Winding down!

I sat here today, with a blur of highway road signs and white dashed lines spinning thru my head. After 6 days and 2,000 miles of 65 mile per hour diesel motor home driving, the quiet of the family room seem overwhelming by comparison.

Gone were the rushing gusts of nasty wind that shoved me from a straight line in Utah, and Nebraska. My attention seemed at its keenest thru those stretches of road. But then also topping a hill in Northern Utah and being able to see for 50 miles in the valley below has become just a memory.

Today I rested and reflected on the trip we completed. It was fun, but also too fast and furious. We are still quite caught up in the lives of the grandkids, and had the stated goal of being home for the Labor day holiday. So home we now are.

Since all the neighbors are home on Sunday, I left the coach in its storage lot today and may not go get it tomorrow either. Time and ambition will dictate that decision. But also the yard needs to be mowed, and the bills need to be paid. Does it ever end?

This afternoon, our son Chris and his wife Melissa came by with Claire and Abby. Loyce got some quality time caring for the baby, who is now three months old. She was relived to find that Abby still seemed to know who she was, and didn't fuss much at her care.

Chris and Mel headed out to acquire new Verizon Blackberry phones, leaving the fold of the family T-Mobile plan. We have new contracts on T-Mobile, and can't follow suit for some time. So that may stretch our minutes some.

Late in the day Chris flew out to return to Alabama where he is employed by the Federal Government as an auditor. We were thankful we had a couple of hours with his family.

So we just hung out, spinning down like a childs top, without the kid with the string. That can't last for long though, as we have to plan and head for the Lake of the Ozarks, and prepare to host a bunch of the grandkids, and their parents as well. For our new readers, we have a fishing cabin on the lake, that we use during the warmer summer months.

The bugs will have claimed the dock and our pontoon boat as their own, so the pressure washer needs to be manned, to take them back!

Retired Rod

Back to KC

This morning was clean up day. Since we will put the rig into storage, when we get back to KC, we clean up at the last camp site.

Most of the stuff that will go back into the house was piled in the corner, and into the Toyota. Remember we have a disagreeable neighbor, that will call the cops in a drop of a hat. So we need to strike quick and head on out.

Nebraska's crops are beautiful. Corn was tall and ears looked to be filled beyond the end, if that's possible. Beans could have been taller, but for Nebraska, and non irrigated ground, they were really quite good too.

We opted to take old hwy 34 right thru downtown Lincoln. This shortcuts I-80, and heads for I29 at Nebraska City. The two lane drive thru the country was very comforting. Crops, farm places and small towns. The GPS selected 34, but I think the better route would have been Nebraska 2. The drive in Lincoln would have been shorter, and some of it is 4 lane.

We ate lunch at a Wendy's next to the interstate where Neb 2, joins it. There is a Sap Bros' truck stop there, and it was swamped with cars and trucks. We spent about a half hour in Iowa, as you cross back into Missouri several miles South of there.

Our plan to quickly empty the rig worked like a charm, and it was gone from out front of the house in under two hours. I'll have to go get it and bring it back during the day, next week. When all the neighbors go to work, I can get the pressure washer out and give it the onceover.

So this adventure is over for another little while, but we will be headed off to the Lake of the Ozarks later in the week, so stay tuned for a different adventure!

Retired Rod

Grand Island, Nebraska

We did it all over again. Same late start, same all day drive. We left Cheyenne and drove 350 miles to Grand Island.

We are again at another KOA. We need stock in this company, since we are such loyal customers. LOL

Again it was right along the highway, and was advertised on a sign board at the exit. We had not seen any other camping advertisements for miles.

This place wasn’t obscenely expensive at $32 for full hookups. And since this will be our last night out, we will be able to flush out the sewer tanks thoroughly for storage as we get ready to leave here.

Tomorrow we will be back in Kansas City, although we are still over 250 miles from home.

An earlier start would be in order, but today we again changed time zones to central time. So it is midnight, and I still think it is 10 o’clock, The rush home, that Loyce has required, has my internals trashed.

So tonight is the last night on the road, and I think I am having remorse already.

Retired Rod

Cheyenne

We have moved on to the other side of the state of Wyoming. This evening, we we are in Cheyenne. We tried to stay at other campgrounds, but found them to be giant dust bowls. Run down wasn’t half of it.

So we drove on to the KOA in Cheyenne. We stayed here on the way out , and found it to be clean and comfortable. I generally do not try and do two nights in the same place, but since we are making tracks back for home, all the rules go away. I feel that the price here is outrageous, so I’m not even going to talk about it.

I did a quickie dump of the gray tank this morning, and headed out. We were late again, since we have our internal clocks all jumbled up. I refuse to set an alarm. We are retired you know.

I’m trying to remember something that was memorable about the drive today, but Wyoming is mostly sage brush and dry land. You do climb to over 8 thousand feet just East of Laramie and the ground changes there.

East of this summit, the Midwest really begins. Sage brush is mostly gone, and pasture crops start. It is at this point, that as a former Iowan, I feel like I am back in my comfort zone. I could plant something, and it would grow!

As of tonight we have covered 1,300 miles in the last 4 days. Because of tomorrow being a Friday, I have made a reservation in a Campground in Grand Island, Ne. That will be another 350 mile day. I’m wearing my self thin here, but Loyce really wants to get home.

Retired Rod