Home, Sweet Home

Oh, boy... I slept until 9:40am this morning. And Rouse let me!

By the time we had coffee and breakfast, dumped and packed, closed and secured... we were on the road by 10:45am. Home or bust!

We were in familiar territory now. Trees and green .... and lots of it.

It's a long way across this big, gorgeous country. This trip took us only as far as Colorado! The getting out and the getting back was a bit exhausting. But the rewards were many.

At 1:48pm we pulled into our own driveway, tired but full of so many good memories!

Home, sweet home!

Winston Salem, NC

Home, sweet home!

Indianapolis to Virginia

We had an even more casual morning on this day... finally pulled out of KOA at 10:30am. I guess we were tired!

Not much to see on the ride today... except so many tractor trailer trucks! We ended up listening to Howard Stern's program on XMRadio and catching up on the news ...

• Historic wildfires on west coast
• Hurricane Sally bearing down on Mississippi, Alabama, Florida
• Deadly Covid-19 pandemic still with us. Trump interview with Bob Woodward shows he fully understood/understands seriousness of Covid.

We traveled from Indiana, through Ohio and West Virginia. The display of autumn wildflowers - goldenrod, ironweed, and coreopsis - were brilliant in the sunshine along the roadsides of West Virginia.

We crossed into Virginia. We definitely were tired. Only 3 hours from home, we found a KOA Holiday campground in Wytheville and stopped for the night. We enjoyed a relaxing, delicious supper of pizza and beer at Moon Dog Brick Oven , downtown Wytheville.

Ohio City

Buckeye Tree

 

Does Moines to Indianapolis

We allowed ourselves a casual morning over coffee, and left the West Des Moines KOA at 9:00am.

We continued on our way home through the lovely landscape of Iowa, watching the rolling hills gradually flatten out as we headed east. We zipped past more wind farms. We witnessed the change of seasons in the vibrant purple and gold fall wildflowers.

We learned interesting facts at the rest stops. Who knew about the Amana Colonies? Rooted in Germany, the seven communities flourished communally for over 90 years. Alas, we didn't take time to visit and enjoy the food, beer, wine, and quality handcrafts for which they are known. We also discovered that John Wayne and Herbert Hoover were both born in Iowa.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi River.

At 1:00pm we crossed into Illinois, Land of Lincoln, birthplace of me!

 

Mid-afternoon we took a little detour to visit briefly with my cousin, Beth, and her  husband, Mike, on their farm in the heart of Illinois. They have a lovely rural homeplace in the midst of many cornfields, not far from the conveniences of the city of Peoria.

After chatting for about an hour and a half, we continued on past Peoria, then Eureka, birthplace of former president Ronald Reagan. We stopped for supper at a Panda Express in Champaign - Urbana (home of the University of Illinois). We were looking for something freshly prepared, difficult to find in the fast-food, take-out world of the interstate. This fit the bill. I ate grilled chicken and a pile of "super" greens.

Finally, at 10:00pm we found ourselves rounding Indianapolis, Indiana. We pulled into the Indianapolis KOA Holiday campground at 10:15pm, ready for a good night's sleep.

Needlework to pass the time

Crossing the Mississippi River

Mike, Beth, & Sue

Crossing the Illinois River

Pumpkins? or Butternut Squash?

Coming around St. Louis

Homeward Bound

We were up at sunrise, with plenty of time to enjoy our morning coffee and a simple breakfast before getting cleaned up, packed up, hooked up and ready to hit the road by 8:00am. Within minutes we were on I-90 East ... homeward bound!

South Dakota seemed to go on and on and on. We saw piles and rows and stacks of hay, many cows to eat that hay, vast fields of sunflowers, sorghum, corn, milo, and native grasses. At one of the rest stops we saw an unbelievable number of grasshoppers all over the ground!

As we approached the Missouri River near Chamberlain, we were impressed by the spectacular sight of  American White Pelicans flying overhead, some circling in pods, some flying in a familiar V-formation. Fall is migration time. These birds will winter along the Gulf of Mexico. 

At noon, we gassed up before crossing the Missouri River, then stopped on the eastern side to view the stunning “Dignity” sculpture, designed to honor the cultures of the Lakota and Dakota people. This 50' stainless steel statue is located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River at a rest stop just off the interstate. Traveling east or west, you can't miss it! 

At 4:25 CDT, we crossed into Iowa.

The countryside of western Iowa was more attractive than we had expected. After traveling across Missouri and Kansas we were accustomed to seeing corn and soybean fields that stretch to the horizon, but these big farms were beautiful. Undulating fields of corn were laid out across rolling hills, all neat and tidy, with green plantings between fields. Interestingly, this was the first time we had ever seen terraced fields in the United States.

I read that wind energy is now Iowa's leading source of electricity, and I believe it after seeing mile after mile of giant wind turbines! Renewable energy ... that's progress! But sometimes a double-edged sword. While reliable income from wind energy can help steady farmers dealing with a turbulent economy, many farmers are concerned about the loss of farmland.

At 8:00pm we stopped for the night just off I-80 at Des Moines West KOA in Adel, Iowa.

Badlands National Park

We woke up in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands on the rim of the wall overlooking the Badlands. I'm sure this boondocking campsite will go down as one of the most amazing places we've ever parked our camper trailer!

By 10:30am we were heading through the Pinnacles entrance of the Badlands National Park. We spotted several bighorn sheep right away. Wildlife viewing is always so exciting!

We traveled along the Rim Road. We saw so many incredible rock formations! It's difficult to describe the landscape. We stopped at overlook after overlook, each one different and beautiful in its own way. 

By the time we arrived at the Visitor Center we were ready for some lunch. The Visitor Center itself was a disappointment. First, there was a long line to enter due to Covid-19 restrictions. But once we realized that there were no exhibits inside, only a limited gift shop, we stepped out of that line. We took advantage of the water pipe there, refilling a couple of gallon water jugs, then ordered lunch from the nearby take-out restaurant. They were serving up delicious Indian tacos made with buffalo and beef. We added fries and a beer, then settled in the shade of a covered picnic table in plain view of some very dramatic layered rock formations for a satisfying and relaxing mid-day meal.

After lunch we continued westward on Highway 44, then turned onto Conata Road. It was along this road that we spotted a burrowing owl. Very exciting!

Adjacent to the rugged, rocky beauty of the Badlands, are the grassy buttes, the mesas, and the quiet, peaceful grasslands. The prairie wind was blowing over a sea of grass. We dubbed it America’s Serengeti ... our version of "endless plains". We saw plenty of pronghorn antelope and mule deer. Cue the music:  "... where the deer and the antelope play."

We returned to camp about 5:00pm. A large flock of big horn sheep were grazing in the grasslands at the boondocking location. We pulled out the rocking chairs and enjoyed a refreshing drink while we waited for the nightly howl of the coyotes and the milky way to spill across the dark sky.