Wednesday, August 19th

We’re back at Hart Ranch - a couple of days earlier than we had expected! We had a great time in Le Mars, IA where we attended the Presbyterian United Church of Christ with Rev. Jan Christensen. It was a shock for her to see us. She recognized us as someone she knew, but you could hear the mental rolodex spinning trying to remember who we were. I finally introduced ourselves to her and she recalled that we were the ones who visited First Presbyterian Church in Rapid City for the summers and lived in a motor home at Hart Ranch. She performed an enjoyable service and we stayed afterward to visit with her in the Fellowship Hall. We left the church and visited the Welles Dairy Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor for some excellent premium ice cream..

On Monday morning when I started the coach, I saw the “Alternator Failure” light come on. I could see the voltages was dropping rapidly, so I started the generator and left it running to charge the batteries. We decided to drive all the way to Rapid City where we could get the alternator repaired. It was almost 450 miles and we arrived at 5PM. I was beat, but glad to be back home in the dry climate. We got parked and settled in. On Tuesday morning I attended the Rushmore Rotary morning (to everybody’s surprise) and rushed back to the coach to remove the alternator. Once it was out I took it to The Repair Shop where it rebuilt two years ago. I explained the situation, had it bench-checked to confirm it was the problem, and left it with them. They said it should be ready by the end of the week. We’ve made arrangements so we shouldn’t have to move the coach until Friday, and maybe later. In the meantime, I started back to work this morning and will work a few hours when needed through this week. Things are slowing down and I shouldn’t be needed for long.

We plan to depart Rapid City on Thursday, the 28th, and head for San Diego to get the medical issues resolved. For now, we’re enjoying seeing all the old friends and visiting the places I’ve wanted to see for several years. It’s good to be back home!!