# Heartland Rv Campground



## fixjet (Jan 19, 2004)

Well we are back after 2000 miles and can report that we had a great trip to the Black Hills. Heartland Rv Park in Hermosa was a new park still in the process of getting things into shape. The Park has very clean restrooms and pool area, full hookups at all sites. The sites are a little close and no shade (trees at each site are very young) . Good location 15 miles south of Rapid City and 15 miles east of Keystone. I'd probably stay again but after staying at some of the other parks in the area.
Truck performed great along with the Equalizer and the Outback. The big 8.1 maintained 66 mph up all the hills without a sweat. I think we must have saved at least an hour of travel time not losing speed up all the hills on I90. Stability with the 3/4 ton and the Equalizer were great and the I completely forgot the Prodigy was even on board (never touched it). How about MPG







7.75-8 no matter if I was in the hills or flats, cruise on at 66-67 all the time. But I'll take it, the old 5.7 suburban got high 6's-7's and can't even dream of comparing to the 8.1. I figure I can buy about 8 years of gas before making up the cost difference the Dmax would have been. The rig was so easy to drive that after a 10 hour drive to our overnight stopover in Goodview Minnesota I still had energy enough to visit the local beer garden for a few hours. The only problem on the whole trip was a lost clearance light lens.







Hope all my long trips turn out this well.

Oh yea, the Black Hills and Badlands are great


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## dancinmon (Oct 5, 2004)

Where did you stay in Goodview? We live in Goodview. Both us and our friends down the street own Outbacks. We closed the beer gardens on Friday and Sunday nigths.


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## fixjet (Jan 19, 2004)

I was in Goodview Friday Night. Stayed on the Curb in front of my brothers house on 43rd Ave. and walked to the beer tent. Usually we stay at Prairie Island when we come to Winona.


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

We were in the black hills 3 weeks ago. Sure is a beautiful part of the country to see. We really like the area. So much so we talked about wanting to someday move there but we'll see.

We stayed at the Rafter J Bar Ranch outside Hill city. One of the nicest we've stayed in.

What else did you see out there?



> I think we must have saved at least an hour of travel time not losing speed up all the hills on I90. Stability with the 3/4 ton and the Equalizer were great and the I completely forgot the Prodigy was even on board (never touched it). How about MPG 7.75-8 no matter if I was in the hills or flats


Hmmmmmmmmm........I think I'll take the extra hour and the 10mpg we got with our 5.3 for now anyway









Mike


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## dancinmon (Oct 5, 2004)

fixjet said:


> I was in Goodview Friday Night. Stayed on the Curb in front of my brothers house on 43rd Ave. and walked to the beer tent. Usually we stay at Prairie Island when we come to Winona.
> [snapback]50876[/snapback]​


We live about 7 blocks from your brothers house on 51st Ave. by the Goodview school. Probably walked right by you in the beer garden. We were there all nite. Our favorite campground is about an hour away in Lansboro, MN. - Highway 250 Campground. Huge grassy sites - most right on the river. Lots to do - 56 miles of paved bike paths - runs right through the campround, river tubing, canoeing, 1/4 mile walk to town on the bike path for late nite bar hopping, antique, craft, jewelery shops, winery, amish tours, cave exploring, etc.


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## fixjet (Jan 19, 2004)

We did a bus tour on day one that hit all the main sites, Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Needles Highway, Custer. It was a 9 hour tour with about 1.5 hours at each site. The driver was had ton's of Black Hills information and It was great. It included breakfast and dinner with lunch on your own. Total for the 5 of use was $219. It was worth it but the food was just ok. Lunch at the Custer State Park Lodge was great. 
On our own we did the Badlands, Bear Country, Reptile Gardens, Keystone Alpine Slide, and of course WALL DRUG!! By the $10 Coupon and save about $5 at each attraction. Tons more to do just ran out of time.


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Fixjet,

Before we bought our F250 with the Powerstroke, I did an Excel spreadsheet to project the payoff time for the PSD versus the Ford 6.8 liter V-10. This spreadsheet takes into account the cost difference of the two engines, the cost of oil changes, fuel filter and oil filter costs, the cost of fuel and the assumed mpg for each engine. Different figures can be entered for the variables to get different scenarios..

Here is a scenario. There will be two numbers listed for each item. The first is for the PSD, the second is for the gasser:
Oil capacity in quarts: 16 and 8
Filter cost in dollars: 50 and 6
Oil change interval in miles: 7500 and 7500
Price per quart of oil: $1.50 and $1.50
Miles per gallon of fuel towing: 12 and 8
Cost per gallon of fuel: $3 and $3
Labor for oil & filter changes is zero in my case, since I do it myself.

With the PSD list price $4,500 more than the V-10, the diesel will be paid for in 38,000 miles. Also, since these prices are list (MSRP) prices, the actual out-the-door cost of a Powerstroke is less than $4,500 extra. So, the payoff will come even sooner. After 38,000 miles (or sooner) it will be paying me money compared to the gasser.

It gets even better (or worse, depending on your perspective) the higher fuel prices go. At $4 per gallon, the payoff is at 28,000 miles. This means that at $4 per gallon, the diesel will keep $4,500 miles in my pocket every 28,000 miles compared to the gasser. Now at nominal $3 per gallon, I will get the $4,500 every 38,000 miles.

I can't explain how you get 8 years before a diesel would be paid for, unless you figure to drive only 5,000 miles per year. Our numbers are quite different.

Bill


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## fixjet (Jan 19, 2004)

Try that spread sheet on a 3-4 year old truck and I think your numbers will be much different. My 01 Suburban 2500hd with the 8.1 cost me $18900. A diesel 4 door pickup goes mid to high 20's in my neck of the woods.







I was looking at spending at least 8k more for a diesel and it just won't pay off. I know because I do tow the Outback with my brothers 04 Duramax once a year and we get around 12 mpg(real world no fudging) versus 8 mpg with the suburban. For the amount of miles we use the truck a year 10-12k it is $800 to $1000 more to drive the gas 8.1 (not towing) It would take 8 years or more to make up the difference just in fuel not even counting more oil and filters of the diesel, and I will have a different truck before then I'm sure. Your spreadsheet may look good but I know each month when writing the checks this works better for me. I got a hell of a deal when I bought the truck and spent a lot of time checking out the difference. I love diesels and have owned them but as a mechanic by profession I know that one maintenance issue with the diesel will distroy any advantage $$$. I'm of talking about out of warranty issues because I purchased used. I'm not going to spend 40k to get a warranty right now. The truck also does alot of short trips to school, church, and the basic hauling kids around town. Not the best life for a diesel, gas engines handle that with better. It works for me.


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