River Bend RV Park Kinder,LA

Woke up this morning and looked outside and WOW, I think we did score an awesome spot. We will only have one person next to us because our spot back right up to the Calcasieu River. 

The day is overcast and boy was it chilly when I walked out to take pictures. I love being up before anyone around me It is so quite you could hear a pin drop in the RV Park.

The people are very friendly, the spots are all FHU and concrete pads that are level. For some people some of the spots here might to to close, to me they do not look really cramped. The price is $20 a night I am not sure of the weekly or monthly rates but you can check them out on their website www.riverbendrvpark.net . If you were like us looking for a Rv park at a casino last minute since we did not know when we were getting paid and they are all booked, this place is awesome and they have plenty of spots open. 
I posted the pictures of what I took this morning before I froze on my Facebook page (they take forever to load on here) The link is below or you can find the link on the top right of the blog itself. You can always follow me on Facebook for quick updates and pictures before I write the blogs.
 www.facebook.com/toddandamandasexcellentadventure


 OH and I think we ended up looking pretty straight ;-)

I Vow To Never Pull In To A RV Park At Night

We are out of San Antonio! and we could not be happier. Nothing against San Antonio, but I think I saw everything I needed to see and I do not think we ever have a reason to go back to TX other then to drive through it to go west. 

Drove all day and we finally made it to our RV park River Bend RV Park in Kinder, LA I could not tell you what it looks like currently since it is dark but I will update everyone with how the place looks in the AM. We are 8.6 miles from the casino that we will be spending our NYE at Coushatta. 

No why I vow to never pull into a RV park at night and try to set up. It is so dark here and the spot we are in is right next to a river AWESOME RIGHT!!! yes except there is a hill drop down and yes we almost drove off the hill!!! Getting straight in the awesome cement pad that is level, so we do not look like rookies when people look our way in the light was complicated more then it should have been. There was a soft spot near our site and we do not have 4X4 so I am worried about getting stuck and looking like fools. Lets be honest here, I can drive this beast down the road just fine, when it comes to trying to tell someone how to park it I AM NOT GOOD YET!! I will get there, I say well let me drive and you guide and yes that worked way better only took maybe 8 tries lol... 

Crazy puppies in your ear while parking makes it more of a challenge. I know there have been such awesome travel puppies sleeping all day YAY except for when we get to the park and they are hyper and ready to play. Once we got parked and leveled puppies gates were set up and they are happy puppies/cat. 

We are so happy to be parked for a few days and to celebrate our NYE at the casino. Now time to find some food and relax for the rest of the night, kinda hard knowing the casino is so close and we have not been since last year. No I do not have a gambling problem LMAO. btw I cant wait to see how straight we are in the spot in the AM

This Is So True!!

This is so true with the full-time journey that we are living! I am always looking forward and not back!! 

Came Across This AMAZING IDEA

With the New Year right around the corner I came across this awesome idea to celebrate 2016. I can only hope everyone will join us with this awesome challenge 

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas Gift's 2015

In this mist of posting about finishing tree's and our next destination I forgot to post the most amazing gift my hubby gave me for Christmas and the awesome gift's I gave him.

Of course as always we did Christmas early hubby was so excited to give me my gift that he could not wait. I made him open all his gifts first because I love to see his face when he opens his gifts makes me so happy. He received a new Keurig that he so badly needed, a hammer drill that he fell in love with when he used it in MI, a new hiking backpack with hydration, hiking polls and a survival kit you never know when you will need one, a few shirts and some other small things I love seeing him so happy.

Now it was my turn, there was only two gifts under the tree for me and I could not wait to get into them. He gave me the bigger of the two gifts first I tore it open and it was a tree tag box?!? I was puzzled lol. I ripped the box open and before I even got the gift out of the box, my jaw dropped and I began to cry... I could not believe it was the camera that I have been dreaming about...... The Canon Rebel T3I all I could do was hold it. It came with the standard lens I was still in aww and he said "thats not all your have one more gift to open" All I was thinking was it could not get any better then this right? I opened the second gift and it looked to be a box of Saltine crackers, now I know I love crackers...but crackers for a gift lol... I guess he ran out of boxes, I ripped the box open and I could not believe it, it was the 75-300mm lens HOLY $h!T of course being the crier I am, I started crying and saying "thank you thank you thank you" I still could not believe it I finally got my camera.

Now that I have it I have so much to learn I see a photography class in my near future. I can not wait to take amazing pictures and share everything I see with you all.

Ever since we got married I have been telling him how awesome it would be to have a Canon Rebel camera. His response was you cell phone has a camera almost as good, and of course I would say OK even tho I really really wanted this camera. I would always pull him over to the camera section in every store we went and I would stare at this camera in hopes that he would say "OK we can get it" but that never happens. I love taking pictures and anyone who knows me knows that on my computer I have over 10,000 pictures YES 10,000. So in my mind I need this awesome camera because my current camera ...well had been operated on by hubby to fix it and it is still temperamental and I am missing awesome picture opportunities all I could say was "one day in my dream's maybe one day I will get it" 

Merry Christmas everyone hope your Christmas was memorable and special in every way now it is time to bring in the NEW YEAR and continue our crazy adventure in our house on wheels!!! 

Cedar Key, Florida Is Our Next Destination

We can not wait to get to our next destination.... We are going to Cedar Key, FL for a month. We came across a local artist who wanted some help building a tree house and doing a few other things around her house. We talked it over and decided that we could use a break vacation after working the Sugar Beet Harvest and Christmas Tree's back to back with very little break. 

The local artist has a RV pad on her property so we will be staying there. I am looking for to sand in my toes and who knows if I get crazy maybe even taking a dip in the ocean. With the way the weather is it may not be that cold ;-) 

As soon as we are released from our lot we will be heading in that direction and could not be more excited. If anyone has visited Cedar Key and have a MUST SEE/MUST EAT place please share with me. I love checking out unique cool places where ever we are.

Of course there will be a pit stop's in between, We will be spending our New Years Eve at a casino in LA it is our tradition since we did not get to keep our tradition of spending our Christmas at a casino we have to do it for NYE. After we leave there we will be stopping at my sister-in law for a few days we miss her and she is looking forward to seeing us for a few days it is nice to see family.

Merry Christmas We Are Done Selling Tree's

I know I know I have not had anytime to post during the selling season. I will give you a recap of how our season went this year with Holiday Hill's Christmas Tree's. 

The beginning of the selling season started early this year our first day open was Nov 20th. It started out slow as it should who is going to buy there tree before Thanksgiving lol. I was wrong you would be surprised we were selling around 10 tree's a day before Thanksgiving, With family coming to town and who may not be in town for Christmas I guess the celebrate both. 

It went into full swing on black Friday!!! People piled in the lot with smiles on their face ready to find their tree. At this point we were selling tree's so fast that our lot was bare, as soon as we would stand a tree someone would buy it. That whole weekend was like that by the end of Sunday our lot was so bare and we had no tree's in back stock, looks like we are going to need more tree's off to the warehouse in the a.m. 

During the week days it was somewhat slow until about 6:30pm when people flood the lot. So we spent the morning/afternoon hours restocking the lot and getting ready for the rush that evening. We had the best crew we could have had all the other lots had trouble keeping people, our crew started the first day with us and went all the way to the end. One of our guys worked 245 hours the whole season total not once complained about it. We can only hope that if we are at this lot next year that we can get the same crew back. 

The rest of December we were busy almost everyday at some point in the day. We did so well this year that every lot (14 of them) sold out of tree's by December 20th our lot was out of Tree's on December 18th WOO HOO......... Our last tree was was a 4 1/2 Grand and the guy who bought it said "I made his Grand Daughter happy since there were no other tree's in the city in our area left" That would be true, Wal-mart, H.E.B, Home Depot, and Lowes in our area ran out of tree's before us maybe there was a shortage of tree's this year. 

Once our last tree was sold we did our happy dance it was a blast but now that it is over we are so ready to move on and journey to our next destination. We still have to tear down the tent, my cashier booth, and all the electrical,sign and clean up the lot. Since we have a few days there is no rush they are not picking up the tents until at least Saturday. 

