Our quick trip to Rapid City and back to CA
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 2:38 pmWe 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
David discovered he needs to tighten up & seal the doors a little more, as some water got in. Our bed got a little wet.
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.
We headed out Monday morning toward Las Vegas, NV., midway point of home from Salt Lake, going to a different extreme of weather.
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.
our caravan of 2 trucks & TD
David & our son Vincent
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
David discovered he needs to tighten up & seal the doors a little more, as some water got in. Our bed got a little wet.
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.
We headed out Monday morning toward Las Vegas, NV., midway point of home from Salt Lake, going to a different extreme of weather.
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.
our caravan of 2 trucks & TD
David & our son Vincent
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.
Even shows pictures for some stops.