Rockerville, SD

Thursday - We really didn't have anything planned for today. Just a quiet day in the RV park. The forecast is for highs in the upper 80s (°F), which is one of the reasons we decided to move to an RV park from the boondocking site at the Badlands. It's just more convenient. 

The Joule sous vide stick that I've had for years decided to die a couple of days ago. As soon as I plugged it in, it tripped the GFCI breaker and was reporting not enough water on the app. The pump motor appears to have failed, and the temperature control circuitry is not working. It would heat up full blast until the water was actually boiling. A replacement has been ordered, but the nearest Amazon delivery point is a store in Rapid City. And, the delivery isn't until next Monday.

Later - As forecasted, it got pretty warm this afternoon. At least it's not humid. I'm participating in the afternoon test session. More accurately, I'm waiting for the afternoon session to start. That's usually when I work on the blog post. It is so much easier to use the computer than the phone, especially if you want to change pictures or format text. 

Friday - We spent most of the day driving the Needles Hwy and going through Custer State Park. These are the rock formations that look like needles. If you look carefully, you can see one of the narrow tunnels. 

Here is a photo Bridget took with the roof of the Jeep open. Eye of the needle. 

Near the northern end of the highway, is Sylvan Lake. This was a very crowded area with not enough parking. 

After lunch and the visitors center, which had a wonderful movie, we headed out on the wildlife loop. We saw donkeys, prairie dogs, and this large herd of bison. This area took a while to get through due to bison on the road and cars not pulling over. They would just sit in the middle of the road taking pictures. 

After the bison, the only other animals we saw were a couple of deer along the road. When we arrived at the rv park, there was a wedding going on at the event center that is part of the park.