So Thankful, We are Home!

Curtis and I made it home on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. It was very nice to be back to our bed! It has been great seeing family and friends! We have had a lot of fun visiting! We have no idea how long we will be here, so we are waiting for the phone to ring. We were able to bring home 2 audits that will be work for at least 3 weeks. We will be working along to complete those and hopefully gain more work as we go.
Thanks so much for reading....and as soon as we move on to a new adventure in work--I will keep you posted!!

Until then......

Vistors--Presidents--and Work?

Yes, we have had company---and it has been GREAT!!! It was so nice to see Robert and Nelda. They arrived on November 3 and stayed till November 7 and did we have a lot of catching up to do. They had spent 2 nights at Marcia Henry's house enjoying her girls and grand-daughters before making the final trek to Yankton, South Dakota. We had little work while they visited, so we spent lots of talking time together.
We did travel to Mitchell, South Dakota to share the Corn Palace. They both couldn't believe that corn is used for such art work.

We had one claim while they were here, (I had 3 major audits to complete, therefore it was lots of computer work) and the day the left, we were non stop work for the rest of the week. We had been in Yankton for 13 days before having to pack up and move for the weekend.

One of my audits entailed us to drive to Rapid City, South Dakota for a signature from a farmer, so we got to travel thru the Badlands and get to make the visit to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

We ended up South of the Badlands National Park and were able to travel right thru the dead center of them to get to Rapid City. I never understood the reasoning of them being called the Badlands--but you visit it, and it only takes a few miles and you understand that it is nothing but ugly terrain and terrain that was to bad to travel through--they say people still perish trying to cross them on foot. But, the colors of the soil make the drive well worth it, 50 miles of no vegetation just layers and layers of colors, that's it. No gas station, no cafe--just the others that trek the national park to learn more about the badlands too.

We stopped in the world famous Wall drug store to eat our lunch and found this still amazing. One man buying up the entire main street, connecting his businesses and advertising free ice water---and he has made a small town be remembered!!! There are approximately 10 major motels and 2-3 cafes along with convenience stores and nothing else. You can buy anything that you would need and alot of things you don't need all in 1 entire city block.

Finishing our lunch we ventured on up I90 and arrived in Rapid City mid afternoon. We relaxed and got to visit a mall that literally was just like what we see in Texas--this is our first in 4 months to have the conveniences of this kind of shopping. We had a great time just walking the mall!! Guess it sounds as if we are desperate for entertainment.

We decided we would spend our Sunday touring the Black Hills and boy did we tour!!
Curtis made the comment that we hadn't seen so much in any one day since we married 25 years ago.

We learned so much history and just stood in amazement of Mt. Rushmore. It is just an incredible piece of art. We took in the 1 mile jaunt of the presidential tour and saw just how they trekked up the mountain with their picks and jack hammers. It is still beautiful today---

Crossing over the mountain we were able to take in Crazy Horse monument, also. This is another piece of art, and so unbelievable that only one man took the job of the Indians request to build a memorial for the Native Indians. It is to be someday one huge complex of schools and hospital--but the monument was to come first before anything else of the memorial was to be built. The gentleman that started this project passed away in 1982, 7 of his 10 kids have decided to keep his dream alive and finish the carving of the mountain. As you can see in the pictures---they just completed the face of Crazy horse in year 2000. They projected completion--200 years!! Not in our lifetime. I was able to visit this in the mid 70's and it was fun seeing just how much it had changed since I was a little girl. So amazing to me to think 1 family with such dedication.

Driving 35 miles north through the Hills we arrived in Deadwood, South Dakota. I had never heard of this place before and little did we know it is a little Las Vegas. All the casinos are in the original buildings of the old west town. It has a great atmosphere of the old days. I am sure if you watch the series Deadwood, you had heard of this place. Lots of gold mine history, and lots of gambling going on. We were able to get a picture of main street---it was almost too little for double lane traffic--I can't imagine how this little town would be in the summer months.

Our whole logic to travel the back roads of the hills was to end up in Sturgis, South Dakota---it was a huge disappointment for the both of us. Maybe if you attended the bike rally, things would have meant more. It was just an ordinary town of 6000 living life just as we do---they say the 2 weeks in August 500,000 people on bikes arrive and this whole area is hopping.

On our way back to the motel in Rapid City we happened upon a national cemetery--it is so surreal to drive through the cemetery of folks that gave their lives for us. Not one thing out of place-the quietness--makes you stop and be thankful. As we were driving through and reading some of the markers the music of amazing grace started playing and we both got chill bumps! The music played for approximately 5 minutes--not a word spoken from either one of us. We noticed some orange rope marking off areas and decided to see what it was all about. They have 30-40 open graves already dug that are covered with plywood--they had just recently had a funeral there and the soldier was buried right up to the next open hole. You can see in the picture

We drive back to Yankton on Monday and have at least 1 more week of work. I have a really important audit that I am waiting to see a farmer on and Curtis has several claims to finish up. We have been told that our work here is coming to a end, so we do have the excitement of possibly coming home in 10 days. We both are really excited at that thought, it has been 9 weeks since we have seen home. We neither one would trade for the things we have learned, the things we have seen and the time that we have spent together. God has blessed us!!
Our supervisor said he would have the definite on our being done or moving on to another area of the US the end of this week. I will be keeping you posted!!
Until then.................