A Mobile Odyssey

Heading to South Dakota we are not going to visit Mount Rushmore again. We do however plan to revisit the Colonial House Restaurant in Rapid City.
When leaving on scenic Highway 285 towards North Dakota no stop at Mount Rushmore are planned. So far this trip has turned opposite of the original intention. 
We originally wanted to head to Mexico but turned north instead to “save up” as we actually save money while traveling. I should say “Most of the time.” As we had one of those “unplanned” expenses.
The motor home’s refrigerator died.
We went to Rich and Sons RV Headquarters 4395 Gold Core Road Grand Island Nebraska!
THEY WERE SUPER!
Katie Davison got us serviced and back in operation in about three hours and a $200 discount!
I know repairs on the road are difficult at best and especially if you’re a nomad like we are.
Finding service of this quality is hard to find these days!
We pulled in to their shop and within a half hour they had diagnosed the problem, laid out the options and even gave me a tour of the troubles.
It was very close to lunch time (dinner as they put it—this is farm country!) The service tech suggested we go to lunch and they would start when we returned. After lunch we were up and running with a new unit in less than two hours.
While we were there we also bought a good quality surge protector!
We are back at the Streeter Park campground watching everything cool down by morning it was almost back to normal, but we are going to have a lot of ice for a while as we kept everything in an ice chest while they installed the fridge.
The Refrigerator Door covers were installed, we had early dinner at a charming restaurant that specializes in fried chicken but has a great selection.
Tommy’s was recommended by the people that installed our new refrigerator.
We gassed up at Sam’s Club, and last minute shopping at Wal-Mart and headed to I-80
We spent the night at Brady's Rest Area Nebraska, which is one of the Gateway Stops and has a large sculpture and tourist center.
Bayard, Nebraska will be our next stop as we have our mail waiting there.
There is a lot of history as the Oregon Trail that runs through this country.
We will cross the Platt River and see Chimney Rock on our way.
Last time we stopped at the Nebraska Arch was for a history tour through Nebraska.
Bayard was our home for the next two days and the gasoline price went up four cents a gallon in those two days.
The price of gas has been steadily rising since November of 2020!
Checking ahead it was discovered that around $3.50 a gallon would be the norm in South Dakota.
So we filled up in Bayard as it was almost 40 cents a gallon less.
From Bayard we headed toward South Dakota with an eye on the temperatures.
In order to have Air Conditioning the generator must be used, and that uses gasoline.
The last stop in Nebraska was Carhenge near Alliance Nebraska.
It was listed as an “Offbeat Attraction.”
The Colonial House was a bit of a disappointment as the menu was totally different than the one online.
The waitress who had been working there for three years had no recollection of ever having the Buffalo Flat Iron Steak we got there in 2018.
I was never so tempted to just walk out and look for another place, but it was late.
Every place we stopped to refill our propane either had only the BBQ Bottles or had no personnel qualified to pump it!
There were thousands of motorcycles heading to or from Sturgis.
We stopped at a no facility truck parking area. The noise continued all night.
The next morning we bypassed Sturgis on the 85 which was scenic. 
We only made one short side trip to the Enchanted Highway off Interstate 90 in North Dakota.
Dinner was at the Hu Hot which is a Mongolian Grill and one of our northern states favorites. We first learned of them back in 2019 in Kalispell, Montana, and wish they’d move south!
We drove to the Wal-Mart in Bismarck and stayed for the night.Everything was within a few blocks of the Wal-Mart. So the next morning we filled the gas tank for $3.04 at COSTCO and replenished our vitamins.
The propane tank was filled at Tractor Supply.
While Dawn picked up some things at the Dollar Tree, I discovered Pizza Ranch in the same parking lot.
Pizza Ranch is another chain that is pretty much in the northern Midwest and again wish they had them in Florida.
They have the best fried chicken we have found. A complete salad bar, mashed potatoes and potato wedges, along with even biscuits with or without gravy. Oh Yesss and pizza, all was really good.
We will be looking for them again in our travels.
From Bismarck we went to Rugby to stay at the fairgrounds. We stayed for about 5 days.
While there we had Dinner at the Northside Lounge one evening and had desert in a classic ice cream parlor a couple days later. We walked through most of the town.
We left for Towner on a Sunday and found the park crowded.
Only one space was left, and later we discovered that it is a paving crew that is camped here.
Monday, we walked to breakfast and to the Post Office. Monday morning, we picked up a few groceries, mailed a bunch of letters to Governors and walked back to the motor home.
Friday we picked up our mail
It is now August 8th and hopefully it will stay cool now as it has been hot enough to need the air conditioner.
So far almost all the places we have stayed since we left had electric.
Both Rugby and Towner have electric hookups in the parks!
It was mentioned that we were going to make rounds to visit some friends we have made during out travels.
One of those friends is Towner itself.
We have used this week to catch up on the happenings since the last August visit.
The Postmaster’s son owns the Bearded Moose Bar and Grill and both visits have been great food and good company.
The Grocery Market has competitive prices considering being the only one for miles.
The Ranch House Restaurant is only open for Breakfast and Lunch and we got caught up on the construction of the Splash Pad construction in the park.  
Soon we will head back to Rugby for a final visit before heading west toward another favorite campground in Fort Peck, Montana.
Now that the heat wave is mostly passed there will be more touring on the way.
 

Leaving Rugby we made two stops, one in Minot to FAX documents to the IRS and lunch at anothe of the Pizza Ranch restaurant, which has great chicken.
There are always interesting things at Wal-Mart Parking lots, like the airplane on a trailer.
We spent two nights in Williston to shop and the temperature dropped to near freezing overnight.
We revisited Lonnie’s Road house for Breakfast and then left for Fort Peck.
We will be here in Fort Peck  Montana over Labor Day.
We have no idea yet what we will do after that!