Deadwood and Devils Tower

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2014

Gillette, WY

DOAI Rally

Devil's Tower

We were up early to enjoy coffee and donuts before we boarded the bus for our tour of Devil's Tower and Deadwood today.

Our first stop was at the Vore Buffalo Jump for a quick picture taking  opportunity and leg stretch on our way to Deadwood.

We arrived in Deadwood where the City tour bus was waiting to take most of our group to the cemetery and historic area.  There was no room left on the bus so Al and Karin did not take the city tour.  We had done this tour before so we decided to spend the time eating lunch and exploring the shops on main street.

Al and Karin DeHaas joined us for lunch at Mustang Sally's in Deadwood.  They live in Germany and store their Discovery in Colorado.  They come to the US on holiday each year and pickup the D in Longmont to tour around.  They are hoping to go full time soon.

We found the Midnight Star Restaurant that is owned by Kevin Cosner.  The place is decorated  with pictures and costumes from his movies.  This was the costume from Water World. 

Posters, pictures and costume from The Body Guard

Dances with Wolves

Our timing was all wrong as we boarded the bus at 1:00.  The gunfights in the street and other shows started daily at 1:00.

Another stop in the town of Aladdin on our way to Devils Tower to check out this 100 year old store.

The town of Aladdin is for sale for the price of $1.5 Million.  Anyone interested in owning your own town?

The store was packed with merchandise.  It was surprisingly clean and well organized as you walked across the creaky old wooden floor.  Lots of collectables, clothing and antiques. 

I don't know if you had to buy the entire beer can collection or just buy the one you wanted

Finally we arrived at Devil's Towner and was given 30 minutes to take pictures.  Of course the trail around the tower takes 45 minutes to an hour so no one could take the hike.

After pictures were taken, everyone just sat in the shade waiting for the bus.

Back on the bus we go.

Our bus driver.

There was a stop at the prairie dog town as we left Devils Tower.  These little fellows were not camera shy.

We had one last stop at the Devil's Tower General Store for everyone to buy ice cream before heading back to the Cam-plex.

Friday, Aug. 29, 2014
Gillette, WY
Cam-Plex DOAI Rally

Today was seminars for everyone.  Becky attended the seminars about Password Manager for your computer, Cloud Computing and Traveling with your Pets.  Traveling with your pets was given by a woman that volunteers with the Red Cross to handle animals during disasters so she had lots of tips to keep your pets safe in emergencies.  They travel with 3 dogs, 1 cat and 2 ferrets.  They also volunteer for ferret rescues.  She gave lots of good ideas for getting your pets out of your RV in case of fire, remedies for sick animals, and keeping records of vaccines and medications on each pet.  This evening we handled the sale of 50/50 tickets during dinner.  We raised $500 so $250 will go to Jump Wyoming charity and $250 went to the lucky winner.

The local Food Pantry will get a big boost from the DOAI group.   It was an impressive donation.

The DOAI donated 673 pounds to the local food bank.

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014

Gillette, WY

Cam-plex DOAI Rally

The morning started with coffee, donuts and fruit in the hall.

Anne and Wally did a great job of organizing and serving food to all the attendees.

On the schedule today was round table discussions for the pilot and co-pilot in the morning.  The afternoon was a ladies tea party and quilt show.  Some of the members brought their quilts and told the stories to go with them.

There were so many beautiful quilts but I had to narrow down the pictures.  This was one of the most interesting patterns I have ever seen.

This quilt was done with pictures of her son's high school days as a graduation present.  It was like a cloth scrapbook he could cuddle in.

This pattern was done completely with octagon pieces. 

This quilt was made from all the victory flags from her husband's racing career. 

We had a fabulous Prime Rib dinner with cheese cake for desert.  Becky sold another $401 in 50/50 tickets making a total of $901.  Our President John Baker had the lucky ticket and donated his $200 winnings back to Jump Wyoming.  With the quilt raffle and 50/50 we gave almost $2,000 to Jump Wyoming to help buy work clothing for the single mom's in the program.  This was the last night of our rally and many of the members are leaving in the morning.  We will stay another day to catch up laundry, clean house and pickup groceries before we hit the road again.  We will be making our way towards Atwater, IL where we will spend some time with RV friends we met in Texas last winter.  Stay in touch...

Becky and Lonnie

Becky won her first Golf Tournament

Sonny, Becky, and Richard took first place in the DOAI Golf Scramble

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014
Gillette, WY
Cam-Plex Center 
Discovery Owners Association, Inc Rally

This evening was our Welcome Party with beautiful table decorations done by one of the DOAI Chapters from Texas.

We gathered in the hall for meet and greet Welcome Party.  There are 60 Rigs and 119 people attending this National Rally of which 20 rigs are new members attending their first National Rally.  Becky sold 50/50 tickets and some of the DOAI ladies made this beautiful King size quilt which will be raffled off for $1 per ticket.  The colors would look great in our RV so we purchased tickets.

