MMAP Nisland, S.D. Week 3 Finished

Our MMAP trip is officially finished. Before we left, we all had lunch at the Burnt Toast Restaurant on the last day.

There is another MMAP group coming in a week from Monday for three weeks and will be finishing up the work at Nisland Independent Community Church, and we left this morning.


Of course, the spiders found us after being parked for a couple of weeks, and the grasshoppers found the webs and got caught!

But we still had lots of grasshoppers jump around our legs as we walked!
We left early enough to see deer..... one was sitting!! Which neither of us have ever seen before, but passed too quickly for a picture!! I was tempted to have Paul stop so I could run back, but knew it would be gone by then!

We are now on our way to Neligh, Nebraska for Nathan's wedding!
On our way, we stopped to visit the Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo, South Dakota.
A VERY interesting place, with a little bit of everything, including 250 antique and classic automobiles, and tractors housed in several buildings,



and some one of a kind vehicles!




and motorcycles, one of which is still registered to Elvis,

and a 1921 motor home, which cost $16,000 to build! The couple toured the USA for three years!


Of course for us, it became a visit down memory lane: Paul pointed out the motorcycle model that he had just out of high school. His was dark blue in color, and he drove it from Redlands to San Francisco! Imagine a 12+ hour drive on this "Dream"!!

and I showed him one of the cars we had growing up, the Metropolitan; ours was a pretty green color....and my sister and I actually fit in the "back seat" (barely)!! It was mom's car, the first time we had a second vehicle!

and they even had a model of my first car, the Willys! Mine was light blue, and I was sorry to give it up. But my dad, the mechanic, thought it was time for a new one.

We lost an hour, coming back into central time, but we got as far as Valentine, just south of the South Dakota border, before stopping early enough to relax, do some laundry and enjoy the evening.

MMAP Nisland, S.D. End of Week 2

We are at the end of our second week, with one more week to go and we will have completed our commitment to MMAP for the year. Our six month trip has gone fast on one hand, but yet slow on the other hand, since it seems like forever ago that we left. We are both ready to go home for a while.

The siding on the church continues to go up, the painting inside continues,

and after next week, another group from MMAP will come to Nisland Independent Community Church. They will continue to work on the siding and get to see the project completed!

This weekend started out Thursday night at the Butte-Lawrence County Fair, held here at the Nisland Fair Grounds. A great historic octagon pavilion is the centerpiece of the grounds. All of us went down to enjoy the country fair at its finest! The electric company and the telephone company paired up and supplied the fair goers with a great pulled barbecue meat sandwich with beans and chips.

While in line, we got Democrat popsicles, and at the end of the line after getting our meal, we got Republican vanilla ice cream!! After we ate, we enjoyed what none of us had ever experienced before: Watching the sheep catch

and the tractor pull.

The fair definitely had a country feel!

Friday was vampire day for Paul, then on to Walmart and out to lunch with our coordinators, the Enfingers. We have really appreciated their willingness to take us to the clinic each week Paul is required to have his blood checked.

Saturday, we went with our next door neighbors and fellow workers, Wayne and Brenda Price. They took us with them to Spearfish,

taking the scenic drive (Hwy 14A) we had gone on last week. We stopped in Belle Fourche on the way so the guys could see the Center of the Nation. That's right...no longer in Kansas...when the coordinates include Alaska and Hawii, the center of the USA is just north of this town.

We ladies stopped there earlier in the week when we did our laundry, but knew the guys would enjoy seeing it as well.

After going through Spearfish Canyon, we continued on a dirt road past Roughlock Falls and we were able to see where the winter camp was filmed in Dances with Wolves.... can you believe that movie came out 20 years ago!?! We need to watch it again to see if we recognize it!

Instead of returning the same way, we continued on to Lead, Deadwood and then through Sturgis.

In Deadwood, we walked through #10 Saloon (which is For Sale, by the way, if anyone is interested!) where Wild Bill Hickock was shot and killed.


Then up to Mt. Moriah Cemetery where he is buried,

and where we had a great overview of the town.

During World War I, Congress granted Deadwood permission to fly the flag 24 hours a day to honor all veterans


Then we drove through Sturgis, where all of the bikers were headquartered last week. Some are still around......we even saw a bride on a motorcycle!! Too fast for me and my camera to catch!

We came home via Hwy 79, which took us on the other side of Bear Butte!

And to end, we have enjoyed the sunsets here: They have been beautiful, especially when the clouds are present.

MMAP Nisland, S.D. Week 2

Last Friday, we went with the Enfingers (our coordinators for this month) for a ride through Spearfish Canyon. The scenic road (14A) follows a creek through the canyon, which was formed prior to the Grand Canyon!

The scenery was really beautiful.... with different rock formations along the way,


and again, we got a feel for the amount of motorcycles in the area!!

And THIS was the most unique motorcycle we saw!

The weather was perfect and the scenery fantastic, including Bridal Veil Falls
with the top view- from the road and from the bottom, after a short walk






















and at the end of the canyon, Roughlock Falls!

























It made us miss the jeep even more!!








This morning, after spending the last week removing siding and prepping, the men were able to put the first board up!
They are looking forward to more visible progress during this week.

I was the brave one to paint the top of the 15 foot walls! A very tense day! I guess I am getting experience for when we have to paint at home! NOT!!
As we continue to work, we praise the Lord for safety during this project!