Final Days in South Dakota

Our time in South Dakota has come to an end and it is time for us to move on and hit the road again!  The last time we left here for an adventure was in late December when we headed south down to Quartzsite Arizona to visit friends and sell our 5^th wheel. This time we are headed in the opposite direction, north to North Dakota to The Farm where Barb and I have not been to (together at least) since the fall of '18. I am so looking forward to some time behind the steering wheel of a tractor where I can connect with what we think was our true calling in life. In a past life Barb and I are convinced we were definitely farmers or ranchers (and frontiersmen before that) as to us there is nothing better than the farming lifestyle. 

Our past 11 weeks in South Dakota were mixed with some great accomplishments and some things we hoped to get done waiting for our return. My biggest was to get the siding done. I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath to see if we got the long 88’ wall done on the west side. This side is particularly challenging as the panels of steel are 16’ tall, 40”wide and weigh ~50#’s. Carrying them and standing them up is quite challenging, add wind to the mix which turns the panels into big sails and it turns into a circus!

Kevin arrived for a 3 day visit, we worked on his house a couple of days getting some electrical work done. The last afternoon he was here we spent a few hours putting up starter and J channel on the west side which was a great help. When he asked if I wanted help putting up a few panels I could not say “YES! quick enough!

He was up high in the basket and I would carry the panels over to him. He would grab an end and we would get it into position and screw the top and bottoms before moving onto the next panel.

  In 3 hours we got all 50’ of the garage done and put a serious dent into west side! 

Day 1 progress

 The next day after Kevin headed home, I was able to get the lower garage wall done on the north side and 4 panels (roughly 12’) done. Although slow, I was very happy with the progress as not only was I working alone, I also had to cut each of the panels to fit around the upper and lower windows.

We are going to put stone on the lower section where you still see white

Day 2 progress

Then the weather went to pot. 

Rain and snow the next 3 days followed by 3 days of high winds and high temps in the 20’s. I managed to get out there and get 1 more panel up but it was just too cold, wet and windy to really make any progress. 

This is where we ended up for now. 

The last two days I spent going around the house and putting a screw in every 9” horizontally and 30” vertically. The last thing we wanted was to come home in a couple months to find it had all blown off in a storm! I put in somewhere between 600 and 700 screws in 20 degree temps and 20 mph winds. I could work for 10-15 minutes before my fingers would go numb and I would have to go in to thaw them up. I was able to get the last section screwed down hours before we loaded up the camper and hit the road. So although we only got about ¾ of the west wall done, given the weather, I was very happy to get that much done. 

Inside the house, when the snow was really coming down we started putting vertical T&G pine on the upper east wall. 

When it was done we put up an elk mount that belongs to a friend of ours that did not have room for it in his new house. His loss is our gain!

Easter was pretty mellow. We got lots of Snapchats from Forrest and Jessica of the kids coloring and looking for Easter Eggs. Man, they are growing up quick!

Kendall and Dylan coloring Easter eggs

Kendall with her Easter basket

Lily, all dressed up for Easter!

Wednesday morning after putting the last few screws in we put the camper on the truck, loaded our last few things and were ready to hit the road!

We added the cargo carrier to the top and rack on the back for extra storage

The cows came down to the gate to see us off!

It is an 8 hour drive to the farm. We did not know if we were going to drive straight through or stop somewhere.  The trip itself was pretty uneventful. The funniest thing was when we stopped for lunch at Culvers. Our truck with the camper would not fit through the drive thru so Barb stood in line behind a line of cars. 

When we got to Dickenson ND it was 5:30 and we were only 3 hours away so we kept on a driv'in. With the time change we arrived at 9:30pm and after a short welcome chat with Farmer Bob, we settled into bed and are ready to hit the fields!