Source of the Rain

In the distance, the downpour of rain portrays a still life of things to come.

The wind gives away the future: broad strokes of pastel colors on mountainsides where shadows form in ways that don’t make sense to we who spent our lives in the relative safety of captive office life.

Ambitions and vague dreams of custard pie are lost to the sounds of engine-braking 18-wheeled trucks imitating aircraft guns on their race to the distant and permanent Tsunami of mountains.

Nature works differently than the weather channel lets on when you sleep at the source of the rain. Only 8 inches will find its way to the soil this year.

The rain will rinse the runabout and wet the same rocky trails that we were too unsteady to try. And hopefully cleanse our roof and panels and windshield one last time as we call the desert our home for the winter.

And we were here for it.

Cañon City, CO

Site:

Royal Gorge KOA

Site: 22

Wifi: Verizon - 64 down, 38 up / ATT - 35 down, 12 up

Cost: $50/night

Noise: No complaints!

We got a last minute reservation that we ended up extending after we had spent a week locked in a hotel room. We didnt want to rush right back into boondocking, so we decided to spend the week with hookups to ease back into it. The Royal Gorge KOA is 3 miles from the Royal Gorge, as well as about 15 minutes from Cañon City. The sites themselves are spacious, and you don't feel crammed in by your neighbor. The people who work here are clearly proud to be at the KOA, and it shows in the immaculate bathrooms and clean grounds. Everything is dirt or gravel, so it was a little difficult on the bike on hills, but the KOA fit in with the area. There is also a really creepy, almost abandoned looking “family theme park” with a giant slide, mini golf, and go karting that is open on the weekend. If the KOA crew hadn’t mentioned multiple times that we should try it, I would have assumed Pennywise lived there. The office/store is renovated and looks amazing, but is a bit anemic in its selection. However, the cell reception here was insanely good. You can see a cell tower in the distance, but it feels like such a remote area that I figured we would get usable but slow speeds. This was like having wifi in a home. We would have stayed longer had we not already booked a reservation for our next stop. 

Rating: Will be back next year!

City

Cañon City, CO

Cañon City is one of those towns that clearly used to be small but was suddenly hit with things like Walmart and Starbucks. The town is almost clearly split between the shopping/industrial part, and the historic downtown. The downtown portion is comprised of empty stores and mom & pop shops. It has cute, old architecture but not much in the way of things to do. More to the east you have your chain stores. The town has a large correctional facility (and there are more nearby), but it’s not an eyesore or distraction. The city is at the valley at the end of a band of mountains, and riding out of town yields breathtaking views. 

Rating: Too small and also too big for us to stay long. 

Restaurant:

Waffle Wagon

We passed by the Waffle Wagon on the way to our KOA and immediately knew we would have to stop during the trip. While the restaurant itself didnt really have a decor theme (it all looked pretty disjointed), the food and service were stellar. We were immediately sat, even though the place was full, and were brought our beverages within two minutes. The menu is basic American breakfast food, with nothing that really stood out as unique, but sometimes its nice just to get the basics. Ron ate a chicken fried steak with hashbrowns and gravy, and really enjoyed it. I had the standard eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns and was happy that the hashbrowns didnt taste like they were just reheated when ordered (which was the issue with the last few breakfast places we ate). Serving portions were large and neither of us cleaned our plates. Price was under $10 each for entrees, and we also had a hot cocoa (me) and orange juice (Ron). The cashier was friendly and told us she was the mother of the person who started the restaurant in the 80s. I love when we can stop at a family breakfast. 

Rating - While nothing stood out as stellar, it was really nice to just get great home cooking.

Fabulous Friends

The only constant in travel is that you will have to change your plans. It’s an unfortunate reality for Jakki; if you knew her, you’d know that planning is her favorite hobby. This last turn was particularly hard on me.

Seriously, get roadside assistance, kids. This tow of 15 miles was going to cost us more than $600.

Yes, that’s our home being pulled by a truck usually used to pull other trucks that unloaded weigh more than twice we do. The place I’ve come to think of as the real Deep Space Expendable was experiencing mechanical issues with the brake lines. Obviously, this isn’t the kind of thing you can ignore.

I called no fewer than 14 places before finally finding a place actually willing to work on the brakes of our home, now considered obsolete due to its age being further than the 7 year limit. Not content to let our home die an apathetic Logan’s Run, I finally scoured enough to stumble upon Jack’s Best Auto and Motorhome.

