STUART IOWA TO KEARNEY NEBRASKA & WE CALLED IT AN EARLY DAY…………..

FIRST THING I SPOTTED WHEN STEPPING OUT OF THE RIG THIS MORNING WAS THIS BIG OLD HALLOWEENY MOON GOING DOWN

We underwent our first ‘going back an hour’ time change Sunday so our body clocks actually had us up an hour earlier at 4:30 which was alright because we wanted to be out of the grain mill’s parking lot before any workers or farm trucks arrived anyway. 

OUR SPOT FOR THE NIGHT IN STUART IOWA WITH THE GRAIN MILL IN THE BACKGROUND

Under the cover of darkness we quietly slipped out of Stuart Iowa at 6:20 again heading west on I-80.  Watched a nice sunrise in my driver’s side mirror.

SUNRISE OVER THE PLATTE RIVER

Traffic started to thicken up a bit as we approached Council Bluffs which is pretty much attached to Omaha Nebraska.  We were soon into 8 lane traffic & just caught the tail end of the morning rush about 8:15.  We held our own with the local Omaha morning speed crazies & banged our way right through the traffic with nary a scratch.  Nice to get out the other side of Omaha & see nothing but wide open cornfields again.

I FIND IF I JUST BLOW MY HORN ALL THE WAY THROUGH A BIG CITY EVERYBODY AHEAD JUST CLEARS OUT OF THE WAY FOR US:))  (OMAHA)

AFTER ALL THE TRAFFIC DUST HAD SETTLED WE FOUND WE WERE STILL ON THE RIGHT ROAD HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Breezed through Lincoln Nebraska knowing our left turn for Congress Arizona was coming up soon at the town of York west.  I watched the turn-off go by as we blew right through York on I-80 heading for Utah:))  Must say I was tempted to swing down through Denver & haul ourselves up & over those steep mountain grades which had given us grief at the end of last March.  A much shorter way to get to where we were going for sure but neither one of us wanted to go through that again so we decided to take the longer but much easier route up through Laramie & Cheyenne to Rawlins Wyoming.  It will give us some new scenery.

NEW SCULPTURE IN A REST AREA WE STOPPED AT

Didn’t sleep well Sunday night so knew I would tire early.  With that thought in mind we decided to pull off the road sooner today.   Noticed the town of Kearney Nebraska had a Walmart Supercenter so that was our destination & we rolled into their large parking lot just before noon & shut er down for the day.  A quick trip into the store for some groceries & it was back to the rig for a much needed rest.  I don’t mind overnighting at Walmarts at all. 

THOUGHT THESE AIRSTREAMS WERE KINDA CUTE…..THEY SAY ‘SPORT’ ON THE SIDE & ‘BAMBI’ ON THE BACK

With some of the annoying little Gremlinesque problems we have had with this rig over the past year I’m happy to report that so far everything is working fine such as the water pump, refrigerator, & water heater.  Inverter is doing the things it is supposed to do, generator starts right up if needed & even the driver doesn’t seem as cranky as usual.  Key words there were ‘as cranky’.  Our fingers are crossed this positive trend will continue.  And Jim from exploRVistas asked in a comment how Libby (Jeep Liberty) was doing out back.  Well she’s towing along just fine I’m happy to say.  Tows just like Jeepers (Jeep Wrangler) did…………………:))

 

Over the years I have always been amazed by something in our Snow Bird travels & that is how fast we always adapt to our traveling lifestyle when switching from our sticks & bricks to the RV.  Of course the Motorhome doesn’t have all the perky comforts & conveniences a house does but it certainly is the next best thing.

 

I-80 GATEWAY TO KEARNEY NEBRASKA

This is our third night on the road & I have become quite cozy in my little corner of the Motorhome.  In all the other RV’s we’ve had I have never had it so good.  Seated in my recliner I have everything at my finger tips now.  I have a table to set my cameras on, another narrow table with one shelf holds all my stuff like camera battery chargers, flashlight, clock, kindle, headset, Toshiba external hard drive, coffee cup holder, small calculator, a Canon point & shoot camera, an overhead battery operated light, magnifying glass, computer reading glasses, a screen cleaning cloth & half a dozen other little items.  And if my right arm was just a mere 4 feet longer I could even pull open the refrigerator door & haul myself out a pork chop or two.  Groovy.  To my immediate left is a window which I can just reach over & open or pull the night shades down.  To my right is another small narrow table which my computer mouse rides around on.  Yessereeee it’s quite a set up.  You know, it kinda seems like I’ve got it a bit too darn nice now & I must admit……that makes me just a little nervous!!

Despite using a few pillows here & there I was unable to get myself completely comfortable for sleeping in my recliner again so it looks like I’ll have to try sleeping on our pull out couch again.  The couch is surprisingly comfortable but I have not tried sleeping while lying down since my vertigo incident a couple months ago.  We’ll see how it goes tonight.  If Pheebs beats me to the couch I might have to sleep on the floor.

