South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri. Today we drove through each of this state or about 340 miles. I believe it's our longest drive in one day on this trip. We're both getting a little anxious to get back to North Carolina.
Clara decided that we need to stop over at the Mountain House a few days before going to Beaufort, so that's the direction we're generally heading.
We've invited Jean and Maddie to join us this upcoming weekend in Spruce Pine. It's Labor Day, so no school and Jean has a day off. Hoping it will work out.
We've stopped tonight at the nicest municipal campground (Blue Springs Lake Campground) we've ever been to just East of St. Louis.
Wednesday, August 31
Another "money day" traveling across Missouri to Illinois and one of the finest State Parks we've seen, Wayne Fitzgerald State Park. Another over 300 mile day. Entirely too much driving.
We're learning a good lesson on this trip. Normally when we're deadheading like we're nowvdoing, we've been staying at Walmart. Though mostly okay, sometimes the traffic noise is really bad. What we're finding is that with a little research and effort, we can find a nice municipal or state park within a few miles of most interstate highways, and so far, we've found that they are about the nicest parks around. Of course it's mid-week and school is back in session, so these parks and underutilized. And by being fairly close to the major highway, we usually still have a decent Internet signal
We're not making reservations and are not having any problems. This Park has in excess of 200 sites, all with electric service - which is all we need. As long as this continues, no more noisy Walmarts (although I do miss having a Red Box movie close by).
Today is our first day on our journey that it rained most of the day. It has no impact on our plans (or lack of plans) now that we've gotten out of the scenic parts of the country. Now everything pretty much looks the same, so we just press on. I had thought about stopping at the St. Louis arch, but decided I didn't need the hassle of city driving and traffic. Going through St. Louis reminded me why I like where we've been where population density is reasonable.
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| This is all the arch that we saw, and it's plenty. |
Tonight we find ourselves again at a rather unusual State Park, Edgar Evins State Park in Tennessee. We have been here before on one of our return trips from the West. All of the campsites are on wooden platforms built on rather steep terrain. It is the only way that this park could be developed as the land around the lake is steep.
We enjoyed another relatively long day of travel from Illinois, and is next to our last day before we will arrive in Spruce Pine tomorrow.
Friday, September 2 through Tuesday, September 7
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| Home (at least a home) |
I had made arrangements with the local fire department (Parkway Fire Department in Grassy Creek) to leave the motor home in their large parking lot. We took most of the refrigerated items out so we could shut the power off for the next few days. And we're home!
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| Some of the reasons we love the mountain house |
Saturday we cleaned house and I went swimming
Sunday we worked around the house and the afternoon we spent at The Orchard renewing acquaintances. Saturday evening we had dinner with Bill, Judy, and Kit at the Golf Course.
Wednesday, September 7 we finally made the last leg of the journey and we're back in Beaufort.
It was a wonderful journey!
We left Beaufort on July 8 and returned September 7. We spent 56 nights on the road in the motor home. We drove the motor home 7050 miles and the car 2450 miles, driving through 17 states, visiting 14 National Parks and Monuments and visiting numerous State Parks and National Recreation Areas.
It was truly the trip of a lifetime. Making it the most memorable journey was having Anna and Evan with us for 3 weeks, and having Slade and Candace with us for one exciting week.
Both Anna and Evan are teenagers now, and with that comes more and more things for them to do in the summer. I can only hope that we can have a repeat of this summer with them and their parents some day.
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| The colored-in states are the states that we've been to in our motor home. Just a few left - and Alaska |
