Greg & Luba Long Haul Shakedown Tour

First night spent in the Camp-inn parking lot!

Smokey Mts, the least used pieces if camping gear, the chairs were never unpacked again.

Smokey Mts hike, Deep Creek

Nice campsites at Grayton Beach

Very nice beach (just ignore the condos in the distance)

Big tom turkey at Iowa Campground outside Omaha

Badlands had bad weather, but still beautiful

One beautiful day in the Black Hills

Finally Home (and after a quick wash)

Greg & Luba & Nikolai & Zebediah Bruna
2010 - 560 Ultra, Camp-Inn #408
Tow Vehicle: 2010 VW Jetta Sportswagen TDI
5,954 mi after picking up camper, over 7500 mi overall
20 Nights in camper over six weeks (the rest of the nights were spent at family and friends homes)
April - May 2011

Major Stops:
Necedah WI of course to pick up our new camper!
Smokey Mountains (Cades cove TN, and Deep Creek NC)
Reed Bingham SP GA
Manatee SP FL
Orlando FL (Sea World)
Grayton Beach SP FL
Florida Caverns SP FL
Opp AL
Hot Springs AR
Clarksville AR
Hitchcock Nature Center IA
Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha NE
Luvern MN
Badlands NP SD
Wind Cave SD
Jewel Cave SD
Mt Rushmore SD

This trip began with a 1600 mile marathon drive from Spokane to Necedah to pick up our new trailer. It really wasn't too bad with us taking turns driving and the boys sleeping a large part of the time. We made liberal use of the DVD player to keep the boys entertained.

This being our shakedown tour I have to mention how great Craig and Cary were. Craig basically rewired our towing harness in less than a couple hours and saved our trip. Cary was extremely accommodating to four dead tired travelers and set us up for our first night in our camper in the camp inn parking lot.

After leaving Necedah we made a bee line to warmer climes in the Smokey Mountains. Cades Cove TN was our first destination. Unfortunately we arrived after dark and instead of trying to set up for the first time in the dark we elected to spend the night in the Wallmart parking lot in Knoxville. This was after driving to the campground and deciding we didn't want to wake everyone up learning how to back up and set up our camper, and spending a couple hours driving in the hills as our GPS decided to take an interesting route back to Knoxville. The Smokey Mts were great, the trails were beautiful and I would certainly come back again. One thing that struck me is that I have never seen so many people go crazy over a few (very small) white tailed deer.

Our stop in Georgia was brief but the state park was nice and had a great playground for the kids.

The highlights of our time in Florida had to be Sea World and Grayton Beach park. Manatee SP was beautiful but coming from the NW the bugs were a bit much for us (translated, they freaked my wife out something terrible). Florida Caverns was also a very nice SP with a very nice cavern tour and very nice facilities.

Opp AL, I missed most of our time in Opp since I went to work for two weeks in Alaska while Luba and the boys stayed with my sister in laws family. I do know they all had a great time.

On our drive from Opp AL to Hot Springs AR we saw several spots that had just been destroyed from tornadoes the week before, very sobering. Then we had to detour a couple hours out of our way around Little Rock because of flooding over the interstate, we saw lots of fields covered in water and passed over the white river which was over it's banks. Then when we finally arrived at Ouchita SP just outside of Hot Springs it was closed due to tornado damage, sigh. We spent another night in a wallmart parking lot but spent the next day hiking and driving around Hot Springs before driving to a close friends place outside of Clarksville AR. This was where Zeb caught his first lizard (chameleon) and was bitten by the same. I've never seen a boys face go from sheer joy and triumph to shock and absolute horror so fast. I was able to contain my laughter just enough to keep my feet and pick him up and console him. He was quickly nicknamed the lizard catcher and all was good again.

From there we drove to the Hitchcock campground just outside of Omaha where I got to show my wife the neighborhood I grew up in and visit an old high school friend. We spent the day at the Henry Doorly Zoo which I highly recommend.

We then drove to visit a friend in Luverne MN before going on to the Badlands NP. I really want to go back here, unfortunately bad weather and cold fog/rain kept us from exploring as much as we would have liked it was a really neat place.

We drove on to the black hills where we spent a rainy day going to the wind cave and jewel caves. The following day was beautiful and we spent it at Mount Rushmore and hiking. Since the weather forecast was unfavorable for the following days we elected to leave early and drove through a light snow as we left the black hills. The final 900 miles was driven with promises to make it back to Yellowstone, Tetons, Museum of the Rockies, etc... The boys were so happy to see their home again they could barely contain themselves. Everything was new again, Zeb literally ran around the house saying "we got a new fridge, couch, doors, lightswitches etc..."

The planning begins for the next trip, hee hee hee

 

You all are amazing! Congrats on the trip and your new trailer! Welcome home...for now!

 

Sounds like a great trip and that you had a great trip.Enjoy your new Camp Inn.Steve

 

Great photos and story, Greg. So, just PM me with your address and I'll send out your pin - you've earned them!

 

Wow! Now THAT'S the way to describe a trip and the pics were great! Having lived in Hot Springs (outside about 12 miles closer to Hot Springs Village) I'm curious about the damage at Ouchita SP. Our best friends there were hit by an F3 and severe damage was done. I didn't hear about the damage at the park - were you able to see any of it or hear what happened? Welcome home - there's no place like it!

 

Linda, we didn't get to see the damage at Ouchita. We arrived around sunset and were turned away by a ranger before getting to the campground. He said they would be re-opening the next week so I assume it wasn't that bad. We did see some severe tornado damage on the way to the park but I couldn't tell you where exactly now.

Your right, it's good to be home. Next month I think I'll settle for a long weekend at banks lake and teach Zeb how to fish. With him (three years old) that could be a 5 minute diversion before boredom settles in or a day long obsession.

 

I love the lizard catcher story. Congrats on keeping your laughter in. Children make nature new to us - they see and experience things we have come to ignore. May you have many more camping adventures.