Outside of a few communications issues, I’d say Jack did right by us on trying to get us on the road quickly. I personally had taken our travel paralysis in the worst way possible: I need to be on the move and waiting for a response we won’t receive completely murders my motivations.

Friendship goes a long way in these situations. When things go wrong, your community bands together and helps out the person in need. You see it all the time. Honestly, had we been in any other town, things could have been so much worse. So, so much worse.

Generally speaking, we get along just fine with the 3 cats in our home. Unfortunately, in the not-so-rare circumstance where we’re going to have to turn our actual house over to a mechanic who laments during my daily check-in phone calls about the unavailability of a set of parts for our specific situation, we’re going to need to find some place to stay. One that accepts cats.

Our very generous friends in Denver offered to allow us to stay, but I believe in the preservation of friendship if possible, so not knowing how long we would be sidelined, I declined his offer and we found ourselves holed up in an Extended Stay Hotel. Well, minus one of our clan.

Dean

Most beautiful of Cats.
Moodiest of Teenagers.

You see, our friends had been hosting our amazon packages, as we’d discovered that some of our basic needs had been unmet, so we ordered Solar Power components and motorcycle seat cushions and our hosts were kind enough to receive and store them. As my good friend was kind enough to transport them for us back to the RV, Dean and he fell in love with each other. Almost immediately. And who wouldn’t? Look at that beautiful cat-specimen?

But Dean also did the thing he usually does when he meets someone new, which is be nice to them and offer his belly. Dean is one of those rare belly-rub-loving cats, you see. And so my friend was happy to provide belly rubs. And Dean was immediately smitten. More than I’d ever seen. Dean was also the least well-equipped-for-travel cat in our posse. And our friend? He was already suggesting that we let Dean go home with him.

When it came time to finally bring our home in for service, the side suggestions became very serious consideration. Dean had never really been happy with us; at least not as long as we’d been fostering a 3rd or 4th cat. So we re-homed Dean. Or really, we finally gave Dean the home he was waiting for. I like to think of it more like we just fostered Dean for a long time. And Dean? He seems happy. Genuinely happy. At home with a family who adores him, including children who like to start their day with cuddles from the moody sap.

We leave Denver behind with our wallets a little lighter from the unexpected expenses. Denver itself isn’t my favorite city, the din of its existence defined more by the sound of its perpetual traffic jams now than any of its cultural offerings. Sad to me, as I’d always held the city in my heart as a special place. Perhaps it’s my age that sees me considering the surrounding cities more beautiful and more my pace. But we have amazing friends in Fab and his family, who would often at the drop of a hat, hearing that we’d have a plan to handle our newest hurdle, would drop nearly everything to come offer any help he could.

We leave Denver behind and we also leave Dean. We’re not sad, though. We leave Dean with the best kind of friend: An unconditional one. I’ll see you both next year.

Dean and Poseidon keeping warm in Steamboat Springs.

Denver, CO / Westminster, CO

Site:

Standley Lake

Site: 10

Wifi: Verizon - 22 down, 11.8 up / ATT - 19 down, 8 up

Cost: $22/night

Noise: None. Eerily quiet 

A reservoir/lake in the middle of the city was a great base for exploring Denver and the surrounding areas. The sites were spacious, with picnic tables and fire rings. There was potable water at one spot in the roundabout, so you could fill up and then park. The bathrooms were a short walk and were regular toilets and very well maintained. Though there was not much to look at and nothing really to do there but leave, it was a steal compared to some of the parking lots that called themselves RV parks in the area. To note, it is a gated area. Ron got locked out when he did not return before sundown and spent the night driving around the city because he could not get back in. The gate attendants were friendly and there was never any issue of us coming and going otherwise. 

Rating: Good spot to stop, but not much around. 

City:

Denver, CO/Westminster, CO

While Ron and I love Colorado, Denver was not our jam. Traffic at all hours made it so it was 20 minutes to go 7 miles, and for being considered an outdoor friendly city we didnt see a lot of green aside from our site and it got quite smoggy. The one saving grace of the city was that we have friends that live there and it was wonderful to see them. Denver has a ton of food options and a thriving nightlife, but for the most part we found ourselves wanting to explore outside of Denver. A highlight was going to Boulder and driving up a mountain to just stellar views. 

