Time for some R&R

So anyway ...

Mick and I took what we felt was a well-deserved vacation last week to the Black Hills. We were pulling the travel trailer so we knew it would be a long drive and decided to just take our time, splitting the drive into two days.

Day One —

I’m not always the best “rider” during our trips as I tend to get a little bored, so I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to learn to play the ukulele.

(I know what you’re thinking ... why doesn’t Mick vacation alone?)

We started our journey listening to the radio. To be more specific it was “60s on 6” on Sirius radio. Our unspoken standing rule for radio tuning is if it’s your vehicle, you have control of the radio and we were in Mick’s truck.

I don’t find the music from the 60s objectionable by any means, but it’s like that station’s DJ only had about two dozen songs in his play list. I’m gonna be honest, I thought by the time we returned home I was going to pull my hair out if I had to listen to The Mamas & The Papas complain about their Monday one more time. I was also curious as to why any father would give his heavy-footed daughter her own set of keys to a T-bird. That girl needed grounded and confined to her room for a few weeks, yet every time I heard that little ditty the outcome was always the same.

About two hours into our drive, I pulled out the uke and the beginner’s music book. I tried to fake my way through a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” since Mick had to spend his 59th birthday behind the wheel, but it was unrecognizable and sadly off the mark.

So it was back to the radio.

We stopped for the night in Mitchell, S.D., set up camp and chilled.

This is our first camping vacation without kids in tow. It’s wonderful how laid back and relaxing vacation can actually be when you’re not figuring out ways to keep children entertained. No need to go to the pool. No need to get bicycles out. No need to unpack yard games and toys. No Corn Palace — let’s face it, if you’ve seen it once, you should be set for life.

Day Two —

Since we’re early risers, we were packed up and on the road again the next morning by 6 a.m.

We eventually made our way to Custer, S.D. (uphill all the way, I might add) before noon.

Once we got ourselves situated in what was to be our home-away-from-home for the next week, we decided any “touristy” stuff we wanted to do could wait. It was a nice feeling to just do absolutely nothing.

Our campground hosted a cook-out the evening of the Fourth of July and what a spread they put out. They served roughly 500 guests.

We were also invited to take our lawn chairs up to the camp store and sit and watch the town’s fireworks, over the tops of the pine trees where we were staying. My guess is we were the only two people on the property sound asleep hours before it even got dark. Didn’t hear a thing!

Days Three, Four and Five —

Of course we did the required sightseeing, including visiting Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore with the handy-dandy selfie stick I’d won at one of our family Christmas’s White Elephant exchanges a few years back. If you don’t have a selfie stick, get one before your next vacation! You only feel stupid the first time you use it. After that, it’s a godsend.

Most of our time was spent simply resting, taking walks through the campground, enjoying nature and the spectacular view we had from our campsite.

Day Six —

For me, when vacation is over, it’s over and I just want to be home. So we pulled out of the campground at 5:19 a.m. We were doing the return trip home in one day (seemingly uphill all the way, I might add), just staying our course with mandatory stops for fuel. We were home by 7 p.m. and totally exhausted from our week’s sabbatical.

Oh, and the ukulele? Given the time we spent driving and at our campground and my determination to acquire some sort of talent, I’m now quite accomplished on Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” as long as it played in the key of “beginner ukulele.” I only learned five chords.

Contact Dana King at dking@shawmedia.com