The lot was cleaned up by the 23rd it looks so different without everything in it looks like it is ready for a circus to come to town lol. Christmas day rolls around and we have a end of season party to go to. A lunch will be served we are doing a gift exchange and a recap of the season. Once the festivities are over we took a group picture said our goodbyes and headed back to our 5er. We spent the rest of Christmas day putting a new floor in and boy does it look awesome not completely finished but I will post pictures once complete if my camera will work :-(

Even tho all the stuff is gone the tent will be picked up soon along with the dumpster,potties and fence we are still sitting here after we have been done for almost 10 days. I have to say this is the only part I am disappointed about, We are not making anymore money everything is cleaned up we are sitting exposed to the road waiting for our pay. I have to say that we did our part showed up on time, sold out of all the tree's they have, got all the stuff back to the warehouse in a timely manner, so why can't they pay us so we can move on to our next destination. I am writing this still sitting here waiting working for a month or so with no pay coming in and deplete your savings so in order to move on we need the $$$ lol... 

The Lot Is Coming Together!!

We have only been on our lot 4 days and we seeing changes since when we pulled into a empty lot. We did not have water for 2 days and did not know that we needed to fill our tanks until we got here. We went to Wal-mart and bought 20 gallons of water which lasted us until we got water on Friday. 

Day 2 on the lot our big tent has arrived and of course were we parked was were the tent will be, guess we are moving again, at least it is not 400 miles but more like 20 ft so I am OK lol. Watching the tent go up was really fun, but when they have to use a Jackhammer to drive in the spikes and you have a Migraine, lets just say I was not a happy camper. Once it was up and complete all we needed our the circus animals lol.. it looks like the circus tents. Now I feel like we are parked here for a reason when it was a empty lot I felt exposed to the road and almost like a squatter lol.. 

The lot is coming together the very next day we got a knock on the door and the fence is ready to be put up. Now we are really safe the lot and we are fenced in from the main road. Prevents the tree's from (walking or driving) off the lot without approval ;-) 

Saturday rolls around we have training woo hoo... I am dressed up in my Christmas Sweater and I have my Christmas Spirit ready. Training was very informative learning all the processes. Has anyone ever heard of Flocking a tree??? Me either until yesterday when you flock you are basically spraying a white powder and water on the tree to make it look like snow. You can partially flock a tree with just the tips of the branches or you can flock the whole tree and make it completely white. I don't know about anyone else but when I buy a tree I want it green but the flocking is very pretty. I will get pictures of the tree's we flock when we open. 

Now it is the waiting game to see what is next for our lot until then we will relax because we are going to be busy once we open so we will take advantage of the down time now.  

Last Leg to Our Winter Destination

Up early and ready to hit the road from Sawyer, OK to San Antonio, TX 425 miles today, lets hope we have a smooth trip. Weather is perfect no rain in site. Well that is leaving Sawyer, OK when we get to San Antonio we could possibly run into some rain.

 I started out driving today I did not think I would drive that far but to my surprise I drove 200 miles of the trip. I love driving the open road in front of me its just a feeling that you can't describe. I am NOT fond of construction zones just yet, especially the zones with concrete walls on both sides they scare me. We stopped for gas and we changed seats and thank goodness because the rest of the trip was construction after construction and lots and lots of traffic. He has a long 225 miles.

We are moving along pretty well I am so surprised at all the businesses along 35 in TX. It was none stop the whole trip I loved that we did not drive through any major cities. We drove around Dallas but we did not plan very well because we hit Austin TX right at rush hour and oh my what a nightmare this is going to be.

 We sat still in this traffic for about 30 mins then we limped all the way through Austin at 10 miles an hour. It turned the last 85 miles into 3 hours and by this time we were so over driving for the day the dogs were anxious and Cosmo loves to bark at people in the cars sitting next to us. We entertained the thought of stopping but we are so close why stop we are just going to push on. Made it through the traffic and right after Austin all the businesses along the side of the road disappeared and the roads went black this was what we thought the whole trip was going to be like nothing around us. 
I guess I did not realize how populated eastern and central TX was. At this point we encountered the rain that I was hoping we would miss at least it is a light rain. When we finally make it to our spot we take a big sigh and pull in park where we think we need to park get the dog gates out and get them out of the truck. Level the 5er unhook get the slide out. Todd goes to plug in and the breaker box is locked UGH.... We put in a call to Elaine and Darryl who own the Christmas Tree lot company and they come right over luckily our lot is 2 blocks from the warehouse were they were. Once the breaker box was unlocked and power was on I was relieved. Last thing Todd lined up the dish and BAM we are all set for the night.

 The trip we awesome and we are parked now until after Christmas. Any of you in the San Antonio area I would love for you to come buy your Christmas Tree from me. I will get the exact address of our lot.   

Passport America!!!

On the road again and boy does Passport America save you money it pays for itself with your first few stays. We are making our way from Sioux Falls, SD to San Antonio,TX to sell Christmas Tree's and I could not be more excited. 

Our stop in Sioux Falls,SD we used our Passport America Card and we got 50% off we paid $15 vs $30 a night without the card, right there Passport America membership paid for itself. I think it was well worth it for us to join this club. I plan our trips with the Passport America app to find campgrounds to stay at along our route for the amount of miles we want to drive that day. The app has never failed us and we have never had a issue showing up to a park that was not receptive of the Passport America Card. 

Along our trip this time we have stopped at a campground in Lyndon,KS I found this place on the Passport America app and we paid $16.00 a night.Very nice place showers were clean had laundry facilities on site and they fill propane there as well the staff was super nice. If you happen to pass by and stay there is a restaurant that you really need to try it is called Bill and Ellie's EZ Rock Cafe beware the portions are big and you could share a fry and almost a burger. The burgers are to die for, fresh never frozen and the owner of the joint Bill is very generous with the portions you will not be able to get this awesome burger on Sunday or Monday they are closed I suggest you try if you are in the area for sure. As for the stay we ended up staying 2 night because we did not feel like traveling on a Sunday we wanted to watch football. It was a very nice campground and I would recommend it to anyone.

Our next stop we know for sure accepts Passport America because it were where we were introduced to it. The new owner of the campground in Sawyer,OK that we used to manager gave us our 1st year membership for free and we are so thankful for him opening us up to this club. It is so nice to go back and visit some friends and be in a familiar place for a week. Adjusting to the weather here from MN takes some getting used to it was 77 today I guess since we are heading south we should pull out of summer clothes haha... nothing crazier then selling Christmas Tree's in your shorts and sandals lol.. Here with your Passport America card you will get a FHU site for $10 cant beat that and this place is awesome quite and has some great fishing right down the road. If you are ever driving through OK and are near Sawyer,OK you should stay at Sawyer RV Park the owner is a fantastic man who loves his park and takes pride in it so it is a great place to stay. We are here until Monday and we are headed to our destination in San Antonio.

My opinion on Passport America I think everyone traveling you should join the club it like $44 a year you can go wrong with that. It paid for itself with our first stay. You can use it US, Mexico and Canada. The campgrounds that accept it never give you any problems when you show them and you get 50% off the night. One thing I will say about this please make sure if you plan on staying longer always ask if the rate will be for your whole stay. Some campgrounds have restrictions on how many days you can stay at the discounted rate.  #passportamerica

Pit Stop To Become South Dakota Residents!!!!!

So long Hitterdal, MN until next Beet harvest season. We are on our way to our winter destination. With a super exciting pit stop in between that we are super excited about. We are stopping in Sioux Falls, SD because we are going to become residents of South Dakota.

Researching the best mail forwarding services and the pro's and con's of the states that cater to full-timers we decided on SD for one main reason. We were residents of FL and when we quoted our auto insurance to change to SD we could not believe that is dropped over 50% so that was our main reason for changing. 

I researched all the mail forwarding services in SD and what they offered and I believe we made a great choice with http://www.yourbestaddress.com I called the owners and I spoke with Larry and since I was new to this he walked me through everything. He informed me of everything I was going to need to get our licenses in SD specifically. He informed me that we could pay 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, or 12 months and get the 13 month free I liked this options because we did not want to pay a lot of money to set up because we were going to have to pay for all the vehicles and license in SD so we started out paying for 3 months. I informed Larry that we were going to be in Sioux Falls in a few days. In order to have the proper documents for our license you need a receipt from a campground in SD for a stay or one day or more but it needs to have your mail forwarding address on there. We were going to check into the campground before we spoke with him and we would have to change the address with the campground for proper documentation. Larry was such a nice guy he gave our address over the phone with no money down, that way we would not have to go through changing the address once we were already checked in I was so grateful for this.

