Sturgis, South Dakota: We Did It; We are South Dakotans

Full timing in an RV presents an incredible opportunity to see the people, towns, and parks of the Americas. Incredibly beautiful landscapes and monuments, many with unspoiled beauty. It opens the doors to meeting a wide variety of interesting and usually genuinely nice people.

Full timing in an RV allows you the freedom to travel when ever & where ever you want (OK, Hawaii and any other islands are a bit of a stretch). It allows you to stay and enjoy an area as long as you want and/or can afford. Or move on quickly. Your choice.

Mostly, full-timing in an RV is all good.... except, and you knew there had to be an except... most government organizations and many businesses do not consider the special needs of full-timers.

How about getting your mail/packages delivered to a (mostly) moving target? Mail forwarding services exist however you must have a local address.

What about voting? Absentee ballots are the obvious answer however many state require you to live in them some number.

What about taxes? Paying for services you are not using does not make a lot of sense.
Registration of vehicles, insurance, banking, licenses/identification, etc. And the Patriot Act is making it tougher not easier to full time in an RV without some sort of fixed address.

Since we are selling our house (if the market ever improves...) we need to establish residency somewhere in the US that helps us handle all the issues I mentioned (and many more).

We've been looking at which state best meets our needs and narrowed it down to Florida, Texas, and South Dakota.

After a lot of evaluation we have decided to become South Dakota residents. Today, in Sturgis, SD, we took the first step. We now have South Dakota driver's licenses and a local bank account. The next step is to register our vehicles here and get the insurance transferred/re-quoted for South Dakota.

Then arrangements for voting. Lots to squeeze in as we continue to see the best parks and communities that America has to offer. At least the one's in our vicinity. No matter how long we spend in an area we are always amazed at two things: 1) how much there is to see and do in the areas we visit. 2) How much more we could have done in these areas before leaving.

Talk about a state with a lot of small towns. The DMV rotates which of the small towns it will be in on any given day. Wednesdays are Spearfish; Friday's are Sturgis. So we went to the Sturgis' Community Center and -- viola -- 10 minutes later we are South Dakota residents.

We love this state. It has a special beauty all it's own, especially the Black Hills. Throw in the long and varied history of the local native Americans, and you have an environment that cannot be duplicated. Of course, being full timers means we will not be spending much time anywhere, including SD. Especially during the winter. In fact we are planning to spend this winter (Jan -March/April) in Arizona; not sure exactly where just yet.

Of course, while we were in Sturgis we had to stop by and see the most famous (or rather infamous) campground that hosts all the big name entertainment as well as a variety of other non-professional entertainment acts (bikers).

Tomorrow we plan to leave the Devil's Tower area and head to Montana. I'm hoping to get to the Little Bighorn Memorial mid-day and then camp somewhere around Billings Montana Saturday night. Then we'll explore the Bear Tooth Mountains before heading into Yellowstone. That's the plan unless we see something else we would like to do..... awesome.

See Ya!