Link Family Vacation

Vacation 2007

Who would have thought that I would come up with an idea like this? Camping!!! Me??? Well, when you consider the great opportunity for our family to be together, the whole camping idea just made more and more sense. Here's our schedule for the week. I'll be posting updates and pics daily. Good or bad, you will know how the week is going. Please email or post your comments. We'd love to hear from you. Sunday, June 3 - Depart Dubuque for Watertown, SD where we will meet our good friends, Earl and Sandy Benson. We'll be at the Casino Raceway that evening for the races. Earl owns the track. Monday, June 4 - The trip to the Black Hills now truly begins. We drive from Watertown to Piedmont, SD. Along the way, we have a stop scheduled at Wall Drug, the world's largest drug store. At Piedmont, we will be staying the night in the travel trailer we've rented. Tuesday, June 5 - Travel from Piedmont, SD to Hill City, SD. After being checked out by the rental company mechanics that our Suburban is okay for hauling, we will drive the 45 miles to the Mt. Rushmore KOA. The day will be exploring the KOA and perhaps seeing the evening lighting of Mt. Rushmore. Wednesday, June 6 - No real plans. More to come. Thursday, June 7 - Ditto Friday, June 8 - Reservations on the 1880 Train that runs from Hill City to Hayward, SD. Chaz is really excited about this. Saturday, June 9 - No plans Sunday, June 10 - No plans. Monday, June 11 - Return the trailer to Piedmont and drive to Sioux City, IA. Tuesday, June 12 - Day trips around the Sioux City area. Lewis and Clarke will be a main topic of discussion. Spend time with our good friend Ann and her kids. Wednesday, June 13 - After a visit to the Jolly Time popcorn factory, we depart Sioux City for Dubuque, IA with a brief stop at Loring Hospital in Sac City, IA to see our good friends there.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Day - 3: The camper and trip to the KOA

The day that starts calm and ends on a crazy note is a day to remember.

Our first night in the camper was very uneventful. We were really cold because we couldn't figure out the furnace...propane wasn't turned on...I figured that out in the morning.

We got checked out on the trailer...a braking system was installed and we were ready to go!

Here we are loaded and heading to Hill City!

The first ever driving experience of a camper was that it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. And gas mileage really is bad - 8 mpg! I'm glad we rented in SD and didn't haul from Iowa.

We made the trip to the KOA in about an hour and got checked into space 175. Not too much to say about the campsite itself but the campgrounds are impressive. They have a nice pool, water slide, large playgrounds, and stables. The kids are going on a ride on Thurday morning!

We got camp set up, ate lunch and went swimming.

Here's our home for the next week. Notice the awning? Well, that evening a storm blew up suddenly and if it were not for the assistance of our neighbors we'd have lost the awning in the wind. You should have seen me and Teri holding onto the awning for dear life, praying that it wouldn't blow away, break or rip apart....my adrenaline was pumping so hard. Luckily we were able to get the awning rolled up and back into place. We are learning quite a bit about camping.