that time during the depression for bootleggers. He died when Jerry was 3, that was very inconvenient, so his mother and her younger sister pooled their money and grabbed Jerry, caught the train and headed for the land of milk and honey, where else , California.  They ended up in Englewood .  Mind you this was the middle of the Great Depression 1933 – 1936 when they left for California. Today brought back memories for Jerry because he has only come back here 3 times to visit family and now this time has been 50 yrs later.

We drove around the beautiful country side to admire some of my beautiful America.  Theres lots of fields of amber waves of grain.  Lots of charming old derelict barns, mostly now abandoned and left to the harsh elements of Iowa’s winters.  Some must be over 100 yrs old, and I wish they could tell me some of the history they have seen.  Some still have the old corn cribs intact.  Old barns I just love. I have some great pictures of them.  The wind is howling today and it looks like an early winter here.  Wonder how much more these wonderful old bars can take before collapsing? I will not let them be forgotten, they will go into a scrapbook for future generations to admire,  I’m sure Angie will pass them along.   More later,          Hugs,      S and J

We left the RV park and went into the town of Mitchell SD, to see the Corn Palace,  What an interesting place. I took some terrific pictures of this place because you would have to see it to appreciate it.  Every year they redecorate the entire outside.  Its kind of a paint by numbers thing.  An artist designs the murals and they various colored corn and grains are nailed and stapled into place to form the colored mural. Each year they remove all the old grasses and grains. Over the summer 3000 bushels of Milo , rye, oat heads and sour dock are tied int bundles and attached.  They have to wait until late summer for the corn crop to be ready, we got here at the right time they say over half a million ears of corn in half lengthwise and nail them in place. Really an interesting place , such civic pride and over $100,000 every year to do this.  It was worth seeing as I will likely never see anything like it again.

We drove on into Minnesota for 60 miles and them cut down into Iowa.  Its a pretty state so far, very green, around all the corn fields.  We are staying at a beautiful resort called Cuttys Okoboji Lake Resort.  It’s near Spirit lake and about 20 miles from where Jerry was born. Theres lots of lovely old farm houses and even more wonderful old barns.  More later,  Hugs  S and J.

Hi, I am up at the club house because it seems to be the only place that I can get on the net.  We are in a really beautiful place called  Cuttys Resort on Lake Okoboji.  We are about 20 miles from Ocheden Iowa, where dads family is from .  We did locate some of them today, thank God, because after all these miles that precious truck of ours has blown an injector pump.  That’s right around $2,000!  As luck will have it one of dads family members is a mechanic and happens to run the only shop in 35 miles. Its a really long and complicated story, and as soon as we get the details worked out you will hear from us.  It does look like we will not get out of here until at the soonest next Thurs.  Unless we can figure another way to pull this sled out of here, and I don’t see any big horses around here.  His family are wonderful considering he has not been here in 50 yrs.  They are treating us just like family and for that I am forever grateful.  This is terrible but we could have been in a much worse place, like in the middle of the Badlands on a pink gravel road.  We even have a loaner car as long as we need it.  Tomorrow is another day.  Can’t do any thing until Mon.  Went to the cemetary this afternoon , but even with the best directions, it seems they have just painted all the posts with IDs on them and have not put to numbers back on yet. If we were not having bad luck we would have no luck at all.  Dad can’t get the satellite to set up properly and the phones don’t work most of the time and my wireless card seems useless here, but other that that all is well.        Love  Mom

Today seemed like a long day.  We drove about 300 miles, from Rapid City to Mitchell SD.  Guess it just seemed long because we were crossing prairies. All along the way were cattle, definitely cow country and of course, Mylo and Corn and Soy Bean fields.  They all seem to go together.

All the while I kept thinking about the pioneers and how very difficult it had to be for them.  The prairie is hot and dry and hilly.  Since I’ve been around here I’ve gotten a good look at those Prairie Wagons and I can only imagine.  They had to be very brave and determined and selfless.  I wonder how many of us could take off on an adventure like that?  This adventure we are on doesn’t compare and yet sometimes I wonder if I’m brave enough to do it.  Theres so much to get together and figure out and follow through with.  I pray every day that God will see us through and I’m sure that’s a lot of how they did it too.  I’m so far away from my comfort zone, all these miles out now.  I just hope they had a little fun along the way, because we sure are.

The most exciting thing we did today was to stop off at the largest tourist trap on I-90.  It’s called Wall Drug.  It’s in the town of Wall SD, population 838.  Despite it all it was a fantastic place to tour.  They bring bus loads of people here after they tour the Badlands.  They have the most extensive collection of western Art , probably in the USA.  Fab stuff.  I couldn’t find anything they didn’t have, nor anything that I needed.  So we had buffalo burgers with fries and 5 cent coffee.  No, it was not Green Mt. coffee for that price.

The old folks built their business on free ice water during the depression. Travelers crossing the prairies were hot and thirsty, and some often bought ice cream and so it began.  Boy I wonder what the pioneers would think of this place, see I told you I’m obsessed with Pioneers. I took a picture of Jerry on a giant jackolope, can you visualize that?

