And now a brief two month break in our trip for Ski Season!

Having had a fabulous shoulder season not being in Tahoe, but rather being at or near the beach in Florida, its time to go back to Tahoe and enjoy ski season!  So its drop off the RV to get it repaired and then drop off the rental car at the airport and head home.

So from now until mid-February no more travel, except up and down the ski-slopes. Time to catch up on some homework, and see if we can pack our usual 30-50 days into a shorter ski season....

(final note, it hasn't snowed in quite a while at home, it dumps on the day we get back, Uber comes though (no cars, no cars, no cars, 4 wheel drive giant SUV for the win!) Home at last!

Classic Mt Rose

Mt Rose

View from home is not so bad... But we aren't in Florida anymore.

Apere Ski

Mt Rose Resort (actually Slide Mt.)

Nothing like Mt Rose Pizza!

Day N Deep Valley Campground

We woke up and it was kinda of cloudy and raining, and after a discussion with the nice couple who owed the campground and they let us have a really late check out, so we decided to stay the day and get some work done. The couple had bought the park as a semi-retirement investment and lived above the office.

It is a really nice campground, a fairly large number of full or regular residents and maybe a dozen overnight spots. There was a pool (which had just closed for the season - and it was cold and rainy anyway) a game room and a large open air covered area with couches and tables where we did most of our work. 

The game room had an air hockey table which we made good use of.

There were also quite a number of cats which made Maggie happy.

We left Deep Valley at 3.40 PM and headed for the Smokey Mountains.

Day N Mammoth Caves

We left Singing Hills at 11 and got to Mammoth Caves National Park around 1.00. 

I had been to the caves at least twice before (maybe three times) as it was a reasonable field trip for school and I we think we went once as a family as well.

Most of the caves were closed due to the Plague, but the biggest cavern was open, and after a short wait it was time for our scheduled tour. (We had gotten tickets in advance for a specific time frame for the tour).

It was as impressive as I remembered. The children agreed it was, in fact, Mammoth.

from the olde saltpeter works

Saltpeter mining works

                                                               The exit...

We left the Caves at 4.45, stopped just before we left the park to fill up the water tank and get snacks.

22,165 miles.

We continued on, getting to the state park we were hoping to stay at about 7.00, but after a drive around we determined that our RV really didn't fit well in the spots and it was hard to figure out which spots were available and there was little signage and no one to talk to. Fortunately, we found Deep Valley  Campground nearby and could get there before they closed, so we sailed in there about 7.40 PM.

Day N Depart Evansville

Our last day with my parents, we finally got around to taking the family photos. Much work with the tripod as we were trying to get an official family photo and a half photo that we could Photoshop into one taken with my brother's family later.

I think it ended up looking pretty good.

We had lunch, packed up the RV and Dad remembered why the fountain had not been on (we had plugged the RV into the same electrical circuit and could not run both at the same time.

We also cleaned up the lower family room where we had been doing school and regular work all week.

We left my parents driveway about 6.45 PM with the goal of getting to near Mammoth Caves by dark. We were, of course, a couple of hours behind schedule.

We stopped by the new Evansville Costco (just opened) and got our $1.83 gas (17.6 gal) and crossed into Kentucky.  22,030 miles.

Tyler insisted that we get KFC in Kentucky. It was easily the worst Kentucky Fried Chicken we had ever had (we often stop for it in Auburn, CA on the way to and from the Bay Area). The iced tea was moldy, the chicken was so-so, and it took an hour to get the food.

We continued on, getting to Singing Hills Campground at 10.40 PM. The campground was nothing special, but it was near the caves. 22,151 miles.

Day 6 - South Dakota - The Bad Lands

We ended up staying at the Bad Lands KOA (KOA, the refuge for those who don't plan, or need a plan with a letter probably after B). It was a nice KOA with lots of trees. Mostly we were pretty tired. Rain threatened but did not materialize.

Had a nice chat with our neighbor. Got air for the Tyre that won't stay full from the nice grounds keeper which contributed to our 11.45 departure.

The Bad Lands were pretty cool, we saw big horn sheep and Buffalo and went on some short hikes.

Yes we climbed this...

It was one of the more technical hikes we took.

We left the Bad Lands at about 4.50 PM heading back through Buffalo Gap and the National Grasslands. Who knew we had National Grass Lands?