Tuesday, Aug. 26
Started the odyssey at 11:15 AM. 1:45 PM crossed Mississippi River and entered into Iowa. Yes! Can now bump the cruise control 10 mph. Yes!! Cruising along on I-80, radio cranked, just a beautiful sunny day - sailing past the massive fields of green corn with their blanket of golden tassels. Iowa is good – in fact some of the best people I know come from Iowa! A great day, but a little warm. Reached over 100 through Des Moines.
7 PM, descending into the Missouri River valley. The sun is starting to go down and the view is magnificent! The Loess Hills to the right are alive with greens and beiges. Other than a gazillion bugs hitting the windshield, it’s a great time to cruise.
8:30, South Dakota. Yes!!! Pulled
into a rest area on I-90.
600 miles today – not too shabby.
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Up at 6 AM and on the road again after cleaning the gazillion bugs off the windshield. Stopped at Chamberlain. The West begins here. East of Chamberlain it’s still somewhat Midwesterny. There are fields, trees and farms. It’s relatively flat. On the West side of the Missouri at Chamberlain, the change is dramatic. Massive hills, hardly any trees or ranches - just the wide open west. YES!!!!
Observations on I-90: Rush hour in South Dakota – in 15 minutes saw 8 vehicles. On the negative side, they allow a plethora of billboards, undoubtedly inspired by Wall Drug. The count thus far: 24 billboards in a one mile stretch. Fortunately these are only clustered near the few towns along I-90. Sturgis is over. Hundreds of bikers on the highway. Seem to be three types: The real bikers who traveled to and from Sturgis on their bikes. Then there are those who ride but have “chase” vehicles to sleep in and available in case of breakdown. Then there seem to be those that trailer their bikes so they can ride 100 miles in the Black Hills. I vote for the first group!
Stopped at the rest area on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. Hiked to an overlook and fortunately avoided the “poisonous snakes” as requested by the signage. The sun is bright, the sky is blue, the temperature is about 72 with a 10-15 mph wind. The smell of freshly cut grass is in the air. The view is stunning. What a great day to be alive.
Well …. almost. 15 miles west of Kadoka the motor home shook
a little. I looked back the damn trailer and Jeep were swinging wildly
side to side. “Oh shit – the hitch from the motor home to
the trailer broke!” I slowed down from 80 to 30 and as I looked
in the rear view mirror I saw the trailer heading, on its own, across
the left lane of the interstate, heading into the median and plowing about
a 50 foot furrow before it stopped. No roll over. Minor damage compared
to what it could have been. No one hurt.
In case one should ask, the safety chains weren't and the breakaway device
broke.
Trailer skid marks
So, unload the Jeep and used that to haul the trailer back across the highway to the motor home, get out my spare hitch (yup, I had one!), fixed a few items and up and away again. The next five hours were spent in Rapid City getting parts, including a new wheel. Also picked up a new breakaway switch, cable and some REAL safety chains along with a couple 1/2" grade 8 bolts to affix the chains to the trailer. (It seems that Trailerman out of Louisiana, MO., the company that made the trailer, welded links of the two safety chains to the frame. Well, duh, I can weld better than that since both chains broke the weld. Damn!) Finally made it to Whispering Pines about 8 PM – about a dozen people congregated around the coach. I “had” to be sociable and have a beer or two or three or .... and quickly realized I hadn’t eaten since 6 AM. Oops! Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
