October 16 - 17, 2013 Pender, Nebraska

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Since we only had about 30 miles to go today, we slowly got ready then headed west:

Crossed the Missouri River:

Into Nebraska:

Awesome topography!  Imagine miles and miles of a golden color, dotted with trees and farms:

A white horse in the middle of the field - for some reason, I think this means something but can’t quite remember:

We arrived in Pender, NE and are staying at the Blue Ox Campground.  It is free for Blue Ox customers and Escape members.  Tomorrow we have an appointment to have our tow bar serviced.

After setting up, checking in, and having lunch, we headed to Sioux City, NE/IA.  The scenery was rolling golden hills with some harvesting being done - Beautiful! (Sorry, no pictures - I was driving.)

We needed to do a few things.  First stop was an RV Store for a new shower head.  Then to the Verizon Store.  Andy gets a veterans discount and has been for a few years.  Two weeks ago we were notified that we had to verify his status for a continued discount.  Hmmm, seems to me that once you are a veteran, you remain a veteran - .   So we had to bring either his VA card or the DD-214 to a company store.

Once that was finished, we made a few more stops and headed back home.

Stats for Today:

Miles Traveled: 35 Miles - Long Day - LOL!

Routes Traveled:

Iowa: Loop Road; SR-175

Nebraska: SR-51; SR-16; SR-9; Industrial Drive

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Today was kind of a laid back day.  At 9 AM, the Blue Ox technician picked up our tow bar and away he went.  We try to do this about every two years or so - either here or in Quartzsite. The bar was back by lunch looking almost new - .

This afternoon, we went with our neighbors on a tour of Blue Ox.  We did this tour in 2007.   We enjoyed it then and now.  One interesting tidbit: the highest selling baseplate is for a Jeep Wrangler.  How about that - !

We also spent some time figuring out our next moves.  There is a cold front moving in - high of 48 on Saturday - Brrr.  So we have decided to head south towards New Mexico and will do touristy stuff next trip through here.

So stay tuned and enjoy today.

 

October 15, 2013 Iowa and Freedom Rock

Late last night, we watched a very new motorhome towing a vehicle, go around and around the park - running into trees, over garbage cans, thru the grass and finally settling in the spot behind us.  So this morning Andy and I were up early and on the road by 7:30 AM.  We wanted to be out of the park before this person moved his rig again.  Our motorhome is not new but we value what we have.  Yikees.
There was a storm front coming through the area and you can see the threatening clouds.  The wind picked up and my Andy did a great job of driving - .   We did not see much rain so that was a blessing.
Some pictures along the way - we continue to pass many farms with miles and miles of corn, small towns, and many wind turbines.
Love the swirls:

We went from flat to rolling hills and back again - love this topography:

The water tower of Orient, Iowa:

The turbines were really moving today:

Rolling bands of clouds:

One of the things on my bucket list in 2007 was to see Freedom Rock (south of Menlo, Iowa). Here is a link to that blog: http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2007/05/may-14-2007-travel-thru-iowa.html

Freedom Rock remains on my bucket list and it was great to be able to see it again.

First some information:

“The Freedom Rock is a large (approx. 60+ ton) boulder located in rural Iowa that is repainted every year with a different Thank You for our nations Veterans to honor their service to our country. The artist, Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II, was inspired by the movie Saving Private Ryan, as well as, wanting to give Veterans a unique recognition on Memorial Day. Sorensen paints The Freedom Rock on his own with the tremendous support of family and friends. Sorensen is not commissioned to paint the rock but is able to do so each year with the generous help of donations.”

More information at:

http://www.thefreedomrock.com/

http://americanprofile.com/articles/freedom-rock-painter/

 

This rock is literally in the middle of nowhere. In the picture below, it is located on the right side of the road at the intersection (about the middle of the picture).

There are no words to describe this place.  What I said in 2007 is how I still feel:

It is an emotional experience to stand at the rock. It is an emotional experience to read the notes left for the artist. We thank God for all the freedoms we have and we thank all our servicemen for defending those freedoms.
If you ever get to this part of the country, I recommend stopping by and plan to spend a little time there.  Humbling!
There is a goal to put a Freedom Rock in each of the 99 counties in Iowa.  Now that would be a great road trip.
We continued on our way - check out this water tower:

That light area is the sun peeking thru the clouds and shining on the fields:

Corn planted on hillsides:

Scary clouds and the wind was really picking up here:

We got off the road right before lunch and we are staying in Onawa, Iowa at Lewis and Clark State Park.  Here is our spot:

We are the only ones in our loop.  Too bad it is so cold and windy - I could see us having a campfire and looking over the lake.  Maybe next time.

We have electric only ($11.00).  The full hookup area is full but we figured we are only staying one night.

We stayed in this park in 2007 - our first year on the road - here is that blog:

http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2007/09/september-26-2007-travel-to-iowa.html

They have some great things on the Lewis and Clark Expedition including a Keel Boat but all closed - too late in the season -

We went to town to try to find a shower head - ours broke this morning (is there a pattern on this trip with so many things needing repair - ???).  There is one hardware store and they did not have any.  Oh well.

We took a ride around the town and found their museum area - dedicated to the veterans.  This was in the front yard:

But the rest was closed for the season - Bummer.

Back home, the wind continued - hopefully tomorrow will be less windy.

Stay tuned and enjoy today.

 

Stats for Today:
Miles Traveled: 187 Miles
Routes Traveled:
Iowa: CR-H33; I-35; US-34; SR-25; I-80; I-680; I-29; SR-175; Loop Road

June 20, 2013 - Travel to Innisfail Alberta

Last night we had a terrific storm and the rain was still falling this morning as we packed up and headed north.  This was from the storming coming in last night:

We had a smooth border crossing into Alberta:

And we were on our way!

The storm clouds continued. 

We made a short stop in Lethbridge to exchange currency and we continued north.  We noticed that there was many “ponds” in the fields and the rivers were high.

The Starship Enterprise in Vulcan .   We were there in 2007 and toured their museum.  This time we just passed thru.

The rivers were starting to overflow their banks:

We arrived at Anthony Henday Campground in Innisfail.  Once we set up we called Kay and Norval and found out that there is extensive flooding all thru southern Alberta .  We just made it through before some of the roads were closed. 

Please keep all those folks affected by the floods in your prayers.

After supper, we headed over to Kay and Norval’s for desert.  It was so good to see them again.  We met them in January 2010 at Quartzsite and stayed in touch every since.  Norval has had some health problems and they are currently not traveling so this year we made the decision to stop by and spend some time with them.

Life is good!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  308 Miles or 496 Kilometers

Routes Traveled:

Montana: Oilfield Avenue; I-15

Canada - Alberta: PH-4; PH-3; PH-23; PH-2; PH-54