Hill City, South Dakota
Today’s a driving day from Medora, North Dakota, to Hill City, South Dakota. It’s a little over 250 miles, so we won’t be doing much else today. (We average about 50 miles each hour on the road, and it takes a bit of time to get ready to travel and to set up once we get there.)
I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about a few of the people we’ve met along our journey so far.
Homeless Forevermore
Rich met Margaret in Caldwell, Idaho, when we just got Homer, our motor home. She had a friend who had bought the same model and was having trouble with it and wanted to know if we were, too.
Margaret is a widow in her late 70’s. She has been a full timer for over 15 years. She and her husband had a 50 foot motor home and pulled a large enclosed trailer from Arizona to Alaska for many years.

After he passed away, she got a ‘much smaller’ 40 foot motor home. (Our RV is 33 feet.) She drives it herself and pulls that same trailer. The trailer is custom made to haul her SUV and has a workshop in it where she does her crafts. (The picture above isn’t her rig, but you get the general idea…)
Margaret does it all–from hooking up the trailer when she moved to attaching all the septic, water, and electrical connections.
Her friends and family want her to stop traveling and move into a house. She adamantly said she’ll never live in a house again. When she’s too old to drive her rig, she’ll hire a driver to move her to each new location.
6000 Miles in Six Weeks
I met Judy in the laundromat of the park in Medora just last night. She and her husband are new to RVing. They bought their 26 foot pull trailer in April, and this is their maiden ‘long’ trip.
They plan to visit seven national parks in six weeks covering over six thousand miles.
They have a house in Tallahassee, Florida, and a vacation home in the mountains of North Carolina. She hopes to settle in the mountain home even though most of their family is in Florida.
Judy and her husband are not traveling alone. They have two Golden Retrievers and two cats.
One of the cats is a Siamese who is 17 years old. As they drive down the road, their dogs are tethered in the back seat. The younger cat sleeps under the seat, and the Siamese wanders wherever he wants.
Because he’s 17, she keeps a litter box on the floor at her feet so he can use it as needed.

A Cowboy and His Cat
Jason lived two spaces away from us in Livingston, Montana.
He had a small ranch in Texas. One day last spring, someone drove down his his driveway and came up to him and said, “I will give you this much for your place.” Jason said, “It’s yours!”
He bought a fifth wheel trailer, gave his horse to his aunt, loaded his barn cat into his pickup and drove up to try “the best flyfishing spot in America” on the Yellowstone River.
He got his guide license, and he fishes morning, noon, and night. He’ll be moving to Cody, Wyoming, soon to start a job as a fishing guide.
Jason’s cat is trained to stay in his park spot by being tethered on a leash. He will drag the leash just a bit, but then he will settle down and just lay on the grass sleeping in the sun.
