THE REVCONEER BLACK HILLS RALLY

September 11 – 19, 2010

Rallymaster Nick welcomes the group to the Rally

We arrived at the Hart Ranch for the Revconeers Rally on Saturday and found most of the attendees were already there, The Rallymasters, Nick and Gayle Peterson, with their son Scott and assistants Bob and Donna Joersz were there together with Harris and Melba Benoit, Denny and Carol Filter, Glen and Brenda Styles and soon to arrive, Jay and Connie Gridley. So with us it came to a very disappointing turnout of only seven coaches, 15 people!  Far from the 20+ that we had all anticipated, but these were all the old-timers, well known to each other, and it was nice to see our old friends again.



Scott, Connie, Fran and Carol at the hors d'oerves

 Hart Ranch is a large member ship camp ground and one of the best we have seen, the downside was that they were closing up their facilities after Labor Day, so there was no pool, spa, restaurant or store, oh well! With our close-knit group, the name badges were unnecessary so this was the first rally without them, Sheriff Tibbs would be really unhappy if he were still with us! The first night we had our customary, though informal, happy hour. Sunday was the official start of the rally so for the happy hour we gathered at the Joersz’s coach on a beautiful evening for a wonderful hors d’oerves dinner that the ladies do so well.


Monday after a hearty breakfast of Jeanne Rudolph’s recipe for Sausage and Hard Boiled Egg Casserole with English Muffins and fruit, we went off in small groups to downtown Rapid City, starting at the Visitor’s Center and found that it didn’t open until noon.

Fran holding hands with George Washington

Rapid City is known as the “City of Presidents” with full-sized bronze statues of 40 presidents to date. There were four statues on 10 intersections on the two main streets making for quite a nice walk to see them all and read about each president. Harry Truman is shown holding the famous newspaper with the headline “Dewey Beats Truman” which was a bit premature. FDR is shown standing but leaning heavily on the podium speaking into a number of the old-fashioned microphones with his legs in an awkward position and showing a portion of the leg braces he had to wear.

Ronnie and me!

Ronald Reagan is shown in cowboy garb with his big smile. Jack Kennedy is shown with little John-John. Abe Lincoln is shown seated so we did not know just how tall he was. When the Visitor’s Center finally opened we found small (20”) duplicate statues for sale for about $3500 plus tax (we didn’t buy any!).


Soon we were back to Hart Ranch for the happy hour and a terrific chicken curry dinner by Connie Gridley before we all headed out to the Mt. Rushmore Memorial Evening Ceremony. There is a new four story parking garage with an elevator for those with altitude impairment. A short walk had us at the top of a beautiful new amphitheater which was already half full of visitors, many of whom probably stayed from earlier in the day.


Veterans on the Mt. Rushmore stage

 When the sun went down the program started with a speaker reminding us of what a wonderful country we live in while the lights on the huge Presidents faces gradually built up in intensity. This was followed by a film on their large screen that gave a brief history of each of the four Presidents memorialized in granite.

The Presidents at night

Of course the Presidents were George Washington “First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his country men”, then Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln. At the end of the movie the Ranger called for all armed service veterans to come to the stage for striking of the colors (Lowering of the flag). I’m afraid many of the Veterans were too old to make the walk back up the many stairs. (Yes, that included yours truly) but it was a truly impressive ceremony that we all enjoyed very much.



Jay & Connie, Fran, Donna & Bob, and Gayle

Tuesday we had a breakfast of pancakes and sausages before Fran and I went off to the Urgent Care facility (Doc in a box, as Susan Salit put it) to check out a cough that I had been putting up with for many weeks. After x-rays and blood tests, she diagnosed the problem and prescribed a medication that they were sure would take care of the problem. (Good luck!) Soon we met the Benoits, Filters and Styles at the Firehouse Brewery Restaurant in downtown Rapid City.

Glen, Fran, Brenda, Carol, Denny, Melba and Harris
at the Firehouse Brewery Company

Aside from serving fantastic food, the Restaurant was housed in a 105 year old fire house that had been converted, but without the brass pole! Fran and I split an order of fish tacos – delicious! After lunch we went to the local Wally World to fill my prescription and pick up some food. It took 90 minutes to fill that prescription! That evening after our happy hour we all attended the Fort Hays Chuckwagon Supper and Cowboy Show that had many old-time merchants in a square with a Tinsmith, Blacksmith, Rope Maker, Sheriff’s Office and displays for the movie “Dances with Wolves” which was filmed in the area.

Glen, Denny, Carol (peeking), Brenda, Nick, Scott,
 Connie, Jay and Fran at the Ft. Hays Chuckwagon  

 The dinner theater seated almost 500 people and a chuck wagon dinner was served to everyone in only 29 minutes! (Thanks to Jay Gridley who timed them). After dinner we were entertained by a country and western group with singers and a comedian who provided us with many chuckles. It was a pleasant evening that we enjoyed very much.


Wednesday was the last official Rally day and we started with a breakfast of scrambled egg casserole after which we went to our separate destinations for the day, Fran and I took Jay and Connie back to the Firehouse Brewery for a luncheon of Gorgonzola Beer Soup, and a half Reuben sandwich. Mmm-mmm-good!



George, Scott, Donna, Bob, Nick and Gayle

 That evening after happy hour we all went to Lintz Brothers Pizza a few miles down the road which had been highly recommended by a lady parked across the way from us. And she was right; this was pizza to die for, really good.

Jay, Connie, Carol, Harris, Melba, Denny,
 Glen and Brenda attack their Pizza

As the only other Revconeer Board member present, Fran presented the Petersons and Joerszes with certificates of appreciation for their hard work in putting together a very enjoyable rally – their first one!

Bob & Donna, Gayle and Nick and Fran

Thursday morning saw everyone, except yours truly and his BW taking a quick breakfast and saying goodbyes till we meet again somewhere “down the road.” Fran and I are members of Resort Parks International and had sponsored the group’s rally at the membership park so we opted to spend an additional few days right there just relaxing in the sun. Thursday was a beautiful sunny day and we basked in the sun resting up after so many days of activity. It was strange to see our whole area almost vacant; there was nobody left in our area. Fran made a big pot of chicken and vegetable soup for dinner. Already my meds were kicking in and I felt a whole lot better, but chicken soup never hurts, right?


Friday dawned overcast and breezy, and we drove into town to have lunch at Culver’s, a national chain, who make wonderful hamburgers (about 15 different kinds) and ice cream treats. We had waited until Friday because their special flavor of the day, Cherry Chocolate Chip, is Fran’s favorite. We found a little Asian food store, so Fran picked up some supplies.


Then it happened; Saturday morning dawned with the temperature down to 36 degrees, with overcast skies and wind to drop the wind chill even further. Not the kind of weather for lying out in the sun. We spent the day inside the coach reading and watching TV and doing laundry. Not very exciting, and we could only look forward to Sunday, which turned out to be more of the same with only a slight increase in temperature. We would be off to Pierre, SD, the Capitol City of South Dakota and one that brought back memories.






So that’s all for now ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bye folks!