DBK's First Real Adventure - a month plus on the road with a 23 foot travel trailer

 

Trip Map Link 

There will be lessons learned, "stupid taxes" paid, and fun to be had.  This blog entry will be broken into segments/ days only because I'm lazy.

The Trip to Sheridan

May 31: Home to Lancaster, Ohio

Unlike almost every other day on this trip, it was "use the Interstate" in order to make some mile.  See, it takes nearly 2 hours to get "anywhere" when you live in Bum F Egypt.    DBK got fully stocked with some of  Wayne's Meats meats, dry provisions and a fully loaded fridge- all 7 cubic feet of it.   The truck is carrying some bootleg Jeep parts for a delivery to Wyoming.  OK, they're not bootleg.  It just feels like bootleg when your carrying 4 full sized mounted tires that don't quite fit the way you thought they would in the bed. The Tetris arrangement is awkward with several "dead" spots up against the cab.  Spare dog food and the air compressor take up the larger "hole".  The remainder is a spare propane tank [more on that later], the 13 foot EZ up, some firewood kindling [scrap lumber] and camp chairs. 

Based on stories and various camping blog entries, we made reservations for the first Saturday and Sunday as some campgrounds require a 2 day stay over the weekends- turns out that's holiday weekends only, for the most part.    The remainder of the nights were let's see what tomorrow brings; we had reservations for a week in Albuquerque for the 2025 COG National which for those paying attention at home, is nowhere near Sheridan, WY.

First stop- a Loves RV stop at the Lancaster Loves Travel center.   These are a newish thing as many of these large truck stops are used to having over the road truckers bunk in their sleeper cabs.  Some RVs have historically slipped in the mix of big rigs to do the same but have them to be very noisy places with all the diesels on idle and the refer trailers running all night.  So Loves just made some parking pads on the Auto side of the complex with marked spaces for a couple of RVs with full hookups.  We thought, let's give this a try.

A new "quirk" DBK has developed is the fridge's pilot light going out while underway.  This means the fridge is no longer cooling.  It's a simple thing to restart it, but we now have to check every time we stop for any reason.  number 1 on the list: check the fridge.

Quick review- it's a RV site.  It was noisy probably because it was a Saturday night   The big thing, meaning really annoying thing, was all of the ambient light.  The overhead lot lights were nearly directly over the RV spaces and there was no escape unless you had some form of blackout shades on your skylight roof vents.   It was also restless as Mr Champ couldn't figure out where his "spot" was.  We took several trips outside for laps around the parking lot but no luck.

June 1: Lancaster to Logansport, Indiana

Finally free on the Interstate system, we left the greater Columbus region on US-33 heading west.   Still limited access, but not an interstate.  

One of the many joys of using the smaller roads is finding places like Warren, IN.  A railroad town that has had about 1200 residents since the 1890's  Not many small towns can make that claim these days.  

Our site in Logansport, right along the Wabash River.

June 2: Logansport to Mount Pleasant, Iowa

We got on the road at around 9 and headed west.  Again avoiding the interstates as much as possible.  We grabbed lunch in a small city park and found this interpretive panel about the creation of the Social Security plan.

Dr Francis Townsend - the originator of Social Security
Fairbury, Illinois 

Today was the day where TPMS paid for itself.  we stopped for fuel in Monmouth, IL and just as we are ready to get back on the road, the TMPS alarm goes off.  Now, the tire temps have been running high, but not excessive.  This is a low pressure alarm- 48 psi and dropping.  WTH.   The air compressor is buried in the truck bed behind all the Jeep tires so we used the station's pay at the pump air compressor.  Get back to about 65 PSI [75 is the recommended cold pressure].  Hoping it's "good enough" for now, and limp into Mount Pleasant another 60 miles down the road. 
We get as far as Biggsville when the alarm goes off again.    FUUUUUCK.     We limp into an old school gas station where I can change over the spare.   The swap goes very smoothly; I visually inspect the tire and see no nail, screws or other punctures. 
We locate a couple of tire shops in Mount Pleasant with the nearby Goodyear store closing just before we get to town.  Drop it off with the understanding that we pick it up after they open in the morning.

