Keyhole State Park, Moorcroft, Wyoming
While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ~ Genesis 29:9-10 Jacob took matters into his own hands when his family showed up. He rolled the stone away himself. He got the job done. He didn’t wait for others to do it, or even help at this point. He just did what needed doing. He’s obviously a man of decision and not afraid of hard work, despite the picture we may have of him as a ‘mama’s boy’. How often do we wait to act, thinking, ‘Someone else will do it’. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone named Someone Else.
Today, on rvhavinfun.com, we present . . . .
“Men Walking Cats”
In today’s episode of “Men Walking Cats”, Fred and Felix fall upon fellow female and feline footers, Faith and Fiona.
Fred fancies Faith. Felix is fascinated with Fiona. Will their foundling flirtation be fraught with foibles? Or will the feline fondlers fan their fondness into flames?
Tune in next time, to see if feisty Felix and Fiona can finagle their way from the fiendish fräulein, Frida the Furious, on the next episode of . . .
“Men Walking Cats”.
What can I say? Blaine planted the thought when we saw it out our front window, and I ran with it. It was fun! I hope it was for you too! 😊
Now on to more serious matters.
We packed up early this morning, so we could get on the road. It’s time to head back into South Dakota and creep towards home. There were a number of things to be done today, since our next stop will be in Badlands National Park, where we will have 50 amp electric service, but no water or sewer.
That means we have to ration water and sewer. We have gauges that help us know how we’re doing, but you have to have clean tanks for them to work properly. All that to say, we cleaned out our tanks at the dump station today. We spent 45 minutes there before we even got on the road.
Blaine also did a generator run, which he does periodically as we’re driving.
The sky actually looked like that for awhile!
We thought maybe it’s the sun shining through the smoke?
When we entered the town of Spearfish, we stopped at the local WalMart to pick up the food and other supplies we’d need for the next two weeks, because there are no stores around here, other than a teeny mom & pop place, and who knows what they have, or what condition things are in there. We couldn’t take that chance. That stop added an hour and fifteen minutes to our time, and our frig is now stuffed to the gills.
Back on the road, it was a nice, scenic drive.
Until.
The inevitable happened.
Some younger girl in a small red car decided to play chicken with us! She came flying down an on-ramp, Blaine blared his horn, she swerved to the right, but kept coming, he blared his horn some more, she swerved and finally slowed down and fell in behind us. I don’t know how Blaine kept driving, it was that close! Scared the begeebers outta us!!!
It took a few minutes, but our hearts (especially Blaine’s) slowed down, and we were able to once again enjoy the views.
The town we’re staying in is actually within the Park boundary.
The ranchers have to get a special permit.
It’s kind of a convoluted boundary.
Cedar Pass Campground, Interior, South Dakota
O my goodness! You just can’t believe this National Park campground! The scenery is beyond spectacular! I swear, these hills look like a movie backdrop! And the site is certainly different! Basically, you just pull off alongside the campground road. Our coach barely fits in the place Blaine chose. And it’s a really good thing he chose the one he did, because most of them would barely hold our Jeep, let alone a 40’ rig – – plus a Jeep. We’re here for the next two weeks, and are very excited about all the adventures God has lined up for us!
So who was Ben Reifel?
Benjamin Reifel was born on September 19, 1906, in a log cabin on the Rosebud Reservation to William Reifel, a German-American, and Lucy Burning Breast, a full-blooded Lakota Sioux. Reifel was an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe; his Indian name was Lone Feather.
Reifel married Alice Johnson in 1933, and had one daughter, Loyce, who later married Emery Anderson and had three daughters. Reifel graduated from South Dakota State College in 1932. He earned a master’s degree (1950) and Ph.D. (1952) from Harvard University. His dissertation, “Relocation on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation : Problems and Programs” (1952), can be seen on Open Prairie.
He was also a veteran, having served in the Army in Europe during WWII having achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He earned 3 Honorary Doctorates from South Dakota state University, University of South Dakota, and Northern State College.
He worked for the Department of the Interior beginning in 1933, retiring as the Aberdeen, South Dakota, area administrator of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1960 when he decided to run for Congress. Reifel was a Republican U.S. Congressman from the First District of South Dakota from 1961-1971. He was the first U.S. legislator of Sioux ancestry and the sole American Indian in Congress through the 1960s. Reifel served on the House Agricultural Committee, the House Committee on Appropriations, and the House Appropriations subcommittee on Interior Department Affairs. He worked for farming interests, pushed for the Oahe Irrigation Projects, and supported the Civil Rights Act of 1966.
The Ben Reifel Papers are held at the South Dakota State University Archives and Special Collections at Hilton M. Briggs Library. The collection includes memorabilia, scrapbooks, campaign items, personal items, photographs, and sound recordings related to Ben Reifel’s career as a public servant, especially his years in the U.S. Senate and his work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. ~ sdstate.edu
1906 – 1990
They do a star-gazing program every night at 9pm.
We’ll check it out sometime!
That’s us!
