Headed for Mt. Rushmore

[Ol'Joe]

Hi All,

My month long vacation starts in a week. We're headed first for eastern South Dakota then Mt. Rushmore. After that who knows. I had planned to run a somewhat northern route through W. Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and S.D.. I'm concerned that most of these areas may still be suffering from the effects of all the flooding. Anybody got any updates on Des Moines and surrounding ares. I wouldn't want to add to the problems. Thanks all.

[Ol'Joe]

Hi All,

My month long vacation starts in a week. We're headed first for eastern South Dakota then Mt. Rushmore. After that who knows. I had planned to run a somewhat northern route through W. Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and S.D.. I'm concerned that most of these areas may still be suffering from the effects of all the flooding. Anybody got any updates on Des Moines and surrounding ares. I wouldn't want to add to the problems. Thanks all.

[paz]

Des Moines is fine. We just came through there a few days ago. Before that, most of the problems were around Quad Cities (Davenport, IA area), Cedar Rapids, IA, and Iowa City. Most of the flooding has moved on down the Mississippi, but that area does keep getting rain.

We were near Davenport, IA during the flooding. The flooding was limited to a half mile or a mile (in some cases as little as a few blocks) from the river. There were lots of roads closed, but we were never in danger of being flooded.

With the exception of I-80 west of Davenport between Exits 265 and 267 being closed for 3 days (now open) and a few closings along I-380 in Cedar Rapids, all the major interstates were open.

Check THIS MAP from Iowa DOT for current road closures. It looks like there are only a couple of local roads closed due to flooding at this time. The map also shows road construction.

[Ol'Joe]

Thanks Paz,
I was wanting to go "The road less traveled" from Virginia Beach, VA to S.D.. Did you see any indication of problems with fuel points or campgrounds that were closed? I'm not a fan of "Wallydocking" but might consider it if htere's a lack of campgrounds open. Thanks for the info.

[paz]

We originally wanted to stay at Corps of engineers campgrounds as we drove across Iowa; but since most of these are located along rivers or lakes, many were closed. For example, Saylorville Lake near Des Moines has 4 COE campgrounds. One was closed because of high water, so the other 3 were filled. There were several private campgrounds that were open and had sites available. As I said, when you get a mile or so from the rivers, there is no problem.

[rebelsbeach]

iRV2 member K-Star took this pic of the Devil's Tower from the KOA at the base.... It's a must see if you're going to be as close as Rushmore.

[K-Star]

thanks for the advertisement Bob.

We went to Mt. Rushmore for a week. From there we went to the Badlands and Sturgis (as an ex-biker, just had to see Sturgis). If you haven't picked a CG yet, we stayed at the Hill City KOA. But The Rafter-J CG is much nicer. Then we went to Devils Tower. As Bob stated we stayed at the KOA which is right at the entrance to the park. Word of caution - Devils Tower is the only game in town so you only need a day for that. Then off to Little Big Horn, MT. On the way home we stopped at Cheyenne, WY.

Absolutely beautiful trip. It took us a month for that part of the trip, including drive time to get there and just plain chill time. Can't beat a Montana sunset.

We started from N.J. Took 80 to Chicago then 90 thru Wisconsin and west to Rapid City.

[rebelsbeach]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">thanks for the advertisement Bob. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Was just showcasing your pic of the Devils Tower to indicate it's proximity to the Tower.
My kids thoroughly enjoyed that day, as we took the guided tour around the Tower and there happened to be Indians there at the site observing a holy day of sorts.

[rebelsbeach]

We also enjoyed seeing the site of the Vore Buffalo Jump where the Indians killed as many as 20,000 buffalo.... This site is believed to have been in use as late as the early 1800's and it's possible to walk down into the early stages of the pit and see how the Indians "herded" the buffalo over the ridge and down into the pit.... Some really amazing history in this part of the country.

[Ol'Joe]

Thanks Guys,

Had already planned to do Deadwood (DW's choice). Devils' Tower on list too. Get's me Wyoming Sticker on map. Will take your CG advice too. Looks like the Badlands and then who knows after that. Don't want it too structured. Got to just let some things happen. Maybe we'll run into some of ya's.
Thanks again.

[K-Star]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">as we took the guided tour around the Tower and there happened to be Indians there at the site observing a holy day of sorts. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Devils Tower is actually a sacred place for the Indians in that area. While the monument is not shut down, the month of June is very holy for the Indian and the park service tries to give them as much access as possible.

[Jestme13]

Try to be out of that area by the 3rd week of July. The bikers come in starting then and the CG's are booked solid, not to mention the prices in the area can triple. Keep an eye out for the bikes, they will be everywhere.

[Ol'Joe]

Hi Jest,

Thanks for heads up. I'm headed up there tomorrow and expect to be out of there by this weekend. And by the way the bikes are already here.

[ErWeGO]

Ole' Joe. I think we are planning the same trip to SD but from Williamsburg. In your route planning was breaking down steep grades a concern? I just did a 7% grade going South on I-26 from Ashville NC that got my BP up. Put the transmission in 3rd and tapped the breaks with constant pressure at times (less than a min) but I was tacking 4KRPMs and our big ole chevy was making some NOISE and I'll bet our dual exhaust was sounding pretty. So any route recommendations to avoid steep grades? I do plan to carefully use the TL CD I finally got that does have grade information. Also, plan on disconnecting the Dingy and letting the DW drive it up and down the big ones reducing my load by 3K... Any thoughts?