Black Hills & Badlands Part 4 - Making some new friends
As previously mentioned, when we first checked in we encountered a guy kind like a cross between these two characters: 
When we came back for the siesta and the actual check-in, I was greeted by a very different person. This older lady told me to come back to the office at my leisure and that she would draw me a map of the best way to get to Mt. Rushmore and where to see some local wildlife. When Genna was crashed out, I went to take her up on it. Well, I got the info, and a lot more.
Dotty Lebel and her husband Frenchy are "workampers" (read about it here and here). Essentially, they live out of an RV and work when they want to -- in this case, they help manage the Badlands Inn. When the season is over, they'll pull the connections and head to Arizona for the winter. Next, year, who knows where they'll be. Their one restriction is that they only want to work in states with no income tax, because apparently if you work in one state with it, that state's Dept of Revenue will attempt to reach deep into your wallet and get income tax from EVERY state you've worked that year. So they like Tennessee, South Dakota, and New Hampshire when they're working.
Dotty's endless stream of stories and wisdom kept me prompting her, "When you gonna write a book?" She said that she used to maintain a newsletter but that it was a tad tedious and that she had lost all of her old copies. The wheels started to turn in the inevitable direction -- "Do you have a computer", I asked. She did. Well, I went into full-bore teacher mode and proceeded to get her going on her blog.
It dawned on me that 45 minutes had passed and that Genna might be a bit concerned -- I found her and drug her back to the office.
When we came back for the siesta and the actual check-in, I was greeted by a very different person. This older lady told me to come back to the office at my leisure and that she would draw me a map of the best way to get to Mt. Rushmore and where to see some local wildlife. When Genna was crashed out, I went to take her up on it. Well, I got the info, and a lot more.
Dotty Lebel and her husband Frenchy are "workampers" (read about it here and here). Essentially, they live out of an RV and work when they want to -- in this case, they help manage the Badlands Inn. When the season is over, they'll pull the connections and head to Arizona for the winter. Next, year, who knows where they'll be. Their one restriction is that they only want to work in states with no income tax, because apparently if you work in one state with it, that state's Dept of Revenue will attempt to reach deep into your wallet and get income tax from EVERY state you've worked that year. So they like Tennessee, South Dakota, and New Hampshire when they're working.
Dotty's endless stream of stories and wisdom kept me prompting her, "When you gonna write a book?" She said that she used to maintain a newsletter but that it was a tad tedious and that she had lost all of her old copies. The wheels started to turn in the inevitable direction -- "Do you have a computer", I asked. She did. Well, I went into full-bore teacher mode and proceeded to get her going on her blog.
It dawned on me that 45 minutes had passed and that Genna might be a bit concerned -- I found her and drug her back to the office.
Genna snapped this one as Dotty was getting things going. Dotty was repeatedly interrupted by customers (how rude!!) which allowed Genna and me to marvel at the photos they had used as a slide show screen saver --- professionally composed and exposed -- all beautiful. Frenchy showed up to shake his head at Dotty's new enterprise; Genna coaxed them into a portrait:
Married 49 years and still very much in love!
You can find Dotty's new blog here.
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