Hart Ranch

We came here at the invitation of John and Kathy Huggins of LivingTheRVDream, and we had a great time getting to know them better.  John and Kathy produce a weekly podcast about RVing.  We first met them back in January at the RV Supershow and they interviewed us for their show.

Hart Ranch, Rapid City South Dakota

We spent a week at Hart Ranch and had a great time.  We presented a couple of seminars while we were there, and several people showed up to participate.

A pretty good crowd for our Picasa seminar at Hart Ranch

We took advantage of the pool and hot tub  a couple of times and ate at the on-site restaurant a few times as well.  One night we met up with friends Orv and Nancy Hazelton who we haven’t seen since the last Gypsy Journal Rally.  We also enjoyed happy hours several evenings.  You’d think that, in this traveling lifestyle, you’d always be far away from anyone you know.  But, if you do it long enough, you find a traveling community that is so large, there’s always someone you know nearby!
We had a couple of dinners with John and Kathy.  We had fun showing them how to make a blog on their iPad using Blogger.  First we had them use one of our computers projected onto our big screen in the living room, so we could all see the same thing and teach them how.  It was cool to have a classroom right in our motorhome!  Then we had Kathy use her iPad and see how blogging can be done on that. 

Next, they showed us some of their cool equipment for recording their podcasts, and they interviewed us again for their next episode.  I’ll post a link here when it’s ready.  Their Four-Microphones-in-one device, called a Zoom, worked so well that Jim ordered one for us.  There may be podcasts in the Geek’s future! 
Other than our hike on Saturday, it was looking like we’d be leaving Rapid City without seeing anything about Rapid City.  But, on the last day, I scheduled Odie to get groomed at Petco downtown.  Jim came too and we hung out downtown for the 3-4 hours that Odie was at the groomers.  I really wanted to see some of the presidential statues that Rapid City is known for …

President Truman statue in Rapid City

President Taft

President Monroe

John F Kennedy, and John Jr.

Andrew Jackson - 7th President

But here’s where we were truly heading …

Firehouse Brewing Co in Rapid City

That’s a nice town … Rapid City.  In the summertime anyway!  When we got back to the rig, Jim decided to wash it.  Hart Ranch is one of those rare RV parks that allow you to do washing at your site.  I helped … I took his picture.  I so enjoy watching him work!

Hart Ranch allowed washing! The only RV park all summer that did!

So, here’s our nice shiny rig ready to hit the road for Gillette, Wyoming and the Escapade. 

Our clean shiny 'Big Boy' ready to hit the road again.

We’ll be teaching our ‘Camp Reboot’ Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; then the rally starts on Monday.  We hope to see a lot of you there.  If you’ll be there, stop by our booth – yes, we actually have a booth at this one – I don’t know what number yet, but we’ll be there.

Computer Boot Camp at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Ohio, end of September

If you wanted to take our ‘Camp Reboot’ and you couldn’t make this one, it’s on our schedule one more time this summer – at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina, Ohio on September 23.  For more details see our Computer Boot Camp page.  It is really a very useful class for people who didn’t have computers in school.  We know that most people are using computers now; they know how to turn it on, they know how to connect to the Internet and send emails.  The boot camp is not for complete beginners.  But it’s not for advanced users either.  It’s for that majority of adult users who are somewhere in between.  Our aim is to fill in those gaps in your knowledge.  What are those keys on your keyboard that you never use?  Why does the screen go blank in Windows 7 and then suddenly reappear?  How do I backup my files to an external hard drive?  What do I need to install to keep my computer secure?  Those questions and many more are answered in our class.  Check it out on our Computer Boot Camp page.