Jodi's Heart Inc. | Sheridan, Wyoming

Keystone, South Dakota 2010

On Monday July 5th 30 participants and staff from Jodi’s Heart departed for Keystone, South Dakota for a week long camping trip. After five hours of travelling (which included a lunch stop in Gillette) we arrived at Rattlesnake Jake’s in Keystone to check in to our camp, Meeting the Need. Meeting the Need is owned by Dallas Dietrich who also owns Rattlesnake Jake’s in Keystone. Dallas is wheelchair bound and has designed Meeting the Need to be fully handicap accessible so that everyone can enjoy a camping experience regardless of their mobility limitations. Please check out www.meetingtheneed.com for more information on this absolutely incredible camp. Dallas has become a good friend to Jodi’s Heart and all our participants and we always look forward to seeing him upon our arrival in Keystone. Unfortunately this year he was away on medical visits and we would not see him until Wednesday. His wife Mary was able to get us out to the camp and get the cabins unlocked and ready for us.

We spent the rest of Monday evening unpacking, organizing bunks, and assigning sleeping arrangements. Kyle and Jodi whipped up some hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner and we spent the evening making plans for the events the next day. We also enjoyed some time around the campfire before retiring to out beds to get ready for a full day of activities.

Tuesday morning came with Kyle cooking up pancakes and sausage for breakfast. After cleaning up we headed out for our first adventure. Our first adventure took us to Cosmos to see the “Natural Wonders” of Cosmos. Not all our group was physically able to handle Cosmos so they went shopping in Keystone for the morning. After being wowed by the Cosmos phenomenon we returned to camp for lunch. Tuesday afternoon found us at Rattlesnake Jake’s GoodTyme Photos getting our annual group picture. The staff was wonderful and in short order they had us all in Old West costume and lined up around the bar for our picture. After our picture and some shopping, we headed back to camp for dinner.

After filling up on tacos, we headed up to the campfire for a special guest performer. We were entertained by Bill Keitel who sings and plays guitar. He was travelling home from Cody and stopped at Meeting the Need to perform for us. We were all thoroughly entertained and enjoyed his music. We had such a good time that Bill has decided to make our camping trip an annual stop. You can get more information on Bill at HYPERLINK "http://www.buffalobillfoldcompany.com" www.buffalobillfoldcompany.com.

The evening turned out extra special for our group as we listened to Bill play and sing. Rodney Gibson who is 67 years old and has Down’s Syndrome and Alzheimer’s, has been a client and friend of Jodi’s and our group for over 20 years now. With great sadness, we have watched him lose his awareness of his surroundings and become more withdrawn over the past three years. On this night however, Rodney was more aware of his surroundings and more animated than anyone had seen him in over two years. Watching him clap, laugh, smile and dance with Des brought a big smile to all of our faces (as well as a lot of tears to our eyes). It was so special to see Rodney like we remember him.

On Wednesday we awoke to another gorgeous South Dakota morning. After another hearty breakfast, half of our group went to the Old McDonald Petting Zoo while the other half travelled a little farther to Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. Later we met up at the Christmas Store for some shopping and headed back to camp for lunch. After lunch we loaded up into all four vehicles and headed out to Bear Country USA. We spent an hour and a half driving through the park looking at all the wild animals there. We arrived in the bear pen just in time for lunch. After eating we enjoyed watching the park rangers run around trying to shoo the bears away from the feed pile. Fortunately none of them became desert for any of the bears. Later we walked around the Baby Animals enclosure before heading into the gift shop for more shopping. We finally returned to camp for another delicious meal and spent the rest of the evening around the campfire enjoying the cool mountain air.

Thursday we ate a leisurely breakfast and lounged around camp a little later than normal. We headed out to Reptile Gardens for the day about 10:30 in the morning. We spent the day walking around Reptile Gardens looking at all the creatures on display there. We also watched the snake and alligator show. After the alligator show those of us who were brave enough got to pet a baby alligator. We enjoyed lunch at the Gardens in the middle of our day and finally returned to camp around 4:00 pm for dinner. After dinner we loaded up and drove into downtown Keystone to walk and shop and look around the town. While we enjoyed all the stores in Keystone, the Fudge Shoppe and the Taffy Shoppe seemed to be two that were a favorite of almost everyone in our group. A little later a small group headed up to Mt. Rushmore to watch the night show and the lighting of the faces. The rest of the group headed back to camp were S’mores were made and enjoyed by all members of our group.

Friday morning dawned clear and sunny which was a good thing since that was the day we planned on going swimming at Rushmore Water Slides. After breakfast we eventually made our way out of camp and towards Rapid City. We arrived at the water slides mid-morning and spent the next five hours swimming, sliding, sunning, and relaxing. We fixed ourselves lunch at the park and just enjoyed being outside in the warm weather. The highlight of our water sliding trip was getting Michael Warnke out of his wheelchair for a run down one of the big slides. It took over three hours for Pat Tarver to convince him to go but he finally worked up the courage. He ended up enjoying it so much, that thirty minutes later he asked Pat to take him down again. On his second trip down he had quite an audience. He even received a loud round of applause from several of the other swimmers at the park. This was the first time in his forty-one years Michael had done this and we are very proud of him for moving so far out of his comfort zone.

For our final night, Kyle prepared goulash and after eating we headed back into Keystone for a final night of shopping. Amazingly, several of us still had spending cash so we went and purchased our final souvenirs of our trip. Saturday we woke up early and began the process of packing and cleaning. After breakfast we loaded all our stuff into the bus, the vans, the truck, and the trailer. Finally about 10:30 we made our way out of camp and hit the highway for home. We arrived home at 5 o’clock and began the process unloading, sorting and transporting all the participants home. The process proved to be quick and by 5:30 we all were off to our own homes and beds for some much needed rest.

Check out some photos from this year's trip!