We finally got to meet Larry and Rose Marie his wife and they are such great people they are very helpful and attentive. They even offer the service of registering your vehicles it is only $26.00 per vehicle. They shred all unwanted mail for free, and much more we believe we made the perfect choice here and we feel we are in great hands. We now are official SD residents and off to the DMV to get our licenses before we head to the treasury to get our vehicles registered ( suggest you do in that order licenses then registration) Thanks to Larry this process was painless. you need 4/5 documents to get your licenses in SD

1. Social Security Card (no receipt or stub has to be the card and can not be laminated it is not usable if it is) also your birth certificates they need to be the certified copy other wise they will not be accepted. 

2. You will need the paperwork for the mail forwarding place of your choice to as proof of your address (dont worry they people at the DMV carter to full-timers so they expect this documents. I was worried they would not be very receptive)

3. The receipt from your campground with at least one night stay (VERY IMPORTANT make sure your mail forwarding address is on this with both your names if your partner is going to be on there with you if this is not on there you will have a problem because this is the second proof of address for your license)

4. Women if you have gotten married or had a name change you will proof of this I used my marriage certificate and keep in mind this will need to be the certified copy if not they will not accept it.

We were in and out and we have our license now off to the treasury to register our vehicles. Walked in and I was nervous I hate this part I am always worried I will not have all the needed documents apparently I did. 10 minutes and about $100 later we have a plate for the truck and it is a registered vehicle of SD. Make sure you either have a bill of sale if you just purchased the vehicle like we did or the price must be on the title you have otherwise you will be turned away. 

We had to wait a few days to register the camper because we waited for the title to come in the mail. I went by myself the first time and (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE WEIGHT FOR YOUR CAMPER ON THE TITLE) I did not get a nice lady the first try she saw no weight on the title so she was nasty and turned me away with out answering how I could find the weight that would work for them. I picked Todd up from doing laundry and he went with me the second time keep in mind it was Friday and we were leaving on Saturday so it was stressful not being able to get it done when I went. The first window that I went to opened up 2 times when I was next so I sent the person behind me I did not want that lady again. We got very nice gentlemen and he was very happy to get us all registered he even looked the weight up online just to make sure our data was correct which it was and because that was were we found the weight as well. 30 mins later and a bill of around $250 dollars they register by weight and we had to pay taxes on it but we are now registered in SD and we can get on the road again and head to our winter destination. WOO HOO..... we are South Dakota Residents

We Have a New Truck!!!

So in this lifestyle we live our truck is our life line. The life line we started with has had enough towing. Our current truck, no longer wants to pull anything and we shall grant her wish lol... 

We must buy a new life line, we have searched for weeks and weeks trying to find the perfect new addition. We want big enough to pull anything, 4 doors if possible the dogs need the big back seat, decent body not all rusted out, MOST IMPORTANT great running truck oh and another important thing NO PAYMENTS. that's what's great about everything we have we OWN IT, NO PAYMENTS and I think that is the best way to live this lifestyle. 

I found what I said was going to be our truck 1 week into our search. Todd wanted nothing to do with it because the pictures the owner took did not show well it looked rusted out and the bed looked horrible. In our search we ended up driving to Minneapolis,MN to look at a yellow truck, I know who wants a truck that will stick out like a sore thumb.....I DID lol... but when we got there it did not have a/c that is a deal breaker because we are in the heat a lot and with the dogs it is a MUST to have a/c for comfort. So that was a wasted trip also because we had a few other trucks lined up to look at and no one would answer their phones. Honestly if you have something up for sale wouldn't you answer your phone??? just saying. That was a bust and a waste of a day.

 It is getting close to the day we need to leave and we do not have a truck that will pull our camper. The next morning I remember that truck I said was going to be ours over a week ago.

 I finally convinced Todd to go look at it, luckily it is right down in Fargo. We find out it is at a used car dealership which makes Todd a little hesitant to purchase but it does not hurt to take a look. We pull up and there is a home made wooden bed on a flat bed truck looks horrible. The body that Todd thought was going to be rusted out was just paint peeling nothing a paint job cant fix. We get in the truck and start it the engine sounds really good. We drive it down the road and Todd says this runs like a dream and for the right price this is going to be our truck (he should have listened to me from the beginning about looking at the truck we would not have wasted so much time and gas looking lol...)

We get back and we try to get out of the truck....the door handles on the inside on both side are broken off, we are stuck in the truck we had to roll the windows down and open the doors from the outside. I got a kick out of this and Todd said that is just something else to get the price just right lol... The bed looking horrible, door handles broke, we still fell in love with the truck. The truck was listed $1,900 the address that we are at was 1350 so Todd threw out $1,350 the owner countered at $1,700 they got to talking about the truck and Todd said he was still at $1,350 the truck bed was full of dry wall looks like someone was getting rid of stuff from a remodel. The owner says ok $1,350 if you help me empty the truck!!!! SCORE what a great day and the guy also tore the home made wooden bed off the truck, this could not have been any better. We now own our new life line she is a 1998 Chevy 3500 with a flat bed and 454 engine. she only has 160,000 on it and she runs like a dream.

The new few days to follow bought parts and Todd gave her a tune up. New plugs,wires,air filter,fuel filter,oil change, some treatments she ran even better. We are super excited about our new baby she needs a paint job but that will come the most important thing to us was she would pull our 5er with no problems the appearance can always be fixed she is white right now but we are thinking what color we should paint her and what we should call her?? any suggestions for names??

Here comes the sad part of all of this, the truck we started this journey with will have to be sold because she no longer works for us. We have priced her for a quick sale $1,000 you would think people would jump at this price being it is a good running truck. Most cars at that price need a tranny, engine or a bad head gasket. People were offering us $500 because of where we were selling her and she was not 4X4 everyone was low balling HELL NO>>>> she is worth more then that. Finally a couple that appreciated what she was drove 3 hours to look at her and she is going to have a great home with them we sold her for $950 and YES I CRIED I had to go out and say goodbye and as she pulled away I cried, Todd of course called me a weirdo but there is something sentimental about the truck because she is what we started our full-time journey with and she has brought us this far hopefully she will take her owner on a great journey as well. 

We no longer have the truck we started out with or the camper, we have the new 5er that we love and our new truck but I will never forget what started us out. It crazy we have been at this for 2 years and boy how things change. 

Winter Plans changed during the sugar beet harvest

As you may know we were going to be selling See's Candy this winter. During the harvest we got a email that we could not refuse. We are now going to be selling Christmas Tree's in San Antonio, TX area. One of the companies we applied with had 2 people cancel and we got the spot we have wanted and could not be happier. 

I am such a Christmas Freak so when I saw the email I jumped for joy. The timeline for See's Candy was very stressful for us because we have to buy a new truck after we get paid for sugar beets. We would not have time to do this and still be able to make it in time for the training so we had to decline the opportunity for this year sadly. 

If you happen to be in the San Antonio area this winter and you need a Christmas Tree stay tuned to get our exact location and I would love for you to come see us and maybe buy your Christmas Tree :-) 

WE MADE IT THROUGH THE SUGAR BEET HARVEST AND WE ARE STILL ALIVE!!!

I know I did not have a lot of time to blog. So I am going to catch everyone up on how the harvest went for us. As you all have read we started working early for pre pile. After we completed 3 days of pre pile and cleaning of the pilers to get ready for the main harvest. 

We had 2 weeks off to relax , we spent with the pups and the kitty because we knew we had to leave them for long periods of time. Did some laundry and just prepared ourselves for 12 hours days for how ever long we go. 

Oct 1st is finally here the main harvest kicks off at midnight, Of course we were not working that shift because we are now on days. 7 am rolled around pretty quick . Todd needs coffee I need OJ, then take the puppies out. Kiss them and the cat and off to work we go. Luckily we are less then 1 mile from the piling station so our ride is very short the truck doesn't even have time to warm up. 

The first three days of the harvest were super busy. Every grower that grew ran the first three days. I am the operator of the piler and it was non stop trucks. I barley had anytime to take a drink. My hands are always doing something. Todd being the Foreman the first three days were busy for him going between both piler's cleaning under the boom with the loader so the dirty beets did not get in the pile of clean beets, making sure the pilers are running their best and checking on all his crew. 

