Day 55 - Saturday - oh, no! Not
again!
It's a relatively short 60 miles from Custer in the Southern
Black Hills to Spearfish in the Northern Black Hills
and that's our drive for today. So we
pack up, hitch up the car and head north on US85. An easy drive through hills and forests,
eventually taking us through the town of deadwood, famous for the murder of
Wild Bill Hickok and for Calamity Jane, and early tomboy who had an unrequited
love for Hickok. She was eventually
buried next to him so in death she got what she never had in life! The town looks very touristy, although it
does have an interesting looking chocolate shop which is currently closed. We'll be back, if only for the chocolate!
Don't know if I mentioned before, but we've been having leaks
in the RV when it rains. There are 2
exhaust fans, one in the bathroom and the other in the kitchen, and both are
leaking. The one in the bathroom is
going straight down the sink, but the other one sends water across the ceiling
where it drops near the table. The third
leak is from the windshield on the driver's side. We've called several RV repair shops on our
planned route and have a confirmed appointment in mid July to have these
fixed. There's a place in Whitewood, SD
just 10 miles from Spearfish that told us to call around now as they might be
able to take us this Wednesday. Vicky
makes the call and sure enough, they can take us. Not only that, we can stay there Tuesday
night!
So we're set - 2 nights at Chris's Camp which turns out to
be a spacious, well maintained RV park, Monday night at Walmart and Tuesday in
Whitewood. We pull into Chris's Camp,
surprisingly uncrowded possibly because they accept only cash, disconnect the
car and discover that, just like when we arrived in Custer, the car battery is
dead. Since it was working this morning
and we haven't driven far, I figure there must be a problem with the electrical
connector that powers the brake and turn signal lights from the RV when the car
is being towed. Doug, who just showed us
to our space, gets the car started with a hand held 100 Watt charger. He recommends we get one. I find one on Amazon and soon we too will
have one.
We had a little rain on arrival but once it's stopped I
check the connector on the car. Sure
enough, 2 of the wires have pulled out of where they were supposed to be, and
are causing a short. Trouble is, there
are 3 unused connectors! Which goes
where? One has obviously never been used
so I spend several hours on the internet and find a wiring diagram. Knowing where the 3 wires that didn't come
loose were fixed enables me to see which terminal is for the white wire and
which for the brown, and we're able to get that fixed.
We drive into Spearfish to a natural food store on Main
Street and get some supplies. We then decide to take a walk around, reading
historical signs that describe the buildings in the town. It really is a cure downtown, just like our
model railroad was! In the old town hall
we find Leone's Ice cream, which seems to be popular so we check it out. I have a sundae with 2 kinds of ice cream -
rhubarb and a 3 pepper (including habanero) flavor, plus caramel sauce, graham
cracker crumbs and whipped cream. at
$4.50 it's a bargain, but it's the flavor that makes this a "come back
to" place. Our historic tour ends
up on a side street at an old hotel which is now a Japanese restaurant. Having already had dessert, we decide to stop
and complete the meal. We each have a
large Bento box - not the best I've ever had but not bad either.
We return to the car which starts with no problem. However, when I put the car in reverse and
nothing happens. I think maybe I was in
neutral and try a second time. This time
it does back up, but I feel a shudder.
Driving forward is no problem so I resolve to use reverse as little as
possible and we return to the RV.
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