Mount Pleasant, Iowa

June 3: Mount Pleasant to Algona, Iowa

Mr. Champ still hasn't found his spot, but last night we tried giving him the nook as a sleeping place.  He spent about half the night there before he got restless again.
A couple of phone calls to check on the tire and we swing by the store to grab it- they found nothing wrong and return it free of charge.  As the clerk holds the air chuck on the valve stem we hear a hiss.  Three grown adults are now staring at a tire that hisses when a finger is placed on the valve stem.   Push again- hiss.   Off it goes to the tire machine for a new valve stem.  Presto- 75PSI rock solid.  They refuse to charge us as they didnt find anything wrong.  Super service.  We'll put it back on the axel later as it goes onto the spare carrier.

The real reason we came this way was to stop at the future birthplace of Captain James T Kirk, in Riverside.   It started to rain.  

Damnit Jim, I'm a camper, not a sculptor. 

On the way to Algona, the mandatory stop at Dennis Powell's farm is in order.  Dennis has had this sign in front of his farm for over a decade.  It was raining and we thought it would be a quick stop, until Dennis saw us pull over.   Next thing you know, we're getting a tour of his shop and to review all the visitors to his wall.   Wow, some old school folks.  I finally got to sign the boards myself.

Always good to see Dennis.
The fridge is driving us nuts.  The Google says the flame tube is probably full of crud and to blow it clean using compressed air.  Want to guess which attachment for the compressor we are not carrying?  Yup, the air jet.  Grrr.

We found this quaint county park just outside of Algona with a couple of seasonal campers in the park but we had the place basically to ourselves.
Smith Park Lake

June 4: Algona to Chamberlain, South Dakota

New compromise with Mr. Champ.  He gets into his nook without issue then gets his one "free pass" outside, usually around 1:30 [same as home], and then I would crawl into the nook with him for the rest of the night.  Success!!!  Yes, I'd rather have my own bed for the night, but I get to sleep.

We're getting into that part of the country where the "existing" roads that the interstate system "replaced" don't exist, really.  That being said, we did manage to stumble across some county and state roads that got us where we wanted to go- Mitchell and the world famous corn palace.   Still in its early decoration phase, it is a sight to behold.

No fish!!!!

Chamberlain City Park- second site from the Missouri

June 5: Chamberlain to Spearfish, South Dakota

Mr. Champ is finally into a nightly routine.  It's not perfect for hte humans, but at least we can get come consistent sleep.  Today is a "go see stuff" day as we could make it all the way to Sheridan in one go if we pushed it hard and stuck to the interstate.  We didnt.   First off, when in Chamberlain, you HAVE to make a stop at the visitors' center.   Besides the amazing sculpture standing on the bluff over the Missouri, the center has a full sized replica keelboat from the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 as well as a rather large interpretive display on the Corps of Discovery.

Continuing onward, we followed the river north towards the Great Bend and then west to Pierre.  Pierre is one of the few state capitals not served by the US Interstate system and you can see why.  Centrally located in the state, on the Missouri River it is about midway between 90 and 94 with no major industry to drive the highway that direction.

Further research from the Google, the fridge has an access port to view the pilot light.  There is a flap that you have to slide open to view the pilot light:  guess what flap has been open the whole time.  Yup, DBK's.  We figured that the mechanic during his/her inspection opened the flap but forgot to return it to the closed position.  Problem hopefully solved.

Spearfish KOA

June 6: Spearfish to Sheridan, Wyoming

Devils Tower is on our agenda as we finish off this leg to Sheridan.  Unfortunately, you have to drop your trailer if you want to go all the way into the visitors center, but we did finally get our federal lands pass goo for all parks, BLM and forest service locations.   We would get to use it a few more times on just this trip.