After the first 3 days it died down some, it was still busy tho. We had a few minor set backs that shut down both pilers for maybe a max of 1 hours. Nothing major at all this is looking to be a short season. I really enjoy my job when the trucks are backed up and I just keeping the trucks moving quick and steady. So when the last few days came along and all but 4 growers were done harvesting it became really slow. A few trucks here and a few trucks there the piler would only run tops 8 hours a day on a 12 hour shift. Todds job got easier because we were not moving the piler back as often so the cleaning was not needed every 10 minutes like the beginning. The employees had their grove and were just ready for this season to be over, just pushing through the lack of sleep and energy. Nothing broke down, we were some smooth operators. The last few days we had a all female piler of course that was my piler, and a all male piler of course it seemed like all the trucks were coming to #1 with all the girls.

It turned out to be a record season this is our last day Oct 9th. We worked 9 days straight no time off, no major break downs, and no issues with employee's. On the last day Todd shut down the second piler early the had to do a final deep clean and that crew got to go home. Of course since the night shift shut down the previous night for lack of trucks and a storm that came through( when it is lighting weather in the distance or close you must shut down til the storm passes or the rest of the shift if the storm is bad) we had to run the whole day rather then half of the day like we thought we would the previous day. Lunch time rolled around and Todd being the awesome boss he was, got us pizza for lunch. The girls have been talking about pizza the whole season so when we finally got some that gave us that extra boost to finish the season strong..

7pm rolls around and we are dancing and chanting 1 hour left 1 hour left....wooo hooo. For the next hour I had truck come steady which made that last hour go very fast before I knew it night shift was here. They came and relieved us and we all screamed WE MADE IT THROUGH THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Met up in the scale house to clock out said our good byes. Said that we hope we all come back next year and work together.

Here are a few tips that we would like to give about what we figured out work and what didn't work so well...

Chap stick make sure you bring it my first day my lips were so chapped i could barley talk.

Food I bought stuff to microwave because I thought I would have more time to go to the scale house and make it. Boy was I wrong Todd had sandwiches that worked way better,lunch meat,PBJ,tuna fish ect. Also with food we put a tote in the back of the truck and a cooler in the bed of the truck. We put all the dry foods, snacks, chips, candy, etc in the tote. This way was easy for us because we did not have to think about what we wanted before we left the house and then get to work and not really want that you could have something else if everything was in the truck. The cooler was for all our sodas, lunch meats, and snacks that needed the be cold. We froze bottles of water every night to act as the ice since we were not close to a gas station to get ice in the AM. 

Clothes please make sure you have clothes that you do not mind getting dirty. The company provides you a hard hat, safety glasses, safety vest and they also have respirators for when it gets windy, and believe me it does you are in a open area the winds can get bad. We bought cold weather gear but we did not end up needing it. It was a surprise to us that this season was mild, granted we did have a few days in the am the called for long johns but, other then that both Todd and I wore a t-shirt under a long sleeve shirt with either a jacket or a hoodie. We wore multiple layers so that through out the day you could shed the layer depending on the weather. Foot wear they suggest no steel toes and I am not sure why but I saw people with regular sneakers I wore duck boots and Todd wore hiking shoes and we had no problems. (just do not kick a beet toes first it hurts like HELL!!! I know from experience lol) The weather can change in an instant so we always kept extra clothes in the truck for emergencies.

Make sure you have everything you need before the harvest starts, food, clothes etc because once it starts you will not want to go shopping after working 12 hours. Also we were 10 miles from any town to go shopping so not that easy.

Keep some medication in the truck for aches and pains. Half way through the shift a headache might come and having that will make for a better second half if you didn't have it. 

No matter how tired you get or how much you would like to be done, Keep up the good attitude and keep good energy. We danced in between trucks, sang, and just kept each other in good spirits. The truck drivers will also notice your energy and if we can all help each other get through the season safety and as quick as possible it make for happy growers, driver and employees.

All in all we had a BLAST!!! I was hard at sometimes because we worked everyday straight no time off. People got cranky but we worked together and made it together. We will def be coming back for many more years to come. It is tough work working out in the elements and with lack of sleep and energy but what kept me going was thinking about all the $$$$ we are making. We work our buts off in the winter so we can do whatever we want in the summer.   

Pre Piling Sugar Beet Harvest

We have made it to our Final Destination Hitterdal,MN for the Sugar Beet Harvest. This town is so small all it has is a bar/restaurant the gas station closed down 3 years ago. We are camped in a field with FHU and nothing more and that is just fine because all we are going to be doing is working and sleeping once the normal harvest starts.

Todd is the Forman for our piling site so we had to arrive early for training we started training on the 10th. First day we did not know what to expect walking in blind. We were greeted with happy faces and a walk through of the piling area. We were given our PPE gear (hard hat,yellow vest,safety glasses and ear plugs) and we are ready to start piling now. 

I start out on the ground being a helper/sample taker this is not a bad job I guide the truck to dump the beets if they need a sample we take a sample for the beets running through the piler tie the bag and put it off to the side. The job can get tiring but if you keep up the energy and keep moving it is not bad. Not even an hour into the job I get pulled up to the operator station in the piler and I am being trained to operate this beast of a machine. After 1 hour of training I am now on my own running this HUGE machine. This position is not very hard, it was easy for me once I got my rhythm down. You really need to pay attention to you surrounding there is a lot that can go wrong a member of my ground crew could get hurt, the trucks lifting up could tip over if there gate does not pop in time to empty the beets and much more so I am always very alert. After working 3 days of the pre pile I am now an operator. I will be heading to Operator training and I get better pay OH and I am out of all the elements I say this is WIN for me.

As the foreman Todd is in charge of everything , an area manager will oversee him but will not always be onsite.  He will manage the crew, gatehouse, quality of the beets and flow of trucks into the site.  In addition he was put in a front end loader and said learn how to use this.  He is pretty good with stuff like that so he picked it up quickly.


So far we are loving this job this is only our first 3 days and the pre pile stay tuned for more posts as we get further into the season and see if we are still loving this job!!!! Also follow me on my Facebook page for quick posts and updates since I will have limited time when the harvest starts :-) 

https://www.facebook.com/toddandamandasexcellentadventure


  

Follow My Facebook Page For Quick Updates and Photos

I realize that I do not always have all the time in the world to post lengthy blogs about our adventures especially when we are working crazy long days. I created a Facebook page so you can follow us there for quick updates and photos of what we are up to. 
This doesn't mean I will stop posting on my blog this is just so you can get quick updates and photos until the blog posts happens. I would love if everyone who read my blog would go like the Facebook page and follow me there as well. 

Here is the Facebook link 
https://www.facebook.com/toddandamandasexcellentadventure

Off To Fargo We Go

We have made it home from Michigan safe and sound. We are not done traveling yet sleep in Sioux Falls for a night and we are on the road again to Fargo we go.

240 miles north is our destination seems like nothing but we have been in the car all night and the pups are sick of the car and I am so over traveling for the week so I will be happy when we get to Fargo and stay put for a month or so. 

We are moving along making decent time and our big blue girl (our truck) decided to be temperamental. She decided that we she did not want to let enough fuel to the engine if we get to about a half of tank or a little lower. Todd believes it is the fuel filter clogged or the fuel pump is going out. So we are stopping more for gas and if we go to low we spit and sputter down the road and if anyone has traveled north on I29 up to ND you know there are some long stretches without a gas station :-( stress and praying for a gas station happened one or more times. As I have been saying for the past year but this time we are NOT LEAVING NORTH DAKOTA without a NEW TRUCK. 

The last 30 miles of a trip I swear feel like it takes forever and you get antsy to get there. We pull up to check in, wait whats that I see.......it 3pm and the office is on fall ours they do not open until 4pm..UGH now the pups and anxious to get out of the truck and we have to sit for another hour. We drove through the place to check it out very nice little campground.

4pm rolls around I go in and get us checked in. A phone calls comes through while I was inside that we have been waiting for..... OUR ASSIGNMENT FOR SEE'S CANDY....!!!! We found out we are going to be selling in Tampa at Westfield Citrus Park Mall.... If anyone will be in that area our store opens Nov 12th.... Come see us and buy some candy!!!!! Super excited we got our assignment we are all checked in and now we go find out spot. life's great now time to relax!!!!! 

