Americas Mailbox, Rapid City SD

We packed up the RV and started up the U-Haul truck and headed to Rapid city, SD on the 2nd of May 2018.  Terry drove the U-Haul and I drove the nice and comfy Chevy.  But it seems like every time we go on to a new location, I start running out of DEF fluid (fluid that is injected into the exhaust system for emissions) in the Chevy.  It happened going to Carlsbad and now to Rapid City.  We were under two hundred miles to go when the notification came out so I knew I could make it there without issue.  After we set up the RV at Americas Campground in Box Elder, SD (right next to rapid city) we headed to the Flying J next door.  They had a DEF pump which is easier and cheaper than buying it in 2.5-gallon jugs and my truck can take up to 7 gallons.

Of course, the office of the campground wasn’t open when we arrived so in the morning of the 3rd, we went into the office to check in.  That is when they informed us we were in the wrong spot, but they never told us they changed our spot.  Not a problem though, they moved things around so we wouldn’t have to.   One of the main reasons we came to Rapid City first was to get the truck and trailer registered in SD and get my Driver license address fixed.  We weren’t sure what all we needed to get the vehicles registered, so we talked to one of the employees at Americas Way that do it all the time.  (Americas Way is where our home address is and where we get our mail delivered to.  Once they receive the mail, we can have them send it to us anywhere in the country.  They also register vehicles for us if we want so we don’t have to come back to South Dakota every year.).

Once we found out we had everything, we found out where to go (The Administration Office, county clerk people…not the DMV like In Colorado.) and headed out to get my drivers license fixed then to the administration building.  They were about 5 miles apart.  When we arrived at the DMV, we took a number and my butt almost touched the chair before our number was called.   I explained to the lady behind the desk that when I was verifying my address when I received the driver’s license, I must have saw a squirrel because everything on the license was correct except for one digit in our Personal Mail Box (PMB) number.  She said no problem and made a new license for me (new picture too).  I asked how much and she said, “Nothing.  It was our fault.”  Never heard anyone say that before, especially government.  After that, off to the Administration office we go.

We arrived downtown and parked.  We walked to one building thinking that was it (it wasn’t), then we walked to the end of the block thinking it was down there…it wasn’t.  We asked and found out it was the opposite direction.  Basically, if we turned right after getting out of the truck instead of left, we would have walked right into it.  Go figure.  We entered the building, went to the sign that said “Wait Here”, stood there for about 0.00000987 seconds and then was called up.  That process took about 10 minutes which is less time than it took us to find the building.

We planned on it taking all day, possibly two days (just in case) to get the registration done and license fixed.  Instead it took 40 minutes for the whole thing including the drive.  So, we did what anyone else would do, go exploring.

After lunch and with new plates on the truck, Terry wanted to see water falling from the side of hills so we headed to Spearfish and Bridal Veil Falls.  I think the falls were about 60 miles or so west of us and since it was off season, the traffic was really light.  Our first stop was Bridal Veil Falls.  I don’t remember stopping there before, but maybe we did.  It was just a waterfall on the side of the road with no structures except a deck you can stand on to check out the falls.

Next we headed to Spearfish Falls.  Once we arrived there, I said “Hey, we been here before!”  Terry said “So!  We are seeing them again!”.   So, we saw them again.  But they made big improvements to the path that goes to the bottom of the falls to include a little deck to stand on too.  Spearfish Falls also has a restaurant, store and other things by the falls.


I wanted to check out Deadwood even though Terry said we have been there before.  I don’t remember going there.   On the way, we stopped for ice cream and a soda, then continued on.  The first town we drove through was Lead or Lead, not sure how to pronounce it so we will just call it Lead for argument sake.  What Terry pointed out was Lead and Deadwood was setup like Blackhawk and Central City in Colorado, narrow streets and all.  What I noticed was “We have never been here before”, Terry agreed.  We didn’t stop because it was getting later in the day, so we will have to save that as a stop the next time we visit Rapid City.  Here are some pictures of the falls and Lead.

On Friday the 4th of May, I told Terry it was Star Wars day, you know “May the fourth be with you”.  She just looked at me like I’m stupid.  Probably what you are doing right now.  Anyway, one of the things we are collecting in our travels is hat pins, stickers, and tokens from National Parks if available.  We have been to Rapid City and surrounding areas many times over the last 20 years, so we wanted to get souvenirs of the parks.  Off we go getting our stuff.


First stop was Mt. Rushmore.  Of course, the park itself is free, but parking cost money.  We drove up to the booth to pay for parking and the guy said it would be $10 dollars.  I asked do we get a discount for being veterans, he said “Yes.  It will be $10 dollars and thanks for your service”.  We felt good we got a deal and off to park our big ass truck into a small parking garage.  But again, this is off season and not many people were there.  Mainly kids, about 3 million of them.  We (Terry) decided we would walk the trail around by the heads and before we even started, we saw some mountain goats on the hill. So, we took some pictures of them, then off on the trail we go.  We made it 300 yards and found out the trail was closed for maintenance.  Here are some pictures we took.  The drawback on coming before the season starts I guess.   We turned around, bought what we wanted and headed to the next stop, Jewel Cave and then Wind Cave.  We didn’t tour them since we did that before, we just bought the stickers, pins and tokens and continued on to Custer State Park.  We didn’t get anything here just drove through and checked out the buffalo.  Here are some Pictures we took.   After that we headed back home for the night.

That is all we did in Rapid City.  We are packing up and heading to Summit, SD to drop off the furniture.  The review for the campground can be seen here, or on the Camping Reviews page (link on the right).