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Old 04-03-2017, 03:46 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Hurricane 35C
State: South Dakota
Posts: 1,132
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Headed to Sioux Falls from Virginia Beach

The wife and I are looking to make a trip from Virginia Beach to Sioux Falls, SD starting this Friday. We typically leave after work on Friday and go a few hours to get a head start on any trip (typically to Richmond, but maybe as far as Charlottesville or beyond.) Our planned route takes us via I-64 W through WVa and into Kentucky, then we angle NNW through Indiana and Illinois into Iowa and then to I-29 N to finish in Sioux Falls. We currently have a reservation at Tower Campground in Sioux Falls starting on Monday through Wednesday and then we will return.

Any ideas of stops along the way? We typically overnight at Walmarts or other RV friendly spots until we arrive, but may stop at a campground to fill up on water and dump tanks prior to our arrival.

Our goal is to get to Sioux Falls and head to DMV to get new SD driver's licenses and register our RV and Jeep (towed.) We still aren't sure if SD is one of the states where the tow dolly will be required to be registered, so any help on that would be appreciated. We are planning to full time in July after retirement from our current jobs, and this is like a planned head start (plus it's yet another adventure.)

For those that have done this, we could sure use any advice you may have. We always wonder about the "gotchas" and try to plan ahead but plans are made to be broken. There will be a lot of windshield miles on this trip but we won't have to do it again for quite some time and with no deadline.

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2016 Thor Hurricane 35C with pups Piper and Annabelle
2013 Ford Fiesta toad
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Old 04-03-2017, 04:34 PM   #2
EV2
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Assume that you have a physical address in Sioux Falls that can receive mail with capability to forward.
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Old 04-03-2017, 05:06 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EV2 View Post
Assume that you have a physical address in Sioux Falls that can receive mail with capability to forward.
Yes, that is correct. We are using DakotaPost.
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2016 Thor Hurricane 35C with pups Piper and Annabelle
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Old 04-03-2017, 05:34 PM   #4
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Charlottesville Campground

Hi JP,

If you do make it as far as Charlottesville on your first day, I recommend Misty Mountain Campground in Crozet, just west of Charlottesville. Easy in/out and nice people. Good camp store as well.

Jim
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Old 04-04-2017, 12:37 AM   #5
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Congrats on your pending retirement! Never a better time to tour around and see this wonderful country!

You asked what stops, but didn't say what interests you. Nature, history, shopping, etc? Your route will take you near the Lincoln sites in Springfield, IL. Highly recommended, everyone should go to the Lincoln Library and Museum.

Trip Advisor can give you the most popular sites in any area you choose to stop. We lean on TA to find all kinds of things we otherwise would have missed.

You'll figure out how many miles you can comfortably cover in a day. We have learned that we average about 50 miles an hour, counting stops for fuel and exercise. So, if we drive about 7 hours, that is about 350 miles. I can do a lot more miles in a day, alone in a car.)

We do WMt overnights some, and prefer Cracker Barrel when one that allows overnights is on our path. I highly recommend OvernightRVParking.com and the ap that goes along with it. You subscribe for $25/year, and have access to not just listings, but crowd-sourced reviews and updates. When you update, they extend your subscription.

Happy trails!
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Old 04-09-2017, 01:01 AM   #6
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Our first night we stopped in Ashland, VA right around the corner from our dealer where we bought our Hurricane. There is a TA stop with a Fuddrucker's, and I really wanted a chocolate shake. Night two and we are in Georgetown, KY at Whispering Pines RV Park... more to follow.
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Old 04-21-2017, 12:30 AM   #7
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Any more trip updates?
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Old 04-21-2017, 12:36 AM   #8
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Yes, when I can get a chance to sit down and type it all out. 3,095 miles round trip, got most of our objectives completed. Will come back with some reviews and lessons learned.
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Old 04-21-2017, 12:47 AM   #9
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REALLY , South Dakota,?
We were married in Sioux
fall's. SD
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Old 04-21-2017, 12:47 PM   #10
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So... now that I have a chance to type something on a real keyboard...


When we were in Georgetown, KY (just north of Lexington) we took some time to unhook the Jeep and went to Culver's (since we love their frozen custard and we don't have any Culver's in VA) and also went to Lowe's right next door to get some additional cup holder parts (see Jerry's Hurricane Mods thread - we got some 3 inch PVC couplers to use in the existing cup holders and they make all of the difference!)


From Georgetown, we hopped back on I-75 and went north towards Cincinnati and then jumped on I-275 west around Cincy to I-74 West. We travelled across Indiana and Illinois and stayed on I-74 to Davenport, IA where we picked up I-80 West and then I-380 North to Waterloo, where we stayed at a TA truck stop for the night. It was relatively late and was a long day drive, and the truck stop was crowded and scary (trucks going in and out pretty quickly) but it was a short stop as we got up on Monday morning and took US 20 West to Sioux City, where we then got on I-29 North to Sioux Falls.


In Sioux Falls, we stayed at Tower Campground (on 12th St, right off of I-29) which turned out to be a nice choice. The staff was very friendly and they deal with a lot of people looking to full time as they have the addresses and info for the major mail forwarding services. The campground is located on the west side of Sioux Falls and is close to a lot of retail as well as only a mile or so from most of the typical tourist attractions such as the USS South Dakota (BB-57) Memorial at Sherman park and the Falls Park where you can see the namesake Sioux River Falls.