Rating: Great for a visit with friends, but too busy for us. 

Restaurant:

Steuben’s

Ron had heard about Steuben’s from some TV chef talk show (as a surprising amount of our restaurant finds are now becoming). We went over lunch with a friend (hey Fab!) with Ron’s goal of trying their lobster rolls. The service was a bit slow even though the restaurant was not packed, but the server was friendly and checked in to see how we were doing. I ordered the trout and fried pickles, Ron had the lobster roll and deviled eggs, and Fab had chicken and waffles for the first time in his life. It was a little expensive for a regular lunch out, but all of us were satisfied with how things tasted and would definitely be back. 

Rating - Delish!

Two Motorcycle Rides from Custer State Park in South Dakota

WIldlife Loop

The Audio was unusable so today we have Beethoven. Uploaded for focusbysisko.com

Needles Highway

The audio was unusable so the music has been replaced with Mozart.

RV Spending - August 2019

One of the first things I researched when considering this lifestyle is “How much does it cost?” I found everything from $1k a month to $10k a month, and a lot of the things I read didnt really have a lot of details. So I resolved that when we hit the road, we would keep track of everything so that if anyone else came across this and was interested, maybe they’d have a better idea of what it can cost.

August

August sucked. Even though we had completely renovated Sunbadges on the inside and spent five figures on her maintenance at a shop, there were still a ton of unanticipated costs. The water wouldnt work, we werent sure if the fridge was working (it smelled like death which normally indicated a propane issue caused by an unlevel RV), our solar solution wasn’t being a viable solution, etc etc etc. A lot of these things are very costly to fix up front, but shouldnt need to be replaced for a while once everything is fixed. We know that something is always going to be broken (I’m looking at you, dashboard), but we needed to make sure we could at least get the necessities.

Food

Since our fridge was being weird and we were having problems with our grill initially, we did a lot more eating out than I’m proud of. Our goal is to have one regional meal wherever we stop, but some days we really went above and beyond. I’m expecting once we get all the cooking set up, the groceries will go up, and the eating up will go down.

Groceries: $664

Eating Out: $500

Gas

We definitely were in a bit of a rush to get from Point A to Point B. Part of that was intentional - we weren’t really psyched to stay long in South Dakota and Wyoming when we could just be where our hearts are in Colorado. I project that this also will be much higher than a few months time.

Gas: $733

Entertainment

While our goal isnt to do all the touristy things, we still want to be able to have fun. National park entry cost us a bit, as did our new Sturgis mugs (which seriously are amazing and we pretty much exclusively drink cold drinks out of them). We also went to the movies twice, both times at discount theatres. If you havent seen Ready or Not yet, make time for it.

Entertainment: $100

RV Repairs

Holy crap I could not have anticipated how much this cost. We had problem after problem, and nothing in an RV is cheap to replace (just cheap to begin with - heyo!). This ranged from extra batteries to a new water pump to a mobile RV tech coming out to take a look at the issues we had. I can only hope this isnt normal.

RV Repairs: $1,435

RV Parks

This one is a little skewy because I am a planner, so not all of these park stays are for the month of August. In fact, most are for September. But I also paid for some August stays in July, so it is what it is. We want to do more boondocking but until we get the solar up to par, sometimes you just need to pay to stay. We stayed in RV parks 10 days this month with an average of $58/site.

RV Parks: $854

Propane

We were empty for both our RV and gas grill before we took off, so once again the initial cost is probably higher than it will be in future months. We also spent two weeks in the cold, cold mountains and had to use the propane heat to keep the RV at a balmy 60 degrees minimum a night. While nobody froze to death, cats included, we definitely had to wear layers.

Propane: $65

Grand total for August: $4,351

Steamboat Springs, CO

Site:

Site #1

Steamboat Springs KOA

Site: 24

Wifi: Verizon - 5.4 down, 3.8 up / ATT - 11.5 down, 4.6 up

Cost: $49/night

Noise: Minimal, but Ron was snoring so maybe more. 

The Steamboat Springs KOA is on the outskirts of the aforementioned city, right along a gorgeous river. As with every KOA we have stayed at, the hosts were friendly and helpful, and the site was just fine. At a 5 minute ride to downtown, everything you needed was really available to you (they even had a bus that went downtown!) while you still felt a little in the wilderness. The only downside (aside from the atrociously slow wifi) was that the bath houses were tiny. For a giant campground, they only had one facility. There were maybe 5 each of showers and bathroom stalls per gender. We never ran into an issue of overcrowding or not being able to use the facilities when we wanted, but that could easily be an issue if they were at full capacity. 

