Dan's North American Journey--4 months on the road

[ExpoMike]

Nice pics and report so far. BTW, if you look at those letters, its Pooh Saan. Those are A's (see the little tail).

[oneenv]

Nice write up! Pictures look great. How about a picture of your rig......and how's the clutch doing?

If you end up in Raleigh look me up.

Safe travels.

Eli

[DHC6twinotter]

Post 7: Nebraska

So, as I type this, I'm listening to a Rapid City rock station. The DJ forgot to turn off his mic as the song is playing, and right now I'm listing to the Eagles with the melodious sounds of the DJ hacking and blowing his nose in the background. What a hoot.

Anyways, as my poor effort to keep you all updated proceeds, this post will highlight what I did in Nebraska.

My 88 year old grandmother lives in Nebraska, and we had sort of a mini family reunion. I also had the clutch replaced at a local shop. I had the kit from Marlin Crawler with me, so I had them put that in. Nothing too exciting for you all I suppose, so here are some other highlights of the trip:

Spent Indepedence Day in Lincoln. After a day at the Omaha Zoo with my nephew and niece (5 and 7), nobody felt like going anywhere. We sat out on the driveway and watched the neighbors shoot of their fireworks. It turned out really awesome, and I've never seen so many fireworks! Fireworks were going off all around us for hours on both the 3rd and 4th. It was insane.


Fireworks over Lincoln

My uncle and I drove out to the farm where he and my mom grew up. Right now it's all bean fields, but my grandparents used it as an apiary when they lived there.


Farmhouse where mom grew up.

We also ran up the road a bit to check out my Grandpa's old bee truck.


Grandpa's 1945 Ford 2 ton truck with wheelbase stretch

It's a 1945 Ford 2 ton truck. It has a flathead V8, 4 spd manual trans, and 2 speed rear axle. My grandfather had the frame and wheelbase stretched shortly after he bought the truck new in '45. He also had an auxiliary fuel tank, which was nothing more than a barrel strapped to the driver's side. He used it to haul his bees around, but he stopped migrating with the bees shortly after he bought the truck. The truck broke down, and he gave it to the neighbor in '77. It's been sitting in the garage since. Everybody is pretty adamant about it being a '45, but from the little research I've done, the 2 ton trucks weren't out till '46, so I dunno.

Anyways, the reason I'm telling you all this is because this may be my truck once I settle down. I can get the truck free, but I've got to decide if I want or can restore it.

While in Nebraska, I also stopped by the Strategic Air and Space Museum. If you like old bombers, this is the museum to to go. They have rare aircraft like the B-36, B-29, B-47, B-58, B-1B, SR-71, and many more. I just went to see the B-36 mostly.


Two of the four turbojet engines and intakes for three of the six 28 cylinder "corncob" radial engines used on the B-36


Three of the six pusher props on the B-36


You know you're in the midwest when you see this:


But if you're confused what pop is, some places have a sign like this:

[DHC6twinotter]

Eli, I lived in Fayetteville before leaving on this trip. I went up to Raleigh at least once a month. Didn't know there were any expo member up there.

I may be back in the Raleigh area if my job search out west doesn't pan out.

[DHC6twinotter]

Post 8: Nebraska to South Dakota

My trip has taken taken a drastic turn. As you can see, up till now, my trip has been focusing more on seeing family and attending a few other events in between. Now that I've left Nebraska, the trip will focus more on visiting parks and some of the back country. I will be doing much more truck camping, and things should be much more interesting.

I left Nebraska on July 11th. I'll be heading up to the Badlands and the Black Hills, with a couple stops on the way. The new clutch is great, although I'm having to get used to driving my 4Runner all over again. It's really nice to no longer have to push the clutch pedal all the way to floor whenever I want to change gears.

I stopped at Harold Warp's Pioneer Village in Minded, NE. You want to see old tractors? They've got a couple hundred. You want to see old cars? They've got a few hundred. You want to see old outboard boat motors? They've got a couple hundred. You want to see old stagecoaches and carriages? They've got a couple hundred. You want to see old airplane engines? They've got a few of those. Old steam powered fire trucks? They've got a few of those. You get the idea. They've got a lot of a lot. This place is crazy.



