2020 Trip To South Dakota

[Hatchdog]

Safe travels on your home trip. Sure enjoyed reading your commentary.

[JEBar]

kind words appreciated .... yesterday we took a very nice, 2+ hour boat ride around Lake Poinsett .... later we drove back out there where we ate at a restaurant overlooking lake .... what is scheduled to be our last full day in South Dakota is going to be a busy one .... most of the big items that need to be taken care of have been taken care of .... a much longer list of smaller items remains .... add to that a steady flow of friends and relatives stopping by, its bound to take longer than usual .... we just heard on the news that seven days from now the activity in Atlantic hurricane season is supposed to increase .... that's about the time we are due to get back home ..

[brm4450]

Waved as we went by exit 150 Toronto Estelline

[JEBar]

wish you'd of been able to stop buy ..

[JEBar]

we its departure eve and are settled in for the evening .... its truly hard to believe that two months have passed so quickly .... we are certainly looking forward to getting back home to see the kids but not so pleased to be leaving Estelline .... we are pretty much down to our get up and get on the road routine ....

[JEBar]

we've had a good visit and great time in South Dakota but departure morning has arrived .. .. thankfully, the weather looks good for our first day's drive to Onawa, IA .... our hope is to hookup around 9AM, drive uptown where we will store $3,200 worth of South Dakota steaks, then head south to Volga, SD where we plan to take on sufficient fuel to get us east of Kansas City and then head south on I-29 .... no side trips or other planned stops .... the temp is predicted to be 83 with a 0% chance of rain ....

[brm4450]

I wished I had been able to stop the other day, I hope for you to have a great return trip home. Good travels and stay safe and healthy.
brm4450

[JEBar]

a week ago an inland storm with near hurricane force winds passed through Iowa, Cedar Rapids was just part of a large area that was really devastated .... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/derecho-st ... s-midwest/ .... right now we are camped in north west Iowa, just south of Sioux City and the corn crop seems to be coming along OK .... during today's drive we did see large center pivot irrigation systems in use .... a year ago some of those same fields were flooded .... the corn fields in eastern South Dakota actually looks better than those we see in Iowa .... with the large loss of Iowa corn, farmers in other parts of this part of the country may have a much better bottom line

today's drive took 3 hrs 49 min and covered 211.4 miles .... during our 9 weeks in Estelline we put 1,329 miles on our truck

[The Wiz]

Hope to see ya when you get home.

[JEBar]

AMEN .... we have some shooting to catch up on .... not to mention your knife that's in my truck ..

[BigAl52]

Safe travels back home. Were on a travel day tomorrow also. Moving to the town of Montrose,Co close to the river there. We will stay there until friday. If I 70 isnt open we are in good position to go the alternate route home. We check one other route only to find that the road construction is terrible for 6 miles. Roads out here are rough enough as it is without taking a rig over that.

[JEBar]

safe travels to you guys as well .... last year's trip was heavily impacted by road damage from heavy flooding .... thankfully, this year we haven't had to contend with them .... we hope to get on the road this morning somewhere around 9AM .... today's 4+ hr (265 mi) drive is scheduled to take us to a campground just east of KC where we are looking forward to linking up with Evan (ESquared) this evening

[brm4450]

The Estelline/Hendricks football team announced the postponement of their first two games of the 2020 season. Due to 2 positive Covid-19 cases

[JEBar]

we heard that yesterday .... the Athletic Director was exposed at a conference meeting and contracted it .... he had a very mild case, suffered no issues .... he was isolated from his family and none of them have tested positive .... they are unsure where the two players were exposed

[JEBar]

our second day's drive from Onawa, IA to Grain Valley, MO took 5 hrs to cover 291.2 miles .... our biggest surprise was seeing how dry the farm fields seemed to be .... some of the corn looked wilted .... the highlight of our first day in Grain Valley was getting to visit at our camper for most of the afternoon with Evan (ESquared) .... we can't help but be amazed at how well he's handling his hip replacement and the subsequent setback from a mysterious infection .... tonight we ate at Jack Strack BBQ .... we can't recommend it highly enough .... my task for today was remaking coax of various lengths to work with our Pathway X2 .... must say I'm looking forward to getting back to a campground with clear view of the southern sky .... tomorrows project is to replace the 7-wire connector that connects our camper with our truck .... hopefully, that will take care of a few bugs

[ESquared]

A good time was had by all, both at camp and at dinner! Great to be with you and Maureen, as always!

Man, that guy needs a haircut!

[JEBar]

its been one of those days that we got some things that need to be taken care of done and some left undone .... first thing was to fill the truck .... we hadn't completely filled both tanks in well over 1,100 miles .... about half towing and half bobtailing, over that distance our truck got 10.4 mpg .... we are very happy with that .... next we drove to the KC B Bass Pro to purchase a replacement camping stove .... naturally, the one we want was sold out, more not due until next week .... next stopped at a car parts to purchase a can of Dry Lube PTFE Spray that we use on our camper's auto leveling system ... they were out so we found a Home Depot, they were out so we found a Walmart and, thankfully, they did have some .... next on the agenda was to pick up ice to add to the coolers in which we are hauling South Dakota steaks back home .... once again we met Evan for dinner and are now settled in for the evening

[markiver54]

its been one of those days that we got some things that need to be taken care of done and some left undone .... first thing was to fill the truck .... we hadn't completely filled both tanks in well over 1,100 miles .... about half towing and half bobtailing, over that distance our truck got 10.4 mpg .... we are very happy with that .... next we drove to the KC B Bass Pro to purchase a replacement camping stove .... naturally, the one we want was sold out, more not due until next week .... next stopped at a car parts to purchase a can of Dry Lube PTFE Spray that we use on our camper's auto leveling system ... they were out so we found a Home Depot, they were out so we found a Walmart and, thankfully, they did have some .... next on the agenda was to pick up ice to add to the coolers in which we are hauling South Dakota steaks back home .... once again we met Evan for dinner and are now settled in for the evening

Big sigh of relief at this point I'm sure!

[ESquared]

Great to be with you this week, Jim, and always nice to see Maureen! Safe travels on your last few legs of the trip home!

Here's to a true revival of the KC Gathering next year!

[JEBar]

245.7 miles covered in 4 hr 19 min after leaving Oak Grove we are setup in the West St Louis KOA in Eureka, MO .... while in Oak Grove we put 112.3 non-towing miles on our truck ... as a side note, we dropped off the first $650 worth of South Dakota ribeyes to a friend who has ordered them for several years .... our thermometer showed 92 degrees while we were setting up and I believe every degree of it .... its been a good while since I've been in high heat and humidity like this and it really shows .... tomorrow's plan includes trap shooting in the afternoon and for our friend to come over and service our camper's AC's later in the day