Rating: I’d go back!

Site #2

Meadows Campground

Site: 8

Wifi: Verizon - 6.47 down, 1.76 up / ATT - NONE 

Cost: $10/night

Noise: Wilderness Serenade

Originally we were set to boondock at Forest Road 302, but the road was so rutted we couldnt safely get our motorcycle to the end of the road to scout it out. Meadows Campground, at the top of one of the mountains outside of Steamboat, was nearly empty on a Weds. We were able to take prime picking of spots, and after running speed tests around the whole place, we picked Site 8, which also happened to be one of the few pull throughs. Almost none of the other spots had any real upload speeds, and while the speed we are getting is enough to do emails, there isn't much more bandwidth. There are a few pit toilets (well maintained) but no water or electric. There is a dumpster at the beginning of the campground so all of your garbage needs are taken care of. About 30 minutes to Steamboat, it was a beautiful place to camp up (though next year we would go sooner as it gets to below freezing at night). 

Rating: A bit stronger wifi and we would stay longer.

City

Steamboat Springs, CO

Steamboat Springs is an upscale tourist destination. Known for its skiing and hiking, everyone you pass by looks outdoorsy and fit. Shop owners are friendly, dogs are welcome almost everywhere, and new meets old with the downtown and shopping locations. It all feels a little disjointed, where you have beautiful old buildings for a few blocks and then a giant Walmart and McDonalds. It still had that small town feel with a few more amenities than normal. However, even though this town is made for adventurous people, you can tell from the NO BACKPACKS sign that not everyone is welcome

Rating: 2 weeks tops

Restaurants:

Beau Jo’s & Back Door Grill

Beau Jo’s - When walking around downtown we saw a sign for Colorado Pizza. We have heard of Chicago and New York and even California Pizza, but never Colorado. Turns out when we asked the locals they hadn’t heard of Colorado Pizza either! Beau Jo’s is a chain of pizza restaurants in Colorado famous for their pizza by the pound. What makes their pizza distinctive is their massive crust, which has honey drizzled on it, that is like a breadstick version of cheesy crust pizza. Luckily, the rest of the pizza was just as good! The sauce wasn’t too sweet, and there was the perfect amount of cheese. It felt like you were eating two different meals because of the little amount of pizza vs crust, but what you ate was delicious. I’d stay away from the sad salad bar, though!

Rating - Not famous, but still really tasty

Back Door Grill - When we asked the KOA hosts where we should eat, two of them actually started salivating when talking about Back Door Grill. Known for its “outrageous” burgers, Back Door Grill has won almost every burger award in Colorado. And its awards are well founded. I started with deep fried pickles (whole spears!) and Ron had the portabella fries. He almost ordered a second set of portabella fries instead of a burger because he thought they were so delicious. My burger was the Holy Spicoli, with a whole corndog and fried egg in the middle. Ron ate essentially a burger with avocado, but was very satisfied with it as well.

Rating - Even the basics are top notch!

Glenrock, WY

Site:

Glenrock South Recreation Complex, WY

Site: Boondocking, so no site

Wifi: Verizon - 22.5 down, 8.21 up / ATT - 5.07 down, 0.92 up

Cost: Free

Noise: Right next to a highway

Drive hours across grasslands thinking you will never see a tree again, and then when you see a small patch of trees you will have arrived at Glenrock. Though the name of the city park is the Glenrock South Recreation Complex, it’s more of a slightly abandoned city park. There are bathrooms (with door codes nobody knows), randomly scattered water pumps, dumpsters, and what looks to be both a rodeo arena and baseball diamond. There are about 5 or 6 concrete pads for camping, and when we arrived on a Monday, the place was deserted. However the shade from the trees, the small brook nearby, and the free access to water made this an amazing location to boondock. Just a 5 minute drive to Glenrock proper, and a half an hour to Casper, this stay would be fine for both tent camping as well as big rigs.

Rating: 9/10 for the vampiric mosquitos.

