Many of the comments on yesterday’s post made great sense to me, so I took your advice and didn’t try to make it all the way to the refuge today. I’m spending the night in Summit, SD, and will make the final push to Tamarac tomorrow.
On a most positive note, the wind was almost nonexistent today so I had a smooth 145 mile trip. Best of all, after once more climbing up the ladder to use duct tape on the awning arm before I left this morning, the awning stayed where it was supposed to all day. 
Several folks suggested tying the arm with rope or Velcro or something. I have to explain that this is one of those automatic awnings, and there’s nothing to tie off. There is no space between the arm and the rig. It’s flush against the side of the rig, so duct tape was my only option at this time.
Of course, that didn’t mean that whole trip was uneventful. There’s always something, isn’t there? Once I set up at my site here in Summit, I went back to retrieve the keys out of the toad and set the emergency brake. My fob wouldn’t open the lock so I had to use the key in the door. Odd. Also, no dinging went off when I opened the door. That told me something was up. Turned out to be user error. I have a stick shift car that I tow, so I put it in neutral and turn the key one notch up before leaving. I always double check that, but this morning I didn’t. Dang! Seems I turned it a little past one notch, and the battery was dead as a door nail.
I went to see the host to see if he had jumper cables. He did, we hooked them up, and still nothing. 
Summit is a very small town in South Dakota. The host said he’d call the local car repair guy in town even though it was a Sunday because he thought my battery was a goner. I kept my fingers crossed. Within ten minutes the repair guy arrived with a portable jumper to give it a try. It worked! When I asked him what I owed him, he said, “Ten dollars ought to do it.” Wow! You can bet I gave him a nice tip for his trouble.
For some reason, I never even thought of calling my road side assistance plan. I can’t imagine that they could have done any better than this local fellow did for me.
As far as the ♫ (note) is concerned? I only get a couple of channels on the TV antenna here. I often like to have the TV on in the background as I write. I can’t believe the best channel reception just had ‘The Lawrence Welk Show’ on from 1956. My dad died that year when I was eight years old. Once my mom began dating again, she made us watch Lawrence Welk each Saturday night while she got ready to go dancing. Ugh! I can’t believe I had that on. You go Myron Floyd! Bubbles and all…
I guess this turned out to be more than a little note…
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