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Guess who finished off the last of our yummy date nut loaf today.  I’ll give you a hint…..it wasn’t Kelly & it wasn’t AL but the eater had 4 furry little paws!!  Kelly forgot to put the last third of our date nut loaf away before we headed  on in to Walmart.  When we returned it had vanished from atop the counter where a certain little dog had obviously been doing some counter surfing………..!!!! 

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Here’s a little something I just copied & pasted from Ivan’s post tonight:: 

Wheeling It  Nina & Paul  have been in the Williams area, planning to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Bayfield Bunch are enroute from Ontario to Arizona, one Cracker Barrel at a time!

Jean and Skip have been checking out the Lake Havasu area

Wandering Willy is making his way down 395 in eastern California, perhaps with Death Valley in his sights.

Looking forward to seeing everyone down south this winter!

KEARNEY WALMART IN KEARNEY NEBRASKA…..HOME AWAY FROM HOME:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( My friend called me in hysterics. “I just saw a mouse in my kitchen!” she yelled. “I’m so grossed out! It’s so disgusting!”  “What are you going to do?” I asked.  “I’m not sure. But you can bet I’ll never eat the stuff I drop on the floor anymore.”

BENTON HARBOR MICHIGAN TO STUART IOWA….LEFT 3 BIG CITIES BEHIND US & WHAT A NICE DRIVING DAY IT WAS:))

CROSSING THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH OF DAVENPORT THIS MORNING

Despite Cracker Barrel parking lot lights around us how nice it was early this morning to step outside & see the Planets Venus, Jupiter, & Mars.  Our first unobstructed night sky since early last April.  And I saw Orion too Jean:)) 

SUNDAY FRONT SEAT DOGGY SNUGGLES

Although not quite as cushy comfy as my big old overstuffed recliner in Bayfield my recliner in the rig turned worked out fairly well for sleeping.  I think with the strategic placement of a pillow or two I’ll be just fine spending my nights in it. 

 AT A REST AREA WE EVEN MANAGED A SHORT WALK IN THE WOODS

Up at our usual time of 5:30 a.m. we swung right into our normal routines.  Coffee, computers, TV news, etc.  Nice to still have reasonably warm temperatures as we rolled out of Cracker Barrel at 7:20 a.m & with a couple turns we were again back on I-80 heading west.  Nice sunrise but it was behind us & off to the left a bit.  We blew through sleeping Chicago somewhere between 8:30 & 9 with very little traffic……. just as we expected & planned for.

Due to an unknown problem with my Nikon D90 my photos today were overexposed & I had a hard time salvaging anything worthwhile.  Last week the same camera underexposed a bunch of photos.  The exposure compensation numbers have been randomly changing on their own & I have no idea why.

A NICE AUTUMN ILLINOIS REST AREA

A big Howdy Doody wave to Dennis & Donna from the CAVE DWELLINGS.  It was about 10 o’clock when on I-80 we rolled through south of Sandwich Illinois. Can you imagine living in a town called Sandwich.  D&D do:))

We reached Davenport somewhere around noon I think & took the northern by-pass.  Second big city behind us & again traffic was light.  With clear skies, no rain or gusting winds I felt it was a good driving day to be taken advantage of & pushed on for Des Moines Iowa.  Figured on overnighting at a Walmart somewhere out the west end of Des Moines but our Garmin Gertie GPS took us around the by-pass north of the city & there sure weren’t no Walmarts up around that-a-way.  Last 2 times I remember she took us right through the middle of Da Moiner.  Still heading west on I-80 & after going past several small burgs along the away I kinda got the feeling Des Moines might have been the last big city outpost for quite awhile.  Council Bluffs was still a hundred miles away so we took a chance on a little Iowa town called Stuart.  No Wally-World there of course so we slowly cruised a few of the sleepy back streets until we spotted a feed mill with a parking lot behind it & pulled in.  Figured we would be gone before workers showed up to work Monday morning.  Noticed after a bit cars going by slow looking at us so figured it being a Sunday night in a small town we were probably the main attraction.  Well that is until Kelly noticed the cars turning into a building just down the street with mainly women getting out with some carrying cushions into the building.  Sleuth Kelly deduced they were headed in to play Bingo.  Not knowing too much about nuthin I had to agree with her.   Kelly later walked down to see what the building was & it turns out it was Stuart’s Rec Center & American Legion.

