2019 Summer Trip To South Dakota

[JEBar]

4 days until we are due to head west .... our first planned stop after leaving home this coming Saturday morning is to take on fuel at a Flying J on I-40 just west of Durham .... to make sure we have ample fuel in the truck's tanks we road over to a local station and took on 15 gallons of fuel .... packing continues .... periods of rain now in the forecast between now and Friday could easily complicate things

[markiver54]

Rain storms as you know Jim are supposed to be hit or miss in this region anyway. Maybe they will have passed by the time ya'll hit the road. I wish you safe travels and will follow on your journey.

[JEBar]

they are calling for a 90% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday .... we hope to be at our campground on Saturday, somewhere around 3PM .... good to hear the rain is supposed to be scattered and not set in as an all day event .... we've also been watching the storm swirling around in the Gulf .... while the area around home is dry and could use some rain, a good portion of the country we need to pass through on our way to South Dakota sure doesn't need any more for a while

[markiver54]

I know this is not new to you Jim and you obviously prepare for whatever Mother Nature throws at you!

[BigAl52]

I got some out here Id send ya in a heartbeat. Im thinkin any day now the gators will be comin out of the ditches. I saw some pics today from one of our drivers where the lakes are completely across the roads and about a foot deep. Surprised the road was even open.

[Mags]

.
You got gators in Colorado?

I got some out here Id send ya in a heartbeat. Im thinkin any day now the gators will be comin out of the ditches. I saw some pics today from one of our drivers where the lakes are completely across the roads and about a foot deep. Surprised the road was even open.

[JEBar]

I know this is not new to you Jim and you obviously prepare for whatever Mother Nature throws at you!

one would like to think so but the reality is, about all we can do is, all we can do .... we prepare the best we can in advance and make it a point to not get in a hurry unless we are forced to

[BigAl52]

.
You got gators in Colorado?

I got some out here Id send ya in a heartbeat. Im thinkin any day now the gators will be comin out of the ditches. I saw some pics today from one of our drivers where the lakes are completely across the roads and about a foot deep. Surprised the road was even open.

Big ones

[Mags]

.
Must be cold blooded suckers...

.
You got gators in Colorado?

I got some out here Id send ya in a heartbeat. Im thinkin any day now the gators will be comin out of the ditches. I saw some pics today from one of our drivers where the lakes are completely across the roads and about a foot deep. Surprised the road was even open.

Big ones

[JEBar]

a few years ago we were parked in a campground in Florida where I saw a sign to not go beyond the sign due to Gators .... we didn't go past the sign and never actually saw any .... in thinking back I can't help but wonder how the gators knew which side of the sign to stay on ..

[markiver54]

a few years ago we were parked in a campground in Florida where I saw a sign to not go beyond the sign due to Gators .... we didn't go past the sign and never actually saw any .... in thinking back I can't help but wonder how the gators knew which side of the sign to stay on ..

I always wonder when I see a deer crossing sign, how do they know where to cross?

[JEBar]

I always wonder when I see a deer crossing sign, how do they know where to cross?

yep, most certainly one of the mysteries of the universe

[BigAl52]

Cold blooded and there fast

[JEBar]

with rain forecasted to be on the way, we've gotten serious about moving thing into the camper .... hopefully by later this afternoon we will have most of our clothing and larger electronic equipment (printers, food sealer, crock pots, etc) out there and stored .... Dry Lube PTFE Spray needed to lube the pistons in our auto leveling system ordered, should be here Friday .... tomorrow we start precooling our Yeti cooler that is mounted on the carrier on the back of our camper .... tire pressure monitoring system activated, all's good ....perimeter critter defense system (AKA mouse traps) inspected, delighted to find all's good ....

[JEBar]

just received a link from Missouri's Highway Department showing the roads closures ===>

http://traveler.modot.org/map/

.... they've really been hit hard

[PT7]

Yeah, it has been interesting to "navigate" in and around KCMO lately, Jim. Late last week, I decided to visit the Leavenworth Natl Cemetery where my wife is buried. This was within days after the Linwood, KS tornado. I know of four different routes to get there from my home, and all are initially circuitous. Out of the four, only one was open for travel --- barely. I still drove through some flooding on the highways, and haven't yet scraped off the mud on the sides of my car from the farm soil pushed onto the roads.

Your modot map sure tells the story. Probably other neighboring states show their travel issues, which exist due to Midwest flooding this year. I hope you'll be able to successfully plan all your upcoming travels to SD.

[JEBar]

good wishes appreciated .... as things stand today, we should be able to get out there by following the route spelled out in post 1 of this thread .... we sure hope that the repairs are made and we can take I-29 down to KC in August .... we are really looking forward to attending the gathering down there

[JEBar]

2 more days at home .... 20+ days without any rain and with us due to pull out Saturday morning, its been raining every day .... 100% chance of rain/thunderstorms on Friday so we must come as close as we can to completing packing tomorrow .... if the forecast is correct, we should be in and out of rain for our entire first day's drive to Western NC

[JEBar]

thankfully the rain forecasted for today hasn't materialized .. .. most of our morning was spent taking things from the house out to the camper .... for the most part our major packing is complete .... an unexpected need for a trip to Sam's materialized, we were able to work it in along with having to pickup our soon to be grandson from daycare .... tomorrow we plan to move food and other such supplies to the camper, hopefully, the rain they are calling for tomorrow will take its time getting here ....

[JEBar]

rain is supposed to set in here later today and once it starts, it is supposed to set in for a good while .... we continue packing in preparation for pulling out for South Dakota tomorrow morning .... the last minute stuff will no doubt end up being loaded while its raining .... we have hooked up so our things to do outside of the camper in the morning have been minimized .... sounds like we will be driving through rain most all day and we expect it to rain most of the time between our arrival and when we pull out on Monday morning .... shouldn't be a major issue unless the creek that runs through the campground gets out