Head for the Hills 2019

[HiHoAgRV]

Hopefully everything will work out for us to make a run from Mississippi to the mountains, it's been 3 years since the last time and we are getting a twitch.

Last minute tasks included changing shocks on the truck. Wrong shocks arrived so a simple 1 afternoon task took 3 days.

I had to mow the lawn, mower had a dead battery. I forgot that I loaded up the jump start battery already so a :45 task took 2 hours.

Never got around to washing the camper so at least I cleaned the solar panels. This will be a test of our Battle Born lithium since we try to camp with no hookups.

We will post photos so come along for the ride.

[TouringDan]

We love the mountains. It means no AC needed as long as you stay above 3,000 ft. Where are you going?

Travel safe, Dan

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

We love the mountains. It means no AC needed as long as you stay above 3,000 ft. Where are you going?

Travel safe, Dan

Successful first day on the road. 500 miles and We are camped at a small forest service camp just south of Rolla MO. Nice stream and natural springs. We got an early morning start thanks to a full blown cat fight at 5:15 this morning. Our big tabby was in a fur flying fit with a neighbors cat. Much more effective than a radio alarm clock at getting us awake.
Luckily our ac fan will drown out the other campers, it sounds to be a late night of 'whooo hooo's" as we call them. Tired and going to be an early night for us. Hope to post photos tomorrow.
Probably going to turn west and head for Wyoming.

[Bubba L]

Sounds like fun. Swing down to Ruidoso NM in a couple of weeks and we’ll discuss AS’s. Be safe.

[Piggy Bank]

Be aware that pretty much every waterway in the state of Kansas between Manhattan and Kansas City is experiencing flooding.

You may wish to double check your intended stops. Many campgrounds are closed.

Weston Bend (Missouri) state park just north of Kansas City is open, and lovely.

Also not a bad idea to look over the KDOT website. Interstate I-29 between Omaha and Kansas City is currently closed in some stretches.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

Sounds like fun. Swing down to Ruidoso NM in a couple of weeks and we’ll discuss AS’s. Be safe.

We could compare scars from rebuilding '55 Flying Clouds!

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Piggy Bank

Be aware that pretty much every waterway in the state of Kansas between Manhattan and Kansas City is experiencing flooding.

You may wish to double check your intended stops. Many campgrounds are closed.

Weston Bend (Missouri) state park just north of Kansas City is open, and lovely.

Also not a bad idea to look over the KDOT website. Interstate I-29 between Omaha and Kansas City is currently closed in some stretches.

Thanks for the heads up. We have been monitoring road closures, until yesterday hwy 36 across MO was closed west of 63. It's open today so that looks to be our path west. We hope to make it to North Central Kansas today and find a campsite. Still kind of dragging from yesterday's slog, it's tempting to pay another $7.50 and just stay here another night.

[HiHoAgRV]

Today we continued up 63 thru Missouri to hwy 36. 63 is a nice winding road with a few very pretty towns. Once on 36 the flooding was evident. 5 or so miles were still covered with dirt after the water dropped. Very little traffic until we crossed into Kansas and then it was bumper to bumper for mile after mile. Everyone was diverted to 36 from closed roads. Once they could peel off and head north into Nebraska and back to the interstate the road became empty, the way I recall from years ago traveling the same route. Parked at a small city park in Belleville KS for the night. Full hookups for $20

[HiHoAgRV]

All the way across Kansas on state roads. Into Colorado and Nebraska with a welcome into Wyoming with a Cheyenne thunderstorm. Camped at 8300 ft in Vedauwoo. Gonna stay here for a couple of days.

[TouringDan]

Nice looking tow rig.
Nice place to stay for a couple days.

Dan

[Nelson428]

Nice camping spot

[Overlander & Sea]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

All the way across Kansas on state roads. Into Colorado and Nebraska with a welcome into Wyoming with a Cheyenne thunderstorm. Camped at 8300 ft in Vedauwoo. Gonna stay here for a couple of days.

Nice!! What a great way to beat the Mississippi summer heat!!

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Overlander & Sea

Nice!! What a great way to beat the Mississippi summer heat!!

Yup. Today we had sleet.

Beautiful morning, spent most of the day lounging and doing nothing. About 3:00 the clouds rolled with light rain and ice!
After that foolishness we bundled up and did some rock walking. I'm not even going to pretend it was climbing. Now the sun is out and we are once again lounging.

[Nelson428]

Beautiful and sleet.......96° in south Mississippi today and no sleet 🥵

[HiHoAgRV]

We wandered from Vedauwoo over toward Jackson Hole, finding more ice and snow. Currently camped in Gros Ventre it's 40 degrees, sunny and spitting snow with more forecast for later today. All of the windows are open on Dolly to try and remove some of the moisture. Our 2x mounted and 1 portable solar panels are pumping 250 W into the lithium battery. The lowest we have discharged is down to 78%, even with the 12v Dometic freezer running 24 hours a day. The only issues so far are exploding chip bags and mayo that shot across the interior when I opened the bottle.

[HiHoAgRV]

After a few days of limited internet and some of late arrivals at campgrounds, we finally stopped at a location to update the trip.
3 days at Gros ventre in Jackson hole were great. We enjoyed the snow showers and great views. A drive to the top of signal mountain was a total white out.
We departed out and headed to Thermopolis and discovered the Wind River Canyon...wow. Spent the night at a Wyoming State campground in the canyon. Wyoming really needs to simplify stuff. Most of the sites were not marked and the ones that were had signs to call before camping. Well, no cell coverage.
The next two nights were Nebraska city parks on State highways, Hay Springs and South Sioux City as we drove all the way across the state on Hwy 20. Very low key drive. Today we crossed Iowa also on state roads only to take an end-of-day road closed detour an hour out of the way. We are once again in a small city park, the same as the last 2 nights.
The old Dodge seems to be headed toward the barn.

[Nelson428]

What a great trip y’all have had. Great time and great pictures. I finally got on the road. Oklahoma resting tomorrow. Y’all keep safe as you travel.

[HiHoAgRV]

We have so far avoided bad weather, traffic and crowds. Tonight we stopped at another city campground, Hardy AR and it has the best camp host we have ever seen. Terry has been great and the only downside to here is the regular train traffic.
Jury is still out on the camp rating because the 20 folks in the next site just started a ball game, 1st base is in our site.
Tomorrow is antique shopping day.

[Overlander & Sea]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

Jury is still out on the camp rating because the 20 folks in the next site just started a ball game, 1st base is in our site.
Tomorrow is antique shopping day.

1st Base, WOW! What great seats to watch a ball game! Time to grill some hot dogs!!

[HiHoAgRV]

We made it home late Saturday. 4,077 miles averaging 13.7 MPG with a high tank of 16.1 on the flat Wyoming high plains and a tail wind. Only twice did we unhook the trailer and we skipped all of the commercial campgrounds staying in Federal parks and small town camps. If I recall we only did 4-5 sections of interstate. We took mainly state hwys and got to see lots of small towns making for a really low key trip. We never made a reservation or even called ahead to see if there was a site available, no issues staying at every place we picked.
Now we are back to "enjoy" a Mississippi summer.