Cruising across the vast prairie of South Dakota is an awe inspiring scene. I stopped at one scenic overlook and it didn't take much imagination to see millions of buffalo stretching to the horizon and Sioux and Crow Indians stalking them from safe hides behind hills. What laid before me was exactly what we all saw in the movie, "Dancing with Wolves". It was incredible! A persistent wind blows across this land pretty much 24/7 and while it is all quite breath taking it's also easy to see that life here in the 1800's would have been challenging. Still, life here, at least human life, is sparse and only the occasional farm house can be seen along the Interstate.
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| One thing about the SD prairie is that the wind is always blowing. |
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| The first signs I saw for Wall Drug were in Iowa coming up I-29 from St. Louis. |
I had hoped to see pheasant in the cut down corn fields or maybe along the edges of the sunflower fields that were so much of a surprise. I guess sunflower seeds we buy at the grocery have to come from someplace. Now we know. The flowers had already run their course, so there wasn't much color to see, but you could tell the seeds were maturing by the black centers of the flowers. The only pheasant I've seen to this point have been dead on the side of the road and not all that many of them, either. I was told that eastern SD is considered Meca to pheasant hunters, but that big rains at exactly the wrong time flooded out the eggs and the sitting birds. I'm planning on a pheasant hunt in western SD.
About 30 miles from Rapid City I was cruising up and down the rolling hills when an idiot light and an audible alarm startled me from my highway trance. I didn't recognize the icon on the dash, but soon realized from the temp gauge that my cooling water was overheated. This was a first for me and I must confess to being somewhat concerned. I slowed down to 45-50 mph and the temperature started back down. I called my brother, Walter, and asked him what he thought. He seemed to think it was a simple matter and that a flush/clean with dishwasher detergent (Cascade) would solve the problem or that maybe a thermostat might have gone bad. The engine is, after all, 10 years old now and there are life limited accessories that will need to be occasionally replaced, right? Alternators don't last forever and neither do thermostats and radiators. I limped into Rapid City and found a Freightliner service center that also does motor home maintenance. I'm there now having parked overnight in their lot. I'm hoping they will get to me soon, but it's already almost 11 AM. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the problem is something simple and CHEAP. :) I must say, though, if something like this had to happen it couldn't have happened at a more convenient place or time. Just west of Rapid City, SD are significant hills that would have been a problem with the engine overheating and, of course, I'm eventually going up and into the norther Rockies in western Wyoming at Jackson. I'm told those mountain passes are a challenge even for healthy cooling systems, so I would have ended up on the side of the road calling for Good Sam Roadside Assistance, again. The shop rate here at Freightliner is $130/hr, but at this point I'm assuming they are worth it and that their expert will diagnose and solve my problem quickly. We'll see.
Mt. Rushmore is only 30 miles away and once the motor home is fixed I'll be heading off in that direction. It should be interesting. The Crazy Horse monument is a little further down the road and I'll likely go and check it out, too.
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| The man whose dream is manifested here. |
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| Washington, Jefferson, Teddy and Abe |
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Crazy Horse is the largest statue in the world, even in its incomplete state.
Notice the horse head painted on the granite. |
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This lady park ranger delivered a patriotic speech and we then
watched a Discovery Channel video about the four Presidents. |
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| Six vets took part in the lowering of the flag ceremony. |
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| These are the veterans who answered the call to the stage. |
Current events are just another reflection of the Universe taking care of me. These events could have been much, much worse, but at this time I see only that I am being given an opportunity to take care of some necessary maintenance that probably should have been looked after years ago by the previous owner. Let this be a lesson, though. Generally speaking owners do not take sufficient care of their motor homes not out of neglect, but out of ignorance. These motor homes are very complex pieces of machinery that require a certain amount of attention if you expect them to perform correctly all the time. I expect there will always be another issue on the horizon, but hopefully through proper maintenance I'll be able to stay just ahead of it.
It should be my turn soon to pull into the diesel service garage here at Freightliner. JD
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