See's Candies after Suger Beets

We have decided that we were not going to do Christmas Tree's this year but instead pursue something different we are going to be selling See's Candy!!

We are going right from the fields of Sugar Beets to San Fran to training for See's Candy we have no time in between. I have to fly my mom to North Dakota to watch the pups and cat because we do not have time to take the camper to our destination were we are selling. 

We got the call a few weeks ago that our background checks went through and we will be getting our assignment in the beginning of Sept so we are patiently waiting our assignment. 

They asked us where we would like to go and gave us some choice. Our choices were FL,GA,TN,NC,SC,TX and a few other places that we can not remember. Our course our number one choice was FL but we will take any where we get. 

We are super excited now we just have to get through Sugar Beets alive lol... stay tuned I will have blog posts on how Sugar Beets goes and how See's Candy goes as well..... :-) 

Our Time In Michigan!!!

I forgot that Michigan was so humid and all the bugs lmao....ugh I miss the mountains....haha joking It has been so nice to just sit back relax and visit family and friends and swim in the lake. The weather here has been crazy we got here on a warm day the next 4 days it rained and was cold now it is HOTTER THEN HELL..... 90's in Michigan with humidity means we will be swimming in the lake. 

We are staying at Todd's father's house who we have not seen in about 4 years it is so nice to visit with them and we are so grateful they are letting us stay in there camper. We have done a lot of fishing off there dock Wes, Todd's nephew came over to fish and we were having a blast not catching anything tho. I decided to try to catch some small fish by the dock I am sitting there just having a good ol' time and all of sudden a HUGE bass comes out from under the dock and snaps my line and scares the $hit out of me!!!! Now Todd and Wes are on a mission to catch the HUGE bass. Trying with worms was not working the fish wanted nothing to do with them so we catch a small speck the moment we put the speck in the water the bass went for it but we did not have a big enough hook so Wes rigged his pole with a hook that he will not get away from. Caught another small fish and this time for sure we will catch him. Sure enough the small fish went in the bass bit and Wes brought him up WOO HOO.... now we must measure a wooping 21 inches a big boy... took pictures and threw him back bye bye...... BIG FISHY... Over the next few days the bass kept biting and we caught him and another big one 18 inches like 4 more times fishing is always fun. 

 After fishing one night we also played a game called Cards Against Humanity now if you ever get the chance to play this game, you have to. I would not suggest for kids but it is good adult fun. You will laugh so hard that your stomach will hurt you can get a group of people up to 12 to play. Wes had 3 decks of cards and we played through all of them and if we had more we would have played for hours and hours you will loose track of time when playing.  

While we are at Todd's dad's house they are putting Todd to work to build a Well Pump Shed nothing to big but something important and since she has the muscle and the knowledge from Todd why not take advantage of it. 

Shannon Cooper is one of Todd's best friends that he has had since he was young. We went to dinner with him one night and tomorrow we will go out with him and his wife it will be our first time meeting her and we are excited to finally meet her. 

Of course we have visited Wes at his house a few times and just vegging and playing video games is awesome sometime. Til Dawn on PS4 is a pretty awesome game it is like a 90's slasher movie that you have to make decisions in and it determines weather people in the group  live or die.... you have to play it to understand what I mean beware it can suck you in for hours at a time :-)

Back  to the small town where Todd grew up Lowell, MI to visit his Mom a few times. We lived there for 8 months or so before we moved to FL so it was nice to go back and see what has changed. We went to lunch with his Mom and she has recently bought a new house so we went to the new house to check it out. It is nice and big, some remodeling needs to be done so in March I think we will be back to help her out. Also while we were in Lowell I used to work at the Chrysler dealership there and I went back and Visited my friend Kim. I surprised her she has no clue I was coming and Jerry was there it was nice because everyone remembered me when I only worked there for a short time because we moved. I guess I am one unforgettable person ;-) 

other things we have done while we were here was hit the casino a few times and lost but you never go there expecting to win tho. Fished, of course I went to Meijer even if I did not need anything just to go because I love that store. Chilled by the lake all in all this was a great mini vacation and we had a great time but we have to head home early sugar beets called and moved our start date up so we head home this Sunday.

ROAD TRIP!!!! Michigan Here We Come

Just woke up from our nap. Time to put the slide back in make sure everything is off in the camper. Pack all the dogs and cat in the truck with all we are taking. Idiot check time.

Dogs.....check

Cat.....check

Totes....check

Tools....check

wallet......check

ourselves....check haha

Looks like we got on the road at the time we wanted. I am not a night driver but I napped longer so I will drive for 100 miles or so let Todd grab some shut eye and then he will take over. 

Woo hoo.... we are not longer in South Dakota anymore. We are trucking along making really good time and WOW our gas mileage is so good I forgot how nice it is not filling up the gas tank what feels like every 100 miles lol...

We get to Wisconsin and Todd pulls into an rest stop. Stopping for a nap, its about 3 am at this time we have been driving since 9 pm roughly. Sleeping in a truck with 3 dogs and cat who are hyper because they have been sleeping the whole night is tough. Cosmo wanted to bark at everything but hey I guess I feel safe knowing nothing can come within 100 ft of my truck without Cosmo barking at them. 

Wake up at 8 am, get out to go use the bathroom. As I was walking in everyone is staring at me and I was beginning to wonder if I didn't have pants on or something. I get in the bathroom and realized why everyone was looking at me I have bright blue hair HAHA I forget all the time. Walking back to the truck I tell myself "I ll change in the camper and brush my teeth" WAIT....... we do not have the camper with us. I did not realize how weird it would feel not pulling the camper behind us. 

The drive was fairly easy and uneventful, (thank god), except for when we were driving through construction city, oh I mean Chicago. Unfortunately its not easy to get to Michigan from the northwest without driving around that toll ridden city. so add 3 hours to our trip...ugh.

We have arrived at Todd's dad's house on a lake in Hastings,MI and boy is it beautiful here. We are staying in his camper it is smaller then ours with no slides, but the bathroom is bigger, thats a win. We get the dogs all set up and go say hi to everyone give hugs since we have not seen them in like 4 years. Now time to go get set up in the camper. Tons more storage in here WOW I could fit all my clothes and shoes in here :-) it is going to take some getting used to living in someone elses camper after living in ours all this time. We are very grateful they are letting us stay here Todd will be doing some carpentry and electrical work for them while we are here.

For now time to sit back and watch the lake AHHH I could get use to waking up every morning sitting on this deck and watching the lake. 

Storing the 5th Wheel for a two week break

We are always spontaneous we are heading to our next destination and we have decided that we are going to store the camper for a few weeks and head to Michigan to visit family and friends for a few weeks.

We drive straight through on the day we left and made it all the way to Sioux Falls,SD and we have stopped for the night at a little campground for $15 with passport america. SCORE!!! they also allow you to store the camper for $1.00 a day and we get to keep electricity on for the fridge you can not get any better then this. 

It is a tight little spot we are in but it is the best because we have all the shade LOL... it took us a few tries to get the 5th wheel in there with enough room to open our slide for the night. Finally we get it in the spot just right we think...Cross you fingers I am going in to open the slide......AH HA.... slide is open and it could not have been any closer LOL damn we are good at this :-) 

Now time to get the dogs out of the truck and give them some outside time because they have so much energy from being the good little travelers they are and sleeping all day. Of course the cat is always happy when she gets to explore the outside as well. We keep her litter box outside in the dog cage covered when she wants to go out we take her outside just like the dogs and she does her business and she never tries to jump out or run away she is a good kitty girl. 

As we are sitting here at 8 pm at night we decided that it would be rushing to pack our stuff tonight and leave tomorrow morning.We are going to stay an extra day and leave at night tomorrow night that way we will miss Chicago's rush hour traffic and get to Michigan in the afternoon. We will pack all our stuff tomorrow afternoon take a nap around 4 pm and we will leave around 8 pm. 


For now time to just relax!!

Ending Our Time in South Dakota's Black Hills

Summer is nearing the end and we never want to see it go we are leaving South Dakota onto our next destination. The campground we worked at is gorgeous and centrally located to all the fun things to do in that area. As far as working there BEWARE.... there are tons of places to work in the black hills area and that's all I will say because I am a positive person ;-)

Of all the things we have done here I wish I would have saw the Badlands but we did not have time and there is always another trip I can see it in. Pictures will not do this area justice you really have to see it with your own eyes. I wish you all could have saw it through my eyes I think the whole time I spend there every corner we turned I was in awe. I had never been to this part of the country until now and I do not want to leave it is so beautiful here!!!

