2018 Summer Trip West

[JEBar]

in less than a month we are scheduled to leave home and head west in our camper to spend the summer in South Dakota ... our camper is not 12 years old and has been towed from ocean to ocean and border to border .... during our time since returning from spending the winter in Texas, we have undertaken some major maintenance and upgrades .... right now we are half way through replacing the camper's leaf springs, installing Dexter's Nev-R-Adjust brakes, and new brake drums equipped with Dexter's Nev-R-Lube bearings .... in addition we have to replace an aftermarket protective fender that would help reduce damage from a tire explosion .... that install is expected to be the most difficult item on our upgrade list ....

Trip Itinerary

June 5 .... Home to Asheville East KOA in Swannanoa, NC ---- https://koa.com/campgrounds/asheville-east/

June 7 .... to Clarksville RV Park in Clarksville, TN ---- https://clarksvillervpark.com/

June 8 .... to St Louis West KOA in Eureka, MO ---- http://koa.com/campgrounds/st-louis-west/

June 9 & 10 @ Jay Henges Shooting Park ---- https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-natu ... ion-center ---- right now their rifle/pistol range is down for maintenance, sure hope its up and running by the time we get there .... if not, the friends we shoot with out there are going to try and come up with a Plan B

June 11 ... to Victorian Acres in Nebraska City, NE ---- https://koa.com/campgrounds/st-louis-west/

June 12 ... to Estelline, SD

August 2 .... to Victorian Acres in Nebraska City, NE

August 3 .... to St Louis West KOA in Eureka, MO ----

August 4 & 5 .... @ Jay Henges

August 6 .... to Clarksville RV Park in Clarksville, TN

August 7 .... to Asheville East KOA in Swannanoa, NC

August 8 or 9 .... back home


we are happy to be able to schedule 4 days Jay Henges .... if the weather and everything else breaks in our favor, we plan to thoroughly exercise our Henry 44 Mag .... we also hope to spend some time shooting while in South Dakota .... toward that end, we plan to have 1,000 rounds loaded and ready to go by the time we pull out ....

[dave77]

When I was a kid we would drive to North Dakota most summers to visit my Mom's relatives. I mostly remember how flat and hot it was, no AC in our cars back then. On the drive there the best part of the day was getting to a motel that had a pool.

[JEBar]

we visit my wife's home area which is mid way up the eastern state border above Sioux Falls .... the land around there was sculptured by glaciers back in the ice ages .... I think the term for it is rolling .... the further west one drives, the land does flatten out .... I really enjoy the mild summer temps and low humidity

[JEBar]

all 4 of our camper's brake drums, Nev-R-Lube bearings, Nev-R-Adjust brakes and leaf springs have been replaced .... our plan to give them a test run this weekend have been scraped due to tropical rains moving through .... I'm rather uneasy about not testing them before heading west and do hope something can be worked out .... shown below 1,274 freshly loaded 44 Mag rounds that we hope to fire at various stops on our trip out west

[RanchRoper]

Looks like a well armed excursion....

[JEBar]

we really enjoy shooting trap so its pretty much standard for us to leave home with 500 to 700 low brass 12 ga shells .... this will be the highest number of center fire bullets we have ever packed .... weather will play a large part in just how many we use .... we have 4 range days scheduled in Missouri and hope to work out some more in South Dakota on each of those 4 days we fully anticipate using 100 to 200 12 ga shells and 200 or hopefully more 44's

[JEBar]

yet another Good News -- Bad News day .... the good news is, the the last of our planned replacements has been completed .... shown below in the first two pictures is a new protective fender installed over our camper's tires .... earlier this year while in Texas during our winter trip, a broken spring allowed a camper tire to come into contact with the protective fender ... that pretty well took it apart so we had to remove it .... its purpose is to help contain blown tire fragments so as to minimize damage to the camper and to reduce water thrown by the tires onto the camper's rear auto leveling jacks .... our oldest son took care of it for us and he did a really good job .... prior to pulling out of South Dakota I hope to be able to touch up the paint .... the bad news is the living area slide stopped working at the position shown in the third picture .... no sound of a gear or other such failure .... it's apparently an electrical issue .... the first thing checked was the fuse which was fine .... the next was to check switch ..... as can be seen in the last 4 pictures, a burned black wire ..... knowing that there is a possibility the problem could be with the slide motor/gearbox, and realizing we don't have much time left prior to our scheduled departure date, we have one on order .... the best tech at the dealership where I used to work is on tap to come over and repair/replace if needed .... unfortunately he can't get here until the Sunday before we are due to pull out on Tuesday .... that's cutting it awfully close, sure hope repairing the wiring and/or replacing the switch takes care of the problem .... I guess the good news in the failure is it happened while we are still at home and not somewhere on the road ....

[CT_Shooter]

Good luck Jim, and for sure it's better to find problems at home instead of on the road.

[JEBar]

good wishes appreciated .... if all goes well, by mid afternoon on Saturday we should have a reliable diagnosis as to the cause of the slide problem .... sure hope its minor (wiring plug and/or switch) so that it can be quickly taken care of and we can move on to other pre-trip preparations

[The Wiz]

Do you think you'll have time to do any fishing?

