September 2, 2022 Travel to Iowa

Today was one of the dreaded travel days for me.  Although we were not going in to the Chicago Metro Area, we were going to go thru the outer edge of that area. 

In 1981, I traveled thru the Metro Area – and it was a nightmare.  In 1997, Andy and I traveled thru that area at 4AM and it was still a nightmare.  Since we have the RV, we have come close but I made sure we avoided it.  However, there was no easy way today.

So away we went and my nerves went crazy (hey, at least I did not have a panic attack although I did come close!)  My Andy was wonderful thru this. 

This does not look bad here but I kept my eyes closed and kept praying when it was bad.  Four lanes of traffic for almost 80 miles – Yikees!

We made it into Illinois where it was still bad for a while:

Finally out of the woods where we saw these cool roadside attractions:

Satellite Dishes – Aren’t they cute!

Farms and windmills – I just love them!

    

The Mighty MISSISSIPPI!  We are officially in the west:

And into IOWA!

We stopped at the World’s Largest Truck Stop on our way in.  WOW!  An incredible place!

In the visitor/truck stop area, there are three floors.  The bottom floor has everything a trucker may need to buy for his truck.  The second floor is the gift shop, the food court and the restaurant.  The third floor is for truckers only – showers, rest area, etc.  This is one of the trucks from the gift area:

This is the bottom floor and the trucker shop.  Notice the big truck in the back:

We spent some time going thru the gift shop and the trucker shop and picked up a few items.  We are looking for some things for our cab and have yet to find.  They have a trucker’s museum here that we will be back to see.

From there we made our way to the Cedar River Campground, set up, fixed some more, and relaxed.

Miles Traveled: 285 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Indiana: CR-04; I-80/90

Illinois: I-80/294; I-80

Iowa: I-80; IA-38

   

 

 

August 29–September 2, 2022 Elkhart, RV Surplus, and Flea Market

We left our beautiful little spot in Caesar Creek State Park and headed west thru small towns:

And into Dayton:

Dayton:

More Dayton:

Thru lots of farms and farmland:

 

 

 

Neat Road Side Attractions:

 

You can tell which way the wind blows:

 

I just love the small towns:

 

 

More windmills – yes it was very breezy: 

 

More roadside attractions!  I just love seeing them:

Welcome to another state on this journey:

We are in Amish Country:

 

We made our way to the Elkhart Campground and finished the day by setting up, fixing/rearranging more items, and then relaxing.  Sheesh!  It’s an adventure – LOL!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 250 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Ohio: Center Road; OH-380; US-35; I-75; I-70; US-49; US-127; US-30

Indiana: US-30; I-469; I-69; US-20; CR-17; CR-04

On Tuesday, 8/30, we went to Bontrager’s RV Surplus and Johnson’s RV Surplus in White Pigeon, Michigan.  Bontrager’s RV Surplus Warehouse is huge and they have everything you can think of for any type of RV and small home.  We spent a few hours there picking up some items we needed and looking at what they have available and getting measurements.  I know that if we lived closer, Andy would be here quite a bit.  Johnson’s is more of an RV store but we still found some items that we have been looking for.

We did get some ideas of what we want to do above the cab and inside the cab.  And we found someone who will do it.   Soooo  we will make arrangements to get it done when we are heading back in the spring.  Now that we know what is available, we just need to figure out exactly what we want.  LOL!

We had lunch in a little town diner (just love the small towns) and watched some of the harvest:

 

On Wednesday, 8/31, we went to the Shipshewana Flea Market.  We have been thru this area a few times but never when it was open.  There were over 700 vendors (food, crafts, and junk plus interesting people). I could have spent the day!  Those who know me, know I LOVE these markets and Andy – not so much – .  We did pick up a few more items too.  Thank God, we are in an RV cause I could have bought so many more things for my yard.  I am going to be the old lady on the street who has lots of yard art or chachkies as I call them – LOL!

After a few hours, I took Andy home and I went to Walmart and the Amazon Locker to pick up a few of our packages.  It was a long day but fun..

Thursday morning, 9/1, was spent doing laundry.  In the afternoon, I went for a haircut and it is a little too short.  (I have a great hair dresser back home who took pictures of what it should look like and what to tell the next hairdresser.  Jess, it didn’t work…)  Oh well, it will grow back.  LOL!

Our neighbors:

That evening we went to dinner at the local Moose lodge – what a great time!

Tomorrow we head to Iowa.  We will be skirting the edge of the Chicago metropolitan area.  Always crazy.

So stay tuned and enjoy today.