The Grand Nephew

Our "campground" in Sheridan [Larry's driveway]

Really wish we could have parked the other way around to get the view out the bench window.

TRIP STATS: 1,951 miles, 78.5 all electric

June 7 - 8: Sheridan

Mostly spent hanging around with family, we did get to head up into the mountains to see elk and moose.

Our view from our campsite

mooses!!! [meese]

Elk pups

yup, that's snow

burn evidence

Rusty Jesus

more moose

TRIP STATS: 2,087 miles, 117.8 all electric

The Trip to Albuquerque 

June 9: Sheridan to Lander, Wyoming

One of the lessons learned so far is travelling every day gets tiring.  We plan to travel a few days, stay over a couple days- rinse, repeat.  See stuff.

Flaming Gorge

Live Bluegrass in the next campsite

Lander, WY

mmmmm OK

One thing we noticed right away is the campsites seem to be getting smaller and smaller as the available land gets bigger and bigger.   In other words, eastern campsites seem to be much larger than their western counterparts. 

June 10: Lander to Grand Junction, Colorado

ooops, missed campsite photo in Grand Junction

June 11: Grand Junction to Bluff, Utah

Another travel day through the high desert of eastern in Utah and the never ending heat of the high desert.  We had planned to swing by Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah near Moab.  This was a 2009 Iron Butt Rally bonus and is the location where Thelma and Louise drove off the cliff [not the Grand Canyon].
On the good news front, the fridge hasn't kicked off since we closed the flap.  We'll take the win.

TRIP STATS: 2,951 miles, 171.8 all electric

June 12: Bluff

We hung out in the Bluff area for two days.  

Forrest Gump Point

Cadillac Campground's mascot?

Mexican Hat, UT

The Mexican Hat

The route, UT-261, up to Natural Bridges National Park

Transits the Moki Dugway.  Don't look over the edge.

Natural Bridges National Park

June 13: Bluff to Albuquerque New Mexico

Off to ABQ.  Home to this year's Concours Owners' Group national rally and our friends Pat and Rusty.  We'll spend some quality time with them while taking in some of the National.  On the way, we caught some RAAM Riders; we actually saw two yesterday actually.
For the first time since we closed the "flap", the fridge kicked off.  We suspect the huge gust of wind that hit the right side of the trailer might have been the trigger.

Our home for the next week is the KOA North ABQ just across the river from Bernalillo where the National is being held. 

Even the tree stumps are Calente'

June 14 - 19: Albuquerque

hanging out at the COG National

Magpies are noisy

The Valles Caldera

Solar charging points

Prarie dog colony on the parking lot

NM-165.  Yes, that's dirt.

View from Sandia Peak

COGgers in the mirror

Burritos as big as your head

roadside sculpture near Madrid

TRIP STATS: 3,823 miles, 298.8 all electric

The Trip Home 

June 20: Albuquerque to Clayton, New Mexico

Unfortunately, to start the homeward leg you pretty much have to use the Interstates.  The Google wanted us to take I-25 all the way to Springer near the Colorado state line before heading due east.   Instead, we opted to head east on 40 for a bit the turn north on NM-3 to I-25.  Much better choice.

NM-3

Those Kisers are everywhere

Clayton RV Park

June 21: Clayton to Pratt, Kansas

Texas Line Rd- proof that the national grid does not extend into Texas [on the right]

The World's Largest Hand dug well, Greensburg, KS
Struck by an EF5 tornado in 2007.  Nearly every building was destroyed.

The "NEW" Stairs down into the well.

They got meteorites too

debris

Seidels Campground

June 22: Pratt to Pittsburg, Kansas

The heat dome continues to chase us home.  Our poor AC is keeping up but the RV quality fridge is starting to struggle.  Turns out, when the ambient temperature is in excess of 90F for extended periods, like the last 4 weeks, the refrigerators become less efficient-  evaporate cooling not a compressor.

