Man it's Hot!

We left Paducah, Ky Thursday morning to face our big challenge today, getting through St. Louis alive!  I've read many horror stories about traffic there, but we were fortunate and made it through unscathed.  After many pit stops and a lunch break, we arrived at Hidden Oaks RV Park in Fulton, Mo. around 3PM, 275 miles later. This park was rated pretty well on the internet sites I normally use, but was not up to it's ratings in my opinion. I doubt we would go back or recommend it. One positive out of the experience was that Al & Pat were having brake problems with their truck and there was a local garage right across the road from the park. The gentleman running the garage told them the truck needed new pads on the front wheels and he could fix it and have it ready in the morning, which he did. Hard to find honest reputable garages, but this one was like a godsend.

Friday morning, we pulled out of Fulton, Mo. heading west on Interstate 70. We went through Kansas City and turned north on Intertsate 29 to our next overnight stop, Rock Port Rivers Edge Camp Ground, Rock Port, Mo. This is a small park that was wiped out in a flood several years ago but has been rebuilt and is in great shape and is doing well.

After a much needed restful night, we hit the "super slab" again Saturday morning heading north on interstate 29  towards Sioux Falls, SD. I-29 runs pretty close to the Iowa Nebraska state line and is very much an agriculture area. The crops we primarily saw were corn, corn, and more corn, and a few soybeans thrown in. It's beautiful land and is very rural.  When we reached Sioux Falls, we pointed the nose of the truck due west on Interstate 90 in search of our next stop, Camp America Camp Ground, Salem, SD. This park was very nice, well kept, and very clean. The park was pretty full by nightfall. We've noticed that as we get further west, the parks are more crowded, which I'm afraid is a sign of things to come.

Today (Sunday), we arose to a what we thought was a cloudy morning, but turned out to be smoke from the wildfires in Washington state. According to the weatherman, a strong front is moving the smoke directly west. We pulled out about 10AM and headed west on Interstate 90 and noticed right away, we were fighting a cross wind. We had been enjoying a tail wind when we were heading north, but now it's a cross wind running about 10 to 15 mph and can tell the truck is working harder and  has hurt the fuel mileage. It was extremely hot all afternoon with temperatures hitting 100 degrees for several hours. We arrived at the American RV Park & Kamp in Murdo, SD about 4PM. Boy, talk about being out in the middle of nowhere, this is it!  This area is so rural, we cannot pickup even one TV channel and it was too hot to put up the satellite dish. I had a check engine light come on the truck today that indicated something going on in the pollution control of the engine. I think we can make it in to Custer OK, but will have it checked at first opportunity. We hope to make it to our first destination tomorrow and plan to be there 6 days before moving on to Wyoming. We'll have plenty of pictures to post soon.