If only I had a beach...

The reviewer at Rebecca's Reads wrote this nice comment in her review of Getting Lucky: "Getting Lucky" is a fast-paced read and would be the perfect book to take to the beach this summer."

Cool!

Star turn

My winged amigo Puerco, a gift from friends who'd visited Mexico, admires the shiny star that iUniverse sent me this week. The star commemorates the 500+ copies my novel When Pigs Fly has sold.

RV trip day 25: Spearfish Canyon

Spearfish River

We spent a cloudless day driving through spectacular Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota, the filming location for Dances with Wolves. Tomorrow we head home, eager to return to our routines but so glad we've spent June exploring the West.

• Roughlock Falls, Spearfish River

RV trip day 24: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

Today we saw the last of the attractions we intended to see—Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse rounded out the list—but we heard today about Spearfish Canyon and were advised to check it out. That's tomorrow's agenda, and then our sightseeing is pretty much over and done. We still have 1,000 miles to go before home, though, so we will overnight later this week in Cheyenne, Colorado City, and Albuquerque. If enough energy remains, we may explore Albuquerque for a day. We're tired from all this fun, though, and are itching to get back to our routines.

Above is the Crazy Horse Memorial, 61 years in the making so far. This will be a work in progress for several generations to come.


We saw this fellow moseying down the road in Custer State Park. Signs warn us not to approach any wildlife, especially bison, as they're big and dangerous. We stayed in our car for our photos.

RV trip day 23: Driving to Rapid City, South Dakota

Beautiful rolling hills, long drive. The wind whipped up as we entered South Dakota, and the awning came loose from the side of the RV as we were driving. We pulled off to the side of I-90 to fix it and found that we couldn't roll it back up, partly because it was billowing in the wind. We were afraid the whole awning was going to rip right off the side of the RV and possibly blow into traffic, so I called 911—although nothing disastrous had happened yet, it felt possible.

In a few minutes a state trooper showed up, and we both got onto the roof of the RV to try to secure the awning. But he was as clueless as I was. Then a good Samaritan showed up who was a mechanic getting off work. From his truck he got a hank of rope and a sharp knife, then he figured out how to roll the awning into place and then tie it down. I'm grateful to the stranger and the trooper, who rescued us from an unpleasant predicament.

RV trip day 22: Little Big Horn

Markers on the Little Bighorn Battlefield showing where men fell.

The remains were buried elsewhere.

We spent our 44th wedding anniversary visiting Little Bighorn Battlefield and will eat dinner at the classiest restaurant we can find: The Purple Cow. It's billed as a family restaurant and casino, although the latter is in a separate building.

As we drove through the flat plains and the gently rolling hills, I tried to imagine Indians and U.S. Army trekking through here, hunting for each other and spoiling for a fight. Here is a visitor's center; down the road a KFC, a Conoco station, the Lariat Cafe. Men bashed each others' heads in to control this land, which seems so utterly peaceful now.

Markers for two of the Custers who died on June 25, 1876

General Custer fell at the spot marked with the flag. Among the U.S. Army killed that day were three Custer brothers, a nephew of the general, and a brother-in-law. Notice the two ranks mentioned on General Custer's marker. Apparently he was a lieutenant colonel operating with the command responsibilities of a major general. I haven't read much of the history.

We're having the best weather in weeks. With luck it will hold until we get to Las Cruces, where there's good weather most all the time.

RV trip day 21: Driving to Hardin, Montana

Riverside blossom, Yellowstone

Today was a travel day, capped by our discovery of a failed water pump. So the first order of business tomorrow is a trip into Billings to get the pump replaced. Assuming it doesn't take too long, we'll then head out to the Little Big Horn battlefield site that's just outside of Hardin. If need be, we'll extend our stay by a day.

Last night in West Yellowstone I stopped by the office at our RV park and asked the manager if he would post one of my business cards on his bulletin board. This led to a conversation about my writing, which led to his purchasing two copies each of When Pigs Fly and Getting Lucky. One copy each he had me autograph with a comment about how great his RV site is so he can share them with customers. Then he asked me to sign copies for both of his ladyfriends. They know about each other, he said, and they're good friends with each other, and he's divorced, y'see, and everybody gets along just fine, and...and...I finally laughed and said he didn't owe me any explanations. When I finally took my leave of him, I gave him a friendly little salute with my left hand. He returned it and said, "Toodle-oo, Buckaroo!" He's a very nice fellow, and a character. A variation of him may turn up in one of my novels.