That's a BIG shovel

Big Brutus-  Big Muskie's Shovel Cousin made by Erie-Bucyrus

It's BIG.  like a million pounds big.

George Lucas Jawa BIG

Swing gear assembly

Hoist motor mounts

Operator's view

Hoist cable spools

Fist for scale; sorry, no bananas available.

Now that's a circlip

If you look closely, you can see Jean on crawler catwalk

Brutus stripped overburden throughout this region of Kansas; it left these really odd ponds called the "Strip Pits".

Mining ponds

Who wouldn't camp by Big Brutus

June 23: Pittsburg to Hermann, Missouri

Today was all business and we got miles to make.  We drove through some great countryside as the scenery gets greener and greener.  It's good to see trees again and grass and weeds and critters.  We snagged a campsite in the City of Hermann at their city park overlooking the Missouri.  Shame you can't see the Missouri, but it's there.

Now we pay the stupid tax- part one.  When setting up, we noticed the white bucket that holds our CamCo plumbing/ sewer connectors [that mate the hose, AKA "the stinky slinky", with the variety of fittings used for sewer connections; typically 4" NPT drain pipe, but not always.  The fittings we have in the small with bucket were a clear plastic 45 elbow for connecting the valve gate to the hose and the NPT threaded adapter that can accept the spade lock of the hose's elbow.  So yeah, it's kinda important if you plan to offload your waste water tanks.   
A trip to the local Tractor Supply gets us a new red TSC bucket and a new 45 elbow but no joy on the threaded adapter; they did have a floppy, bendable "universal" adapter so that got purchased.  Tonight, we'll let  good old friction be our friend but a real adapter would be needed.   FYI, I spent too much time looking through various STL files for CamCo adapters, of which there are plenty, no no one has created the spade to NPT one.   Looks like something that should be addressed.

June 24: Hermann to Vincennes, Indiana

Another hot and muggy night leads to another hot and muggy day.  In order to save a lot of time, we took the interstates through the metro St Louis metro before settling in on US-50.  Having taken our own advice from the outward, we're staying in Vincennes for two nights and do some tourist stuff.

The Gateway Arch

Somehow, we avoided camping in Illinois again.  We have nothing against Illinois but it is odd we missed this state twice both times by camping in the first major town over the state line.  We also entered the Eastern Time Zone which means we're closer to home.  
After paying yesterday's stupid tax, we thought we could just "fate it" until we got home and get the correct coupler from Amazon.  The campground in Vincennes said "nope, you have to go back and spend more money now" as the universal adapter couldn't handle the abrupt change in drainpipe.

June 25: Vincennes

The morning was spent with laundry and shopping before we became tourists.

The Big 4 Road

No, not sketchy at all

The Wabash River

The Wabash Cannonball Bridge

First site of Fort Knox

The Old French House

William Henry Harrison's house

Territorial capital

Red Skelton Museum

New "Old" Village

Vincennes RV Park

June 26: Vincennes to Hillsboro, Ohio

Millers Tavern

Busching Covered Bridge

Our campground neighbors travelling in style

Rocky Fork State Park

June 27: Hillsboro to New Stanton, Pennsylvania

June 28 - 29: Pittsburgh

George Custer

Cambridge 'bridge"

Rainbows over West Virginia

New Stantion/ Madison KOA

The next few days were spent hanging around Pittsburgh to visit Jean's dad, sisters from out of town and to celebrate our nephew's graduation.  The party was held in the Monroeville Park and boy howdy, did it rain hard.  

June 30: New Stanton to Home

The drive home as mostly uneventful again sticking to our "avoid the interstate" mantra.  We get home to grass taller than Miss Taffee.  The neighbors thought I was joking about them taking a quick pass with their mower on the front yard.  

TRIP STATS: 6,040 miles, 482.6 all electric, 19 states [some how we missed Nebraska] 10.9 MPG