After months of planning, the day finally arrived. We started our epic (epic for us that is) roadtrip to see parts of the country we'd never been to. We're traveling with a new Cedar Creek 36ck2 5th wheel and a 2014 F350 tv. Our trip started this morning in Anna Texas at our storage yard. We'd been loading the trailer up over the course of this week, so all we needed to do this morning was hookup and go. We took I35 north through Oklahoma and into Kansas. Made a couple stops along the way and ended up at Arrow Rock park at Lake Melvern Ks for the night. 460 miles on our first day. We've got a awesome spot looking over the lake - too bad we're only here for the night. Our trip will take us north to Omaha to see relatives for a couple days. From there, we're heading up to South Dakota and staying at Fort Wilekit campground for 4 nights. Looking forward to seeing Rushmore, Crazyhorse, Custer National Park and some of the other sites. From there heading over to Devils Monument for 3 nights then north to Buffalo Springs in Malta Montana for 2 nights. Picked this place as it was the closed campground to the Canadian border. We'll drive over the border one day and see the Grassland National Park. From Buffalo Springs, we're heading over to West Glacier for 4 nights. Then down to Billings for 2 nights. Then we hit Yellowstone for 10 nights. Staying at Grizzley RV park. Can not wait to see this place and enjoy it at a relaxed pace. After that, we head south with an overnight stop in Park City to see an old friend. Then we head southeast to Moab and the Canyonlands area for 2 nights. Then its down to Carlsbad to see the Cavern. From there we head back home. I used lots of tips and suggestions from this forum when planning this trip - so thank you everyone for that help. Will post pics along the way
Me, the wife and Banjo heading out
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
Will be at Grizzly on June 3 with MY Cedar Creek for 6 days!
any info you have on that, send it on.
Great post.
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"Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man" Herbert Hoover
"American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God"Lewis Grizzard
FROG AR-0019-242
2016 GMC Denali 3500Dually--2017 CC 36CKTS
Stop night 1 - Arrow Rock park at Lake Melvern KS. Literally nobody here. We've almost got the park to ourselves. This park is 30 miles off I35, but we just didn't want to stay at someplace along the highway. Besides, we can go from here, straight up Hwy 75 to Topeka and in the morning and be right back where we need to be. The lake views and breeze is very nice.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
Day 2 - we left Arrow Rock park in Kansas around 7am. Drove up Hwy 75 to Topeka and continued to follow it north all the way to Omaha. Would say it's a very nice drive, no traffic to speak of, pretty nice roads and ok country to watch as you go by. Lots of the highway in Omaha/Council Bluffs is being worked on, so you have to pay attention to where you're going or you might miss the turnoffs/offramps. We made 1 coffee stop along the way and it took us 4hrs to get here. We have family here and had some more family fly in so to stay central to everyone, we decided to stay at the Horseshoe Casino RV area. Nice big back in spots, a clean bathroom, shower and laundry room, plenty of parking for your tow vehicle or toad and right across the lot is the casino. The hookups here are at the back of each spot, so unless you have an RV with the connections in the back, you'll need to make sure you have enough power cable and water line to reach. We had plenty of hose, but not enough powerline. Ended up having to back the 5'er up until it was just about touching the outlet box and then I had enough cable to reach my outside connection. $40/night to stay here.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
So, today started out windy and cold. I've been watching the tv and there's some weather advisories in the area but nothing here right now. So I spent the morning working on the brand new trailer. Seems Cedar Creek went kind of cheap on the molding install on the outside of the trailer. The trim molding around the wheel arches was held on with self taping sheet metal screws. While driving up from Topeka, I could see in the sideview mirror that the leading edge screws had come loose and the trim was starting to flap. We pulled over to tighten it up and saw that some of it had already cracked - bummer. So I spent the morning removing the sheet metal screws and replacing them with 8/32 machine screws, washers and nylon locknuts. No way these should come loose now. Not sure I'll need to replace the trim but we'll keep an I on it just to be safe. If I do have to replace it, I hope CC doesn't give me a hard time over it. Heading over to the Omaha zoo this afternoon. Here's a couple pics of the damage and repair.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
Ok, today was a haul. We left Omaha at 6:15am and headed north and then west as we made our way to Mt Rushmore. We ended up covering 565miles today. Very nice roads the entire way. We went north on Hwy 29 to Sioux Falls and then took 90 West to Rapid City. Then we took Hwy 16 down to Custer and the Ft Welikit Family campground. Although driving across South Dakota is pretty flat, it is beautiful. We hit a perfect time of the year, as everything for as far as you could see was green. The roads are very nice and the speed limit is 80 for most of it, so you can fly if you've got the nerve. We kept it at 68 most of the way - seems to be the sweet spot for our F350 and trailer combo. We made 3 stops along the way. We stopped for lunch at a scenic lookout in Champerlain that overlooks the Missouri river - it was beautiful. We also pulled over at a scenic rest stop to look out over the Grasslands National Parks area. Again, amazing views and well worth the stop. Finally, after seeing signs for 400 miles, we had to make the stop at Walls Drugstore. Pulled into our campground at 5pm, Tonya got us checked in and before you know it, we were setup. While cooking dinner, saw 3 deer run through the campground. It's raining now and we're watching some tv and relaxing. Tomorrow we're going back out to the Badlands national park.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
So, today started out windy and cold. I've been watching the tv and there's some weather advisories in the area but nothing here right now. So I spent the morning working on the brand new trailer. Seems Cedar Creek went kind of cheap on the molding install on the outside of the trailer. The trim molding around the wheel arches was held on with self taping sheet metal screws. While driving up from Topeka, I could see in the sideview mirror that the leading edge screws had come loose and the trim was starting to flap. We pulled over to tighten it up and saw that some of it had already cracked - bummer. So I spent the morning removing the sheet metal screws and replacing them with 8/32 machine screws, washers and nylon locknuts. No way these should come loose now. Not sure I'll need to replace the trim but we'll keep an I on it just to be safe. If I do have to replace it, I hope CC doesn't give me a hard time over it. Heading over to the Omaha zoo this afternoon. Here's a couple pics of the damage and repair.