And just think, we have traveled about 760 miles so far & it has only taken 212 chocolate chip cookies & half a pound of crumbs to get us this far.  Oh & the 3 big cities we left behind today??  Chicago Illinois, Davenport & Des Moines Iowa.  In the morning we do battle with Omaha Nebraska then on to Lincoln Nebraska where I’m hoping we will have reached a decision on which route we will be taking from there.  Anybody taking bets………I’m not.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Here are just 3 of many likable things about the State of Iowa:  They do amazing things with corn, it’s just east of Omaha & Iowa is easy to spell.

 

BAYFIELD ONTARIO TO BENTON HARBOR MICHIGAN…RAIN, RAIN, RAIN:((

THAT’S KELLY OVER THERE ON THE LEFT MAKING HER WAY THROUGH CRACKER BARREL’S LOBBY

It was a dark morning with a warm drizzling rain as we loaded a few remaining things into the RV.  A quick last minute check around the house & we were into the warmed up Motorhome.   It was 7:30 a.m. & we were finally on our way.  How nice to leave the waiting, the stress, & the jitters behind & how nice to finally get those big wheels rolling & focus on the journey ahead.

IT WAS A RAIN SOAKED MORNING AS WE HEADED UP & OVER THE SARNIA/PORT HURON BLUE WATER BRIDGE…SO MUCH FOR LIBBY’S $3 CAR WASH A FEW DAYS AGO

We drove in a light rain most of the way to Sarnia & just east of the city it really began to pour & it poured all the way right up to the border crossing itself.  Four cars ahead of us so we only had a 5 minute wait before pulling up to the booth.  Middle aged fellow with a beard had a lot of questions for us with one of them being, “do you have your dog papers with you & I’d like to see them.”  That was the first time in 9 years we had ever been asked about our dog papers.  While Kelly was digging out the papers the fellow spotted Pheebe & of course it was love at first sight for the guy.  A couple more of the usual questions & he wished us nice day & safe trip.  It was 9:05 in the morning as we rolled away from the booth to begin our first of many winter days in the United States of America.

NOT A LONG WAIT BUT ABOUT A DOZEN QUESTIONS

Rain didn’t let up until we reached Flint Michigan at which time skies brightened & we saw a few fleeting glimpses of diffused sunlight trying to break through the heavy overcast.  Clouds remained too thick but at least the rain had temporarily stopped & we were finally driving on dry roads.

THREATENING SKIES AS WE PLOD STEADILY WESTWARD INTO ANOTHER RAIN FRONT

STOPPED FOR GAS THEN PARKED BEHIND A SUBWAY WHILE KELLY SLIPPED OVER TO McDONALDS NEXT DOOR FOR SOME COFFEE & SNACKS

Again very impressed with how this 03 37’ Triple EEE Commander handles.  Just a pleasure to drive but I really have to keep an eye on the speedometer & use the cruise control to keep the speed down.  This rig just wants to get out their & run.

GOOD THING OUR CHIEF NAVIGATOR HAS A DESKTOP

Kelly ran into a slight ker-fuffle trying to get our Verizon activated.  She had done it on line several days ago but she was not picking up a Verizon signal for our computers.  She phoned Verizon & had a fellow on their for awhile trying to diagnose the problem when he asked her a simple question.  He said, “tell me what your Verizon Jet Pack says on the screen”??  Oh-oh…….what screen!!  Turns out Kelly had pulled out our old Verizon 3G device from a few years back which of course was old technology.  She put the fella on hold & hurriedly dug through a small bin of technical devices & found the newer Verizon.  Walla, we were on-line:))  Kelly said the Verizon fella had himself quite a chuckle over her little fopaux.  Nice when techie types react that way eh.

ON THE PHONE WITH VERIZON THIS MORNING

 

A few days ago using Google & Google Earth I picked out a CRACKER  BARREL in Stevensville Michigan just a tad south of Benton Harbor.  Decided to make that our target for the day & at 1:55 p.m. after briefly pounding our way through a short but fast moving intense Lake Michigan rain storm we rolled off Interstate 94 & right into a nice large parking lot at Cracker Barrel.  Lots of grass around for Pheebe with a great walking area right at our door.  We sometimes like to finish up our first day of travel with kind of a low key celebratory supper at a Cracker Barrel.  Rare for us to ever eat out while at home but while traveling we thoroughly enjoy popping into a few McDonalds & Cracker Barrels along the way.

SLOSHING THROUGH MORE RAIN JUST EAST OF BENTON HARBOR

KELLY CHECKS OUT HER TRUSTY CRACKER BARREL LOCATIONS MAP EARLIER TODAY

Skies slowly began clearing about 3 with a few small patches of blue sky overhead but it didn’t last & we were soon under a heavy cloud cover again.  We’re hoping for some sunshine Sunday.  About 4:30 we walked on over to Cracker Barrel for supper & luckily it wasn’t crowded yet. 

