Our quick trip to Rapid City and back to CA

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Our quick trip to Rapid City and back to CA

Postby martha24 » Sun May 10, 2009 2:38 pm

We made a quick trip to Rapid City South Dakota and back to California in 8 days - 3,000 miles - so it was mainly spent driving.
The purpose was to help our son move some things home and caravan back with him driving his older Chevy S10 home as he is changing Air Force bases. In June he heads to South Korea.
I'm just glad it ended up being as late in the year as it was as they still got snow the weekend before we got there. In that area of SD they usually get out 7 feet of snow in April, this year they got 30 feet. :shock:

We left very early on Tues. April 28 and spent the night in Beaver, UT. We put the microwave in the teardrop & packed some decent frozen food, so we had quick easy dinners going. The second day we made it to Rawlins, Wy. That was the coldest night and got down to 26 degrees. :shock: I have a small temperature gauge that shows inside & outside temperatures. It was definitely a good thing we had an RV spot with electricity and a small heater for the teardrop.
The wind was so cold when we got there, we ate dinner in the truck.
Here's a few pics from RV campground in Rawlins and frost on teardrop.
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The third night, Thursday, we were in Rapid City in the drive way where our son was staying. We got there late afternoon. Our son's stuff filled the back of our truck and most of his truck, with our few extra camping supplies put in his truck. Our truck has a camper shell so everything in it was safe from the weather. David wrapped everything in our son's truck in tarps to protect it from any rain we might hit. We got some rain that night in Rapid City. Wyoming got some snow, so I'm glad we weren't there.
Friday late morning we headed out toward home making it as far as Rock Springs, Wy. I had hoped we would get farther, but had a later start than I planned. As it turned out, it worked out very well. We spent the night in a KOA at Rock Springs. I have to give them kudos as I asked if we could just have one spot for 2 vehicles and one small trailer as we were helping our son in the military move some things home. They gave us a discount as if we had a KOA card & didn't charge for a 3rd person for one site.:thumbsup: The weather was much nicer there, didn't need the heater at night and no rain. We did hit some rain during the day as we drove through Wyoming and could see various amounts of snow as we drove along.
Sat. we headed toward Salt Lake City for our son to spend a couple of days with an old friend. As we headed toward the the Southwestern part of Wyoming all the way into Salt Lake City we hit pouring rain. Our teardrop sure got the water test. :shock:
David discovered he needs to tighten up & seal the doors a little more, as some water got in. Our bed got a little wet. :roll:
Fortunately the sun came out Sat. afternoon and we were able to dry out. Our son's friend lives in a condo, but there was an over flow parking lot where we could sleep in our TD.
Here's a pic of us drying out in the parking lot.
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We headed out Monday morning toward Las Vegas, NV., midway point of home from Salt Lake, going to a different extreme of weather. :sweaty: Just before the city is Nellis Air Force base and they have a RV campground where we stayed. With our son's military discount, $15 so a good deal. The weather that day got into the 90's and doesn't cool very much off at night. 2 days later it was supposed to hit 100 so I'm glad it wasn't that hot. Our son remembered a good Mexican restaurant from a TDY trip, so it was our first time going out to dinner on our trek.
Here's a few pics from there.
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our caravan of 2 trucks & TD
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David & our son Vincent
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Tuesday morning we headed out on the last leg of the trip for home. As we were just about home, we spotted smoke coming from the mountain behind Santa Barbara. We checked the news to see what was going on. That afternoon at 1:30 the Jesusita Fire started. :? Well, that's a different story... if interested I mentioned it over in Off Topic.
Glad we got home safely and it was a bit of an adventure. :lol:
Martha ;)

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Postby Miriam C. » Sun May 10, 2009 7:41 pm

:applause: :thumbsup: Serious temp. extremes Martha. Some days no trees just look good. :thumbsup: Thanks for the pictures.
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Postby Downunder Dave » Mon May 11, 2009 2:32 am

Just reading all the posts from everyone in the states, I can see that I will have to buy me a map????

Looks like a good trip, it was good to spend some time with your son as he is soon to move out. ;)

Cheers Dave
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Postby Miriam C. » Mon May 11, 2009 8:47 am

Downunder Dave wrote:Just reading all the posts from everyone in the states, I can see that I will have to buy me a map????

Looks like a good trip, it was good to spend some time with your son as he is soon to move out. ;)

Cheers Dave


Google maps will make the trip more real for you. 8) Even shows pictures for some stops.

http://maps.google.com/maps
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Postby Dark Horse » Tue May 12, 2009 9:00 pm

Thanks for the Post, Ellsworth was one of my favorite Duty Stations, I still love going back to the Black Hills. When we were there, we saw snow every month except August, over the entire time we were there. Flurries melting on the windshield in early July was a shocker.
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Postby hotrod » Tue May 12, 2009 9:46 pm

Dark Horse wrote:Thanks for the Post, Ellsworth was one of my favorite Duty Stations, I still love going back to the Black Hills. When we were there, we saw snow every month except August, over the entire time we were there. Flurries melting on the windshield in early July was a shocker.

there is much beauty in the great wide open spaces such as around western south and north dakota. I find peace there. I like it out there too....
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Postby martha24 » Tue May 12, 2009 10:21 pm

Dark Horse, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The area around the Black Hills is definitely beautiful country. This was our third trip back during the 5 1/2 years our son was stationed there. On different trips we visited the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, the Bad Lands and one year it worked out that we were there during the big Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Somehow they all hit on the same year as the international gathering of Minden and it is definitely too far to drive twice in one year. :roll: We usually drove back after our son had come back for an overseas tour and he had two weeks off and so the timing was completely off.
This time it was just overnight.
The snow during so many months of the year is one thing our son won't miss. He's not into really cold weather. Of course he isn't into 120 - 140 degree weather in the desert either. :lol:
Martha ;)

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