Hi George, all manufactures do this. I just had to replace a fender skirt on my Bighorn, cracked in the winter.
Looks like a fun trip, will follow along! Are you CC Tires G 110 PSI?
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B and B
2022 Venture RV SportTrek STT 302 VRB Travel Trailer
2018 Heartland Landmark 365 Louisville 5th Wheel
2015 Heartland Bighorn 5th Wheel
2013 FR Rockwood 8289WS 5th Wheel
2012 FR Rockwood 2703 SS Travel Trailer
So, today started out windy and cold. I've been watching the tv and there's some weather advisories in the area but nothing here right now. So I spent the morning working on the brand new trailer. Seems Cedar Creek went kind of cheap on the molding install on the outside of the trailer. The trim molding around the wheel arches was held on with self taping sheet metal screws. While driving up from Topeka, I could see in the sideview mirror that the leading edge screws had come loose and the trim was starting to flap. We pulled over to tighten it up and saw that some of it had already cracked - bummer. So I spent the morning removing the sheet metal screws and replacing them with 8/32 machine screws, washers and nylon locknuts. No way these should come loose now. Not sure I'll need to replace the trim but we'll keep an I on it just to be safe. If I do have to replace it, I hope CC doesn't give me a hard time over it. Heading over to the Omaha zoo this afternoon. Here's a couple pics of the damage and repair.
Talk to Denise Davis about the trim. Cedar Creek replaced both sides for me under warranty.
Hi George, all manufactures do this. I just had to replace a fender skirt on my Bighorn, cracked in the winter.
Looks like a fun trip, will follow along! Are you CC Tires G 110 PSI?
Yes, the tires are Carlise load range G tires, with max cold PSI of 110. I'm running a TST 507 tire monitoring system in the truck with non-pass through sending caps - didn't want to bother with switching out the rubber valve stems. I started the trip with 100psi in all the tires and so far, the max has only gone up to 111psi while driving. It's kind of interesting how much impact the outside air or sun has on the temps. When driving with the sun coming in the drivers side, those 2 tires will get 7-10 degrees hotter than the other side. We drove with a cold wind blowing in from the passenger side and those tires stayed 5-8 degrees colder than the other side.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
Talk to Denise Davis about the trim. Cedar Creek replaced both sides for me under warranty.
Thanks, I will definitely be giving Forest River a call for some warranty items. We also realized that one of the dinning table chairs has a cracked leg. Luckily it's one of the folding chairs, so we just packed both of them in the closet for the remainder of the trip. It's just a bummer that things keep breaking on the new trailer.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
Thanks, I will definitely be giving Forest River a call for some warranty items. We also realized that one of the dinning table chairs has a cracked leg. Luckily it's one of the folding chairs, so we just packed both of them in the closet for the remainder of the trip. It's just a bummer that things keep breaking on the new trailer.
Things happen, there is no such thing as a perfect camper. I never use the folding chairs. Cedar Creek has been great about fixing things. Are y’all going to the rally in Goshen this year? There are still spots available, it would be ideal to come to the rally and get some things fixed if not all fixed at the rally then maybe the factory could help you
Things happen, there is no such thing as a perfect camper. I never use the folding chairs. Cedar Creek has been great about fixing things. Are y’all going to the rally in Goshen this year? There are still spots available, it would be ideal to come to the rally and get some things fixed if not all fixed at the rally then maybe the factory could help you
Ya, so far they've replaced a table top for us and the touchpad controller - both under warranty and both with little issue. We're not going to make the Goshen rally as we've got this big trip and then we're doing the Grand Canyon/Balloon Festival rally in Sept.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2
Rained last night but was clear and sunny today. High around 70. We headed out this morning and went to Sylvan Lake. We hiked around the lake and took lots of pictures. Then we got on the Needles Hwy and heading into Custer State Park. Drove through 2 of the really small tunnels to get there. Took the loop around the park and saw lots of buffalo, some pronghorns and beautiful scenery. Ate lunch at Legion Lake.
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George & Nancy, Allen, Texas
2015 F350 CC, DRW, LB, Platinum Edition
2018 Cedar Creek 36CK2