Of course, when we arrived it started to snow...


We went to Dakota Post and checked in to get our mail and see what progress had been made towards getting registrations completed on both the Jeep and the Hurricane. Good news was that everything was set for the Jeep, bad news was that the lien holder for the Hurricane wanted $25 to process the title change, so that couldn't be done while we were there. The better news was that there was a Culver's less than a mile from our campground and we decided to dine there and head back for some rest.


Tuesday was the day we went to DMV and applied for our driver's licenses. First, let me say that you need to make sure you have what you need and the SD DMV page isn't very clear about the details. Any receipt that is used for your qualifying overnight stay MUST have the postal mail box address on it, not your "real" sticks and bricks address. Secondly (mostly for the wives) you must also present all forms of evidence for any name changes (birth certificate for original surname and ALL marriage licenses for name changes, plus Social Security card) and since my wife did not bring her first marriage certificate, she could NOT get her license that day. However, I did. The staff at DMV was very friendly and helpful and explained that it is all due to post 9/11 rules to prevent fraudulent licenses from being issued. I did have to go back to the campground to get a new receipt with the PMB address on it as well as bring 2 pieces of mail. Fortunately, it wasn't that far away back at the campground. So lesson learned the hard way. We spent the rest of the day (a nice sunny 65 degree day) going to the parks and battleship memorial with the pups. Dinner was at Minerva's downtown and we highly recommend it - the steaks were to die for and we also recommend the local appetizer called chislic - cubed steak, seasoned with South Dakota special something, grilled to your liking and served with fries and BBQ sauce and ketchup.


More to follow...
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2016 Thor Hurricane 35C with pups Piper and Annabelle
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Old 04-21-2017, 06:28 PM   #11
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Part 2...


Wednesday we picked up our registration and tags for the Jeep and then started home, this time taking I-29 down through Kansas City to I-70 East. We stopped in Columbia, MO for the night at a Wally World where we got Papa John's delivered and made a few runs to the store.


Thursday was a drive from Columbia to the Ashland/Huntington West KOA in far eastern Kentucky, close to the border with WV. We travelled I-70 East until it split off onto I-64 and we crossed the Mississippi River in St. Louis right next to Busch Stadium and the Gateway Arch and followed I-64 the rest of the way. The KOA was very nice, practically brand new. We got a pull thru site with full hook ups. It was very quiet and hardly anyone was outside after 10 p.m.


Friday morning it was decided that we would try to get all of the way back to Virginia Beach as we were well in range for a day's drive. We dumped and flushed both black tanks and packed up for the ride. We eventually arrived back in Virginia Beach later that night after a stop in Ashland, VA for Fuddruckers and gas. As usual, our friends at VDOT were way off in their time estimates on the tunnel and bridge crossing signs and we sat in traffic for almost 2 full hours waiting to cross the HRBT (Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel) which was quite frustrating, as we were so close yet so far... and still had to stop for inspection due to the propane tank before crossing.


We made it back and got the coach into storage and left the inverter on until we could come back on Saturday and hook up to power. Backing off the dolly, the Jeep started sending all kinds of warnings - Check Engine, Service Transmission, Service Emergency Brake, etc. which sent me through a range of negative emotions. However, the Jeep was running perfectly and everything seemed normal except the barking of the alerts when the engine was started.


On Saturday, we went out to breakfast and there was no Check Engine or any other warning, so I think we just collected some road stuff under the Jeep that didn't burn off and it messed with the sensors that report to the onboard computer. After driving it home from storage (another 25 minutes) it must have done the trick and burned off the grime from the road.


One other near catastrophe we ran into was high side winds in Iowa on Monday. We experienced some high winds on our Sunday drive into Iowa, but Monday morning, we were driving along US 20 when an older gent in a sedan passed us and then put his arm out signaling for us to pull over, so we did. He then told us that our roof rack carrier (Yakima cargo carrier on a Yakima roof rail system) was blowing all around and he was afraid we would lose it and it would hit someone else. Sure enough, one of the brackets had worked loose and was flopping around and the other 3 brackets were almost ready to give way as well. I took a few minutes to tighten everything down (I keep the Yakima tools in the glove box of the Jeep) and we averted disaster thanks to the gent who waved us down.


We also saw many sights along the way that we kept a list of so we can spend some time enjoying them the next time we go west (July) including a Czech and Slovak festival in Cedar Falls, IA that looked to bring back some memories for me (half Czech on my dad's side) of spiedies and pierogies. Of course, we will get momma's drivers license then as well as go to Mt. Rushmore and Deadwood to check out the cool spots.


As always, the checklists change as we add new and exciting ways to get into trouble. We got a great use from our new ZTE Mobley with AT&T service - you have to love unlimited internet for only $20/month. If you don't have one, you should check it out as AT&T sells it to anyone. It is $99 at BestBuy or online at att.net and the service is really only $20 per month.


That about sums it up. I am sure there are more details that will come to me as I read back through this...
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2016 Thor Hurricane 35C with pups Piper and Annabelle
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FMCA - F457085
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