2023 Estelline Trip

[JEBar]

thankfully our 16 hundred+ mile drive out here went without any major issues

last Monday morning while breaking camp for our last day's drive, I found our camper's front, off door side tire was about 30 lbs low .... I decided to pump it way up and hit the road .... bottom line, it got us here ..... this morning I took a look at it and was most definitely flat .... a couple of blocks from where we are camped is a Co-Op farm supply/hardware store .... I drove over and spoke with the fellow in charge of tires .... he agreed to come to our site and get the tire .... I used the camper's auto leveling system to jack it up and he quickly removed the tire .... it turned out to have a tiny nail in it plus a large gash in the tread were it had apparently run over something sharp .... no clue how long it has been that way, one 4" part of the slice was down to the cord ..... he went on to look at the rear tire and it too was in bad shape .... that's where "thankfully" comes in .... neither of them could have lasted much longer .... two new replacements have been installed and the door side tires have been thoroughly inspected .... looks like we will need to find a trailer tire alignment shop when we get back home

[dave77]

Ouch, probably expensive. I just spent $700 for new tires for the Miata, tread was still good but they were 9 years old. Luckily I priced them at both Discount Tire and Les Schwab, for some reason Schwab wanted $200 more for the exact same tires. Unluckily I got them a few weeks ago and Continental decided to have a $150 rebate for a set of tires purchased in June.

[JEBar]

Ouch, probably expensive.

14 ply 235/85R 16 used on heavy duty trailers ....$250 each + tax and mounting

[JEBar]

a beautiful day has dawned in Estelline, SD .... 67 on its way to 75 .... afternoon/evening thunderstorms possible .... for most of today we will be baby sitting Maureen's 18 month old niece .... Maureen's new puppy is assisting .. .. the family has gone to Aberdeen, SD (about 100 miles northwest) to support her 15 year old brother who is participating in the state high school trap shooting championship .... he's developed into a really good shooter .... in his last competition he broke 99 out of 100 clay pigeons .... that ain't bad in anybody's book .... now that our camper's tire issue has been taken care of, so far as I know, nothing major remains .... I do have a few trim screws to replace but that's a very low priority

[JEBar]

we awoke to a beautiful but chilly morning in east-central SD .... cloudless sky, 51 degrees with a brisk South Dakota wind blowing out of the North .... biggest thing on today's agenda is smoking two, Sam's size, full racks of baby back ribs .... doing so will most certainly give our Ninja Woodfired smoker/grill a good workout .... our oldest son and his family are on their way out here to spend a week .... our youngest son and his wife plan to head out driving in a couple of days ..... our daughter and her son have tickets to fly in on Friday ..... this will be the first time in almost 30 years that our entire family has been out here together .... with a rodeo in town and family from out here gathering, we are really looking forward to then next couple of weeks

[JEBar]

47 earlier, already up to 58 on another beautiful morning in east central SD .... only thing on today's agenda (right now but more can always be added later) is a meds run to Brookings which is just under a 50 mile round trip .... its hard to believe we are already starting our second week here

[JEBar]

67 overcast degrees on its way to 85 later today where we are camped in east central SD .... the rest of our family are at various stages of heading out here to join us .... our oldest son and his family are in St Louis and should be here tomorrow .... our youngest son and his family should be here the day after with our daughter and her son arriving the day after that .... my biggest project for today is to repair several sections of 50 amp power cord ....

[JEBar]

its already up to 67 with a prediction that the temp will reach 88 later on today in east central SD .... high clouds with no prediction calling for rain .... our oldest son and his family should have left St Louis about an hour ago for a well over 600 mile drive to join us today ....a few decades ago we could and did make such long drives but for us those days are gone .... several routine items on today's agenda for today .... they include :

repairing one more 50 amp cord
cleaning black tank
making sure a motor home rented by our oldest son is properly setup near us
setting up our outside cooking area to accommodate groups

[JEBar]

following a 140+ mile round trip to Sioux Falls airport to pick up our daughter and her son, our entire family is now in Estelline .... they've all gone to tonight's opening show of this year's Rodeo .... I plan to go tomorrow night because several of our family's kids will be participating .... thunderstorms are forecasted for both nights .... unless things change drastically, we may not see any thunderstorms .... we hope to work in some trap shooting Sunday afternoon

[markiver54]

following a 140+ mile round trip to Sioux Falls airport to pick up our daughter and her son, our entire family is now in Estelline .... they've all gone to tonight's opening show of this year's Rodeo .... I plan to go tomorrow night because several of our family's kids will be participating .... thunderstorms are forecasted for both nights .... unless things change drastically, we may not see any thunderstorms .... we hope to work in some trap shooting Sunday afternoon

Sounds like a great time. Glad you are all together creating memories.

[JEBar]

big day of Rodeo Weekend in Estelline, SD .... right now our youngest son, his son and a friend they brought with them are running in a 5K race .... the big parade is later this morning and bunches of family members will be coming to our site for burgers after the parade .... yep, this will really push the ability of our outside cooking systems .... first up after breakfast for me will be to setup our outside kitchen and get to slicing/chopping onions

[Shakey Jake]

Hope it's cooler up there for a 5K run. It wouldn't happen here with this heat.
Jake

[JEBar]

the weather was good and the race went off without a hitch .... the chance of rain during the rodeo tonight has been lowered drastically .... sure hope that proves to be correct

[JEBar]

our oldest son had to fly back home yesterday so as to get back to work this morning .... his wife pulled out this morning in their Suburban loaded to the gills including 3 kids and a dog with her .... with 94 being predicted for today's high, our youngest son and his family plan to head to a water park down in Brookings .... Maureen has our camper's small washer/dryer overtime

[daytime dave]

Sounds like you are having a good time Jim.

[JEBar]

we certainly are .... today most went to a water park in Brookings this morning .... this afternoon 4 of us went to a local private trap range .... this was the first time I've fired a shotgun since I tore my right rotator cup two and a half years ago .... I only fired 50 rounds and am happy to say my shoulder is doing just fine .... we plan to go back and shoot again Thursday afternoon

[JEBar]

today we are off to a good start .... we fixed sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast .... now the family is driving out to one of Maureen's niece's 2,00++ acre farm .... the young'uns will get to see various animals and some really large and very impressive equipment ... this afternoon we will have a gathering where a niece will be bringing a large, homemade cheese cake .... now that's what I'm really looking forward to

[JEBar]

sadly, our children's visits with us in Estelline are all too rapidly coming to a close .... our oldest son had to fly back so as to go to work and his wife should arrive back home today or tomorrow .... our youngest son and his family are due to head out in the morning on a 1,600+ mile drive straight through back home .... we will be taking our daughter to Sioux Falls airport Saturday morning for her flight home ..... we've had a really good visit and all of us hate to see it coming to an end

[JEBar]

this part of east central SD has been under and extended drought .... today while I was smoking some chicken wings, black clouds rolled in and we had one heck of a storm ....strong wind, heavy rain with hail .... after the storm moved one we learned that the local rain gauges were showing 2.2" .... most of the hail was pea size and very soft .... I happened to get hammered by a brief period of marble size hail that was solid enough to where it bounced on pavement and didn't break ..... it left me with a pretty good size bruise on the back of my left hand and several sore places .... its just started raining again, this time without accompanying lighting or thunder .... this rain is sure welcome to the farmers/ranchers around here

[JEBar]

a most welcome gentle rain continued off and on all night .... it did hold off long enough this morning for our youngest son to get packed up and headed back to NC .... they plan to drive it straight through so they have long 25+ hour's drive in front of them .... we are getting ready for a grocery and other shopping drive to Brookings