On the Road: Hill City, South Dakota

We are back on the road! After parking YOLO in Rapid City, South Dakota for a few weeks and flying to Arizona to spend some quality time basking (more like melting) in the Valley of the Sun, we returned to South Dakota and breathed a sigh of relief – it’s so cool here! Winston was thrilled to be able to walk during the day without scorching his paws and wilting in the unrelenting sun – and so we did and have been walking to make up for lost time. In AZ we restricted most of our short walks to early morning and evening in the spirit of self-preservation. But I still love AZ!

Upon returning to South Dakota, we discovered that Rapid City had a serious hail storm (golf ball size hail) last week which caused all kinds of damage, especially to vehicles. That explains the shattered windshields on the rental cars parked at the airport. Fortunately, Mark was insistent that we park YOLO in an inside storage facility and I am so glad we spent the extra money to do just that. In the long run we saved a lot of money and time not having to deal with damage to the RV. Yup, when we picked YOLO up, she was in pristine shape just lounging indoors all cool, clean and happy. Whew, dodged a bullet there.

We are staying at the Rafter J Bar Ranch this week which is just outside of Hill City, SD. Rafter J is a beautiful campground with lots of trees and wide open spaces, a sparkling clean pool, heated spa, arcade, playground and store. Very kid and doggie friendly. This place has everything you could need. Last night Winston and I were outside and it was pitch dark with a clear sky and we were treated to an amazing view of the twinkling stars overhead. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Rafter J has BBQ night at the outdoor dining hall! We will definitely be chowing down on that tonight for dinner while Cowboy Roy performs live country western music. Yeah, this is roughing it. Seriously, this is a very nice place to stay and I would recommend it if you’re ever in the area – it’s also centrally located to all the major attractions. Check out the campground photos.

Stay tuned for the scoop on what’s to see and do in this area in blogs to follow.