NICE BIG DOGGY WALKING AREA BEHIND THIS CRACKER BARREL

I WAS DISAPPOINTED NOT TO SEE A WARMING FIRE IN THAT FIREPLACE AT THIS CRACKER BARREL

CRACKER BARREL REALLY KNOWS HOW TO ‘STAGE’ THEIR RESTAURANTS

 

ONE OF MY FAVORITE DISHES…ROAST BEEF, MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY WITH NO YUKKY GREEN STUFF

AND WE COULD EVEN SEE THE BIG EEE FROM WHERE WE WERE SEATED

CRACKER BARREL ALREADY HAS THEIR CHRISTMAS DECORATION STUFF OUT

Can’t even begin to tell you how happy we are with the new seating arrangements in the rig & to think it only took us 9 years to finally get ourselves a couple comfortable recliners.  True test will come tonight when I try sleeping in my recliner like I now do at home ever since having that ‘Vertigo’ incident a month or two ago.

SPOTTED THESE ‘UBER’ CARS AT A HOTEL BESIDE CRACKER BARREL & IF YOUR WONDERING WHO UBER IS OR WHAT THOSE THINGS ATOP THEIR CARS ARE JUST CLICK THIS INTERESTING UBER LINK

We are habitually early risers so no doubt we will be on the road early headed for Chicago.  We always do Chicago each year first thing Sunday morning & that sure saves a lot of wear & tear on the mind doing it that way.  Our destination Sunday will be somewhere west of Davenport Iowa.

OUR CRACKER BARREL HOME FOR THE NIGHT & WE EVEN HAVE OUR OWN STREET LIGHT & TREE

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Shaky went to a psychiatrist. "Doc," he said, "I've got trouble. Every time I get into bed, I think there's somebody under it. I get under the bed, I think there's somebody on top of it. Top, under, top, under. "you gotta help me, I'm going crazy!"
"Just put yourself in my hands for two years," said the shrink. "Come to me three times a week, and I'll cure your fears."
"How much do you charge?"
"A hundred dollars per visit."
"I'll sleep on it," said Shaky.
Six months later the doctor met Shaky on the street. "Why didn't you ever come to see me again?" asked the psychiatrist.
"For a hundred buck's a visit? A bartender cured me for ten dollars."
"Is that so! How?"
"He told me to cut the legs off the bed!"

WITH ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL THIS SHOULD BE OUR LAST NIGHT IN CANADA FOR THE YEAR:))

AFTER HOOKING UP THE JEEP THIS AFTERNOON PHEEBS & TOOK LIBBY FOR A SHORT TEST SPIN THROUGH OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE

<<< MONICA’S MAPLE

We both remarked this morning how lucky we were to have  it sunny & clear for our last day in Canada.  Sure beats rain, sleet or hail which can happen this time of year as evidenced by our weather this past week or so.  Made all those last minute trips in & out of the Motorhome much easier to do today as well.  However, & there generally is always a 'however' in the mix somewhere it is looking like we may very well have ourselves a soggy journey beginning Saturday.  Computer map shows a big rain front approaching from the west & we will have to drive right through that.  And who knows what kind of inclement weather that massive Hurricane heading for Mexico is going to throw into the western States over these next few days as well.  It’s just one of those things we’ll have to simply play by ear as we go along.  I’m thinking by Monday night we should have a pretty good idea which route we will take from Lincoln Nebraska.  I’m so tired tonight the only route I’m thinking about is the trek between our sunroom & the living room & if I make it that far I’m gonna just sink into my recliner & pull the covers over my head.

A LAST WALK AROUND OUR BACK YARD TO SAVOUR AUTUMNS WONDERMENT

Finally dawned on me this morning why we are traveling with so much extra space left over in our Motorhome bins.  A lot of our boondocking stuff is already at the house in  Congress Arizona.  Duhhhh.  Now I don't have the urge to fill all that space up with cement blocks in order just to feel better about it.

 

TRAVELING LITE

As fellow Snow Birds know the last day before heading out on a 6 month trip is a very hectic day indeed.  All that last minute stuff & a thousand trips up & down the Motorhome steps.  Needless to say we were both whupped by mid afternoon.  Kelly did twice as much as me & yet I ended up twice as tired as she.  Sometimes it seems it would be so much easier just to stay home but I know as soon as those big wheels roll in the morning all thoughts of home will quickly disappear into the swirls of dust behind us & we won’t be thinking much of home until sometime mid March next year. 

HEADING SOUTH ON PORTAL HILL LINE

Too tired tonight  to write much more so I'll pack it in & keep it short.  No idea where we will be tomorrow night except probably east of Chicago somewhere.  Keep your fingers crossed we'll have us a pleasant border crossing person in the morning.  Hoping to be west of Davenport Iowa by Monday morning & that will put the majority of eastern traffic chaos well behind us.

WE ARE ALL HOOKED UP & READY TO RUMBLE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A Few Senior Bumper Stickers: