1880 Train

It’s funny how one person can influence another without even knowing it. A perfect example is my friend Victor’s son Jack. Jack loves trains. Victor tells me about taking his son to model train conventions and one Sunday, after they had been to a convention at a nearby Holiday Inn, they stopped into the office. I was working and was planning my trip to the Grand Canyon at that time. . Jack was so excited when I showed him the Grand Canyon Railroad’s web site and I told him I was going to be riding on it that I determined to try to fit train rides in wherever I go if they have them. I then buy postcards, take pictures and try to pick up information about the train to bring back for Jack. The end result is that I have become as hooked on taking these train rides as Jack is on the trains!

So in planning our South Dakota trip, I researched vintage trains and there was one known as the 1880 train that runs from Hill City to Keystone and back. That quickly landed on the must do list and we made the reservations well in advance of our trip.

The only other BIG thing I/we wanted to be sure to include was a visit to one of the many caves in the area. There were so many ranging from large cave systems like Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave to smaller privately owned caves. We agreed we would fit at least one in but didn’t decide on which one. We planned to wait til we got out there and had a better “lay of the land” before committing.
Our trip was coming together. I don’t think it’s good to plan too much because you always find things to distract or cause you to detour. If you have yourself locked into a really tight schedule you miss out on the spontaneous detours which, to me, are half the fun and adventure of vacation.

We had a back up list of things to do if we had extra time and we were ready to start packing.

It was time to finalize things on my side. I confirmed with my pet sitter and pulled out my luggage so Rocky would be prepared when I started packing. I’ve found that if I leave the suitcase out a few days before I start to pack that he eventually leaves it alone. I avoid the problem of him trying to guard it when I’m trying to pack.

We were flying out of Albany so I would be driving to NY to meet up with my sister. We’d then take one car to the Park n’ fly and just split the parking cost.

I’m starting to get excited now!


Don't forget...I'm still collecting names for the prairie dog mascot!

Tomorrow...the trip begins.