CH45

Alexis had spent the night at Johanna's; Kate found herself taking care of Alexis on her own. It was up to her to get Alexis out of bed early, into the tub to give her a bath, make sure she brushed her teeth all while laying out clothes for her to wear. Plus Kate still had to do all that for herself though in her case it was a quick shower.

That was followed by helping her mother and Oscar take all their food out to the motorhome that Kate had pulled out of its barn and parked closer to the house. Next came packing clothes for at least three days. Rick had been adamant that everyone bring a swimsuit. "Babe, you've already seen me naked," Kate purred while running a hand across his chest. "Yes, but not in a sexy bikini," he countered and gave her a quick kiss.

Kate started up the motorhome, checked all of her gauges, and started driving up their road towards US85. Once they reached it they could see Rick sitting on the other side waving at them. It looked like Paige got first dibs at shotgun. Rick had the four girls while Kate and Johanna had Oscar and Alexis. Kate and Johanna waved back because Oscar and Alexis were sitting somewhere behind them. Kate watched as Rick headed south towards town and US16 for their trip to Mount Rushmore. Kate pulled in behind him and followed him all the way. He stopped at a gas station in town before going to their campsite with Kate doing the same. Since Johanna stayed inside to talk with Oscar and Alexis, Kate didn't get any grief about how much it cost to fill this beast even if it was a diesel that got better mileage.

When they arrived at the campground Rick stopped at the office, paid for their stay, and got directions to their side by side campsite.

Spokane Creek Cabins and Campground.

Spokane Creek sits in a valley on 24 picturesque acres just 7 miles south of Keystone. We are located on the spectacular, historic Iron Mountain Roadbetween Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial, making us an ideal location to enjoy the wonders of the Black Hills.

Spokane Creek features 22 RV sites with 30 amp service, 8 of which are full hookups (water, electric & sewer) and 14 are water and electric only - a dump station is located by the showerhouse and is free for our guests.

Rick could only get water and electric at the time of booking almost 3 months ago when Alexis had brought the camping trip up. It did mean he had to back up his trailer into place AFTER Kate had parked so she could guide him into place. It only took him 8 tries this time.

After leveling their homes, extending the pull outs and the canopies, the girls heard, "What's first ladies?" as Rick slapped his hands together, rubbed them, then pulled out the brochure that he had downloaded and printed out.

"We drove through Keystone to get here so it's relatively close." Rick told them.

Local activities include: Alpine Slide, Scenic Chairlift, Aerial Adventure Park, Zipline, Free Fall Tower, and Mountain Top Grille.

"How about the slide girls? We can go up and down a few times and then take the chairlift up to the Mountain Top Grille to eat lunch. Then we can either all do the Zipline or split up a little and do that and Free Fall Tower. Or both?" Rick asked them.

Rick soon had Oscar in his passenger seat with Jenny between them and four little girls in the back seat. Kate and Johanna were behind him on their scooters.

Alpine Slide

Riders descend one of our two parallel mountain tracks in a wheeled cart, specially designed to navigate all the dips and high-banked turns. Of course, if you'd rather enjoy a more leisurely descent, that is entirely up to you. Let gravity do its thing, or slow the journey down and enjoy the view!

Like a lot of rides it had an age and height minimum requirement. Only Paige was old enough and big enough to go down on her own. That left four little girls and four adults to go with them.

Kate, Johanna, and Oscar soon had six kids rushing back up the hill to do it all over again, though one of them was a little big. This was followed by six kids yelling and having fun going back down again, only to do it all over again. Kate and Johanna had to admit that Rick knew how to keep five little girls happy.

The Scenic Chairlift turned out to be what they used to get back up to the top to go back down the Alpine Slide or they could keep going up to the very top to reach the Alpine Adventure Park. The Mountain Top Grille was somewhere else.

Alpine Adventure Park

We had 5 different courses. Since everyone has loved the park so much we just recently added three new courses!

We now have:

Yellow Courses (meant for beginner climbing)

Green Courses (meant for intermediate climbing)

Blue Courses (meant for advanced climbing)

Black Course (meant for expert climbing

+ Platforms and More Than 80 Different Elements

One of the Aerial Adventure Park's defining features is that it combines more than 80 platforms with more than 80 different elements, including:

Integrated Ziplines

Suspended bridges

Suspended ladders

Trapezes

Tubes

Cables

Rings

Nets

And more!

Each Climber gets a pass for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The first 15 minutes is meant for harnessing and briefing on the safety equipment. Once you have learned the information, you are set free to try as many of the 8 courses we have in 90 minutes.

Rick was all set to let everyone go anywhere they wanted including the Black Course meant for expert climbers. "Rick do you really think 6-year-old girls are expert climbers?" Johanna asked, exasperated at his lack of good sense. "You want to explain to their parents why you let their little girls do something you were supposed to prevent and keep them out of the hospital beds they're all in?" Kate added glaring at him. "Not to mention the hospital bills you'll be on the hook for," Johanna added.

