Bears and bikes

Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort
Custer, SD

Here at the campground, we each work 40 hours per week,

for which we get $8.55/hour plus our sight.

We also received a VIP pass

which gets us into almost all attractions in the area for free.

George and I are off Monday and Tuesday each week.

Yesterday we did some cleaning and I did laundry.

George is still limited to what he can do,

so I'm making sure he's taking it easy :-)

Today we decided to take a ride and visit Bear Country USA.

This is a drive through wildlife park

which is home to several different species of animals.

The road winds around and over cattle guards

so that the animals don't wander into another's habitat.

It was cool to see Elk,

although they were mostly resting.

The reindeer had their babies nearby..

..as well as did the Bighorn Sheep.

All of the animals are molting, making them look a bit shoddy :-)

The only mountain goat I could get a shot of was laying down,

and behind the fence :-(

Then we got to the bears!

There were black bears and grizzlies,

all wandering free (as free as they can get!).

Such magnificent creatures!

The bears are allowed to roam within their own areas,

and among the cars as well.

We're not allowed to roll down the windows,

but the pictures came out pretty good I think.

After the driving areas, at the end is 'Babyland'.

This is where the young are raised after the mommas

have done their job.

There are some real cuties..

a Badger..

..a sleepy Bobcat..

and these cuties!

Of course there was a Red Fox..

..and an Arctic Wolf.

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the animals.

They look very healthy and happy there.

Afterwards we drove north into Sturgis.

George wanted to check out the area before 

all the motorcycles show up in August.

With our VIP passes, we got into the 

Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame.

It was pretty cool!

There were antique bikes by Harley Davidson,

Indian, Honda, and others.

George really liked it :-)

By that time we were hungry!

We looked up on our app 'TV Food Maps'

a place in Sturgis that was on Food Paradise.

The Knuckle Saloon fit the bill!

George is on a limited list of foods for now,

but he can have a hamburger,

as long as he has no raw veggies on it.

He cannot have fries either, 

but had mashed potatoes instead.

Oh boy, did he have a burger!

It was the Knuckle Sandwich!

Mine was the Murtha Burger.

It had Jalapeno Jelly and cream cheese on it.

Yum!

It was a great place, especially since we were the only ones there!

Give it a couple months, and there'll be thousands :-)

Buffalo!

Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort
Custer, SD

George was really feeling good this morning,

so after lounging around a bit,

we headed off to find some wildlife.

It was a dreary, cloudy, rainy day,

but it didn't stop the animals from entertaining us.

We came across the donkeys first.

There were some cute babies :-)

This one is the only pair we could get a good shot of,

since there were a lot of vehicles around them.

It didn't take long until we came across the buffalo

roaming and grazing..

They're all molting, shedding their winter coats..

Of course, there were a lot of mamas and calves..

There weren't as many people on the roads

as we thought there would be.

However, we caught these two vehicles

in a picture,

and found out shortly thereafter that in the red jeep

was Joan and Deb!

They left their husbands behind to take a wildlife ride as well.

There were a few times we had to wait for

the passing of these big guys..

I never tire of the buffalo!

Our final destination was Rapid City.

I was in desperate need of a pedicure :-)

George was still hanging in there,

so he walked around Walmart while I was getting pretty toes.

Afterwards we got a bite to eat at Pizza Ranch.

It's very good!

We had never heard of this chain restaurant,

but it has a pizza buffet,

along with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies,

and a salad and dessert bar.

George loved the soup and a few pieces of pizza.

His appetite isn't quite back yet,

and he's on a fairly long list of 'can't haves'.

It was nice to get out for the day.

We work again tomorrow from 11-7,

then have Monday and Tuesday off.

If George is feeling up to it,

he has a few household things he needs to do.

Day by day!

George is home!

Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort
Custer, SD

Yesterday I got the call that George was being released

from the hospital.

They were happy with his blood work,

and his drain was removed from the area that had abscessed.

He's still on two different oral antibiotics,

and does have pain meds if he needs them.

George has a follow up appointment on June 9th,

where he'll discuss with the surgeon the next step

in this process.

