Reports and Thoughts From The Road

First Leg: Fort Worth to Oklahoma City

 Distance = 204 miles,

 Thoughts From The Road:

     Leaving Texas and entering into Oklahoma  you see highway and medians and parkways the way they ought to be. The road is great and the grass is managed beautifully and each time I’ve been this way it looks like it was just mowed. I can remember when I was a kid growing up along the Gulf Coast in Texas we thought Texas had the best highways anywhere. A lot has changed  since then of course, but all one has to do is just get out on the road and you can see that the massive amount of  traffic streaming up from the Rio Grande Valley along I-45 and I-35 northward, plus population growth in the State, places a huge strain on highway maintenance. Almost all of the main roads traveled today are 4 and 6 lane highways. Back in the old days most roads were 2 lane roads and passing the car in front of you with oncoming traffic, was a learned skill, one that is almost lost with the multi-lane highways of today.

We pulled into the Twin Fountains RV Park under darkening skies and the immediate threat of heavy rain. I hurried with the hook up before it came with the thoughts of Iowa running through my head. I finished just as it started to rain, harder, so I ducked inside to wait for the satellite dish to align (no cable here). Since the last it was on was in Fort Worth it will take a few minutes to find the satellite. Ah, success! We will have TV tonight. This is a very nice RV park…nicely laid out but like so many others it is close to a busy street and there may be some road noise tonight. We need to get to bed early tonight though because we are going to try to make it to Topeka early enough to run over to Kansas City for some of Arthur Bryant’s famous Bar-B-Que. Well, just as suddenly it started to rain, it now has stopped and the sun is shining. Hey, let’s grab the doggies and go for a walk.

  Second Leg: Oklahoma City to Topeka

Distance: 182 miles

It rained all night in Oklahoma City. Good sleeping weather if the weather forcaster hadn't used the words “tornado alley” to describe the area around us. Anyway, this morning we waited and waited for the storms to move through the Oklahoma City area but by 9 AM it was time to go rain or no rain. We loaded up and hit the road . The farther north we went the better it got and by the time we we at the Kansas border it was clear and sunny. We got to our camp ground around 3:30. There is two things I can say about Kansas. Toll roads and bar-b-que. We got both of them. About $21 in toll fees and 2 huge bar-b-que sandwiches at Arthur Bryant’s Bar-b-que Restaurant in Kansas City, MO. Just as soon as we got set up at the Capital City RV Park we headed over to Kansas City to sample this world famous Kansas City Bar-b-que. I thought it was good but there are plenty of places in Fort Worth that would do just as well.

It’s off to Nebraska tomorrow, and so after today’s fun it’s about time to turn in.

      Leaving Oklahoma the way we found it

3^rd Leg: Topeka to Offutt AFB, Nebraska

Distance: 232 miles

Two more toll roads out of Kansas ($6.10) and we’re into Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. Visible even on the west side of Missouri and Iowa are fields with crops partially and sometimes completely under water. Our navigation system selected the main gate to Offutt AFB instead of the one on the opposite side of the base that was close to the FAM Camp RV Park. As we approached the gate I could see that this was probably not the best decision we could have made. For about a hundred yards just inside the gate were serpentine barricades set up for security purposes. It didn’t look very passable with a 33’ travel trailer following us. I said to the guard  “This might not have been a very good idea”.  He said “Hey, a big tour bus just came through and he made it OK”. After he checked my ID and told us we were on the wrong side of the base he said if you can get through you can cut through the base to the Bellevue gate and then the RV Camp is right by the lake, etc. So, why not? We towed that 33’ trailer right down the main drag of Offutt AFB,  right in front of the Headquarters building and right out the other side, no sweat.

We’re all checked in the RV camp (run by the AF) and it is a really nice place. Linda said “Well that takes care of the base tour for tomorrow”.

Tomorrow we will still visit the memorials here at Offutt and see what else we can find.

                 This was a field of crops in Missouri

After the State line, Offutt is just around the corner

Dedication in front of the 45th Reconnaissance Sq.

              for Cobra Ball II- RC-135S- 61-2664

        Building 40- Home of the 45th Recon Sq.

           Offutt AFB parade grounds across from

                                    "General's Row"

               Lunch at the new Offutt Food Court

Day 4: 6/20/2008 Offutt AFB to Sioux Falls, SD

Miles Driven: 204 miles, total to date: 1118 miles

Back over the Bellevue Bridge, close to the Bellevue gate at Offutt AFB, takes you back into Iowa and a left turn on Interstate 29 takes you right through the heartland of America. Farm after farm with lush green crops all along this highway, decent roads and not much traffic makes for an easy and pleasant trip to Sioux Falls, SD to none other than Yogi-Bear’s RV Camp. This is where we camp for tonight. This is one of the better camps we’ve seen, although the one at Offutt was great. The club house just a hundred yards away from our spot even had a wet bar. Unfortunately I didn’t find that out until it was too late. Tomorrow will be a little longer ride into Rapid City, across the State along Interstate 90. We may try to leave earlier than scheduled because I have found that it really doesn’t take much to put us behind schedule and make for a late arrival. We are spending Sunday in Rapid City however.

Here are some photos we took last night at the camp ground at Offutt. It turns out that this is a very popular spot for “permanent party personnel” (you military types will recognize that term) and yesterday a unit from one of the Recon Squadrons had a party and cook-out and some camped all night in a pup tent set up close to us through a terrible rain storm last night. I have some photos of their cook-out and then the road up and the arrival here at Yogi-Bear’s RV Camp.

  A Battle between flight crews for the coveted   "Hog" mascot at the Offutt FAM Camp Pavillion

                      Cooking at the Pavillion

  Young family members fishing at the Offutt Lake

    Bellevue Bridge leaving Nebraska into Iowa

         Tent campers at Yogi Bear's RV Park

                      The delux model at the left

4th Leg: Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

Distance: 355.1 miles

On our trip each travel day we normally navigate using the built in GPS navigation system in the Tahoe. Normally it does a good job, however the preferences that are programmed in by the user, if not careful, can have some unintended consequences. Such was the case yesterday on the route from Sioux Falls to our present location, Rapid City. Microsoft Mappoint shows the route as a straight shot along Interstate 90 and that is exactly what our navigation system directed us to follow…..until we got to Belvidere, SD. There it directed us to turn off of Interstate 90 to travel along State Hwy 63 (the scenic route for the last 162 miles through the Badlands) and then on State Hwy 44 into the edge of Rapid City to our camp ground. The road was decent and we were able to maintain our average of about 56 miles per hour as before when suddenly the pavement ended and we were on a gravel/dirt road. This was not planned. There was a cloud of dust behind us you could see for miles. After about 15 miles when I was toying with the idea of turning around, the pavement returned and after a right turn onto State Hwy 44 we drifted into Rapid City with no more excitement. We found our campground without any problem and even got a spot close to the front gate and a clear shot of the southern sky so the satellite dish could align itself, which it did (so Linda is happy). Like the man in the Blue Bell ice cream commercial said: “How was your day?”  “Turned out good.”

 Today we are going to get some washing done, some resting and a trip down the road to see the Mount Rushmore area. And of course, shoot some more pictures. Hooray for digital cameras.

This little side trip through the Badlands (shown above) was an extra 36 miles, but the scenery was great.

Mount Rushmore and Keystone, SD

one of the neatest village I ever saw.

That bridge is made out of huge wooden planks that have been formed to make the arch. 

Steps lead from the parking area up to the

Monument

One of the many shops and stores along the main street through Keystone, SD which is at the base of Mount Rushmore.