"Fine. Party poopers," he grumbled. Rick relented, not that it stopped them taking the girls, each secured to an adult, to ride a zipline though Jenny chickened out of doing that. However a set of parents who only had one little boy with them offered to take her and she was screaming all the way across. "Can we do that again?" she asked excitedly.

A different trip took them to the Mountain Top Grille for lunch.

Our impressive menu features a variety of delicious entrees, drinks and desserts that includes:

Mouth-watering grilled hamburgers (beef or buffalo)

Brats

Salads

Plenty of kid-friendly options

Beer and soda

A full assortment of ice cream flavors

"Buffalo burgers?" the girls asked. "Buffalo meat is slightly sweeter than regular beef and extremely tender. If you like sweet food you'll love it and the meat will melt in your mouth," their server explained. Everyone had buffalo burgers, fries, and soda about 30 minutes later.

"Anyone save room for ice cream? We have a very large assortment," their server offered. The girls soon had cones with a single scoop of differing flavors. Johanna had a waffle cone with two scoops as did Rick and Oscar.

With their tummies full and happy beyond description they were back at their homes letting the dogs out so they could be good dogs. Then Rick surprised all of them by pulling out two doggie tie out stakes out of the back of his truck and screwing them into the ground. This was followed by hooking two 20 foot cables to each tie out. He hooked Midas and Maggie to their cables and Thor and Patch to theirs. "The pet rules said the dogs had to be on a leash at all times." Rick waved his hand at the four 20 foot leashes which earned him a kiss to his cheek from Kate.

"Can we go play?" Paige asked and pointed at the playset in the middle of the campground. It had two towers and four swings and wasn't being used. It wasn't nearly as big or tall as Alexis's but it was nice. "I'll watch them," Oscar offered and followed the five running girls.

"No fire pit?" Johanna asked not seeing one. Rick shook his head. "There are two large central ones for everyone to use. But I did bring wood, marshmallows, and coat hangers for everyone. I also have a number of folding chairs but I'm hoping that you have a few, too," he explained. He had six and Kate and Johanna had two which meant they were short one chair.

"There's a store and gift shop at the entrance, maybe they sell chairs," Kate said and grabbed her helmet. "You can take the truck." Rick dangled the keys. "I'll be fine," she told him as she mounted her scooter and took off.

"I'm going to start dinner since I have so many mouths to feed," Johanna announced and went into her motorhome. That left Rick all alone. Four adults and 5 kids and he's left alone. He pulled out the two folding tables and the chairs that he had brought. He was just finishing setting them up when he saw Kate riding back with something. She dropped it on the ground and took off her helmet. "All they had were folding sports chairs. You wouldn't believe what they want for them." Kate had spent the money, but just didn't like it.

"I'll pay you back," he offered. "I can buy my own chair Rick, I'm not broke." Kate didn't know why she was suddenly so defensive. "I didn't say you were. This trip was my idea because Alexis brought it up and wanted to spend time with her friends. So I just assumed I should pay for the chair we are missing." If he had counted and planned ahead they wouldn't be short one chair.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I snapped at you." Kate deflated since she really didn't know where that came from. He stepped up and hugged her which had her melting into him as always and took away her suddenly foul mood. "You're forgiven," Rick told her and kept holding her, feeling Kate melt into him like always.

Kate knew it was his hugging power that made her feel like that, it's just that she felt so much better when he hugged her. He took away all her sour feelings and made her think everything would work out. "Where's Mom?" she asked him talking into his chest. "Starting dinner. Something about having a lot of mouths to feed," he replied and felt her leave his arms. "I should probably go help her before she yells at me to do just that." Kate reached up to give him a quick kiss and entered their motorhome.

"Need any help Mom?" She stepped inside and closed the screen door behind her. "Not really, this is pretty simple. I just need to make a lot of it. What are the kids doing?" Johanna changed the subject which got Kate to look outside to check on the girls. "Still playing on the playset which is almost as big as Alexis's. Looks like they have 3 other kids with them now," she told her. "Well I'm not feeding them too, they can just go home and eat." Johanna was praying Rick had brought food since she had underestimated how much they would need.

"What are you making?" Kate inquired looking over her mom's shoulder. "It's Spanish Paella with an Asian twist. I'm using egg fried rice. A little chorizo, a little bacon, a little ham, and some prawns. If anyone is picky they should be able to pick out what they don't like but still have enough to eat." At least she was hoping that's how it would work.

"If you would start the salad please, this is going to be done in a few minutes," Johanna asked her. "I'll get Rick to bring the kids home so they can wash up," Kate offered and called to him through the door.

Shortly they had three kids lined up at their bathroom to wash up secure in the knowledge that the others were in Rick's trailer. Johanna and Kate soon found 5 hungry kids sitting at one of Rick's folding tables as they both placed a plate full down in front of each of them. "Milk for everyone?" Kate asked getting nodding heads since they had already started eating.

"Is this seafood?" one of them asked suddenly. "They're prawns and yes, they're seafood," Johanna responded. "I can't have seafood. It makes my skin do bad things," she told Johanna. "You're allergic!? I'm so sorry I didn't think to ask. I'll fix it, just give me a few minutes." Johanna took her plate away and went back inside.

