18 -19 July 2024 Iowa

 David worked most of Thursday trying to finish up some of his assignments. After he finished, we headed out to find a better grocery store than the one in West Liberty. We ended up at the HiVee. It reminded us of Central Market in Texas. Our most important purchase was Keira’s dog food! She did not like what we had picked up in West Liberty. David worked a bit on Friday as well. Then, out of curiosity, we looked to see if there were any winery/vineyards nearby. Surely if there are wineries in Illinois, there would be some in Iowa. Sure enough, we were in the middle of the Heart of Iowa Wine Trail! We headed out to the nearest winery with good reviews, Covered Bridges Winery. As we headed down the road, we saw a sign for John Wayne’s birthplace! We had never associated John Wayne with Iowa! Then we saw a sign for the Cover Bridges Scenic Drive with a sign for Madison County. Only then did we associate Madison County Iowa with the Clint Eastwood movie “Bridges of Madison County”! We always love to find surprises like this in our layover spots! After tasting Iowa wines (with only Iowa grown grapes) and picking up a couple of bottles to enjoy later, we headed down to Winterset. There we stopped at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum and gift shop. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to tour the house he was born in. But we did tour the free parts of the museum and picked up some John Wayne memorabilia in the gift shop. Then we walked around the Iowa Freedom Rock before going over to the house Where John Wayne was born. Such a modest beginning for such a patriotic famous American movie star. So many of our brightest Americans started from such humble beginnings in the Midwest! We then drove down to the Rosman Covered Bridge south of town. It was built in 1883, and although no longer used for traffic, it was in great shape. Then we drove back into town to see the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge that is in a park in Winterset. This bridge was moved to the park and restored 1970. Being dinnertime, we went to a restaurant on the town square, the Urban on the Square. It was surprisingly upscale and good for a small-town café. The town square reminded us of some of the small town squares in Texas. On the way back to the Wanderer, we also stopped at the Hogback Covered Bridge. 

Covered Bridges Winery Sign

Covered Bridges Winery tasting

Covered Bridges Winery

John Wayne Birthplace Museum

Iowa Freedom Rock

Iowa Freedom Rock

Iowa Freedom Rock

Home where John Wayne was born and raised

Roseman Covered Bridge

Roseman Covered Bridge

Interior of Roseman Covered Bridge

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

Interior of Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

Hogback Covered Bridge

Interior of Hogback Covered Bridge

Hogback Covered Bridge

17 July 2024 West Liberty to Waukee IA

 Today's drive was pretty smooth and short (136 miles) on I-80. After three straight days of driving, we are ready to sit in one place for a while. We are staying at the Timberline Campground ($66.50 per night) just west of Des Moines Iowa. 

16 July 2024 Joliet IL to West Liberty IA

 We left out of the casino RV park around 11:30. We arrived in the Little Bear Campground ($36 per night) behind a truck stop a little after 3pm. After getting set up we drove up to West Liberty to pick up some supplies. West Liberty’s claim to fame is the birthplace of president Herbert Hoover. We stopped at a farm stand and picked up some fresh, straight off the farm, vegies. Delicious!

15 July 2024 Springfield OH to Joliet IL

 

Once again, we got the hell beat out of us on I-70. The first 30 miles after we crossed into Indiana were the worst! Once we got on I-69 north of Indianapolis, the roads were much better. We did hit some traffic in the ongoing construction on I-80, but otherwise had no major slowdowns. We arrived at the Hollywood Casino around 4:30. We checked in at the hotel and drove to our site ($64 per night plus a $50 security deposit). They did not have sewer hookups but there is a dump station behind the hotel (which we later figured out we could not get into). They also did not have WiFi in the RV Park. Later that evening, we heard the tornado sirens going off outside. Just as we started to checkout what was going on through our various weather apps on our phone, we received a tornado warning on our phones. We called the casino hotel and they told us to get to the hotel ASAP. We grabbed Keira and ran out through the driving rain to the truck. We noticed security going trailer to trailer telling people to get to the hotel. We spent an hour in the interior hallway of the hotel with other RVers and hotel guests until we got the all clear from the casino security. We later heard 7 tornados and a derecho has gone through the area. Power was out at the hotel, casino and the RV park. The Wanderer and Behemoth were not damaged. We did find water on the floor of the bathroom where the wind blew so hard, it forced water up into the air conditioner! There were wind gusts of up to 105mph according to the weather service. The front brought cooler temperatures so we opened the windows and ran the vent van to pull cooler air into the Wanderer. The next morning, the power was still out so David went up to the hotel and found out the power was off all over the area and they did not know when it would come back on. We decided to get out and head further west. They agreed to give us a refund for the second night.  We’re still waiting on it. Leslie found an RV park 178 miles away in eastern Iowa for us to stay a night. This would also reduce the drive for the next day.

Our site at Hollywood Casino RV Park

Hunkering down in the hotel hallway with no power waiting for the tornado to pass.

13 -14 July 2024 Dayton Visit

 We stopped off in the Dayton area to visit with Jason and Michelle. We tried to organize a get together of the 6 cousins that live in the Columbus/Dayton area (Chad, Janae, Landon, Jessica, Sofie and Jason) but everyone was too busy. We went over to Michelle and Jason’s house on Saturday to visit and have a BBQ.  We took Keira to meet their dog Simba. It was a little challenging. On Sunday, we met them at the Cheesecake Factory in the mid-afternoon for Jason’s birthday lunner (Lunch/Dinner). We had a great visit and caught up on all the family news. Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures!

12 July 2024 East Sparta to Springfield OH

 The interstates in Ohio need some work. It was a bumpy ride down I-77 and across on I-70. It was an easy four hour, 130 mile drive with one stop for lunch. We are staying at Tomorrows Stars RV Resort ($67 per night, no discounts) off US40. We have stayed here previously when visiting the Dayton area. 

22 June – 11 July 2024 Canton in 2024

 We had a wonderful visit with family and friends. We spent lots of time with Veronica, and got her out to dinner as often as we could. We noticed her walker was broken (the rear wheel was off the axile and rubbing against the brake) and worked with her to pick out a new one for her birthday (It got delivered the day before we left). Leslie even got her a Yellow Duck bell to adorn it! We took her down to Bergholz to visit Aunt Joyce one day. We had fun visiting Aunt Joyce in Bergholz. The old apple tree behind the house is looking great for being 100 years or more years old. Sometimes we think that as that tree goes, so does our family. On another day, we took her down to visit her sister Katy. To top off our visit, we hosted her 87^th birthday at one of her favorite restaurants, the Twisted Olive with her family (Katy, Cheryl, Bob and Darlene). We were able to visit with Cousin Amy before she had to head out of town to help a friend. We also drove up to Streetsboro to visit with our friends Mary Ann and Bill at their campsite. David got several maintenance items done on the Wander and Behemoth and Leslie got a lot of cleaning done inside, as we travel, so does the dust!  All in all, a great visit. 

The family apple tree

Aunt Joyce hiding from the camera

Veronica with her new walker

Her rubber ducky bell

Veronica's Birthday Party