The cave systems are amazing and informative, the hiking here is  adventurous and there are some leisure walks/hikes as well some of the best hiking we have done. The views are breath taking, the terrain is different almost every road you hop on, Devils Tower and Harney peak where the best thing we did in my opinion. If you ever get a chance to spend sometime in the black hills with kids or without i highly suggest that you take at least two weeks there are so many things to do, see and experience that any less then two weeks you will be leaving saying I wish we had more time!!!

This was the best summer ever so far of our full-timing adventure and we are hooked up and on our way to our next destination a few weeks early......

Devils Tower in Wyoming

It's our first day off is in 10 days because the 75th annual Sturgis rally was going on and 1.2 million bikers were expected to descend on the black hills area. we definitely knew it would be hard to get around with all the bikes being on the road so we decided to stick around the campground and be safe. On our first day off we decided to head to Wyoming and see Devils Tower.

It is amazing how the terrain changes from one state to another in an instant. We are not in the black hills anymore you can see for miles and miles it is so flat and green. Tons of cows, little did I know the Wyoming is beef country lol...Me never being up to this region of the country my jaw is dropped and I just can not stop taking pictures I wish I could post them all on here but once I get to my next destination hopefully I will have better internet connection to be able to post them all. 

We are getting close so I should be able to see it ahhhhhh...... it is amazing I am in total awwww STOP... there is a pull off perfect time to use the selfie stick..yes I said selfie stick it is perfect for a couple who wants pictures of each other together instead of handing you phone to some stranger and ask the to take a picture and then when you get to look at the picture they took, your heads are cut off.  hahaha amazing pictures are to come with Todd and I for a change not just me alone and Todd alone LOL...

The drive up to the tower I guess Todd and I both had the same idea of what we thought it was going to look like. Desert like terrain but it totally was not it was lush green terrain, reds and browns to compliment the tower its self it was just so amazing. 

We finally find a parking spot beware it is super busy and finding a parking spot is tough but they do have RV parking in case you do not have a car and you are traveling this is a must see place if you ask me...

It is $10 to get into the park, driving up and we pull over we are in prairie dog town. There are prairie dogs everywhere they are so used to people that you can walk up to them and they will pose for a picture I have tons of cute pictures. They ask that you not feed them or approach them and try to pick them up. Remember it is their town so drive slow so you do not harm them and enjoy them they are so cute!!!!  

Todd and I are ready to take the walk around the tower and we walk up on the start of the walk around and see a sign that says "climbing above the rock line requires registration" HMMM... we both look at each other........ what better way to see the tower them to climb up to the base of it. Up the rocks we go!!!! the rocks that we are climbing up are loose and it is just a huge area of rocks that take you up to the base of the tower. The rocks used to be the face of devils tower at one point. It is like a maze to figure out the best way to get to the top it was a blast.... I followed Todd and he was making it challenging for me to follow him but you only live once so go for it I said.... I had to stop and turn around and look out and I could not believe my eyes I was up so high and I could see for miles all I could say was "WOW" "This is amazing" I have to admit I was a little scared at first but there is no one else I would ever do this with. Finally we made it to the point were we could not climb anymore with out actually going up the tower vertical and believe me if we were more experienced and had the proper gear we would have continued. 

We sat at the top and I still can not believe that I did that and the views are amazing. sometimes you just have to stop and look at your surrounding and remember that life is amazing!!! and it is what you make it, so make it what you want and do not let anyone hold you back from it. I take some pictures while up there all the people at the bottom are starring and pointing .. its a shame that they will never get to see what we did because they did not make the climb. I Skype my mother and grandmother to show them the amazing views and what crazy thing I did. They always get a kick out of everything we do and my grandmother always says "you better be careful" and I love her for caring and as always we are careful. 

After a drink of water and more pictures, we pick our path down, which is different them the way up, since it is such a big area to climb in and we head down the rocks. I have to say the shoes that I had on were not the best for climbing anything, a tad slippery so going down the rocks and navigating is tough. Of course I am challenged by Todd and his route down and I go for it. I second guess myself sometime but he always reassures me that he would never give me something to do if he didn't think I could do it safely...thats why I love him so much. Down at the bottom I turn around and look up and it is crazy that we just climbed that. This in my opinion is something that everyone must see when in the area. Pictures do not do this place justice you have to see it with you own eyes to see the beauty. 

1880's Train Ride From Hill City To Keystone

It a cool day for a train ride and 1880's train that is. Got to the train station about an hour early and there was already a huge line waiting for the train at 10 am wow. Got our tickets and of course since we are VIP pass holder we get the train ride for free we saved $56.00 who doesn't like free stuff lol...

The train has arrived and they have to disconnect the engine and go to the water tower and fill up it is a steam engine very very cool. All aboard who's going aboard so lets go...... We decided that we were going to ride on an open air train i think it is better for all the pictures. The car that we sat in happened to be a old caboose car that was converted into a passenger car.  They also have a car that is completely enclosed but the windows will open if you would like they have a car that you can roll down plastic window coverings

what's that I hear horn sounds and we are ready for take off this is exciting.

This is one of the steepest railroads in the US you do not really get up to a high speed it is a nice leisure ride through the hills it takes about an hour and there are no bathrooms on the train so make sure you use them at the train station. There is a lady that will walk through the train and take pictures of you and your party and super impose you in front on the  1880's train or Mount Rushmore we did not do it but we saw people getting them done a little pricey for me $20.00 a picture. The guides on the train give you information about the black hills and the sites that you will see along the way at one point you can get a really good picture of Harney Peak.

Wildlife is everywhere deer,beavers, chipmunks etc.... Also you get to feel like royalty for the day as you cross over the roads people will stop and wave and of course you wave back. Half way through the ride a concessions person came by and sold snacks, drinks and popcorn. I would personally buy your drink before getting on the train it's $1.50 for a can soda snacks and reasonably priced though.

We are about to pull into Keystone the last horn will sound and that is when you are safe to stand up get off and explore Keystone and if you are going right back to Hill City you will get a 15 bathroom break and back you go.

Our 6 Year Anniversary!!!!!! WOW Were Did The Time Go

Woke up this morning with this great feeling it is our 6 year anniversary!!!! and I wanted to surprise Todd with a special day!!! I called and made arrangements to go on a kayaking tour today with a company called Black Hills Adventure Tours http://www.blackhillsadventuretours.com.

It is hard to surprise Todd because he always wants to know what we are doing so we are prepared with the proper gear we are supposed to take. It is a perfect day for kayaking in the high 80's sun and not a cloud in the sky I love these days. Grabbed everything we need and we are off to Pactola Lake for the day. We get to Jennie Gulch day use area were we are supposed to meet our guide. Carrie is our guide for the day and she happens to be the owner of the Black Hills Adventure Tours and there was no tour today just her, her daughter and her daughters friends. When I called and booked this today it was free with out VIP pass and she invited us to join her and her family I thought this was very nice of her because she did not have to do that. Carrie is a great guide and come to find out she is very interested in Full-Time Rving when her kids are in college. 

She had asked if we kayaked before and of course we have grabber some life vests and off we go on our sit on kayaks I feel way better on this then the sit in kind I am a little claustrophobic. She explains were we can go and tells us what time we are leaving and says we can go when we are ready. The water is so pretty we are on an area of the lake that you can not have motorized boats so no disturbances just the beautiful sounds of nature. I am not the best paddled but I did keep up with Todd he did not expect that at all. 

After about an hour we met back up with Carrie and the kids and we sat on the edge of the lake on the rocks edge just chatting about things Full-time rving and how we started and that she is going to full-time in about 5 years we thought this was great. She was on a stand up paddle board and asked if we would like to try it  my hand could not go up quick enough Todd not so much lol... I jumped in the water surprising enough the water was really nice and right up on the paddle board I went like I was a pro at it. Off I go oh man is this a blast of course it takes to focusing and the moment I lost focus in the water I was even falling off this thing is fun LOL.... i get right back up again I could not get enough. As the day was drawing to a close we had a blast and headed back to the car of course I was back in my kayak I could not keep the owners paddle board    ;-) and said our goodbyes and really thanked her for inviting us with her family for the day it made our anniversary that much more special. 