The proceeds from the quilt and 50/50 will go to Climb Wyoming.  This organization helps single mothers in Wyoming get job training and work skills to enter into good paying jobs that will support themselves and their children.  The 11 girls in the Gillette program are all going for CDL licenses to drive trucks for the mining operations here in Gillette.  The funds we raise will go towards helping the girls get the needed clothing and supplies such as work boots for their new jobs. 

We also gather food for the local food bank during the Discovery Owners Rally to support the local community.  We were amazed to see a member packing in a case of canned goods.  By the end of the rally this table (and maybe a second one) will be completely full.

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014
Gillette, WY
Cam-Plex Center 
Discovery Owners Association, Inc Rally

We were all treated to coffee, donuts and fruit this morning before some of the members climbed on the bus to tour Durham Bison Ranch and others went to the Gillette Golf Club.

Nine members showed up at the Gillette Golf Club for a golf scramble this morning.  Three teams were put together combining two men and one woman. 

This was a 9 hole par 36 course that we did twice for our 18 hole game.

The golf scramble allowed us to play the best ball position on each drive.  Becky got a few good drives from the ladies tee box to get our team farther down the fairway.  This made the game much easier for Becky since she usually has 7-10 strokes to sink that ball.

Sonny did a great job of getting us on the green and Becky got to putt in some winning shots.

As you can see this golf course had a lot of uphill and downhill shots surrounded by homes.

Double click on the picture for a full screen shot of our score card. Becky was impressed with Richard and Sonny's shots.  They were very patient and gave her many good pointers on her swing.

This afternoon brought some thundershowers.  So we will snuggle down in the RV for some rest.  Tomorrow we will be boarding the bus at 7:30 AM for the tour of Devil's Tower and Deadwood with some of the members.  We'll post pictures so stay tuned...

Becky and Lonnie

We are on the road again...

Barbara and Glenn move in as this season's house sitters

Saturday, August 26, 2014

Evanston, WY
Phillips RV Park

We turned over the keys to Barbara and Glenn this morning and started on the road to our next adventure.  It didn't take long for the adventure to begin.  We are going up Sweetzer Summit on I-84 headed towards Salt Lake City when the check engine light comes on with a message that Coolant Fluid is low.  As we reach the summit a red light comes on that says STOP.  It blinks out almost immediately as we level out on the summit and so does the messages about coolant.  Ok we need to add some coolant but we have no idea where to add it and what kind of fluid to use, so Becky starts digging through the Freightliner manual.  Now it is Saturday and of course we cannot reach any RV repairs in the Salt Lake Valley.  We did finally find someone that answers a phone on Saturday for Steve's Truck Repair in Evanston, WY.  So we set up a meeting with Steve's mobil mechanic in the Walmart parking lot in Evanston provided we get up the steep grade coming into Evanston without the engine shutting down.   These new diesel engines have so many electronics that will shut the engine down so as not to cause damage.  We made it up the grade with only the "Coolant Low" message and no more threat to shut down engine. We arrived at Walmart and the mechanic filled the reservoir with coolant and we were off to the local campground by 4:00.  That was enough excitement for today.

Sunday, Aug. 27, 2014

Casper, WY

Fort Casper Campground

We woke up to 36 degree temps this morning in Evanston.  BRRR!  It was a long drive today as we traveled 358 miles from Evanston to Casper.  We did encounter some strong winds of 50+ mph but they were a tail wind on the I-80 as we traveled East.  It did wonders for our gas milage.  The campground is located next to the South Platte River on the site of the old Fort Casper.  The nearby museum was closed by the time we arrived.  The campground was nothing to brag about but we did get a Passport America 50% discount on the price.  It was a good thing since I would not have paid $43 a night for an all gravel lot with no picnic tables or trees.  We did get a pull thru site so we didn't have to unhook the jeep.  By the time we got settled into our site, we were too tired to do anything except eat dinner and go to bed.

Monday, Aug. 28, 2014

Gillette, WY

Cam-plex Center

It rained during the night but the skies were clear as we departed Casper.  It was a much shorter day with only 123 miles to Gillette.  Traveling across Wyoming, it was not difficult to envision herds of Buffalo roaming these wide open spaces.  The wide open spaces are now being filled with oil wells, cattle, sheep and antelope.  We arrived at the Discovery Owners Associations national rally site at the Cam-plex before noon.  The Cam-plex is a great place for RV Rallies since it has full hook-up for up to 300+ RV's.  This rally will be a little over 60 Motorhomes so we were able to camp near the building.

It was fun to look around at all the different Discovery Motorhomes from as far away as the East coast.

This is the building where we will be attending events over the next week.  Lots of seminars on Discovery motorhome systems, computer skills and tours to local sights such as Devil's tower.

We parked at the end of the row with the North West Adventures Group.  Our president Wally and wife Anne were on hand to welcome us to the rally.

It was fun to see all our friends and help make plans for the up coming week.  Becky has a golf game on Wednesday morning with other DOIA members and we will be helping with the food bank collection and selling 50/50 tickets to raise money for a local charity group.  The activities begin tomorrow.  We will try to get pictures and keep you up on what we are doing.

Lonnie and Becky