Rapid City was on the list as a good spot to base ourselves to check out Mount Rushmore. However, the real reason that we were definitely going to go is we have flights booked to go see our new sailboat for the first time and get an inspection on her!
Change of Plans
We left Theodore Roosevelt National Park with plans to head to Devil’s Tower. However, our engine overheated and we had to pull over to let it cool. After ten minutes, it seemed to run fine the rest of the trip. Thankfully! We decided that even though it seemed to be running fine we should probably head to civilization instead of our original destination.
Not Covid
We were bummed to miss Devil’s Tower and some of the more remote boondocking we had planned, but it is just as well because Austin came down with a nasty cold while we were there. Since we had plans to fly in a few days we got covid tested to be safe. Luckily, both of our tests came back negative but the cold was still a rough one! Of course a few days later I came down with the same nasty cold. As a result we didn’t do much sightseeing our first few days in Rapid City as we tried to heal to get ready to go see our boat!
Rapid City Elks Lodge
We were staying at the Rapid City Elks Lodge and they have a really nice RV Park. Our stay here was very enjoyable and everyone was really nice. We didn’t need to keep it in a spot while we were gone, so they let us park in the parking lot.
Seeing the Sailboat
Our flight to see the boat was pretty uneventful (except for the screaming baby the ENTIRE way across the country) and the inspection went well. Our plan is to split time between the RV and the boat. We plan to RV during hurricane season and spent the winter in the Bahamas in our boat! Since we bought the boat sight unseen we were relieved to find that we really liked the boat and the inspection didn’t reveal any issues. More boat stories to come for sure!
Mount Rushmore
Since we were both under the weather before our trip, we saved Mount Rushmore for after. We drove down from Rapid City in the Jeep and checked it out. I had seen it years ago, but it was a first for Austin. It’s kinda in the middle of nowhere with not a lot to do, but it is totally worth it. It’s neat to see and we had good weather for it.
After almost two weeks based in the Rapid City area we were more than ready to get back to some boondocking. We filled our propane, defrosted the fridge, changed the oil and ran a few more errands before heading to the Badlands!
