Rapid City, Friends, Teepee Canyon Agates, and Golf

From York we drove to Ogallala, Nebraska. It was an easy drive and we stopped in time for a quick trip to the Petrified Wood Art Museum and Gallery. The main reason for the stop was to study the unique music boxes made from blocks cut and shaped from petrified wood. I tried to make one this winter and as most projects it left a lot to be desired.
The next morning we hooked up for a long days drive to Rapid City, South Dakota. There we would meet up with our friends Bob and Nancy Bentley who had retired this year and moved to Rapid City. I taught with Bob in our Science Department and Nancy had just retired from her position as a Junior High Counselor.

Last year we had made the trip to the Black Hills hoping to hunt for the rare Teepee Canyon agate. Unfortunately a late spring winter storm dashed our plans shutting down the area and covering the rocks with a heavy snow.
This year warm weather allowed us to head out for Teepee Canyon and Bob and Nancy joined us for a day of agate hunting. The hardest thing about agate hunting is that most people have no idea what they are looking for but after a few hours Bob and Nancy both found great agates!

The next day Bob and I went golfing at a course right next to their new apartment and Bob gave me some much appreciated lessons. He was a golf coach at our high school, and had three teams that won state championships. Taking on a harder task he taught me how to play golf and he gave me pointers as we walked eighteen holes, (your hitting the ball straight but you are aiming to the right).

I didn't set the course on fire but I did have three pars and I was pretty happy with that as I haven't picked up a golf club since last July. When I took up golf  Bob told me to just have fun and try to play bogey golf. The idea is to enjoy each day and to smile when I hit a nice tree, and I hit several.
We also spent several days looking for clothes for our daughters August wedding, but to no avail.

The wedding theme is for a nineteen twenties wedding and I don't like the zoot suit gangster look. I also don't want a flimsy Halloween costume so the search continues. I will probably be forced to buy something online, hoping it will fit my expanded waist.
We had a great time in the Black Hills and now Star Valley beckons so today we are going to hook up and drive to Casper, Wyoming. There we plan on spending several days as winds of forty plus miles per hour are forecast and I don't drive in such conditions. Thursday the winds should abate and then we are going to try to make it to our summer base camp/home. Clear skies