Saturday - November 15, 2008

As Ellie says, with this lifestyle plans are made in jello and easily changed, so, with that in mind, we decided to head straight west to Utah. After checking weather forecasts and campground facilities we figured it would be a good trip across to Utah and Arches National Park through Denver.

Our first thought on leaving this morning was to make it a fairly short day and spend the night in Ogallala, NE (ever read the book or watched the TV series Lonesome Dove?), but when checking my Interstate Exits book realized there was nothing in Ogallala so decided to head to Hudson, CO which is about 30 miles east of Denver. This would then be an easy shot into and through Denver tomorrow and a big city is usually a lot nicer to go through on a Sunday than a Monday, so here we are in Hudson.

The weather today was gorgeous, clear blue sky all day with a high temperature of about 52F (11C). The traffic was very light so all in all it was a good day.

The terrain was mostly flat through Nebraska and a bit more rolling in Colorado but mainly all farming country. We saw a lot of hunters out today and at one point there were a lot of them along a lake, we wondered if they were duck hunting, but, if so, the ducks were on the next lake. We wondered if there was a law against shooting a sitting duck, therefore, they were waiting at the next lake for them to fly over – lol! Once in Colorado we passed quite a few feed lots, could smell them before we could see them! There was also one long ridge off in the distance to the north and it had windmills all along the top. There weren’t any photo opportunities today, hence no photos.

For most of the day we could see trains off to the north and they looked like the usual long trains we have previously seen in the west, but we were never close to any of them. Lo and behold though, as we arrived at Hudson there were the train tracks right beside the interstate, and oh yes, right beside the RV park. Did I mention that this park was once a KOA, therefore, it has all the KOA amenities - interstate and train tracks!!! So far in about 3 hours there have only been two trains by, sure hope the train traffic doesn't pick up overnight!

And so ends another great gift of a day, please come back again to see what our trip through Denver and across the mountains was like. Hopefully we will get some nice pictures on the drive tomorrow!

Friday - November 14, 2008

It rained off and on all night but when we woke up this morning the sun was shining – yeah!! On the way out of town John decided to stop at Wal Mart again and buy some new windshield wipers (he refuses to buy them at home as they are about 3 times the price and crappy!!). With the new wipers installed we were on our way and after about 15 minutes it had clouded over and within half an hour it was raining – have I mentioned that I am getting tired of all this rain? At least we had the new wipers!!!

The drive was good today traffic wise, but I-80 was the pits a lot of the way – very bouncy and lots or road noise. There were a lot of new wind farms going up south of Des Moines, but they are still installing them so very few were actually running. The rain lasted until about 1:00 p.m. then it quit and the sun came in and out for the rest of the day.

Todays Countryside




We changed our plans for today last night and decided to drive on into Nebraska then cut down south from there so tonight we are in Henderson, Nebraska. The park was a KOA but is now privately owned and the price was right for the night plus we have good wi-fi. It is quite cold out so John will be taking the hose off tonight so it doesn’t freeze. There is quite a good wind, we are being rocked by it while we are sitting here, but hopefully it will have calmed down by morning.

And so ends another great gift of a day and please come back again to see what other change in routes we have made tonight!

Thursday - November 13, 2008

The rain did stop overnight and it was overcast when we left Auburn and about 48F (9C) – at least it wasn’t really cold. We weren’t long on the road before the sun came out and we hit a high temperature of 55F (12C) so we were not complaining.

We cut across Indiana on 30 then decided to pick up 65 for a short hop up to 80 around Chicago, last year we took 30 all the way across to 80 an it was painfully slow so thought we would try the interstate this year. What a zoo it was around Chicago, we have never seen so many trucks at one time on the highway and boy they sure don’t drive slow. Fortunately, we lost most of them after about 15 miles but it wasn’t a relaxing, enjoyable 15 miles to say the least!! Sure wish there was a better way to get to Iowa!!

Indiana Farm Land


The weather was nice all the way to Iowa, then the rain started, not what we really wanted. We are now at Colony Country Campground in North Liberty, Iowa and the park has a good wi-fi system which is a real treat after the 4 weeks in Waterloo.

Crossing the Mississippi River


We stopped at Wal Mart and picked up a few groceries and because it was raining we decided to buy a cooked chicken for dinner – it was yummy and there is enough for a second meal so for $6.99 we aren’t complaining.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we are now one day closer to Arizona!

Wednesday - November 12, 2008

“On the Road Again” finally, it seems like a very long time since we have been on the road and we are looking forward to new adventures.

Yesterday we left Waterloo and headed for Can-Am RV in London to have them look at our door which had started to crack around one of the hinges (NOT GOOD!!). To make a long story short they put our trailer in the shop and started to reinforce the door – at 5:30 they came out to say it was about 80% done and they would finish in the morning – okay, this is not what we were expecting but the repair has to be done. Fortunately it is no problem to spend a night there in a RV so they put our trailer out in front for us to stay in with promises they would be there at 8:30 a.m. to put it back in the shop to finish the job. We decided a final dinner at Swiss Chalet before crossing the border would be in order so off we went for dinner, then had a quiet evening at home.

When we arrived at Can-Am we were informed that our friends Marion & George had been there and had waited for a while in hopes of seeing us but had left about 5 minutes before we arrived. They were heading for Frankenmuth for a couple of days on their way to Texas – darn, we were really sorry we missed them.

This morning, good to their word, at 8:30 they hauled our trailer back into the shop to finish work on the door – sure looks good again. By the time they finished and we were ready to head out It was 12:00 – a lot later than we had anticipated. Anyways, we headed out with a bit of sun and a temp of 8C (46F) with destination unknown. Crossing the border was a slow, painful process but we finally got across and ended up getting to a park just south of Auburn IN which we know is open year round (it used to be a KOA but they saw the light and it is now something else!!). The weather was good most of the way but about the time we crossed into Indiana the rain started, oh well, it could have rained all day

As we pulled into the park about 6 p.m. we could see an Airstream, what, could it be Marion & George? Sure enough it was, they decided to leave Frankenmuth in early afternoon and had arrived about 45 minutes before us – I think they were quite surprised when I knocked on their door. I enjoyed a glass of wine and visit with them while John got us set up then he came over and we had a good chin wag before heading home to make some dinner. We were really glad that we ended up connecting with them for a quick visit and will keep in touch over the winter.

It is now bed time and we are being lulled by the rain on the roof - sure do hope it quits before we head out tomorrow as we don’t mind the rain during the night but would prefer a dry day to drive. Oh well, I guess we get what we get!! Hopefully tomorrow will present some photo opportunities, there sure weren’t any today.

And so ends another great gift of a day – stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures.