Cold Creek

Friday


Maybe I should have gone for Colorado and altitude after all. The whole state can't be blackened stumps. Can it?

This trip started out as a simple thing. I just wanted to find a cool spot to sit a spell. That prospect has receded before me as I traveled north, like the end of some ragged rainbow.

Where I am now, just north of Hot Springs, SD, ain't much. But it's the closest thing yet. At 8 pm the outside temp is 71 degrees, and inside the trailer it is 81. After driving around all day in the heat, with the windows up, it takes a loooong time for every surface in the trailer to lose it's latent heat. Even with 3 fans going.

Cold Creek is a primitive campground, run by the Corps of Engineers, with a small lake and a swimming beach. The name attracted me. Only $5 a night. I may take a swim in the morning, and hope it's cold enough to test out that stent they put in me last fall.

Uh oh. I had forgotten the weekend brings out the screaming kids, bless'em. Getting here after 5 means I got one of the slots next to the playscape. If they turn out to be night owls, I may leave in the morning. Grump.

Mt. Rushmore tomorrow, and I'll try to find a hot spring in Hot Springs. And there's something called Angostura Reservoir south of town. An alkali lake? Sounds bitter, even medicinal.

Nah, just a reservoir.

Still and all, it will be good to quit dragging the trailer for a couple of days. Hmmmm. Wind Cave. Sounds cool and subterranean. Maybe this place has promise.

Cooked a real meal tonight. Grilled sausages, mashed potatoes, hominy, and a half bottle of Cabernet. Life is pretty good.

And the kids have gone to bed with the sun.


Bob