[JEBar]

Do you think you'll have time to do any fishing?

I most certainly hope to be able to do so .... arthritis in my hands has pretty well put an end to my bass fishing .... I simply no longer can make cast after cast .... out there we troll for walleyes .... that's become my favorite type of fresh water fishing

[Sir Henry]

When I read "trip west" I was thinking west coast. To me ND is EAST. Have a great trip and have fun.

[JEBar]

prospective understood .... a few years ago we made a 10,000+ mile trip around the country swing that took us ocean to ocean and border to border .... we had a great time .... visited many places we'd like to go back to and a few that we are glad we saw but have no desire to ever see again .... unfortunately, at our ages, the chance of making another such trip is small and growing smaller ....

[JEBar]

June 5, 2018 .... 5 hr 8 min / 263.3 miles after leaving home we are setup in the East Asheville KOA ====> https://koa.com/campgrounds/asheville-east/ .... at least one pretty big group must be here, this place is packed .... our site isn't great, not large enough for the truck and camper .... good water pressure, electric, sewer hookups .... as noted a while back, we weren't able to road test the suspension, brake, bearing, fender installs/upgrades made to our camper .... I do admit to being unease about hitting the road without doing so .... bottom line, all seems to be good to go .... I also admit to being very relieved .... while in Asheville we were able to eat out with two different cousins and their spouses ....

June 7, 2018 .... after 366.1 miles / 6 hr 20 min and crossing into the Central Time Zonw, we are now settled in at Clarksville RV Park ===> https://clarksvillervpark.com/ .... very hot and humid, most happy to have 2 15K AC's cranking out cool air .... today's drive was fairly easy but most certainly frustrating a time or 2 type drive .... heavy traffic just west of Knoxville but that's pretty much the norm .... the last 14 miles prior to our Exit off of I-24 both lanes of traffic came to a stop .... once it started moving, both lanes moved along at 10 - 15 mph .... once we reached the cause of the backup, I honestly couldn't believe it ... 2 Tennessee DOT dump trucks moving along slowly in the inside (left) lane with flashing lights indicating for traffic to move to merge into the right lane .... they were protecting a truck moving down the shoulder spraying weeds .... I have no doubt that I'm not alone in wishing I could have an intense chat with whoever scheduled that job to be done at a high traffic time .... while in Asheville we put 60.9 miles on the truck .... the posted fuel price at the Crossville. TN Pilot Truck Stop was 16 cents a gallon higher than what we paid back home, truck averaged 9.1 mpg .... tomorrow's scheduled drive to St Louis is slated to cover just under 300 miles

[JEBar]

June 8, 2018 ..... after covering 303.6 miles in 5 hrs, we are once again setup at the West St Louis KOA .... to say its hot here simply doesn't do justice to the oven out there this afternoon .... thankfully another uneventful drive .... tomorrow morning some friends are coming by at 9:30 and picking me up to go to Jay Henges' Trap Range where we plan to fire 100 rounds .... sadly their rifle/pistol range is still undergoing some serious maintenance so our Henry 44 will stay in its case ....

[PT7]

4HRF.jpg (9.53 KiB) Viewed 5025 times

Once again welcome to the Show-Me-State, JEBar. You noticed.....yes, we here in MO currently reside in an oven!

Enjoy your trap time at Jay Henges. Hopefully the rifle/pistol side might be ready for you on the return trip.
Be safe.
PT7

June 8, 2018 ..... after covering 303.6 miles in 5 hrs, we are once again setup at the West St Louis KOA .... to say its hot here simply doesn't do justice to the oven out there this afternoon .... thankfully another uneventful drive .... tomorrow morning some friends are coming by at 9:30 and picking me up to go to Jay Henges' Trap Range where we plan to fire 100 rounds .... sadly their rifle/pistol range is still undergoing some serious maintenance so our Henry 44 will stay in its case ....

[JEBar]

welcome appreciated .... you Show Me guys are sure fortunate to have an outstanding state park system .... doubt it will be any cooler in August when we are on our way back through but we are certainly looking forward to it

[Mags]

Must have missed the resolution of the slide out, just over heated wire and switch?

[JEBar]

Must have missed the resolution of the slide out, just over heated wire and switch?

according to the fellow who took diagnosed the problem and ordered a replacement : " it is the smallest 1/2 HP rated rocker switch I have ever seen. I took the failed one apart and found the positive terminal burned away. I was impressed with the quality of the parts even though they were tiny its well built. " .... our camper uses 3 of those switches, we now have 3 spares

this morning 5 of us who we have met over the years who enjoy shooting trap met at Jay Henges when it opened for business .... we thoroughly enjoyed the first three rounds (25 shells per round) and had fired 5 rounds when heavy rain started falling .... I plan to go back in the morning and see if the weather will permit firing 4 more rounds

[Mags]

I tried shooting clay for the first time last month while visiting a friend in Northern California. I nailed the first clay. Friend thought I was spoofing him that I had never trap shot before. I put his mind to ease though. On subsequent shots, other than a few nicks, I missed every clay put into the air. I had a lot of fun trying at least until the 12 gauge got too heavy to lift fast enough.