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Epic Trip - MN to KY - Let's Plan it!

KyleQ

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
5,480
My wife has a business conference in Louisville so my parents, wife & I are trailering two trucks with us in hopes to hit at least four off road parks on the way down.

I'm looking for input as I've never had this opertunity before - what should we totally not miss and what is worth hitting on the way home? We are going to have about a week to play with - we are going to have an RV and a pickup all pulling rigs, the truck pulling double.

The route doesn't necessarily matter as long as we end up in Louisville by the weekend so my wife can do her work stuff ;D


I'm pumped!
 
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CamoStepchild

Newbie
Joined
Oct 14, 2014
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5
High lift jack day at Redbird sra Saturday 18th. Near linton indiana. Organized trail and street rides. Camping area. Drawings/ giveaways
 
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KyleQ

KyleQ

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Apr 24, 2008
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We will be leaving September 29th and heading back around the 5th of October.
 

sprdv1

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REBEL
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Mar 8, 2007
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Definitely hit that park in KY that I just can NOT remember the name of right now..

Safe travels as well :)
 

SC74

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Definitely hit that park in KY that I just can NOT remember the name of right now..

Safe travels as well :)

Do you mean Harlan, KY? If so, it's past Louisville about 4 hours. It's great wheeling if you want to go the extra miles.

I've never been there, but Dirty Turtle isn't far from Louisville.
 
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KyleQ

KyleQ

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Yeah - that may be a stretch being in the wrong direction, but I want to hit DTOR for sure.
 

DRBRONCO69

Chicago Mike
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2,146
Loc.
Chicago, Illinois
Do you mean Harlan, KY? If so, it's past Louisville about 4 hours. It's great wheeling if you want to go the extra miles.

I've never been there, but Dirty Turtle isn't far from Louisville.

Harlan is awesome! Make sure if you have plates on your rig you have insurance also......if you plan to drive it on the street. ( Or no plates at all, apparently then that's legal.) Don't ask how I know....��
 
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KyleQ

KyleQ

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Apr 24, 2008
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We are getting closer and I'm starting to poke around and build a route.

To recap - my wife, two year old son and my parents will be making the trek with their 32' RV pulling their Jeep and I'll be pulling the Bronco with my new pickup. I've got to keep my travel distances somewhat sane due to the boy, I'm not sure how long he can go. He does 2.5-3hrs a shot without a problem. We will all be staying in the RV, so no tent camping this trip. We need to take that into consideration for where we go, we don't want to be scrambling during twilight hours trying to figure out where we can sleep or not.


The Jeep can keep up with me in the Bronco if it has an excellent driver, it's built well too.
Jeep_zpskavfpvlg.jpg


The Bronco, well, it's capable.
Bronco_zpsughn4ykd.jpg


There doesn't seem to be much of any four wheeling in Iowa. We can avoid going straight down and head through Wisconsin on our way to Illinois instead.
This is what I've initially come up with as the route - PLEASE let me know if there is something I missed.

Parks on the list so far:
The Cliffs Insane Terrain Off-Road Park
Badlands Off Road Park
Redbird State Recreation Area
Interlake State Recreation Area
Dirty Turtle Offroad Park


Proposed%20Route%201_zpsvawlv8ze.jpg


We would take off from north of the Twin Cities and drive all the way through WI with nothing to do and make out first stop at The Cliffs Insane Terrain (challenge accepted ;D) That is roughly a 6.75hr drive according to Google.

https://www.thecliffsinsanemusicthing.com/

Reservations are required, which is something we will have to plan ahead for. They also only list primitive camping, so we need to figure out if we can park the RV and stay in that or not.

Leg%201%20-%20Home%20to%20The%20Cliffs%20Insane_zpsjxhddjar.jpg


We will probably leave early Saturday morning so we may be able to spend a few hours there on Sat or split up some time on Sat and Sun before leaving for the next trek.

The next leg is short, only 2.5ish hours from The Cliffs to Badlands Off Road.

https://badlandsoffroad.com/

A flag is required for the park - they are available there but we may look into getting those ahead of time. They need to be two feet higher than the tallest point of the vehicle.


Leg%202%20-%20Cliffs%20Insane%20to%20Badlands%20Off%20Road_zpssrzqjb38.jpg


After Badlands I've got Redbird State Rec Area, only a two hour drive straight south.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/4276.htm

Non-registered out-of-state ORVs may purchase an annual Out-of-State Trail Use permit. This allows the ORV to be used on the Interlake and Redbird trails; but, not on county roads.
We will have to figure that one out - I assume I can purchase that at the location.

Leg%203%20-%20Badlands%20to%20Redbird_zpsvycdzzz3.jpg


The next destination looks to be a 1.5 hour drive south again to Interlake State Rec Area.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/outdoor/4226.htm

Again, we need out of state ORV registration.

Leg%204%20-%20Redbird%20to%20Interlake_zpsblcdrajo.jpg


From Interlake we head roughly two hours East to Dirty Turtle Offroad Park.

https://dirtyturtleoffroad.com/

Simple rules and super affordable. I think a large chunk of time will be spent here-

Leg%205%20-%20Interlake%20to%20DTOR_zpskrzj1vg9.jpg



The trick is going to see what other parks we could do or should hit to alter the schedule. What I have above could work depending on how much there is to do in each park on our way to the Louisville area. I believe we need to drop my wife off to work on Thursday and I think we would like to make it home sometime during the weekend, not to mention I'll have my son solo on the way home.

What do you guys think?
 

sprdv1

Contributor
REBEL
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Mar 8, 2007
Messages
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I say go for it..... if you can't hit the initial ones on the way, you know you can spend more time at the last one -- Simple rules and super affordable :)
 

kylakekevin

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Bronco Guru
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Jan 11, 2017
Messages
1,289
Yeah were simple here in KY, LOL Wish I was able to drive over and wheel with ya'll I haven't been to any of those, Other than interlake before it was actually open and live closer than you. THAT'S SAD on my part. IF you were to have any troubles I'm about 5 hours away from you and will do all I can to help.
 
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KyleQ

KyleQ

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Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
5,480
The Cliffs doesn't allow over a 39.5" tire, so that is out.

We are skipping Interlake and only staying at Redbird before heading to DTOR.

Reservations made where needed and we are starting to prep for the trip. Just got over 1K miles on the new truck so I'm ready to tow.
 
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