We think it's important to get this done,

and especially while we're here in Custer.

The same hospital & surgeon just makes it easier.

Back at the campground,

there are new signs going up...

and more things to do to get the campground ready for the season.

Today we worked half day, from 1 - 7:30.

George came over and did a few things

that he could do with his limitations.

They've been great here and told him not to push it.

Tomorrow we have the day off,

and we need to get a few things done.

We're going to drive into Rapid City again,

and maybe take a ride into the park and see some buffalo!

Campground commercial, and another update

Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort
Custer, SD

We had some excitement yesterday at the campground!

One feature of the old Flintstone's campground

is a train that travels around on a track

with a tunnel, dinosaur canyon,

and a cool western town.

The local Fox station came to film

the train in action for a commercial airing this summer.

Everyone from the campground got on the train,

except for George :-(

The cameraman and his assistant

were in the back filming as we rode the track.

We picked up a few more passengers from

the Magic Show that shares the property

with the campground.

As we rounded a corner,

the cameraman had us all wave..

I can't wait to see the finished product!

In the meantime, back at the hospital...

George got his catheter removed,

is getting to eat solid food as of today,

and is finally free of his IV.

He's able to walk around the floor a bit too.

It's looking like he'll be home tomorrow or Thursday!

His surgeon will be on vacation,

but next week he wants to see George again,

then will schedule his next procedure.

He will be able to dissect a section of his colon,

and will be able to do it laparoscopically.

We're happy about that because the recovery time

will be much shorter.

George is anxious to get back home,

and back to working as soon as possible.

Everyone here misses him, 

especially me!

At least I have these guys to keep me company..

George's hospital visit..

Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort
Custer, SD

As a lot of our friends on Facebook know,

the last couple days have been very stressful.

I had mentioned on Friday's post that George didn't feel well.

He'd been having some pain in his lower abdomen.

Saturday morning he wasn't feeling better, 

so off we went to the Custer hospital ER.

He got poked and prodded,

samples taken,

and a CT scan done.

Dr. Joy (who is terrific by the way)

thought maybe it was his appendix,

or kidney or gall stones.

What she found was air in his abdominal cavity.

It was not obvious where the leak was coming from,

so she decided the best course of action

was to send him via ambulance

to Rapid City Regional Hospital.

They took him in right away,

straight to pre-op. 

The anesthesiologist came by to explain

his part in the surgery,

and the surgeon, Dr. Miller,

also explained what he thought might be the issue.

He explained that although he was to do

laparoscopic exploratory surgery,

if he found anything more,

he may have to open George up to repair the issue.

His thought was that it could be a rupture

of either the appendix, an ulcer, or George's colon.

The nurses got George all prepped, 

including shaving his belly :-)

Once Dr. Miller was ready,

they sent me off to go eat something,

and wait in the surgery waiting room.

We had gone to Custer hospital at 8 am,

and it was now about 3:30.

At around 6 pm Dr. Miller came into the waiting room

where he explained what he found.

George's appendix was fine,

no ulcers at all,

but a small area of his colon had abscessed.

He did say it was diverticulitis.

For now he's installed a drain to relieve the abscess,

loaded George up with antibiotics,

and he's gotten some pain meds to help.

I spent the night in a Quality Inn in the same block

as the hospital,

and got an employee rate courtesy of the owners 

of the campground :-)

This morning I went in to visit George,

and he was looking so much better!

He was even enjoying his liquid breakfast :-)

Dr. Miller came by on his rounds and did explain

that he's concerned about this happening again.

He's suggesting going in and removing the

diseased part of the colon at some point.

We're going to find out what he means

by 'some point'.

George wants to do it asap!

We should know tomorrow when that might be.

In the meantime, the campground manager

is so supportive!

She and her husband drove to Rapid City to visit George

this afternoon.

I left this morning to get some groceries,

and to come home and do laundry,

and get some rest myself.

I'll do some work tomorrow here at the campground,

then depending on how George is doing,

go back to the hospital on Tuesday.

Rapid City is a 45 minute drive away.

Thank you for all your prayers and good thoughts.

We both have been feeling them!