It’s beautiful here! I love it! We traveled from Utah into Wyoming for one night, then from Wyoming to South Dakota on a second day and made it to our home sweet home for these past couple of weeks here at Hart Ranch Camping RV Resort. It’s been a quick, quiet and cold two weeks here and I enjoyed every moment. I think the coldest it has gotten is 4 degrees over night, and the warmest its been lately is maybe 46! Definitely not the easiest for us to be in the cold, but whats great about our lifestyle is that it’s always temporary and we can move at any time. Knowing that allows for us to really enjoy the beauty of snowfall. Plus it’s fun to layer up and wear all the cute sweaters and beanies! Hart Ranch RV Park has a lot to offer, definitely looking forward to more future stays here at this park.
Our drive from Utah to Wyoming was a quiet one. Almost no one on the road for most of the time that we were on the road. It was so quiet, Mike actually convinced me to take over and drive for a bit! He has been wanting me to tow just so I can get a feel for it, in case of an emergency. I have not been comfortable with trying until this trip. On the empty road, he found a pullout and pulled over… I hopped in the driver seat! Off we went, I towed the RV!!! It was awesome timing because I only towed for a little over half an hour and I towed us from Utah into Wyoming! So awesome to be able to say I towed the rig in two states! haha! I quickly pulled over as soon as I saw an opportunity before we had to exit and get onto the busier roads. Mike wasn’t kidding, it tows like a dream. You almost kind of forget it’s back there because it doesn’t push or pull you at all! We stayed at Red Desert Rose Campground for one night.
The following day, Mike drove us the rest of the way from Wyoming into Rawlings, South Dakota. This was the first time we experienced icy roads. This was especially scary because we were towing our 45 ft home behind us. That definitely made us both a bit nervous. We had snow chains with us for the truck and the RV just in case but thankfully, as we continued along the sun came out and the day got warmer. The roads cleared up thankfully for the remainder of the drive that day. Mike did a great job driving through it all. I am so thankful for him every time we get on that road. It’s prob a lot of pressure to tow something so large behind for so many hours in the day, and sometimes even two days in a row like these few trips! Travel days, like I’ve always said are my favorite, but they are also probably Mike’s most stressful. So appreciative of him for keeping us safe and making sure we’re always prepared for what’s ahead of us on the road, each and every time. haha, its February…the month of Love so theres my little shout out to my love 🙂 Oh yeah and there were some fun red roads on the way into SD. Not sure why the roads were red, or half red but it was something fun to look at.
During our time in the snow, we learned a few things with what it’s like to live in an RV in the snow. Our water pipes froze a few times during our time here early morning. It would always defrost by late morning – early afternoon so that’s good. One of the reasons why we the pipes would freeze is because we somehow managed to run out of propane more than once during our two weeks here. The park offers a 100 lb propane tank, which is awesome, however we didn’t realize the hose is different. Mike went all over town to look for a hose but had no luck. So instead we were working off our 2, 30 gallon tanks. Let’s see…what else did we learn about living in the cold? Days are cold, especially when the sun is hiding but oh my when the wind picks up, it hurts to be outside. Nights get even colder and our bedroom is not very well insulated, but thankfully we have our heated mattress pad that keeps us warm all night! Overall, it wasn’t all too bad being in the light snow conditions here.
Since we only had one weekend to explore here, we of course had to go see Mount Rushmore! It was just about a 40 minute drive from where we stayed to get to the monument. As you drive up towards it, I think that is the best and closest view you can get. I have it saved in our South Dakota stories on our Instagram if anyone wants to take a peak. I’ve always seen Mount Rushmore on TV and seeing it in person was always on my check list. Definitely glad we came to learn about it. We learned about how it was built with mostly dynamite and the men & women had to climb up 700 stairs daily to get started on work, then would end their day climbing back down the same 700 stairs. The two walking trails at the National Park was closed for the Winter season unfortunately so we were not able to explore. The museum was open and that was very interesting, we learned a lot.
And now here’s a little photo dump of other misc things we did here in South Dakato! 🙂 We enjoyed a few yummy restaurants, went to an outdoor show, and had a nice valentines dinner, mmmm scallops were delicious! (not pictured)
These two weeks came to an end so quickly. We’re all packed up and ready to hit the road first thing in the morning! We’ll be heading to a Harvest Host, GreyCliff Mill tomorrow for one night, before arriving in Spokane, Washington for a couple weeks! We are so excited to get there!! We’ve been waiting since September for our new home sweet home on wheels, and it has finally arrived!! 🙂 yay!!! We can’t wait, we cant wait!!
Mily Lourenço Adventures 