Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Travel from South Dakota to Kentucky!



We left, South Dakota on the morning of October 1st 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! 



Watch Maggie run! Click this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGQ933EOxdY 

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.
Today, we went to lunch in a little hole in the wall kind of place called the Water Front Restaurant and Lounge.  http://www.fortboonesboroughlivinghistory.org/
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. 


5 comments:

  1. Actually you were in Crawfordsville, Illinois which was about 3 hours from me. But definitely bad weather those days. Drive safe

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    1. John, we were in Crawfordsville, Indiana not Illinois. Which state are you talking about? I'm confused!

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    2. Thought I saw somewhere that you said Illinois.

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  2. Saw you were east of where George is in Campbellsville, but a pretty far ride for a short visit. Have fun at your son's!

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    1. Yup. We are about 80 miles east of George, Laurie. Also, since we came down 64 to 75, we didn't pass him. Still, it would have been nice to visit, if we had time!

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