Day 86 - Tuesday -"They Did What????????"

Day 86 - Tuesday - They Did What???????????????

Early to rise may make a man healthy but I never enjoy it.  Nevertheless, we do rise early, finish the packing and get the RV to Eastside Motors by 8am.  Justin takes delivery and says they'll call us when the new air conditioner is installed and checked out.

We head into Gillette and find a coffee shop that's already open.  They even have a border collie who is strategically placed where anyone going to the restroom can't miss her, and we oblige each other with some serious petting.

I get a haircut - my first since Sioux Falls 2 months ago, and it's nice to no longer feel - and look - like an Old English Sheepdog.  This is followed by an enjoyable couple of hours at the Rockpile Museum.  Named for an unusual pile of rocks near the parking lot (people in Gillette are nothing if not logical!), this free museum features the history of the area in multiple exhibits.

It has the usual military uniforms, an impressive array of carriages, replicas of stores from the 19th Century, a caboose from the C B & Q Railroad and much more.  But what makes this museum special to us is the way the exhibits are personalized.  Not just a WW1 navy uniform, but a whole biography of the sailor who wore it, along with medals and other decorations that he earned through bravery in battle.  Not just photos of WW2, but the life story of the local photographer who risked his life many times to document the events, including his contributions to Gillette when he returned home.

Everything in the museum is similarly detailed, so we spend most of the morning there and end up feeling hungry.  As we head for the old post office - now a pizza restaurant and bar - Vicky's phone rings.  It's Connie from Eastern Motors.  They had removed our defective air conditioner and then opened the box containing the new one - except that it didn't contain the new one.  The people at the factory had put old, broken parts into a box designed for a new unit, sealed the box and shipped it to the shop in Gillette.  And although it had arrived 4 days earlier, nobody had thought to open it and check until they were ready to install it.  My reaction - "They did what????????"

To their credit, the shop got on the phone and quickly located one - in Denver - and arranged for it to be shipped immediately.  This still adds at least one more day to our stay in Gillette.  The people at Eastern had also taken pity on the cats and brought the 2 carriers into the air conditioning, in a quiet corner.  Not a sound was heard from either of them!   They'd parked the RV on the street next to their yard - a street that was closed off due to road construction - and they say we could stay there overnight - which we do.  Re-reading the last sentence, I wish to make it clear that the people at eastern Auto, and not the cats, had parked the RV.  After a big debate we decide it's safe to put out the slide rooms, so we're reasonably comfortable.  We bring Quill and Cosette back home, much to their relief.  We're also glad Justin remounted the old unit and replaced the tarp, as we get another of those evening severe thunderstorms.

Everyone tells us these thunderstorms are unusual, and in fact last year they had a drought.  But this is our first experience of the area, so for us this is "normal".