We also crossed the beautiful and huge Missouri River this afternoon.  Another milestone in this adventure.  I’m still wondering about  those pioneers and that river.  More to come I’m sure.  tomorrow Iowa.          Hugs,   Shari and Jerry

Well today was a down day after all, so we decided to skip the train.  I’m surprised as Jerry loooves trains.  I think he’s ready to move on to new territory, so we will head east tomorrow.  Next stop of any consequence will be Spirit Lake, Iowa, for 3 days. That’s where Jerry was born and although he doesn’t know anyone there anymore, we will visit the cemetery.  Really that should be interesting. We still will have one more night on the road before we get out of S Dakota, but there are a couple of interesting sounding places just off the freeway to stop and see while still in  SD.

So, today we did the mundane things like laundry, drove into town to buy a weight scale, Jerry is thinking he’s been eating too often at Ruby Tuesdays. We did that today too.  I’m thinking, why don’t we just cook in the trailer?

I forgot to mention that on the way to Wind Cave yesterday, we kind of as usual got off on the wrong road, yes, we really are still talking to each other, anyway we saw more animals than if we were really looking for them, buffalo, white tail and mule deer and found another Prairie Dog Town. Such beauty here, will we ever find another more fulfilling and spirit reviving place?  More later.  Hugs Shari and Jerry

Such a busy,  busy day and I am exhausted.  First off we headed for the day activities at Mt Rushmore.  We ate whats called ” the Monument Breakfast.”  It was actually good, scrambled eggs, bacon, ironed like Kathy always did for Jerry, tater tots and a biscuit and sausage gravy.  We also had the best coffee and hot cocoa, yes, Angie, it was Green Mt coffee, they have good taste here. Wonderful!  We toured all the exhibits, saw two films, went to all the gift shops and took many photos.  We thoroughly enjoyed Mt Rushmore, and I’m sorry to be leaving, knowing I’ll probably never see it again and it is so wonderful.  I can’t imagine not ever seeing it, I’m such a history buff.  This place so instills a sense of patriotism and love and respect for Country.  The 4 Presidents represent the cream of the crop, and gave so much to starting our Republic off with ” THE RIGHT STUFF.”

Then we checked on the old time  train ride from Keystone to Hill City.  We were to late for the round trip for today, so we went to plan B.  Tomorrow is another day and the last day here also.

So then……….We went to Wind Cave Natl Park.  Well……….what can I say,  I can’t pass up a Natl Park at any cost, so says I.  The tour we took was called the Natural Entrance tour. 1 1/4 hours, 1/2 mile.  Now that doesn’t sound far, but the journey is through the middle level of the cave.  Wind Cave is famous for it’s abundant boxwork, not the usual stalactites and mites.  There is not another cave in the world like it.  Well it was beautiful.  We were down 290 ft. and there were 300 steps all down except 11.  It’s called a moderately strenuous tour, then exit is via an elevator, and you can bet I was on the 1st elevator trip up.  The cave temp is a constant 53 degrees, and let me tell you I was so warm that my glasses steamed up and Jerry thought because I was soaking wet, any minute I was going to panic.  Man of little faith.  Considering I’m very claustrophobic, maybe he had grounds, but I did it.  I must admit the deeper and further into the cave we went and the fact that some of the passageways were quite narrow, the walkway very uneven and the lighting dim, there were times I wondered what WAS  I going to do?  So I said to myself, self, you can do this, at this point what else was I going to do. So I made up my mind,  NO MORE CAVES.

Tomorrow is another day and how difficult can a train ride be?      Love to all,  Shari and Jerry

It’s not Sunday,  but this  is our day of rest from sightseeing.  The wind is blowing a gale outside with occasional brief showers mixed with occasional rays of sunshine.  Just looked at the weather channel and see it’s triple digits at home and here in SD its in the 50s. Jerry went into Rapid City this morning and bought an electric oil heater.  We left the one we had at home. Some of these RV parks have weaker breakers that won’t support our RVs  heat pump. Theres always a way around anything. Sure glad this is not a travel day.

We will do some badly needed house cleaning, vacuum and pickup and I’ll even cook dinner in today.  Hamburger steaks, baked potato and green beans.  Jerry will be thrilled.

I’m hoping this weather front moves on by tomorrow, we still have to do the day tour of Mt Rushmore and Wind Cave Natl Park. I can’t be this close to a Natl Park and skip it.  It’s so convenient to have this air card and not have to try to find places that have the Internet. This way I can send messages at 2 AM if I want to. Hope I don’t.

NOTE, some interesting stuff at least to me anyway, is the sad state of affairs with all these pine trees dying due to pine beetle infestation. All over this area while driving along we see bunches of red dead pines.  The forestry is now going in and stacking forest brush, what a job, and we see tee pee style stacks all thru the forest floor and they will burn these when the snow starts, that prevents spead of fire.  They are also thinning the pines so it’s not so dense and the trees aren’t so stressed and susceptible to the dastardly beetles.  Its a real serious problem here and the rangers are really concerned for the future of the trees.  Apparently south of Custer  State Park entire slopes are dead and only Aspens are left.  tomorrow is another day.       Hugs,     Shari and Jerry