City:

Glenrock, WY

I really, really wanted to love Glenrock. It came across as this sleepy little oasis in a sea of brown. The main area of the town was probably two square blocks, and it lacked a lot of amenities even tiny towns have. Stores were closed before their posted hours, the general store had gone out of business, and at the one store we were actually able to go into the owner/cashier was asleep. At a gun store. There also was not much to do in the way of tourism either. When we asked our waitress what there was to see in the area, she recommended Independence Rock, which is an hour and a half from where we are. 

Rating: Wanted to feel the charm, just felt warm

Restaurant:

Paisley Shawl

We read reviews on Yelp for one of the three restaurants in town, The Antelope Bar and Paisley Shawl Restaurant. The photos of the menus had things we wanted to try, and we really just wanted a casual dine in experience. When we entered the building (which is also a historic hotel?) we went to the A Host Will Seat You sign and were taken into a room with fresh flowers on the table and gold napkin rings. Definitely didnt seem like the place that would serve burgers. We were the only people there on a Thursday night, and the host/server was really friendly and attentive. When she gave us the menus, it was clear that even though we couldnt see it, the Antelope Bar and the food it served where someplace else entirely. This was the FANCY restaurant in town. We ordered brussels sprouts (pretty tasty!) and I got scallops, Ron ordered shrimp scampi. We both agreed they were good meals, but our desserts of creme brulee and strawberry shortcake were incredibly disappointing. 

Rating: A+ for service, C+ for not being where we thought we were, D for dessert

The Ride to Rushmore

I’d like to thank Tre Aaron for providing a replacement soundtrack due to bad audio. You can find his music and performance updates at www.treaaron.com. Enjoy this 360 video of the Motorcycle Ride to Mount Rushmore; More rides to come in the future!

This is the ride to Mount Rushmore's Parking Garage during Sturgis from Rapid City, SD. I'd like to than Tre Aaron for generously providing the soundtrack because the audio was unrecoverable. Uploaded for Focus on Travel (https://www.focusbysisko.com/focus-on-travel) Music by Tre Aaron (https://treaaron.com/) Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/captainsisqo

Rapid City, SD / Mount Rushmore & Custer State Park

We headed to Rapid City instead of staying longer at the Badlands as we needed some repairs done on our RV before we could go any further. Luckily for us, it was a beautiful decision.

Site:

Rapid City SD KOA

Site: 190 & 194

Wifi: Verizon - 26.4 down, 20.7 up / ATT - 37.1 down, 9.8 up

Cost: $89/night for the premium site, and $69/night for the normal site

Noise: Nothing. Even though we were surrounded by people, we never heard anything. 

The KOA in Rapid City is a sprawling campsite on top of a hill right off the highway. It was very easy to access, and almost all of the sites are pull through. The prices were insanely high due to Sturgis still taking place, and after the rally was over the campsites went from packed to maybe half full. The attendants were friendly, though I didnt like the bathroom setup much of single shower rooms and small bathroom stalls. There was also a weird smell in the shower rooms. However they had a breakfast special going on where you could get all you could eat pancakes for $2.99, which is hard to beat. The man making the pancakes to order made me a pancake shaped like a rose, so clearly I have a new boyfriend who is retired and living in an RV park. 

Rating: Can’t beat the wifi signal, but something about it still feels off. 7/10

City:

Rapid City, SD

Rapid City looks like a kid started Sim City and just went crazy with the terrain brush. Some parts are so hilly they border mountainous, and other parts are flat grasslands as far as the eye can see. It’s a medium sized city at around 70k residents, but because it such a sprawling town it doesn't feel metropolitan at all. It has all the amenities you need without any of the charm. Its saving grace is that it’s an access hub for amazing sites like Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore, with scenic drives that will take your breath away. 

Rating: Drive through and keep going. 

Restaurant:

Shooters Wood Fire Grill

Though Ron had his heart set on Burger King, we went to a local grill called Shooters. The entrance door handles are shaped like single shot rifles, so you know they’re going for a “lewk”. It was almost empty, but we were there at 3pm on a weekday, so I’m sure it gets busier at normal eating times. Our server was both attentive and friendly, and we got prompt service without it being overbearing. We started with the chislic (this time deep fried) and it was tender with a very sweet house bbq sauce. Ron ordered the burger he had been craving, and I ordered a french dip. While neither blew our socks off, they were filling and not overpriced.

Rating: Give Shooters a shot

The Challenges Surrounding Romance

The Facebook/Instagram/Youtube generation has definitely done something clear to our thought processes: The exposure to experiences and lifestyles less common were usually reserved for celebrities and wacky reality TV shows; carefully curating some idyllic presentation or exaggerated struggle. Today, anyone with some money and a dreams can make money by selling you their dreams.