She dumped it, Chinet® paper plate and all, into the trash and started from scratch using sliced chicken breast this time. She went back out minutes later, the allergic child having to eat with the adults. "Here sweetie. It has chicken instead. I'm really sorry. Does anyone else have an allergy to something?" Johanna asked them. "Not too spicy?" one of them asked. "Not too spicy, got it. I'll do better next time now that I know," Johanna promised.

Rick and Oscar set the chairs around the fire pit a little ways away from where they were camped. Rick was walking back as everyone else passed him going the other way. "I have the marshmallows and Mom has the coat hangers, babe," Kate told him as they went past, getting him to turn around and join them. They ended up with the girls on one side and the adults on the other. Rick arranged the wood, stuffed some paper at the bottom, and struck a match; in about 30 minutes they had a roaring fire.

Kate started throwing marshmallows at the girls getting a couple of them to giggle while trying to catch them. Soon everyone was roasting their first marshmallows.

"Mind if we join you?" A family with an older daughter, probably 11 or 12 maybe, asked them. "Of course." The adults started shuffling around closer to the girls to make room. "I don't have any more coat hangers, just lots of marshmallows. Maybe you can find some useful sticks in the woods?" Rick suggested which had the father up and walking to the trees. Moments later he was back with three branches that would work. Kate threw them marshmallows. The father had just dropped his third one. "Smooth Dad," his daughter teased. "That's why I'm a Major League Baseball player," he teased back.

"You're a baseball player?" Jenny was impressed. "Dad's teasing. He doesn't know the difference between football, baseball, or basketball," she joshed her father. "Oh ha, ha, you're a real riot Strph," he countered.

"Oh, where are my manners! This is my husband Jamison, our daughter Stephanie, and I'm Penny," she introduced her family. "I'm Rick, my friend Oscar, Johanna, her daughter Kate, my daughter Alexis and her friends from school: Paige, Jenny, Sara and Samantha," he introduced their group.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. How long have you been here?" Penny asked. "We just got here today," Johanna replied. "We have two more days before going home," she added. "We've been here for three days so far and have three more days to go," Penny said. "Have you been to Mount Rushmore yet?" she asked them.

"Probably tomorrow," Rick answered since it hadn't been decided. "A word of caution, get there early if you want to avoid the crowds. We got there a little before lunch and it was a nightmare," Penny informed them. "One of the staff told us we should have gotten there early. Live and learn," Jamison remarked.

"Where are you from?" Johanna inquired. "We're from Billings, Montana. I'm a camera operator for channel 8, KURL Billings. We're an NBC affiliate," Jamison told them. "You?" he queried. "We're from Newcastle, Wyoming. I'm opening a new restaurant on the 4th of July," Johanna said.

"That sounds exciting, what's it called?" Penny asked. "AFTER DARK," Johanna replied. "MOM!?" Steph suddenly questioned. "Is that the one with fireworks?" Penny asked her. "Actually yes. We're going to have a big display on opening night. How did you know?" Johanna asked since she didn't know anyone outside of town knew much of anything about AFTER DARK. "We saw the sign just off I-90 at the US16 exit on our way out here. We thought about stopping but it sounded like it was only open at night so we stayed on I-90," Penny explained.

"At the moment the plan is to only be open for dinner. We'll shoot off fireworks every time the University of Wyoming football or basketball team has a win," Johanna said. "So you don't plan on shooting off many fireworks I take it," Jamison ribbed which got Johanna to stick her tongue out at him causing him to laugh.

They all settled down to roast marshmallows in silence until Kate and Johanna noticed the girls starting to yawn. "It looks like it's getting late babe," Kate called out and motioned with her head at the yawning girls. Rick and Kate escorted them to the trailer and motorhome.

Rick prepared the beds, having to convert the dinette and sofa into a bed and making sure they each brushed their teeth. After that he took Alexis over to the motorhome to shower since all of the girls were pretty grubby from their very active day. Kate stayed in the trailer with the other four girls, making sure they showered and changed into their jammies. She went over to the motorhome to tuck Alexis into her bed. Rick had wondered how Kate managed to sleep in the platform area not taking into consideration that she was much smaller than him.

"All tucked in?" he asked Sara and Samantha who were sleeping in back with Midas and Maggie who needed to go out to do their business. Rick moved to Paige and Jenny. "Kate and I will be right in there if you need anything. Don't be afraid to come get one of us if you need anything." He hooked up Midas and Maggie and found Kate outside waiting for him with Patch and Thor on leashes.

They walked the dogs around, picked up after them, and threw the bags in the trash. Then they walked over to the fire pit and lent a hand folding up chairs, not wanting to leave the girls all alone that far away. Each said their goodbyes since they would probably not see each other again. Rick and Kate set the chairs back up around the folding tables and staked out the dogs outdoors again while the adults sat down and talked about anything that came up. The adults retreated to their respective homes later and showered before bed making morning logistics easier.