Some light rain when we got up this morning. The weasels were predicting it, so it wasn't a surprise; what was a surprise: by noon, it was gorgeous. Sunshine, blue sky, no wind... they didn't predict that. They are, however, predicting some ugly weather later in the day.
Leaving Hart Ranch, we found a bunch of high school kids...
A regional cross-country meet - high schools from North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska. It is quite an event.
Joan suggested we go see Dinosaur Park - we haven't been there since Steph was a little girl. There are full-size statues of a variety of dinosaurs and a great view of Rapid City and the surrounding area. Dinosaur Park is just off of Skyline Drive, a road that runs the "backbone" of high hills that divide Rapid City between east and west. It is an impressive drive...
The top two views above are looking west, the lowest one is looking east. Since this is the highest point in Rapid City, it is also a good position for TV, radio, and cell towers, also known as Signal Hill...
The first view of one of the dinosaurs...
For those keeping track: a brontosaurus, the largest of the statues here. When we were last here (guessing about 38 years ago), the park was the statues on the hill. It has changed a lot; the statues are still here, but it has gone upscale, with a visitors center, and stairs and paved walkways...
Me with the stegosaurus...
Looking at the plaque, we were born about the same time. It wouldn't be a dinosaur park without a T-Rex...
We enjoyed wandering around the park and taking in the views. Having worked up an appetite, it was off for a late BBQ lunch at Dickey's. We knew enough to ask about the Friday special: pulled pork with two sides and a drink; it wasn't shown anywhere.
From there, it was across the parking lot to... Harbor Freight. Nothing we needed, but we always find stuff we didn't know we needed.
Joan wanted to stop at the store on the way back to Hart Ranch - we didn't know it was Mothers With LOTS Of Kids Day at Wally-World. Hard to maneuver around all those little buggers, and apparently it isn't polite to take them off their feet with the cart.
Back at Hart Ranch, I took little Iz for a walk...
(It wouldn't be a thorough post without some Izzy content). Joan started checking weather radar while Iz and I were out... yeah, there is some nasty weather coming our way. We held out hope that the storms might dissipate before getting to us. Not looking light it. We could see the leading clouds of the storm coming over the hills...
A few minutes later...
This is not looking good. Joan showed me this on weather radar...
The red grids are severe thunderstorm, possible tornadic activity; the blue grid is hail. The green ones are just regular ol' rain storms. The weasels are calling for potential winds to 70 mph, quarter-size hail, and severe thunderstorms through the night. We pulled in the slide-outs and put away all our patio furniture.
I said to Joan, "It looks like that nasty stuff could possibly move to either side of us." The rain started; didn't seem that heavy.
She said, "There's more coming..."
Yep, a bunch more marching this way. The line of thunderstorms extends all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Turns out, the first line of storms did move to either side of our location. Plenty of lightning and rolling thunder around us. Five weather alerts coming across the TV. We have the sound turned up higher than usual, thanks to the rain on the roof of the coach. The storms will be around all night. Wind increasing tomorrow through Sunday, but we're supposed to see some sunshine tomorrow.
Sure was beautiful today while we were out and about.
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