Nomad Life - Day 152

My decision to wait until the weekend to depart from Rapid City seemed to pay off, with the coldest temps fading in the rear view mirror when I woke up at 0545 (no alarm set) this morning.  I spent part of the morning reading, completing Duolingo exercises and working on puzzles.  After doing some packing, I went to breakfast in the lobby of the Microtel (Rapid City).  By 0745, I was back in my room and took some time taking care of paperwork and making hotel reservations for coming week.  By 1030, I was packing up the car and planning to get on the road.  Unfortunately, the last few days of weak starts finally resulted in a series of clicking sounds (but no start).  Temps were in the 20s by then so I don't think it was the extreme cold.  Regardless, I didn't want to be stuck in Rapid City for much longer...  When I went back into the hotel, I found some nice people who helped me charge the battery - this jump start was almost a one-for-one on my own support for another person back in Cheyenne...  I finally left the hotel at 1100 and made a beeline back to Courtesy Subaru (where I'd gotten help a few days before).  The staff was pretty busy (with curtailed hours for a Saturday) but they agreed to do a battery test (started at 1115) to see what might need to be done.  After about an hour, they told me that they recommended a new battery (the old one had been nearly completely drained, was too small and didn’t have the correct CCA for cold weather).  Though I wasn't exactly certain when I last replaced the battery, I still authorized them to replace it.  This turned out to be an extremely costly and time consuming decision.  When they released the car back to me (1300), I immediately noticed a check engine light and had to wait for that to be reset.  It wasn't until 1330 that I was able to depart the dealership.  Now I have a shiny new battery (should last five or more years).  As I drove out of Rapid City (on SD-79), I had lots of problems because all of my settings had been reset with the battery change.  The sun was shining brilliantly but it was still below 30 degrees as I drove - the wind was a nit of a factor but it didn't last once I'd passed through drove through Buffalo Gap.  For a little while, I enjoyed traffic-free travel on a four lane highway.  Before long, however, I reached the place where US-18 and US-385 headed west to Hot Springs (I'd been there about a week prior).  As I drove through town, I picked up late lunch at Dairy Queen (1430).  Since I was feeling a bit behind schedule by then, I ate most of the food in the car.  Meanwhile (still on US-18), I climbed into Black Hills - I could feel the pressure differential in my ears.  At 1455, I stopped at the parking lot for the Minnekahta Trailhead so I could check out the George S. Mickelson Trail that I'd seen signs for during my northbound drive through the area.  It turned out to be a 109 mile rail trail that connected Edgemont and Deadwood.  There seemed to be a good amount of infrastructure and signage so I started walking southbound.  I noticed some signs nearby that indicated I was supposed to pay but I never did.  The outside temperature had descended to 17 F and this was not comfortable for walking.  In the end, I gave up and returned to my car after about a half mile of trail (one mile total).  Starting up my car again, I found that I had Christmas Tree lights on my dash, the continuation of my problems at the dealership (and last seen in South Lake Tahoe, CA).  This didn't make me happy at all because I could no longer use my cruise control.  Departing from the trailhead (1510), I continued south and west on US-18 until I reached the town of Edgemont - just before that, I crossed the Cheyenne River.  At 1525, I parked near City Park and walked more of the Mickelson Trail.  Along the way, I found a unique covered bridge (the locals claimed it was the only one in the plains states), saw lots of military equipment and items connected with the railroad.  The town had signs that celebrated their role as a "Trail Town" at the southern end of the rail trail. By the time I was finished (1545), I'd logged another two miles of walking and felt pretty good about my progress on such a cold day.  I checked online about services at the town's Catholic Church but discovered they only had Mass at PM on Sundays.  From Edgemont, I took SD-471 and SD 71 towards the south.  There were some times in when I wasn't on pavement anymore and I followed a zig zag pattern (all right angles) between ranches. I crossed into Nebraska at 1615 and the road became NE-71.  During this drive, I passed through the Oglala National Grassland (another place my family visited in 2010).  At one point, I saw a coyote - this seemed was a surprise because I didn't see any prairie dog towns nearby.  The remoteness of my drive was underscored by the fact that I saw no cars at all for many miles.  Eventually (1645), I reached the town of Crawford and was shocked to find unplowed roads - there was a lot of snow!  Like before, I checked into the Mass times for their Catholic Church but learned there were no services on Saturdays.  Dang...  Throughout this part of the drive, several town welcome signs showed populations below 300 people.  I wanted to stop for a bathroom at times but each one I encountered (rest areas, etc.) were locked.  On the plus side, I saw some amazing sunset views, with beautiful colors in the sky and on the distant horizon.  After passing by a sign that indicated I was close to the town of Belmont (probably named for the town in Massachusetts where my company is located), I got on NE-2.  This road helped me to reach US-385 and, a bit later, my destination: Alliance (1745).  Like in Crawford, there was lots of snow on the ground - the most I've seen since Washington State.  I checked back into the Alliance Hotel (by HoJo & Wyndham) and the desk clerk remembered me.  We ended up talking for quite a while before he upgraded me a wonderful room on the second floor!  It was better than the one I'd stayed in during the previous weekend and I felt very welcome.  I set up my work stuff in the room and then bought three beers (a "buy two get one free" offer) from the hotel desk clerk - they only cost $6 and featured two new beers from nearby Brewery 719.  Before enjoying them, though, I decided to go work out in the hotel fitness center (started at 1845).  I ended up completing 1.5 miles on the treadmill (less than 40 minutes) and 4 miles on the stationary/recumbent bike (20 minutes).  After that (1945), I returned to my room and caught up on paperwork and my blog.  While looking through all the maintenance records for my car, I couldn't find any reference to a previous battery change - this might mean I had the original one and it would have lasted for seven years!  The rest of the evening was spent watching movies.  Meanwhile, I drank all three beers - they were all good.  Bed time was at 2330.  Feeling quite relieved that I've resolved the battery issue but hope I can clear up the dashboard lights before continuing east...