Do I sound cynical? Yeah, I probably do.

Rarely does anyone go out of their way to explore the realities of what they’re doing. Troubles are the footnote of an over-HDR-edited photo posted on Instagram, the almost sarcastic #sponsored hashtag hanging just underneath.

Here is the reality of what we’re doing.

THIS IS HARD.

Let me be clear in saying that it isn’t that I want sympathy, we chose this lifestyle and the hardships that come with it. But it’s hard to want to be honest about the negatives when someone is sponsoring you. I get it. Everything about what we’ve done so far has been pretty difficult. Lifestyle changes, forcing 3 cats to commit to our little sardine can, and constant issues stemming from the age and rebuild of our beloved Sunbadges. We haven’t had running water for almost 2 and a half weeks (I think we’ve got this solved finally, but I thought we had it solved last time and one of our pipes actually exploded). Our solar generator failed and stopped accepting solar power and is no longer acting as an inverter, forcing us to buy new replacement equipment as we slowly diagnose the issues, possibly ending in the loss of our shore power capabilities to restore a full-solar power system. Radio Shack doesn’t exist anymore, not the way it used to. The paths we stay on are rarely paved so I’ve laid my motorcycle down, nearly going over the handle bars. I am constantly dirty. Sometimes muddy. And being allergic to most forms of insect bites, I’m still covered from the neck down in mosquito bites. At least I hope they’re mosquito bites. shudder

And you know what? Driving a 20,000 pound vehicle is tiring. I can’t believe that there are people that do this professionally day in and day out. And I don’t know what the deal is with passenger cars but I swear you people are on a suicide mission.

Still, it’s only been a couple of weeks and the views and experiences have been incredible. Nothing short of incredible. Sometimes breathtaking. Immediately, my appreciation for this country is always on the tip of my tongue. South Dakota always got that bad rap coming from Minnesotans who easily dismissed the mantle of nothingness presented at the forefront of their civilization: Sioux Falls. And undeserved bad rap, mind you. The people were so pleasant that my sweet tooth panged in response. Western South Dakota is immense and gorgeous. I was stunned by regret that I’d never gone further than Sioux Falls with all of that beautiful countryside available to me.

We found Mount Rushmore. We threaded the Needles Highway. We saw a bison so close up on the side of the road that I’m pretty sure I know his name. Charles, I think. He prefers Sir Charles. Don’t call him Chuck, he does a tongue thing. Custer State Park was so beautiful that we visited twice. I can’t bring myself to remove the tag the park officials placed on my bike to prove that I paid. We attended Sturgis. We slept a week cliffside of the Badlands, the Milky Way almost visible over light pollution at the darkest of night.

Life on the road is hard but we rediscovered the reason we’re were doing this in the first place and the reason we’re going to continue. In internet tradition, here are some photos, this time sans overblown HDR.

-Sisko Out

The Selfie Stick

A couple reviews a photo a man took of himself with a selfie stick, while his partner looked on.

Mount Rushmore

In my eyes, appreciation of this landmark comes with the people, not devoid of them.

Sisko at Sturgis

We stumbled upon Strugis on accident. The people were incredibly friendly, considering the reputation.

Adventure Cat

A couple poses with photos with their leashed cat on a cliff, near a steep drop off on the Needles Highway

Threading the Needle

You never go alone but it’s clear that cars (and buses) ruin everything.

The $25 Pork Chop

Yes, I ate it all. Yes, I ate it with the plastic silverware.

Badlands National Park/Nomad View, SD

Ready for anything (or so we thought), we drove to Badlands National Park (4 hours according to Google, 8 hours IRL). It was time to go off the grid and be as self-sustainable as possible.

Site:

Nomad View, Badlands SD

Site: None! We’re boondocking, baby!

