September 18, 2010 – Hail and Rainbows

We continued on our journey west.

We passed power plants:

 

More harvesting:

The land started to change to more greenery and rolling hills as we got closer to the Mississippi:

How about those clouds!  We were able to get thru the storms in Illinois and Missouri:

The mighty Mississippi:

 

In 1997 we were in this area touring (by car) Hannibal, MO – of Mark Twain fame – and areas along the Mississippi.  We had pulled into a rest area that overlooked the river and met a couple in their motorhome who had stopped for lunch.  They told us of their lifestyle and we were hooked.  We were both working at the time and never dreamed that 10 years later we would be living this dream…   Yes, I count my blessings daily..

We continued across Missouri:

Found another nice little park for lunch:

 

And the rolling hills continued:

  

We were going to stop at a State Park south of St. Joseph, MO but when we got there, there was no information on fees, nor could we find the camp host so we moved on across the Missouri River:

And that is when the clouds REALLY moved in (or rather we drove into them):

 

And then it started to rain and HAIL!!  Andy pulled us into a farmer’s storage area to wait it out.  I cannot begin to describe the sound in the motorhome – deafening!!!

After the hail stopped, we had to unhook the car, turn around, then rehook the car back up again.  When we were out, I grabbed a couple of pieces of the ice balls.  Here they are on a glove..

Never saw anything like that in my life and don’t want to again.

We made our way to Perry Lake and the Peninsula Campground of Rock Creek Park (near Topeka, Kansas).  It is an Army Corp. of Engineers campground – water and electric for $8.50/night (with the Golden Age Pass).

We were lucky to get a site (Saturday night) – lots of families here for the weekend.  One of our neighbors had a remote controlled car going up and down the road and our Dusty just found it fascinating – :-))).

 

At the end of the storm we were treated to a beautiful rainbow:

I could see the end but not the pot of gold.  But then again, we made it here okay and that is the pot of gold!!

We have traveled a lot in the past two days and we were so busy for the week before that we are looking forward to a few days of rest and doing some odds and ends around the motorhome.  And of course having this great scenery is a big plus!!

 

Stats:

Miles Traveled: 411 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Illinois: SR-29; SR-104; I-55; I-72

Missouri: US-36; I-29; SR-371; SR-116; US-59: US-45; US-59

Kansas: US-59; US-24; SR-237; Rock Creek Road

Long Two Days of Meandering – we need a rest – :-))