Day 43 - Friday, August 29, 1997

Rafter-J Bar Ranch Campground, Hill City, South Dakota - We drove into Rapid City, which is about an hour from here. We hit the local Wal-Mart SuperStore to grab some needed supplies, which included seven quarts of Castrol Syntec 5-50 for the Tomato Wagon. We also had to find an auto-parts store that carries Mercedes oil filters. It seems that Mercedes don't do well around here. According to the local paper, in South Dakota last year they sold 6,127 trucks and 2,393 cars by Ford, 5,973 trucks and 2,028 cars by Chevy, and 34 Mercedes (true numbers). No wonder we had to search around!!

We also stopped by a music store so Jim could buy some more guitar picks. While we were there we chatted with the people in the store for an hour. From them we learned that while South Dakota is very scenic, the winters SUCK!!!!

Back at camp we relaxed in the hot tub talking with some folks from Minnesota. It turns out that these people were at the Minnesota State Fair the same day we were. What a small world!