Wifi: Verizon - 4.25 down, 5.39 up / ATT - 1.96 down, 2.24 up

Cost: Free

Noise: Nothing but the wind

When you think of stellar views, what you don't know you’re picturing in your head is the Badlands. From a state of flat terrain and being sure you can see across to the other side, suddenly you come upon these gigantic cliff formations that seemingly rise out of nowhere. Nomad View, on the outskirts of the Badlands National Park, is a boondocking haven where you can be far from your neighbors and perch next to the edge. It wasn’t without its sore points. The wifi is sporadic at best. There were times we would get 30up and 40 down, and the next minute it was like the hotspot was dead. There didnt seem to be any pattern, and it was incredibly frustrating to work and take video calls knowing you may get kicked at any minute. It was also fairly questionable to even access the area. The drive up after pulling off the highway was rutted and swampy, and when we pulled in we almost tipped when another RV tried to pass us to leave. If we werent jostling around we were spinning our tires trying to get through the massive mud slick. Not to mention all of this taking place NEXT TO THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF. On trips to town we had to drive the motorcycle down the same path. It was treacherous and we determined that we wouldnt be able to go anywhere for at least a day or two after it rained to give the path time to firm up. Of course in our week there, it rained every other day. The feeling of being trapped was real. The weather is unpredictable. One day we woke up and the fog was so thick around us we thought we were in Silent Hill. This lasted for hours and once again we could not leave. It’s hard to beat a free spot with killer views, but this is probably the only time we will come to Nomad View, unless we return with a tank.

Rating: 10/10 for the view, 1/10 for the actual fear

City:

Wall, SD

If you are ever in South Dakota, literally anywhere in the state, you will see signs for Wall, SD and Wall Drug. They range from “Free Water!” to “6 ft Rabbit!” to “YOLO” (seriously?). Wall itself is a sleepy town with a 24 hour laundromat, an Ace Hardware, the famous Wall Drug, and… not much else. The people were once again incredibly friendly and the 3 giant gas stations right off the highway were really convenient, but we saw no reason to explore for anything other than the library that is open for like 4 hours a day on Weds and Friday. 

Rating: Get your gas and get going

Restaurant:

Wall Drug Cafe

You know when the Dairy Queen is listed as the #4 restaurant in your town that your options are rough. (We actually went to the DQ, and it was just fine). Since Ron had never been to Wall Drug, we went to the Wall Drug Cafe for breakfast before exploring. It was really confusing once you get in there, as there are signs that say there is service in the back, but when we asked an attendant if it was sit down service they pointed us to an ordering counter. They also had a buffet available that we never saw. The venue is old timey, like everything else in Wall Drug. The cafeteria food tasted like just that, but had high, touristy prices. 

Rating: Hard pass

Sioux Falls, SD

We started our adventure five hours late, Murphy’s law style, and ended up at the Sioux Falls KOA exhausted, hungry, and slightly questioning life choices that had led us up to this point. The cats have no idea what is going on and have prepared for the apocalypse.

Site:

Sioux Falls SD KOA

Site: F3

Wifi: Verizon - 38.4 down, 35.9 up / ATT - 10.9 down, 6.14 up

Cost: $59/night give or take

Noise: Significant, but nothing a hard sleeper couldnt handle. 

We pulled in to the Sioux Falls KOA, located right off a main highway, after hours and slightly delirious. The after hours check in spot unfortunately didnt have our reservation, so we called the night support number and were immediately greeted and taken to our spot by Penny. We had a pull through site with full hook ups. Being right next to the highway, we consistently hear engine breaking of large vehicles, as well as the nearby air base. Though near transport, there isn't much else nearby save a Camping World. The facilities were sparkling clean throughout our stay, and the hosts Micki and Penny were friendly and helpful. While there was not any real privacy between neighbors, they were friendly and there was a good mixture of full time folks as well as people just there for a few days. 

Rating: I mean, we don't have anything to compare it to. So 10/10 as far as we can tell!

City:

Sioux Falls, SD

We would stay in Sioux Falls permanently, if it were not in Sioux Falls. Literally every person we encountered was friendly, the prices were cheap, and the city was easy to navigate. The city itself can be summed up by the lovely DMV employee we talked to when he said, “Yeah, there’s nothing here.” The city itself ended up being quite boring, with the falls themselves being described as “something to skip”. The most interesting thing we found was the Parks and Recreation building, which resembled a sunken warship. But the people here are proud to be here, and are friendly and welcoming. From the DPS employee to the waitress at Original Pancake House to the random old guy in the parking lot who commented on our Minnesota license plates even though you reeeeally have to try to even see it, we felt very comfortable and at home with a small town feel. 

