We left, South Dakota on the morning of October 1
st
for Mason City, Iowa. The trip eastward took us through the southern part of
Minnesota. We were really amazed and fascinated at the number of wind mills that we saw.
installed capacity for wind power in Minnesota was 2,986 megawatts (MW)
with wind power accounting for 14.3% of the electricity generated in the state
during 2012.
About
30 miles into the state, we started seeing wind mills and there was an endless
field of them for about 8 to 10 miles! It was amazing and beautiful. There’s
something really serene about a field of wind mills.
Unfortunately, we were just barely ahead of a cold front
that is also heading southeast. So, even though we are trying to outrun the
cold, it is outrunning us! We arrived in Mason City, Iowa in time for a lot of
rain and a lot of wind. So much so that the camper rocked and creaked and made
all kinds of noise all night. It cost me some sleep, but cost Dodie a lot of
sleep! Winds were 25MPH and gusting to about 40MPH. Although the camper is
pretty stable when sitting on 4 tires and 6 hydraulic rams, I was concerned how
things would be driving from Mason City to our next stop in Knoxville, IL. For
most of the trip, it was a smooth ride because the wind was at our back. Some
of the trip, the winds were hitting us on the driver’s side and the back. In
either case, it improved our fuel mileage by nearly a mile per gallon! A few
times, I could feel the winds buffeting us, but since we are about 26,000
pounds, the winds were pretty puny!
I wish I could say we thoroughly enjoyed Mason City, but we
really didn’t see much of it. I went into town on Thursday to pick up a few
bottles of wine and a pizza. It was cold, windy and raining and I didn’t enjoy
it. I got all excited about a pizza place called Chicago Pizza and just knew we
would get a good pizza there. Not so! Dodie probably liked it more, because it had
a thin crust. I like the standard New York pizza that I grew up with as a kid.
A good pizza should have a thick crust that is crispy at the rolled up edge. This
pizza was thin and the crust at the edge was only a ¼ inch thick. Boo! Hiss! The
camp ground was actually real nice and only cost us $25.00 a night. That’s the
way it should be! We stayed at the MacNider Campground which is built on land
donated to the city by Margaret MacNider. Margaret was the wife of Iowa war
hero Hanford “Jack” MacNider.
Check
these links:
http://www.masoncity.net/pview.aspx?id=18109&catid=481
So, we made it to Knoxville, Illinois on October 3rd.
Still wet, windy and cold, it was not much fun. This campground was just
purchased by John in May. It is nice, but needs a little maintenance.
What was really nice was the large field where I could let Maggie loose to run!
The WiFi
doesn’t work at all. We have been using out Hotspot here. The campground has potential and I think John will
make it nice, but it will take him a while. The winds were not as bad here as in Mason City, but still pretty
bad. Taking Maggie outside is not as much fun! LOL! Today, 10/5/14, the winds
finally laid down and temps were in the 50’s. It was almost tolerable!
Since we are mostly on a mission to get to Virginia, we are
not staying anywhere too long and we really won’t be doing any sight-seeing.
10/6/14 we made it to Crawfordsville, Indiana. It was a KOA
campground and you expect more from a KOA. However, like so many, it is an old
campground made for smaller campers and it hasn’t kept up with the times. They
advertized cable TV, but didn’t have any. The sites were very muddy and the
WiFi was only average. We are glad we only scheduled a one night stop there.
10/7/14, we drove to Fort Boonesborough State Park in Richmond,
KY.
This is a really nice state park. There are about 20 full service sites and
the rest are electric and water only. WiFi is pay WiFi only and we opted to pay
it since we’ve already used almost 5GB of our 20 for the month on our hot spot. They are busy getting ready for a huge Halloween celebration. You have to stay here at least 7 days over the Halloween period and they are fully booked for Halloween!
This place is nice enough that we wish we had more time here, but changing
plans now is not possible. Our schedule is tight. Maybe we can come back one
day.
The food was great. We
really enjoyed it. It was so good that we probably won’t be able to eat supper
tonight! LOL!
Tomorrow, we leave and head to Lewisburg, West Virginia. Again, this is just a one night stand! On 10/10/14, we head to Chesapeake, Virginia to spend some time with our two sons, daughter-in-law and grandsons. We'll stay there for 11 days.
Don't forget to click the button up top to see a map of our travels. We will make a full circle by November!
As always, here are links to all of the pics.