I would recommend if you are looking for any tours in the Black Hills please check out Black Hills Adventure Tours for all your tour needs. The owner is fantastic, friendly and very informative about the area. The website is www.blackhillsadventuretours.com they do hiking, biking, kayaking, to devils tower and the badlands. 

We had an awesome day and it is hard to believe it is only 6 years I swear it feels longer. If you would have told me 6 years ago I was going to find my soul mate get married move away from my family in friends I might have told you that you were crazy. Everything happens for a reason and I could not imagine life with out Todd by my side doing this crazy thing called Full-time rving that we started just over a year ago. I fall in love more and more each day and life just keeps getting better and better. 

We Finally Hiked Harney Peak!!!

Finally we get to hike Harney Peak today and we can not wait our puppy Cosmo will be along for the hike as well he is super excited. Here is some information on Harney Peak it is the highest natural point in South Dakota and the Black Hills area it is 7,242 feet above sea level and the views are amazing and so worth the hike when you get to the top.Make sure when you are going to take the hike to allow yourself 4-5 hours round trip and bring lots of water it is not that strenuous but there are some area of heading up that get steep. We suggest taking snacks and a lunch because once you get to the top you will need the energy to go back down and there are tons of awesome spots to sit and grab a bite. The weather can change in a instant so if you can take some warm clothes in case is gets cold or rains Just another quick note there are not restrooms at the top so make sure you use it before you hit the trail.  There are 3 different trails to take in the area the two that we traveled on were #4 and #9 in the Sylvan Lake in Custer,SD

We decided to go up #4 this is not the widely used trail most people take #9. Head up the start of the trail to the left of us there was a cool cave of course we had to walk back into it to check it out. It looks to be a old mining cave or something it was very cool. Now back to the trail even though this trail is not used by most people it is still a very well marked trail no chance of getting lost so you do not have to worry about that. Along this trail we saw a ground hog and tons and tons of chipmunks Cosmo loved chasing the chipmunks. Along this trail you will also come to Little Devils Tower it is a 1 mile jaunt one way not a loop and it is supposed to be a very strenuous hike we did not take it but from reading it what we figure also you will come to a trail called cathedral spires were there are very cool rock formations very cool like hike of the Harney Trail #4. There are stops along the way that have amazing views that are worth a picture and a rest spot before you continue up the trail. 1 mile before you are at Harney Peak trail #4 turns in to trail #9 and you continue on trail 9 to the top. The last mile in my opinion is the hardest mile because there are steps and the terrain gets jagged at this point Cosmo was pooped and I picked him up and put him in the puppy sling and continued along the way. I keep thinking to myself "how dare them put steps at the end of the hike" but the views are so worth pushing through and making it to the top. Once at the top you just need to stop and take it all in........ going up to the compete top of the tower is incredible the views are like once in a life time you are over looking the black hills at the highest point it is breath taking. To one side you will see the back side of Mount Rushmore (no their butts are not sticking out the back end LOL...) look to the other side all you see are rolling hills valleys. You will just want to take so many pictures to remember the moment but pictures do not do it justice you just need to take it all in. 


Once you are finished eating and just being memorized by the views you can start your hike down on trail #9 this is the trail that everyone uses but we took it down because it is a loop and we get to see a different scenery. Most of the trail is down hill so it is not as hard and the hike up for sure there is maybe about a 1/4 mile that is up hill at least that is what is seemed like to us. Heading down the trail the views are not as good as on #4 but it is a easier hike down. mostly in the shade and covered and surrounded by trees which is OK for us because the hike up was warm. The clouds are starting to look alittle dark on us here but if you have watched the weather here the clouds pop and almost in an instant they are gone so we are just going to push on a little rain wont kill us it might be refreshing. Almost down to the bottom and we are beat and Cosmo still has tons of energy but I know to Todd a diet pepsi sounds really good right now. We brought 6 bottles of water 2 for Cosmo and 4 for us and yes we used them all except Cosmo had half a bottle left. I hear cars which means we are almost there we can do it yes we can!!! and whats that I see Sylvan lake heck yes!!!! WE DID IT and let me tell you it was so worth every minute. We might go back and hike up to Little Devils Tower and Cathedral Spires and check it out so there might be an up coming blog about that.  

Fantastic News!!!!

a few weeks back a recruiter from the Unbeetable Experience called Todd and asked if he would be interested in being a Forman for the harvest this year of course he would. We had to go through another conference call with some harvest people and then in about 2 weeks we should know if he got the job. Our fingers were crossed that we would get great new.

2 weeks went by and for a minute Todd thought he was not going to get the job :-(  Wednesday morning we were walking up to start work and I got a call for a number I did not know and it was our recruiter....please say you have good news!!!!!

HE GOT THE JOB!!!! Todd will be a Forman 8pm-8am over night there is a reason why we asked for overnight. We realized how bad early mornings suck when we worked for Amazon so we knew we did not want to put ourselves through that again. Yes we will have to train ourselves to stay up all night and watch TV right before we go and I am sure there will be a lot of energy drinks and coffee the first week but we are super excited!!! We will have to be in Grand Forks,ND by September,15 2015 so we have started the count down!!! 

Hippie Hole A Local Hang Out But Not For Long

Today we went on and extreme hike to a place called the Hippie Hole by the locals. It is a swimming whole with a waterfall that was once only a local hang out until the tourist's visiting found out about it and are attempting to find it....But we found it!!!


There are two ways to get to this but we have only experienced one of the ways the shorts so called easy way South Rockerville Rd. First of the road back to the parking is pretty extreme I did not think cars would make it back but when we got to the parking there were cars i would suggest a 4X4 truck if you can. Here are some more specific directions – Take Hwy 16 to Rockerville. Take a left on S. Rockerville Rd and drive 3.1 miles to Forest Service Rd 372. It will be a left hand turn right before a cattle grate. Follow 372 for approx 1.2 miles. The road will Y at this point. Follow the road to the right (still 372 but unmarked) for another .7 mi. Take a right on 372 1E (marked) for .3 mi to a turnaround/parking area. Follow the trail to the west down to Battle Creek. At the creek, head downstream for a couple hundred meters and you’ll hit the Hole.  There is not a defined trail down to the falls but it was one of the best hikes we have taken. Super challenging but it is so worth it once you get to the falls.

Once we got to the falls we had our swims suits on and we checked out the jump points and Todd is up first. I have a video of him jumping off and I can not wait to jump. The water was about 50 degrees so yes its a bit chilly and the moment you hit the water you will loose your breath. There is no one to video me I was a little hesitant this is not something I would normally do but hey you only live once wooo hooo Holy $hit thats cold. 

Wait we jumped and now how do we get back to the top??? something we should have check out before we jumped LMAO. You have 2 choices a rope climb up the cliff or a hike up jagged rocks. we look at the rope and thats our choice Todd goes first yes it is a 20 ft climb up the cliff upper body strength is needed for sure and up he goes all the way to the top. Next is me here I go lets just say my upper body strength is not the best I get about half way up the cliff and I lost my grip and you bet i slid straight down the cliff on the jagged rocks. I thought for sure I was going to be hurt really bad. 
Luckily we met a great group of locals in the water were a i fell that helped me and made sure I was still alive. Surprisingly I was not bleeding I have scrapes on my left side on my legs,rib cage and arm I did not hit my head or anything I am OK a huge adrenaline rush scared the shit out of myself but I am good, the locals took me over to the other side to the trail and hiked with me to the top I could not have been more grateful for them of course Todd was scared shit less because all he saw was me fall and he was at top and could not see what happened. This whole experience was awesome you only live once. Hippie hole is amazing if you can get to it I would suggest it but go on the hike up out of the hole unless your upper body strength is on point. 