Rating: Stay for the people and the prices, leave to go do something

Restaurant:

Safari Bar & Grill

Safari Bar & Grill was 4 miles from our campsite, and was recommended to us by our camp host Micki when we asked about local cuisine. Being we are from only a state away from where we were camped, we thought there wouldnt be anything we hadnt tried before (wild rice, anyone?). We were told we had to try chislic, which ended up being steak bites with special seasoning. The Safari Bar & Grill was pretty packed for 7pm on a weeknight, with a raffle going on in the corner (nobody won). We ordered grilled chislic, the buffalo burger, and the Big Pig. The chislic was tasty but nothing groundbreaking (just steak tips), but both the burger and Big Pig sandwich were filling and flavorful. And the tv monitors actually had subtitles on them!

Rating: Would go back to win the raffle

What You Leave Behind

It’s not a secret anymore that Jakki and I have taken to the road for an indefinite period of time. Years of planning have finally come to fruition and we’ve left what for years we’ve considered home. We’ve built a new home inside of someone else’s old home and stuffed it full of our things.

The balance of leaving home in your home is strangely comforting in the shuffle of the things we’ve changed about our lives. Our living space is a permanently messy desk, we’re constantly straining to fix the newest problem with something we’d thought we’d fixed years ago, and the only truly permanently dedicate space is a holding area. I am always dirty somehow.

But the list of accomplishments as I look back is staggering: We’ve stripped the innards of our new home and painted it. We’ve removed nearly all of the flooring and replaced or refurbished it. We’ve added our own furniture. We’ve changed all of the fixtures to LED lights to save battery power. We’ve installed a Solar Power solution to reduce our dependence on gasoline for the creature comforts.

And it will be two Solar Power solutions, soon. And we’re adding a local cellular signal booster. I’m determined to boost the power to that damned speaker solution we installed in the bedroom so we can collapse and watch an episode of Parks and Rec without straining to hear the audio from an iPad. I’ll get that bathroom sink drain solved soon, damn it. The list of wants and needs continues on as indefinitely as our trip.

There’s an old adage referring to the foolishness of saving money without an end result. “You can’t take it with you” is a mantra that’s been used to shame the miserly for centuries and now it applies in a completely different manner. There is so much we had to dispose of or sell or give away to fit our previously comfortable lives into a very limited space. Ironically, some things we had to buy as more compact or efficient versions of the things we’d previously enjoyed.

There’s no replacing you, though. You know who you are.

When we were finally planning The Launch of Sunbadges, our noble Mobile Home, we knew it would be important to say goodbye the best way we could. We also knew it would be impossible to keep our schedule if our dearest friends knew our departure was impending, so we planned a very public party with a very deep secret. And we said, “We’ll see you when we see you” to our friends, possibly for the last time ever.

We’re so lucky to have the friends we’ve had all these years. I’ve called Minnesota my “home” for almost a quarter of a century and the place itself hasn’t had much meaning to me, but the people have. I will dearly miss them.

Being able to miss someone is an incredible gift, you see. We were friends because you were special to me, and to have my heart broken because you’re no longer just a phone call and a short drive away means what we’ve had or done together was irreplaceable. Through the lens of retrospect, it’s always easy to wish you’d had more time together but I think it’s better to remember what the times we’ve had. Your life will always be filled with both of those types of friendships. Regardless of which we’ve had, it was magnificent.

Of course it was. You were there.

Back Home

There is mud on my rental’s tyres from the road leading to our rental tiny house.

The people here are welcoming and curious. We’re the outliers, blue and red. A different brand of English on our lips.


The roads are just a little too narrow. The temperatures stay just a little too cold. And yet

I, keeper of my most negative feelings, find myself at home in paradise.

We have windmills back home. And rolling hills posing at mountains. And forests and towns parked at the base of those hills. We have rainfall and weird insects and grass. And yet

I, seeker of passion in all things mundane, cannot remember this beauty at home.

Is it the people who are intoxicating? Their immediate kinship as humans seems freely available. Is it the hills? Their impression of mountains seeming more convincing than the one’s I’ve seen in our own lands. Is it the roads? They wind without as much concern for safety; sprouting from larger cities the way a heavy branch barely touches the sky. Perhaps the safety is in the unpredictability. Do the people love this as I now do? Or is this town a coffee stain on their roadmaps?

I sit under the constant threat of rain, worried that 
I, the penman of my heart’s journal, will reduce the memory of this moment to the most vague details.

I wonder if we’ll ever be here again.

Back home.