Otto Engine. This was the first 4 stroke engine built


1937 Cord


Steam Powered Fire Engine

From the museum, I drove up and stayed overnight in the Nebraska National Forest. Pretty neat park, although the section I stayed in had few trees.







While prepping my wonderful breakfast (cereal), I realized I left all my silverware at home. Not sure I how did that. I know I set the silverware aside to bring, but I guess I left it somewhere. However, I did have a giant stirring spoon, so that filled the breakfast spoon role for now.

After breakfast, I continued my drive up highway 83 to South Dakota and the Badlands.

[DHC6twinotter]

Post 9: Badlands, South Dakota.

July 13th, I made to the Badlands. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this place exceeded my expectations. What a great park!











I set up camp in a free "primitive" campground. It turned out being a pretty nice campground, but you did have to drive down 12 miles of dirt roads to get to it. Of course, I didn't mind the dirt roads, and the view was great.



I set up camp next to a horse coral at the Sage Creek Campground. I still didn't have proper silverware, and once again I ate my wonderful breakfast (cereal), and a great dinner (ravioli) with my giant stirring spoon.



On my way out of the park, I came to a T intersection. To the right was route 44 which takes me to my next destination, Rapid City, South Dakota. To the left was a road that took me to the south side of Badlands National Park. At first glance, the map didn't seem to show anything more spectacular in the south side, so I turned right towards Rapid City. After driving for a mile or so, I glanced down at the map again, and noticed a road that said, "Sheep Mountain--High Clearance Vehicles Only". That sounded fun! But, that meant I had to turn around and head back to the south side of Badlands. I was low on fuel (again), but figured I had enough to make it.

This turned out to be a great road to take, and the views were amazing. The first few miles of the dirt road were really nice, and I couldn't figure out why the map said "high clearance vehicles only". A car could make it. Turns out, once you pass the first scenic overlook, the road turns into a couple of ruts for the next several miles. There were a few hairy off-camber sections as well.

[DHC6twinotter]

I'm looking at staying somewhere in the Prescott or Flagstaff area for a few weeks starting in early to mid August. If anybody knows of a place (room, apartment, house...doesn't matter) I can stay in for 2-3 weeks for a good price, let me know.

Same for southern California. I'll be looking for something 2-3 weeks, maybe longer. Ideally somewhere around Temecula or as far north as Pomona.

Thanks!

[Paladin1]

Great thread, thanks for sharing your travels.

[DHC6twinotter]

Post 10: Black Hills, SD.

From the Badlands, I headed up to the Black Hills. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I figured the only thing here was Mt. Rushmore. I was wrong. There's so much stuff do here! The scenery is amazing as well!




If you're ever in the area, make sure you take the route 16A, AKA the Iron Mountain Road. This is the funnest paved road I've ever been on, so much so that I drove the road 7 times during visit.

The road has 3 "pigtail" turns. In one spot, the road loops around itself twice. The wooden bridges are way cool as well.


Pigtail on the Iron Mountain Road

There are three tunnels on the Iron Mountain Road, and all three were constructed to frame Mt. Rushmore.


Tunnel framing Mt. Rushmore on the Iron Mountain Road

That night I checked out the lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore.


Mt. Rushmore

I stayed overnight in a super nice KOA campground. The shower and internet were nice. The plumbing in the shower was connected backwards, but I didn't realize this till halfway through my shower. It was kinda cold at first, but still very welcome.

Once again I ate my wonderful breakfast (cereal), except this time, I didn't have to use my giant stirring spoon! I used a fork. I went to Wal-Mart to buy supplies the day before, and I bought a box of forks. I figured I'd get more for my money, and I couldn't think what I needed spoons for. The jury is still out whether cereal is easier to eat with a fork or giant stirring spoon. It's rather dry with a fork.

The next day, I drove back to Mt. Rushmore for a daylight view.


Mt. Rushmore

Then I drove down the Needles Highway, which was another awesome drive!


View from the Needles Highway


Eye of the Needle

All of the tunnels on both the Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway are single lane and most are on blind corners. Much honking is involved when driving through.


Tunnel on the Needles Highway

[jscusmcvet]

Great stories and pictures. Thank you for sharing this.

John