The Meadows
We have moved down to a less glamorous area, know as the Meadows. It is sort of in a meadow, but since the whole area is one vast hayfield or pasture, it sounds better than it is. Someone did get a good crop of big fat round bales from the fields around the resort in May while it was raining. Now it is all crunchy stubble, dried and straw colored. There are occasional patches of green weeds, I can’t imagine what they do for moisture, but mostly it is grass that has wisely gone dormant. We are down here for our 9 days out, a rule here that you can only stay on a real site, with sewer, for 21 days. I still don’t know why.
We have to pay attention to our washing water. We would probably be made to leave the park if we put it out on the ground that so badly needs it. Other than that, it is actually a nicer place than up there in the suburbia of the regular sites. I can see out across the dry creek bed onto more pale grasses and the hills beyond. The black cattle are out there, I guess grass dried up is the same as hay. They look very dramatic on the light dried grass. It is much quieter down here, and there are no street lights, so it is almost like…..camping!
We have been geocaching even in the heat, a lot along the nifty bike trail that runs alongside Rapid Creek, through golf courses, baseball fields and just plain park area. I think probably the huge flood of 1972 did a serious urban renewal job on everything along its banks, leaving open areas that can’t be built on. We have bought two used bikes, and used them to find one of the caches. I like riding the bike, although I didn’t ride at all as a kid or a grown up. I did take one mighty fall trying to get off. I don’t know why I didn’t think to hold onto the brakes as I was dismounting…I am getting more and more confident and learning to use the gears, and my butt is gradually getting used to the seat. I still don’t think much of riding on the road, the cars and trucks scare me and make me wobble which is NOT safe. I got a basket and ride up to do the laundry, and ride up to the snack bar for Ice Cream and ride up to the lodge to trade my books in for new ones.
We went to a baseball game. This is the American Legion league, which I had never heard of. It is for boys 15 –20. Rapid City has two teams, one of which is regularly a state champion. The ball park has seats and actual boxes and a great snack bar, probably room for 1500 people which is pretty cozy compared to major league parks or even AAA parks. There were a lot of families there, it was clearly a social event with people visiting all over the seating and kids running amok everywhere. Nice to see a sort of “perfect America”, Norman Rockwell kind of evening. The baseball was really good, much to my surprise. I guess I was remembering the disasters of Little League.
We have had two big fires so far in the area, one down in Custer State Park, that burned 2,000 acres of forest and grass land, and another down near Hot Springs,10,000 acres that burned 20 houses and killed one man who ran back into his house for one more last minute grab before the house went up. Another is burning about 15 miles north of here, known as the Box Elder Fire. We saw the first smoke on Saturday, and in a few hours it was so hot that it created a huge thunderstorm. This dumped a bunch of rain on the area and slowed it down some, but it is in steep hills and canyons and impossible to fight. If we get a hot windy day it will blow up again. These fires are scary, once they get rolling they can get up to speeds of 15 or 20 miles an hour, leaping from tree to tree and generating so much heat that everything in the area just explodes. Most of them are caused by lighting. The fires would probably be a good thing for the forests and the grasslands, but there are too many people and houses so they have to fight them. There are all sorts of helicopters with buckets and planes spreading magenta fire retardant powder that do most of the work, while the hundreds of men (and women) on the ground mostly make back fires to starve the main fire and try to make breaks to stop it.
The heat is amazing, we have had 4 days in a row where the temperature is over 100, and there are 4 more forecast. We have become like desert creatures, doing the outside stuff in the early morning or after the sun goes down, and hiding in the maintenance barn or in the trailer most of the day. Last year we only had 3 or 4 days of 100+. Today I looked at the temperature map and Rapid City is the hottest place in the whole USA. Lucky me.
We have to pay attention to our washing water. We would probably be made to leave the park if we put it out on the ground that so badly needs it. Other than that, it is actually a nicer place than up there in the suburbia of the regular sites. I can see out across the dry creek bed onto more pale grasses and the hills beyond. The black cattle are out there, I guess grass dried up is the same as hay. They look very dramatic on the light dried grass. It is much quieter down here, and there are no street lights, so it is almost like…..camping!
We have been geocaching even in the heat, a lot along the nifty bike trail that runs alongside Rapid Creek, through golf courses, baseball fields and just plain park area. I think probably the huge flood of 1972 did a serious urban renewal job on everything along its banks, leaving open areas that can’t be built on. We have bought two used bikes, and used them to find one of the caches. I like riding the bike, although I didn’t ride at all as a kid or a grown up. I did take one mighty fall trying to get off. I don’t know why I didn’t think to hold onto the brakes as I was dismounting…I am getting more and more confident and learning to use the gears, and my butt is gradually getting used to the seat. I still don’t think much of riding on the road, the cars and trucks scare me and make me wobble which is NOT safe. I got a basket and ride up to do the laundry, and ride up to the snack bar for Ice Cream and ride up to the lodge to trade my books in for new ones.
We went to a baseball game. This is the American Legion league, which I had never heard of. It is for boys 15 –20. Rapid City has two teams, one of which is regularly a state champion. The ball park has seats and actual boxes and a great snack bar, probably room for 1500 people which is pretty cozy compared to major league parks or even AAA parks. There were a lot of families there, it was clearly a social event with people visiting all over the seating and kids running amok everywhere. Nice to see a sort of “perfect America”, Norman Rockwell kind of evening. The baseball was really good, much to my surprise. I guess I was remembering the disasters of Little League.
We have had two big fires so far in the area, one down in Custer State Park, that burned 2,000 acres of forest and grass land, and another down near Hot Springs,10,000 acres that burned 20 houses and killed one man who ran back into his house for one more last minute grab before the house went up. Another is burning about 15 miles north of here, known as the Box Elder Fire. We saw the first smoke on Saturday, and in a few hours it was so hot that it created a huge thunderstorm. This dumped a bunch of rain on the area and slowed it down some, but it is in steep hills and canyons and impossible to fight. If we get a hot windy day it will blow up again. These fires are scary, once they get rolling they can get up to speeds of 15 or 20 miles an hour, leaping from tree to tree and generating so much heat that everything in the area just explodes. Most of them are caused by lighting. The fires would probably be a good thing for the forests and the grasslands, but there are too many people and houses so they have to fight them. There are all sorts of helicopters with buckets and planes spreading magenta fire retardant powder that do most of the work, while the hundreds of men (and women) on the ground mostly make back fires to starve the main fire and try to make breaks to stop it.
The heat is amazing, we have had 4 days in a row where the temperature is over 100, and there are 4 more forecast. We have become like desert creatures, doing the outside stuff in the early morning or after the sun goes down, and hiding in the maintenance barn or in the trailer most of the day. Last year we only had 3 or 4 days of 100+. Today I looked at the temperature map and Rapid City is the hottest place in the whole USA. Lucky me.
posted by Thistledown24 at 7:04 AM
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