Bear Country A MUST SEE WHEN THE BLACK HILLS

Today we are heading to Bear Country http://www.bearcountryusa.com/ I can not wait to see all the animals especially the bears!!! This place is a drive thru zoo that have the animals free roaming so plenty of picture ops here for sure. The first thing you come to are elk and reindeer I was not so excited for them.The next animal you encounter are Wolves, I was so excited they were walking right next to the truck and I was in awe they are so beautiful and since the drive is not fast moving you get to know them up close and personal. Mountain goats, big horn sheep, mountain lions are just a few of the animals you will see. Once you get to the bear den it is so amazing. They have black and brown bears out free roaming. They have people riding on ATV yelling please keep you windows up in the bear den at all times. I am a rebel i wanted a good picture so i put my window half way down I did not say I had a death wish. This is the reason that the drive is so slow everyone stops in the bears den for like 20 minutes just in awe. When we arrived to the den this brown and black bear decided they wanted to fight we are sitting and watching these bears fight 2 ft away from the truck. I few of them came so close that if I had my window down at this time i could have pet them ( I said I did not have a death wish lol ) It was the best part of the drive. I swear there were 75 bears just roaming around i want the guys job that is to drive on an ATV through the bear den yelling "keep you windows up please" the whole tour took 2 hours easy so make sure you plan on a half day trip but it is so worth it a fun family friendly thing to do.

After you get to the end of the ride there is a parking lot. park and go walk around the baby area. There is a baby for almost every animal you saw during your drive. OH and a big Grizzly bear oh is he HUGE and scary he is alone prob because he has a bad attitude that what it looked like to me. The baby bear and wolves are the cutest to me every word out of my mouth was ahh lets take one home lol.. I am such an animal lover. I SAY THIS IS A MUST SEE PLACE  

Rushmore Tramway Adventures in Keystone,SD

Just a fun day in keystone,SD again. Rushmore Tramway Adventures has called our name http://www.rushmoretramwayadventures.com/ there are a lot of cool things to do here, Scenic Chairlift ride to the top, Alpine slide to the bottom, Zip line adventures and a ropes course.. what to do what to do....the chairlift and the Alpine slide down since I was the genius to wear flip flops :-( It starts with a very relaxing chair lift to the top of the slide. Once you get to the top there is a restaurant to eat we did not eat there but hear the food is good. The views for the top are breath taking I just wanted to sit there all day but what goes up must come down on the Alpine slide. it looks like a bobsled course you sit on a bobsled (what i called it) you have a break and a go lever and away you go. You get a lot of speed going down and it was so much fun a day when I do not wear flip flops we are going to do the zip line and ropes course.

The real reason we went to Keystone today was a place to eat called BRGR 61 it is a burger joint that claims they grill you frill they have a topping bar with over 61 toppings to make the ultimate burger. Of course being burger fanatics we think we must try this place. The price was decent of course bacon is an up charge, but isnt it everywhere. The burger came out in good time the toppings where really fresh and they had everything from jalapenos to rainbow sprinkles.. yes I said rainbow sprinkles the kind that goes on your ice cream lol...After topping our burgers we chow down. The burger was a little over done but tasted good. Their onion rings were really good and so were the fries. Over all we were not that impressed with the staff they were not friendly and since the place was not really busy they were all sitting at one table talking and not even checking our drinks. I would not go back again because I have had better burgers in the black hills unless I wanted to top my burger with all kinds of crazy stuff.....

Heading to Rapid City

We must go grocery shopping we are out of food AHH...... on our way there are so many cool and fun things to see and do we got side tracked again. Cosmos Mystery Area http://www.cosmosmysteryarea.com/ something very cool to check out. This is not free to us but at a discounted rate. A tour is heading out right now this always seems to happen to us I guess we just show up at the right time. This place will throw your equilibrium off completely because of what it is. The tour is very cool and fun they do a number of demonstrations. There is not a lot to say about this place just a cool road side attraction fun for the whole family.

Now to get to the grocery store ....wait I see Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern http://www.sittingbullcrystalcave.com/ we gotta go. The drive down is very fun you can not take a motorhome, fiver, or TT down so do not go if you need to take it with you. This time we walked in and they had just sent a tour in but they let us walk back and join them. When we walk into this cave you have stairs that literally go straight down very cool. We start down the steps when you get down into the cave you are just mesmerized by all the crystals. My jaw just dropped I could not stop taking pictures but pictures will never do this justice you just have to see it for yourself.  They have the largest Dog-Tooth spar but it is hard to get a picture of it but one of the most beautiful caves just being surrounded by crystal there is something about that i just loved. This tour only took about an hour it felt like the shortest cave tour to me but is a def must see.... Again take a jacket and closed toe shoes for sure because you have a lot of steps to go down and up.

Hungry after a morning of site seeing Todd notices a place called dog N suds this was one of the first diner's he went to when he was a little boy and he was so excited to see one, he did not know they were still around. We are stopping there to eat for sure this is a new diner it used to be something else and they are just changing over to dog n suds. You must order a root beer here it is old fashioned and oh so delicious and creamy they sell it in 2 liters at the register I would suggest taking one home. Their chili dogs are so good Todd ordered one and it took him back to his child hood. I ordered a burger I am not much of a hot dog fan but it was so awesome to see Todd light up about a place in his child hood. Food was awesome and the price was right taking a family to eat here would not cost you and arm and a leg which is always a plus.

Stuffed and ready for a nap....but wait we finally made it to the grocery store Hey I think it is better to go grocery stopping when you are stuffed it always seems like you spend less because not everything in the store makes you want to buy it lol....

Side tracked and heading to Deadwood,SD

Had a Saturday off and we are going to go grocery shopping woo hoo......Think again haha we saw a sign that said Deadwood and off we go. Heading down the road on a beautiful day beats shopping any day. We come upon Sheridan Lake it has an interesting story it used to be a town and it is now under water completely I thought it was very cool and it is very pretty. 

Driving and site seeing we come across Thunderhead Underground Falls http://www.thunderheadfalls.com/Welcome.html of course we have to go explore and it is free admission to us with our VIP black hills card. Down a long road and you dead end into a very pretty creek. This is a self guided tour that cost $9 per person. You are asked if you would like to listen to a history of the falls before you enter very short history but it was a very good listen. I would suggest take a light jacket it does it chilly. The hike back to the falls in not strenuous at all and very short. As you get closer to the waterfall you will get dripped on from above water and it gets very loud. There is so much water rushing down that you can barley hear yourself talk. It may not be very interesting for most but we thought it was a great attraction.

On the road again...... oh wait we see Black Hills Caverns Lets Go!!! http://blackhillscaverns.com/ we get to the cave and we are the only ones there Hmmm... does that mean this may be a waste of time??? I doubt it we are at a cave and we get to tour it. We go in and there is a tour just about to leave and guess what we get a private tour. Dylan is our tour guide and off we go and since we are a private tour we can go places in the cave that he would not be able to take a large group of people and take our time exploring woo hoo I am glad no one was here when we showed up. The deepest you go  underground is 175 feet. This was the longest cave tour we have been on and the best by far!! we were so excited and of course it was free as well with our VIP card but that if you have to pay it was $14 a piece which is so well worth it. After the tour we checked out the Gem mining very cool. The sell a bag that will have alot of gems in it and you take it out and pan for your gems. This was included with our VIP tour so it was free. They have an area of gem panning that is free for the kiddies.The tour took around an hour I would suggest taking a jacket, wearing closed toe shoes if possible you can do the tour in flip flops but you will not be able to focus the beauty of the cave,and bring your camera for sure.


On the road again heading to Deadwood, SD I am super excited to get there. The drive is beautiful, good thing I was not driving because I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the blacks hill area. We made it the a free parking area where the trolley picks you up and drives you up to main st. You can ride the trolley for a couple of bucks make sure you have exact change they will not give change. Surprise the day we choose to go to Deadwood there is a festival going on so kind of hecktick but awesome. This street seems like it is one huge casino almost every building you walk into is a casino. We played of slots and of course we did not win but we walked through every casino to check them out not a whole lot of poker but slots will do. After checking out every shop on the street we are hungry and we choose a little diner on main st. Not the best choice service sucked food sucked even worse and so EXPENSIVE....for the food and portions we will never eat there again. We are so beat we head back to the car with and we walk by the Dominator  3 a tornado chasing vehicle sitting in the parking lot...Hmm I wonder why he is here?? We look behind us and see really dark clouds and it is starting to drizzle. Driving in the rain is never fun we stop at the gas station to grab a drink all of sudden we hear Hail and I swear a small tornado just went by. The hail was huge you could not see your hand in front of your face it was so crazy thankfully we are still in the gas station paying so we waited. The weather here is so crazy and unpredictable so this storm lasted maybe 10 minutes. We see the sun hop in the truck and head home. Maybe the Dominator was there because we knew this crazy storm was coming?? Just maybe ;-)