"My Hometown..." (sing it Bruce!)

Our final stay in Nebraska before heading into our "new home state" was a two night stay at Chadron State Park. Even though I am waaaayyy behind in my typing, I couldn't let this park pass without an acknowledgment because it had some awesome scenery and people, and a real adventure of a hike. When we were driving here I had been texting with my friend, Ellie, about our whereabouts and she had commented that it sounded like we were at the base of the Rockies. It didn't feel that way to me as we were driving through (almost) hilly Nebraska, but when we landed here I could see that it was so!

The campground had limited campers because they were working on repaving all of their roads inside the campground to prepare for their celebration of their 100th anniversary. The views were amazing. The camp hosts were a younger couple from Nebraska who were so helpful in preparing us for our stay in South Dakota in terms of helping us prioritize our "must sees" and some good walks to go on with Penny when we were there. While at Chadron we went on a big hike through various trails so that we could miss the areas where they were paving. Truth be told - the hike was MUCH longer than planned (or anticipated)! We felt like we were, in fact, climbing mountains and had to take a few significant rests under shade so that our "puppy" didn't get overheated. It was a wonderful adventure and an impressive park.

On May 20th we arrived in South Dakota (cue the marching band!). Unfortunately, I missed the damn official welcome sign! We entered into SD on US Rte 385N from Nebraska - obviously a lot quicker than I had anticipated. We entered just after noon and it was a sunny 79°. We soon passed a cop on the side of the road in an apparent speed trap. (Good luck making money off of MY MAN - we’re going 62 in a 70mph zone!) South Dakota Immediately looked different with its darker mountains/hills ahead. Karl noticed the hills up ahead immediately - and it was obvious why they are referred to as the Black Hills.

We planned to spend 5 weeks in and around the area because although it only takes spending one night in the state to be eligible for residency, we weren't sure how long it would take to get our new driver's licenses in hand; just in case we got a paper one and then the real one mailed to you. Also, I did not have great odds of getting my CoVid vaccine in MA before we left due to the timing of the age eligibility roll-out, so we wanted to make sure we had time in SD for me to be able to get both shots (if needed). Low and behold I got the J&J "one and done" shot on 4/12 (right before it was "paused"for distribution on 4/13, and before our 4/15 departure from MA)!

Our first stop was our “new home” at 514 Americas Way in our “Hometown“ of Box Elder. This is the location of the most awesome-sauce mail forwarding system in the land! We got to meet the people and learn how to check our email to see what snail mail or packages have come in so that we can decide if we need them to forward it to us (wherever we may be), scan the contents for us, or toss it. The people were so friendly and helpful and their whole system is actually pretty mind-bogglingly cool!! It was fun to get my mitts on my birthday cards and other fun mail we had received (not to mention some checks from the sale of our house!!)…

Our first campground in South Dakota, Sacora Station Campground in Piedmont, was by far our least impressive to date. I won't be too snobby except to say this was obviously a campground that lived for "Bike Week" in August. It was pretty rundown and the bathrooms and showers weren't ready and they were reportedly in the process of doing so - but never did. They had a saloon on the grounds that had just opened for the season, but I am a beer snob and couldn't hang out drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon! So we used our week stay here as our home base to go adventuring. It wasn't too far from Rapid City and Box Elder, so we accomplished a lot being in the vicinity.

Our biggest accomplishment was getting our driver's licenses on Day #2 of being there!!! We had registered on line for an appointment and the first one we were able to secure was on June 2nd at the DMV in Rosebud, SD (which was NOT close by). However, our wonderful helpers at America's Mailbox let us know that they had heard that people were able to walk into the DMV in Rapid City and be fit in between appointments. So we gave it a whirl on Friday 5/21 and we not only succeeded but were met with such friendliness and warmth that I felt like I was either in a dream or on an episode of Candid Camera!!! Karl even had one wrong form and they WAITED for him to go outside in the truck to retrieve the right one!!! What kind of Registry have you ever heard of doing that???? And, to make it even more incomprehensible they let us share the documents from the campground that were required as part of the application process! Oh, and our new SD license is also a REAL ID and we left the registry with it in hand AND it only cost $28 each!!!??????!!!!!! (OK, don't get me started on my Real ID experience in Massachusetts that I failed to have the proper documentation they needed on two separate attempts and was barked at and treated like a second grader who had stolen their neighbor's lunch...) Needless to say, we walked out of the DMV happy and proud residents of South Dakota! That night we went out to eat at a steakhouse near the campground to celebrate our success with some very yummy prime rib!

Karl used his "All Trails" app to find us some AWESOME scenic hikes nearby which we did early in the morning so as not to overheat our girl. Penny caught some type of bug from the streams or something because we had a few days of dog crisis (aka "the runs", followed by chicken and rice, followed by not eating and drinking, followed by our thinking and planning for the worst...). We were on the phone with the vet trying to get an emergency vet visit right before Memorial Day Weekend to no avail. So we entered the weekend with the "just in case" hospital # speed dialed into our phone. Luckily, by Sunday Penny was her old self and we had some awesome hikes/strolls/walks and got to enjoy the beauty of South Dakota.