Back at the Shack

Back in Beaufort

Well - another trip is fondly stored in the memory bank.

After leaving Badlands NP in South Dakota on Monday we started pounding the pavement

and arrived home Thursday about 2pm.

We spent 3 nights enroute.

KOA in Waterloo, Ia

KOA in Richmond, In

Mayberry Campground in Mt Airy NC.

The last stop was to allow us to flush the holding tanks well and left us

a 4 hr jaunt to the barn.

A map of our route from SD to NC - about 1,800 miles for the last legs.

Our route took us from South Dakota

Into Minnesota

Thru Iowa and across the Mississippi River into Illinois...

Thru Indiana, Ohio, and past the Capital of West Virginia in Charleston.

Thru Virginia and into NC.

We timed our arrival home for Thursday due to Memorial Day weekend and the

traffic that would be on the road.

As it turned out traffic was still pretty heavy.

We passed this little beauty heading into New Bern, NC

I guessed he was headed to the Outer Banks and I was right as they followed

us all the way till about 3 miles from home where they turned to head

to the Cedar Island Ferry.

I had the assistance of Mr Peabody to help me with trip planning.

Ms Peabody.

Trip Recap 

By the numbers:

7 months on the road.

12,134 miles on the bus odometer

21 States & 2 Canadian Provinces

Endless Laughs.

The map below (from the blog)

I selected 8 months which shows our route.

Beyond the numbers however lies the real story.

The joy of beautiful nights around the campfire with great friends.

Boondocking under the stars.

The Broncos winning the Superbowl.

The places we visited and traveled to with our good friends from all over the world.

Just a few of the highlights:

Hot Springs, Ark

Barbecue in Austin Tx

LBJ Library & Ranch

White Sands New Mexico

Quartzsite

Tombstone, Az

Organ Pipe Cactus NP

Grand Canyon

Goosenecks, Ut

Monument Valley

Joshua Tree NP

Hearst Castle, California

Walla Walla wine weekend

Kelowna, BC

Canadian Rockies

Banff NP  Alberta

Devils Tower Wy.

Badlands, SD

Special thanks to all of our good friends who made 

visiting these places all the more special.

Future Plans

I am kind of in new territory now with no firm plan for our next trip.

I want to get back to Alaska but to do so I really need to set out from here to go there.

I've found that if we do our usual winter in Arizona thing, by the time it is warm enough 

 to head north - we have been traveling for many months (6 or 7) are ready to start heading home.

Last time to Alaska we left home in April - so perhaps we need to hang closer to home

so that next spring we will be fresh and ready to do the trip there like I want to do it....

Spring thru Fall.

So maybe it will be a couple of months in Florida this winter...
Probably a trip to Red Bay for some slide out maintenance.
And I'm sure the travel bug will get me for some other idea.

In any event - we will keep busy between now and then

and keep you posted along the way.

Thanks for following along.

Happy Trails and see you down the road.

Badlands

Since our last post we have put about 1,000 miles on the odometer.

We crossed back into the US,   Drove south thru Montana,

thru Wyoming, and now are ready to cross South Dakota and head into

Iowa in the morning.

Passing thru Wyoming we took a short detour and spent the night

at the Devils Tower KOA located at the foot of the Devils Tower.

It was a bit of a trip down memory lane for us because it was here 8 years ago

that we met some good friends for the first time.

A cold front was passing thru and our evening was cloudy with thunderstorms which

added an element of drama to this unique scene.

The next morning we saddled back up and headed 300 miles to

Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

We are staying in the Cedar Park Campground on the

west side of the National Park for two nights.

It has 50a hookups only - no water or sewer.

Today we took a sunday drive thru the park.

East along the Scenic Loop to Wall, SD then the interstate back. 

The badlands are heavily eroded and continue to erode at about 1" per year.

Even though it was mid-day, some of the colors popped.

We spotted some Dall Sheep in the Eastern end of the park.

If you have ever traveled US14 or 16, or I90 just to name a few - you have probably

seen signs for Wall Drugs.   The signs start hundreds of miles before you get here.

Since we were passing by on the way back to camp we stopped in to check it out.

In between Wall, SD and the turnoff for Badlands are some Minuteman Missile Silos

and their control center - now administered by the National Park Service.

We first visited the D-9 missile silo.

The missile silo has its blast door pulled halfway open and covered with glass

so that you can look down and see the missile inside.

In front of the glass covering, you can see the hardened entrance to the silo, where

workers could climb down to perform service.

A hardened antenna.

Looking down thru the glass into the silo.

The minuteman missile sitting there in its launch position.

About 7 miles east we next visited the Launch Control Center.

This center is where the Air Force personnel would monitor the missiles under their control

and if called upon, launch the missiles. 

An average LCC would control 10 minuteman launch sites all located about 5-7 miles away.

Above ground it looked like a simple ranch house type building.

30' Below ground in blast proof bunkers, the Air Force personnel performed their

duties 24/7

All of the missile sites and LCC's were monitored with various security measures.

Unauthorized entry could mean death!

Tomorrow we are back on the road headed for an overnight in

Waterloo, Ia.

See you down the road.