Oh I am so,sorry Phil & Rudee! How frightening and how sad.
Glad you're safe with relatives. Wishing you the very best outcome!

Sherry

thanks everyone. We had plenty of insurance and both of us are former adjusters so we know the game well. The kicker is we are supposed to be at Mount Rushmore in less than 2 weeks for a work camping job. We have been really looking forward to that and not sure what our status will be in the next couple of days.

Phil

Phil and Rudee:

This saddens me a great deal for you.  It also sits a bit close to home.

My parents (full-timers for over 3 decades) had a similar thing happen by a river in the mountains: heavy rain with a resultant flash flood.  They were very lucky and just barely got the Airstream and all thier belongings out with water at the floorboards of the Suburban after wading in deep water to get there.

Let us all keep in mind this can happen to anyone and also be aware of the possibile need to exit a flood area quickly and in time as you did.  Proper insurance can replace almost everything – except your lives.

Hoping for a quick recovery for you

God bless

Bill

We are so sad for you.....but we also see that you have a great attitude and will get thru this. We will say a prayer for you that you have comfort and that all works out in the end. Les and Sue

What an awful situation!  So glad you got out safely.  It's not fun to replace all your things but at least they can be replaced, if necessary.  Stay safe!

I sure hate to hear that. But am very happy that you are safe. Thats the main thing even though we can forget that in the moment.

Our prayers go out for you!!!

NWescapee wrote:

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Prayers and hopes are with you and thanks for helping me put things in perspective. I was having a "pitty party" with over a 1 week delay in getting our truck/5ver home due to issues with first the truck and now the trailer. Hoping and praying for a good outcome!!

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 Wednesday a brand new 5th Wheel was parked next to us and the owners were in and out of it bringing in their belongings. They had not even spent the night in it prior to the flood. The water had not reached the basement level on either of ours when we left (it was getting real close though). We drove back over just before dark last evening. The road into the campground was still closed and had water flowing over it. We could get to w/i 1/4 mile of the campground but our rig is towards the back so we really couldn't see anything. I talked to one of the workers and he said the water was starting to drop and had gone down about 1' so we are hoping we can get back to the rig tonight and see where we stand.

Thanks all for the kind words, it means more than you know to have someone to lean on that understands our RV lifestyle.

 

Phil and Rudee 

Thoughts and prayers for you. I cannot imagine the devastation but glad to read that you are both safe. So sad :(

So sorry for what you are going through, the anxiousness of not knowing what you are dealing I can only imagine as being nervewracking.

I hope you have access to your home soon, and wish you strength and positivity as you navigate the steps ahead. Thank goodness for getting out in time and for having ample insurance (and knowledge).

- Cherie

We went to the campground at first light and the water had receded enough for us to walk into the sites. We had to stick to the high ground and got with in one row of our rig before we had to start wading....... brrrrr that water was cold.
I am happy to report the rig and Dakota are in good shape. The water rose to about 3" into our basement storage compartments/ Luckily we don't store anything on the floor of the compartments that will be damaged by water. The interior is absolutly dry and in good shape, thank God for that.

The Dakota is also fine. The water level came to the bottom of the bumper and the floorboards so no water inside at all. Two sites down from us they lost both their Dodge Charger and their Jeep Cherokee with water over the dash of both vehicles. We were very very fortunate.

The Harley didn't fair as well. The water was up to the bottom of the seat and covered most of the engine. The cargo trailer has about 1" of mud on the wood floor. We did a quick look, took a few photos and closed the door back up. 

 

The first of the Insurance adjusters will be out Tuesday morning for the trailer and we are waiting on a call for the adjuster on the motorcycle.

One more night at the in-laws and we will be going back home to stay. The rest of the water should be gone by then and we are praying for sunny skies. I will post some photos of the campground that we took today on my blog in a few hours.

 

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers and kind words. We are truly blessed and are thankful things were not worse than what they ended up being.

Phil and Rudee

Go buy some gear lube for the Dakota rear axle, oil for the engine and some trannsmission fluid. Do a fluid change on everything before you crank it. Especially the transmission. Do the same with the motor home. Hopefully the rear axle seals are good and you don't have any issues. Your brakes could stand to be cleaned to get the silt out too.
Do the same with any fluids on both vehicles. Changing the fluids several times in the next couple of hundred miles is the best way to get moisture out of any systems.

It's good that your damage seems to be minimal, although any damage is horrendous.

Thoughts and prayers are with the two of you.

Terry

NWescapee wrote:

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Happy to hear it wasn't near as bad as it could have been. Good luck with the clean up.

Are you still headed to the work camping job at Mount Rushmore?

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 Yes we are still planning on work camping there. We are hoping we can get everything taken care of with the adjusters, or at least get the inspections completed, before the end of next week. As soon as that is all done we will head out. The plan right now is if they determine the bike is repairable we will take it to the Harley dealer in Rapid City and just have everything repaired there. Should the bike be totaled (most likely) then we will leave the trailer here at our daughters and head out towing the Dakota. We may find another bike later this summer and if so we can always rent a U-haul to get it back to Indiana.

Either way we will be heading back out on the road soon but are not exactly sure what day.

flyone wrote:

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Phil---wow thank God you and Rudee are ok.  Also thank goodness that things didn't get as bad as you thought at the RV, sory about motorcycle--good insurance will help but I know you really liked the one you had.  I wish you the best with everything, and be careful heading out to Mt. Rushmore.  Maybe we will catch up with you out there, we are supposed to be in that area in early July. 

 

Flyone 

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 Please look us up when you are there. We will be working at the bookstores at Mt. Rushmore for the historical society, not sure of what kind of schedule we are looking at since the monument is open until 10pm in season but we only work a max. of 8 hrs per day and have 2 days off per week so shoot me a PM and we'll get together.

 

Phil