Spring In South Dakota

[Sir Henry]

Wow I missed your camping trip. Wanna trade campers?

[JEBar]

not right now .... both of the roof mounted 15K BTU air conditioners are cranking out cool air .... the roof mounted satellite dish is locked onto a strong signal, one of the Lazy Boy recliners is calling my name .... as you might be able to tell, (hopefully) our days of roughing it are gone ....

[PT7]

Sure sorry about the hot summer weather here in MO, Jim. I've been tracking your t1ravels, and thought you might "get to participate" in about the hottest days we've had so far this summer --- and you have It settled in at a solid 90* here in KCMO "Northland" today, and tomorrow is predicted to be 93* with that good 'ole heat index (humidity) ramped up to 98*. The MO heat has probably has made it a little harder to leave that pleasant SD weather, I'm sure. On my day away today, I left PUMP at home.....just a little too hot out there for me to run those 20-ga slugs down the Parma Woods Range!

Hope you guys really enjoy your range time at Jay Henges. The MDC sure has a nice set up there from what I've seen/read on the web. I'd like to try and get there someday to shoot, too. At least I have two MDC ranges within comfortable driving distance here. Our state has done us proud in supporting the shooting sports through the MDC.

Take good care, and continued safe travel!

after 7 hrs covering 419.6 miles we are set up at the West St Louis KOA .... its hot, our outdoor thermometer shows 93 and I'd bet the humidity is even higher .... tomorrow morning we will try and find the local WalMart for some grocery shopping and tomorrow afternoon we hope to get over to Jay Henges State Park ... shortly after our arrival a couple of fellows who have become good friends came by and picked up $630 worth of South Dakota steaks .... with that delivery we sure have more space in the camper's frig ..

[JEBar]

this time of year Jay Henges range opens at 1pm on Wednesday and is open until 7:30 pm .... the shooting stations in their rifle/pistol range is shaded so that will help .... my hope is to fine tune our Henry 45-70 at 50 yards with cowboy action level ammo .... that said, once the shooting starts, our targets may well be moved to other ranges .... about 3pm we plan to move to their trap range where we will link up with 3 friends from this area .... we are going prepared to fire a couple of hundred rounds but the reality is the heat will most certainly make the determination

[JEBar]

today isn't off to a good start .... got into the truck to drive to the local Walmart only to be greeted by a PressurePro alarm .... the same off door side front tire in which we had to install a new valve stem seal last week was showing 65 psi .... pulled the slide in, used the Bigfoot auto leveling system to raise the tires off of the ground, turned the wheel to where I could put liquid soap on the base of the valve stem, and once again, bubbles .... used a Gear Wrench socket and found the nut holding the stem in place was very loose .... tightened in a bit, bubbles continued .... tightened it a bit more, bubbles still seen ..... tightened it a bit more, no bubbles .... used the compressor built into our Sportchassis to air up the tire .... screwed on the PressurePro sensor and used the Bigfoot system to relevel the camper .... now the wait begins to confirm the leak has been taken care of .... as forecasted, today's heat is oppressive .... 92 degrees with a "Real Feel" of 98 .... consequently I've decided to reduce the time spent at Jay Henges today .... I'll hold off firing our Henry rifles until sometime after I get back home and will reduce our trap shooting to four rounds (100 shells) .... if it cools down after a while I might go back over there (4 miles) and send some rounds out of our Henry 44 & 45-70 down range

[PT7]

Vehicle problems in such hot weather is definitely no fun. And totally understood about the "oppressive heat" and "Real Feel" temps. Our current blistering MO weather does definitely deflate range time.

today isn't off to a good start .... .... as forecasted, today's heat is oppressive .... 92 degrees with a "Real Feel" of 98 .... consequently I've decided to reduce the time spent at Jay Henges today ....

[CT_Shooter]

..... tightened it a bit more, no bubbles .... used the compressor built into our Sportchassis to air up the tire .... screwed on the PressurePro sensor and used the Bigfoot system to relevel the camper .... now the wait begins to confirm the leak has been taken care of...

Doing the kind of traveling you do, it's no surprise that you're prepared for just about anything. Your diary is very interesting, JEBar. I love to read of your adventures. Happy Trails.

[JEBar]

Vehicle problems in such hot weather is definitely no fun. And totally understood about the "oppressive heat" and "Real Feel" temps. Our current blistering MO weather does definitely deflate range time.

just got back from Jay Henges .... our group fired 100 rounds each on one of their trap ranges .... in the Mag-na-port thread I posted a picture of my shoulder .... no bruising whatsoever ... I freely admit that the heat sure pulled down my energy level ....

[JEBar]

Doing the kind of traveling you do, it's no surprise that you're prepared for just about anything. Your diary is very interesting, JEBar. I love to read of your adventures. Happy Trails.

kind words appreciated .... I just went out and checked, so far so good .... the tire pressure in the one with the leaking valve is dead on where it should be ..

[PT7]

"Cool" that you got the 4 rounds of trap in today....and w/o any shoulder black/blue art deco!! Last Tuesday my plan was to shoot my PUMP and send 35-40 slugs down range at Parma Woods. I did not even have the energy to battle the +90* temp, so the shotgun stayed home in the air-conditioned gun cabinet. I bet your barrels heated up good today, too.

