Last day of our trip

Today we'll be driving home.  We're about 5 hours' drive away from Montpelier, in Hungry Mother State Park.  We've spent the past two nights here, and it's been wonderful.  Yesterday the skies finally cleared, and it was sunny and cool.  We took a 5.7 mile hike around the lake, which wore Ranger out.  Because campground B was totally booked for the weekend, we had to move to Camp Burson for the second night, and it was---if anything---even nicer than the first night. 

On the early morning walk with Ranger, I saw indigo buntings and Baltimore orioles.

Lots of unpacking and cleaning ahead, but for now, I'm going to enjoy a second cup of coffee in this beautiful place.

A campfire at last

We're back in Virginia, though not yet home. Instead, we're spending a few days in the mountains, enjoying the cool temperatures and-----finally-----lack of rain.  After 7 weeks traveling, last night was our first campfire.  There have always been burn bans (because of drought) or high temps (making a fire rather unwanted) or no fire-ring or no firewood.  So here at Hungry Mother State Park, we made our first fire, and we sat outside late enjoying it.

We'll do some hiking today, then move to another section of the park for overnight. (All the sites here in campground B were reserved for the weekend.)  Then it's home.....and lots of unpacking and cleaning up to do!

Rain----A bit of drying----and more rain

Since leaving Tim's, we seem to have been tracking along with a weather system with lots of heavy clouds and rain.  We went through some strong storms from Illinois, through Kentucky, and into Tennessee.  So we decided to wait it out for a day, staying put and hoping the rain moves through ahead of us.  Today was spent at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, east of Nashville.  With steady rain all morning, we caught up on some work, reading, and bill-paying.  We were able to get out for awhile in early afternoon, walking around the park a bit, including a short hiking path where this photo was taken.  All here is very green and lush----they've had a LOT of rain this spring.  Dan had time to grill our dinner early, in advance of the next round of rain which has just let up a little.  Tomorrow we'll head east again, probably with a stop in the western part of Virginia for the night.

Back East again

We crossed the full-to-the-brim Mississippi River this afternoon near Quincy, Illinois, so we are officially back in the East..  I've been away from the computer for much of the weekend, while we visited (brother-in-law) Tim and Pam in Marion, IA.

After having the RV serviced in Forest City, IA, we visited Pilot Knob State Park, about 3 miles east of town, and returned to Forest City on Friday morning to take the tour of the Winnebago factory.

It was really quite interesting to watch all those RV's being made, including all those lovely Itasca Navions!  I left there convinced that we had made a good choice with ours.

The drive to Tim's took much of Friday afternoon, and we spent the next three nights in his driveway.  Kak drove down from Madison and Erin came from River Falls, so we had a great family gathering, fueled with lots of good food. (THANKS, PAM!!)  It's hard to believe how fast all the little ones are growing, especially Reiley who is distinguishing herself with her performances in archery competitions.  Erin was kind enough to give several of us much-needed haircuts.

We awoke on Monday to thunder and steady rain. We considered options, including simply heading home directly, but decided to go with the plan to head into Kentucky and Tennessee.  So far, it's working out;.  Although we went through heavy cloud cover in Iowa, it became less and less intense as we neared St. Louis, and there wasn't any actual rain all day.  At this point, we're just taking it a day at a time.  It's really no fun to camp out in the rain, so if the weather does not cooperate, we'll head for VA.  If it's good, we should be home next Sunday or Monday. 

Hanging out with all the other Winnebagos/Itascas

We're "camping" this evening in the parking lot of Lichtsinn's RV sales and service in Forest City, Iowa.  We're the little guy in the foreground of the photo.  We're scheduled for the 10K routine maintenance at 7:30 tomorrow morning, plus they'll install a back-up camera. 

If they finish early enough tomorrow, we may take the tour at the Winnebago factory, where our little RV was "born".  Then it's off to visit Tim in Marion, IA.  Iowa is green and lush after all that time in the desert, but welcome back mosquitoes and flies!

Iowa

In the past few days we have gone from the red dust of New Mexico to the mountains of Colorado, across the seemingly endless grass of Nebraska----and now we're in Iowa.  Specifically we're at Prairie Rose State Park in the western part of the state.  We thought we'd lose the wind which was so prevalent in the desert, but we woke up this morning to....more wind!  Still it's nice to see green grass again.  Today we head for Forest City, IA, where the RV will have its first maintenance and will have a back-up camera installed.

Out of the red rocks and dust, into Colorado

After a drive through northern New Mexico, flat and windy (and literally "where the deer and the antelope play"), we landed in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  How refreshing to see real clouds in a blue sky (not just the overcast of wildfire smoke) and green trees and grass!  The campground is brand new and wonderfully planned out, but.......no dogs allowed on any trails!  Poor Ranger.  We're here only overnight, however, and will be moving on to Nebraska today.