It has been over two months since we arrived at Hart Ranch and I’ve managed to get way behind in our updates. I’ll try to catch up with a reasonable amount of typing and try to keep this update readable with a sensible length.

Work has been steady with our weird, rainy weather. This summer has been the wettest in over six years. Our average rainfall amounts have exceeded the normal averages and we are ahead of the seasonal totals by almost ten inches. All this rainfall has contributed to our job security in that we are mowing twice weekly and having a difficult time keeping up with the growing grass. Our weedeaters are kept busy making the park look like it’s manicured and cared for. We are still getting our afternoon showers with towering cumulus clouds and the occasional pea-sized hail, but then the skies clear and sitting outside under the awning brings a lot of pleasure to the residents. Our occupancy rate is down less than 5% and our cabins are full each weekend.

We have had the opportunity to see visiting RVers that we know come to the park. Rod & Jean Bahnson spent three weeks last April before they headed to Minnesota to work on a church building project for the summer. We saw Wade & Linda Meyers, the president of Monaco International, stop in for a three-day visit. They had planned to stay for a week but had to get on over to Wilmar, MN to prepare for the Monaco Pre-Rally in mid-July.

At our annual membership meeting I was asked to help in barbequing 100 chickens for the member meals. One other fellow and I started at 4:30 in the morning preparing the chickens and finished all of them by 11:00AM. It was a successful feed with lots of compliments for the cooking crew. Then a little over a week ago we cooked 140 hamburgers for the working staff at Hart Ranch. With all the grounds work, the cooking breaks were a lot of fun. It’s a bear to get reputation as the BBQ Chef of Hart Ranch!

We’ve stayed pretty close to the park with all the work, but we have managed to escape for a couple of weekend events. We drove to Lincoln for a June 21st wedding of one of my cousins. I’ve really reached out a long way on the branches of our family tree to meet these young cousins. We stayed with Nancy Obermeyer, a first cousin of my dad. All five kids in her family were there. The youngest sister is only a year younger than me, so it was almost the last of their generation still alive. Nancy had seven kids, and six of them were present for the wedding. She also has 15 grandkids and 13 were there. As you can see, it was a terrific reunion and chance to get to see some of my favorite relatives. We drove the 500 miles to Lincoln straight-thru in our Kia - that was a killer drive, especially when I usually target no more than 200 miles per day. The car ran great and performed better than expected. We saw a reduced number of RVs on the road and the trucks were generally going slower. In fact, I passed most of the trucks since they were only driving 65MPH on an interstate highway with a 75MPH speed limit!

We also saw the results of the tornado that ripped through Kearny, NE a couple of weeks ago. The devastation was unbelievable! We saw metal buildings that had their roofs torn from the structure. I-80 was closed for a couple of hours to re-string high tension power lines across the freeway. It was a scary sight to see all the rubble that was dropped by the tornado.

We are now in Oacoma, SD headed for St. Paul, MN and a gathering of Monaco friends. We will be gone from Hart Ranch for a total of 8 days and be back to work next Tuesday. It’s a welcome break and we are looking forward to all the socializing that will surely take place.

We have become regular attendees of the Rapid City’s First Presbyterian Church. They have a new minister, Rev. Bob Evans. He is recently retired from the US Navy and married to a retired US Army Command Master Sargeant, Gretchen. Both of them are full of energy and are giving the church a real shot in the arm. He has been out to Hart Ranch to visit with us and joined us at Shipwreck Lee’s for dinner. After three beers with me, he said he really needed to be able to sit down and relax at a tasty dinner. We’re enjoying his preaching method and his friendship. We explained that we were not ready to join the church as we have a church in San Diego that really feels like home to us. He is comfortable with that and knows that we will support him and the church while we’re in this area. We’re slowly becoming involved in some of the activities in the church, other than Sunday services. There is a walking group that meets every other Saturday and hikes to some of the more scenic points in the Black Hills. We hope to get involved with some of the other groups that meet during the week.

However, that being our goal, it may be difficult. My daily schedule involves up at 5AM. I’m in the shop by 6:15 to get things ready, and work until 3:30. When I get home I’m usually beat and look forward to a hot shower, a short nap, and “relaxant” or two, and bed by 9 at the latest. It’s a vigorous schedule that I love because we’re getting things done. Our Grounds team is a great group of guys that enjoy working and do an excellent job. They’re a joy to be around and rewarding to work with.

I guess that brings you all up to date. We’re enjoying our summer and really don’t want it to end. This part of the country treats us well and we hate the thought of leaving. But the snows and cold of winter will make it easy to return to the balmy weather of San Diego!!