Last time I went to the deer hunting blind in early December, the temp had dropped into the 20s by dark. Heading over the fields and up the hill back to his house, my son-in-law and I ran into a mini-blizzard, which had just started. That was a cold hike back, but I sure do prefer those temps over this season! Also takes a little longer for a shotgun barrel to heat up in December.

Well, guess that comes with the territory as we enjoy shooting outdoors....yup, it's okay.

BTW, how did your trap rounds end up? Good scores?
Thanks for posting your "travelling" range report.

Vehicle problems in such hot weather is definitely no fun. And totally understood about the "oppressive heat" and "Real Feel" temps. Our current blistering MO weather does definitely deflate range time.

just got back from Jay Henges .... our group fired 100 rounds each on one of their trap ranges .... in the Mag-na-port thread I posted a picture of my shoulder .... no bruising whatsoever ... I freely admit that the heat sure pulled down my energy level ....

[JEBar]

BTW, how did your trap rounds end up? Good scores?
Thanks for posting your "travelling" range report.

we don't make a point to keep anyone's scores but our own, we enjoy the shooting and chatter on the line .... I experimented a bit .... I have a full set of Carlson extended choke tubes, most of which have never been used .... for the first round I decided to go with their "Skeet" choke tube (one of those I've never tried) .... after firing the first stand (5 rounds with 1 solid and 1 single pellet type hit) I realized that was a mistake and switched to the Carlson "Modified" choke .... after that switch I managed to hit 15 of the remaining shots .... with the heat the second and third rounds seemed to get tougher and tougher .... I wasn't firing fast enough to heat up the barrel but the sun sure did .. .. as best I remember I hit 17 on the second round and 16 on the third .... thankfully some clouds passed over and hung around during the last round .... we decided to move back to the 18' firing block for the last round so I switched to a full choke .... missed the first two and then ran a pretty good streak .... ended up with 21 ... I've had better days and most certainly have had plenty of worse ones .... one of the things I enjoy about firing with the fellows from this area is doing so is fun .... they are all active hunters who do really well .... there are deer tracks all over the place and, for the first time, I saw two good size does run across the field down range from our firing positions .... really enjoyed watching them for the few seconds they were out in the open

[JEBar]

we are currently setup in Clarksville RV Park in Clarksville. TN which puts us 305 miles closer to home .... today's drive took 6 hrs with one fuel stop and two rest stops .... when we took on fuel at the Pilot Road Ranger truck stop in Fenton, MO Maureen figured we'd averaged 10 mpg in the 700 miles (all but 24.2 miles were towing) we'd covered since filling in Sioux Falls .... unfortunately, I fear the fuel in Fenton has a higher percentage of bio which guarantees our mileage will go down ... here at Clarksville we are setup on a pull-through, 50 amp, full hookup, $41 a night sight .... tropical storm Cindy is still many miles south of where we are but its on the way but as can be seen below, we setup in the rain (nothing new about that) ..... if/when the sun comes back out, my bet is the humidity will really be oppressive .... well, oppressive turned out to be the optimal word .... hard rain for a few minutes, the sun comes out, the air feels like you are in a sauna, it clouds up, hard rain for a few minutes, the sun comes out, the air feels like you are in a sauna, it clouds up, hard rain for a few minutes --- and so on, and so on, and so on .... a fellow parked near us is up on the roof of his motorhome spreading out a tarp .... it would appear that he is dealing with a significant leak .... no tire leaks today, hope that continues .... as mentioned, when we last took on fuel the plaque on the pump said their fuel has between a B5 and B20 alcohol content .... in watching the truck's fuel gauge, I fear its closer to B20 .... on Flying J's website they don't show selling diesel with anything higher than B5 in Tennessee .... sure hope that proves to be correct .... thankfully, the projected path of rainfall from Cindy has moved west to where it no longer passes through NC .... on the negative side, if that forecast is correct, we will be driving through it for over 200 miles tomorrow .... oh well, what comes will come

[JEBar]

thankfully, the forecast has changed for the better .... we may well hit some rain around Knoxville, TN but most of today's drive should be dry .... wouldn't you know it, the day we spent trap shooting near St Louis was brutally hot, the temp over there today should be much better .... sorry, its too late to go back .... per Google Maps today's drive should be around 334 miles and should take over such 5 hrs .... that's about normal for us, when planning our trips our goal is 300 miles of travel between CG's .... naturally that doesn't work all of the time but thankfully, it does most of the time .... history has proven to us that its best for us to leave Clarksville around 8:45 AM Central so as to minimize traffic congestion around Nashville .... I don't remember when they weren't working on the Interstate highways around Nashville ....

[JEBar]

if all goes as we hope, tomorrow's drive of just over 270 miles will take us from the mountains of western NC to our home .... hopefully, with it being a Sunday, traffic will be somewhat lighter .... heat will be a factor but thankfully, no storms are in the forecast ... our only planned stop is to top off our truck's fuel tanks at the Flying J located just east of Durham .... over the next few months our Sportchassis will see very limited use and we want the tanks as full as possible so as to minimize condensation .... as is usually the case, we hate our trip is over but we are already planning the next one

[RanchRoper]

Travel safe.

[PT7]

Thanks very much for taking us along, JEBar. The sights and travelogue for "Spring in South Dakota" were delightful and most interesting. Looking forward to "the next one," too!

Travel safe, and welcome home.

Ah, home again.jpg (6.37 KiB) Viewed 3178 times

if all goes as we hope, tomorrow's drive of just over 270 miles will take us from the mountains of western NC to our home .... we are already planning the next one