On the coach and on the CR-V.
We woke up to light sprinkles this morning. Joan pulled up radar - she is the navigator and information officer; I am the driver and the one responsible for any decisions that affect the safety, comfort, and convenience of our driving conveyance and its occupants. In other words, if anything isn't right, I'm responsible.
After showering and breakfast, I got the car set-up and the coach unplugged; Joan pulled in the slides and raised the leveling jacks - we are ready to hit the road. By her calculations, we should run out of the light rain in about 40 miles.
Yep - it's raining. That sky looks pretty ominous ahead...
This is a sucker hole...
A pilot term for a little bit of blue sky that makes you think you can get above those clouds... or, if you are driving, makes you think the weather is getting better.
39.5 miles after departure, we drove out of the rain...
Right on schedule. Joan let me know that there is more crap weather coming... but, our timing might be the best it can be for today.
About the title: we were driving in a construction zone where the traffic was moved into one lane each direction...
Coming around a corner, I could see a semi about to enter from a very short ramp... I thought he would wait for a break in the traffic... he didn't. I slammed on the brakes! ABS on the coach, and ABS on the CR-V... it all worked to haul us down fast! Joan saw it as a quick slow-down... I saw it as: "Holy shit - that truck isn't going to yield!" My ass was puckered... but all the equipment worked like it was supposed to. I looked behind us - another semi closing in fast...
And, in front...
Yes, I took those photos after everything had settled down. Out of the construction zone, the truck behind us passed...
I was glad to not be sandwiched in between them. Looking ahead, the sky, again, was darkening...
The terrain here is more like the Black Hills than the mountains behind us.
The hills look black because of all the trees. Crossing the border into South Dakota...
We had driven in and out of rain along this route. Joan said, "There is another nasty looking area ahead... around Piedmont... it is showing yellow and red on radar. And more coming behind that."
Swell.
The roads were dry as we went past our former hometown, Spearfish...
It is a nice town in a pretty valley - we'll be back here in the car after we get settled in at Hart Ranch, our destination for today.
That sky ahead is not blue...
More ominous clouds - that darker sky likely has imbedded convective activity. Yep - our first view of lightning. Checking weather radar again: we're going to get wet... if we wait any longer, there is a chance of hail as we go through the Piedmont area.
Right on schedule, the rain came down...
Hard. Plenty of lightning. Joan said, "Radar is showing some hail just southwest of us." I picked up the pace. "Another couple miles and we should drive out of it."
We did. I really like having current time weather available. We had talked about stopping in Rapid City for a late lunch... nope - more crap on radar coming this way.
I have mentioned Hart Ranch before. It is a membership RV resort in the Black Hills. We have been members here since the early 90s, and it is what we compare all other RV parks to... and very seldom do any of them match up. The park has lots of amenities (pool, hot tubs, tennis, miniature golf, laundry facilities, a restaurant, activities, cable TV, wifi, paved roads and double-wide paved sites. Speaking of the sites: they are much larger than most parks, with nice grassy areas between each site. Izzy gives it two enthusiastic thumbs up... well, she would if she had thumbs... but she likes it a lot!
The sun was shining as we pulled into the registration parking... but you could see some dark sky over the hills. We got checked in, unhooked the car from the coach, and went to our site... now the plan is: get settled in before the rain comes.
The site we have has a tree jutting into one side of the double pad. I pulled the coach in, then backed the trailer in with the Honda. Everything easily fits, with a spacious patio area left over. I started hooking up the utilities (electricity, water, sewer, cable, satellite TV) while Joan put down the jacks and put the slides out. Just as we were putting the windshield cover on, we heard the first loud rumble of thunder.
Izzy got a bit of outdoor time before the first raindrops fell. Nothing heavy like we drove through earlier, though. Looks like it will come and go the rest of today... and the weather weasels are predicting nice weather for the next week.
We are looking forward to touring around our former home area - we still love the Black Hills. If it weren't for that whole winter thing, we'd probably still be here.
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On the 5:30 local news, they're talking about the hail that came down locally... right where we drove through... our timing was good.
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