Changing Domicile (America’s Mailbox, Box Elder SD)

I told you in my last post from Wednesday that we were just going to relax at the Badlands Interior Campground and that’s exactly what we did.  It was also our 32nd wedding anniversary so we just spent time together.

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David & Stilla (15 July 1983)

But first, we said goodbye to my Dad and stepmom Elaine…

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They’re heading back to Hermosa for a night and then on back home to Colorado Springs.

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Dad pulling the coach over to the dump station under Elaine’s watchful eye.
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Kaan, Dad, & Elaine.

Bye Dad and Elaine… safe travels!  We’ll see you in a little less than a month when we go back to drop the grandson off with our oldest daughter before school starts.

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Dad & Elaine leaving Badlands Interior Campground.

After we said goodbye to my Dad & Elaine, we hung out at our campsite…

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and at the pool…

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It was a great day of just hanging out.  Happy Anniversary to my dear wife Stilla – thanks for putting up with me for 32 years!  Hopefully there will be another 32 🙂

On Thursday, we packed up and went to the dump station to take care of business…

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then we departed the Badlands Interior Campground

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and looked back one last time on the Badlands because we headed southwest on Hwy 44 instead of going through the park again…

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Our destination for the day was Americas Mailbox located just east of Rapid City in Box Elder, SD.  Travel distance for the day was about 75 miles.

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Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD.

Click HERE for information on Americas Mailbox.

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Main Office for Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD.

We pulled in and went to the office to get one of their nineteen full hook-up RV sites behind the building.  And guess what?  Another Alpine is here!  Larry and Lorna Kenney from Phoenix!  It turns out we were in Quartzsite together in January for the Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally”.  The sites here are a little over $30 per night.  We paid for two nights and were able to park next to Larry & Lorna.

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Parked next to Larry & Lorna Kenney at Americas Mailbox in Box Elder SD.

Inside the office, we were greeted by a very kind receptionist, who linked us up with a representative named Carla.  She sat down with us and explained the different mail forwarding service “Home Base” plans and talked us through the procedures of getting drivers licenses and changing license plates.

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Inside the Main Office for Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD.

She was very helpful and with her input we decided to take the Bronze Plan for our mail forwarding service.  This is their least expensive plan (click HERE for more info) and should meet our needs since all of our bills and statements are online.  We can always upgrade later if needed.  The little bit of mail that we still get is currently going to our youngest daughter’s address and consists primarily of junk mail.

We made plans to visit the DMV for new licenses tomorrow (Friday), but I’ll write more about that in my next post.  And with Carla’s input, we decided to wait on registering the vehicles since the Coach and the Harley were just renewed in May.  Carla said it’s very common for people to wait until their vehicles are due for renewal… which makes sense – since we already paid Colorado… why should we throw that money away to renew in South Dakota right away, right?  If questioned by law enforcement about why we have SD licenses but CO plates, we simply tell them the truth and say we’re in the process of moving.  Carla made copies of our vehicle(s) initial purchase information, titles, taxes paid, etc., so all we have to do is make a call to Americas Mailbox and they will register our vehicles and send our plates to us. (for a $30 fee).  I might still go ahead and register the Silverado though, since it’s due in November.  But I’ll wait until Monday to decide.

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Cool picture hanging in the ‘Americas Mailbox’ lobby.

After taking care of the paperwork in the office, it was already late, so we drove over to a nearby TGI Fridays for dinner.  When we got back from dinner, I spent  some time sitting outside with an adult beverage talking to Larry about Alpines… and of course we compared this-and-that on our Coaches, talked mods and issues, etc.,  which is just what us Alpine Coach drivers do 🙂  It’s a small RV world after all.

And that’s all for now… I know I’m behind but I have lots of pictures for my next post because on Friday we took our grandson to Storybook Island in Rapid City after getting our drivers licenses and then we drove back up I-90 to tour around Sturgis.

Saturday (today) we moved over to Ellsworth AFB to take advantage of their cheaper rates at the FamCamp.  So check back in for more on all that…