Pictures today

July 5, 2007

Oh, there was a thunder storm last night, but it was way off in the distance, and no tornadoes anywhere!

Murtle and I went for a walk this morning. I wanted to show her the pond at the campgrounds. She liked the island and the fountain. We saw lots of things on our way. There were chairs and benches to sit on, we saw a hula dancer all in lights, we saw “Bull Corner”. I think it is where all the old timers at the campground sit and through the bull… Murtle liked the island and had to explore. I was lucky enough to get a picture of her with the fountain in the background.

Brad and I are getting really good at breaking down the camper. We were out on the road before 9:00AM this morning. Headed West! We stopped to take some pictures of all the corn fields, miles and miles and miles of them. As far as you can see are corn fields, with a few soy fields mixed in.

We had to stop and take a picture of a John Deere Dealership, also. I don’t think there is a farm big enough in New England to accommodate the “BIG” tractors that we saw. While driving down the road we came up in back of a machine (John Deere) that it’s tire width was wider than the yellow line to the white line in the road! Good thing there wasn’t much traffic.

It’s lunch time now and we pulled over at a Wal-Mart for lunch. We needed to get some additional water. (I do not want to run out of water, so far at the campgrounds we have been told that the water is safe to drink, but we cooked corn in it the other night it tasted like the water smelled, yuck!) Note to self: All vegetables from now on will be cooked in bottled water!

It was really strange to drive through the corn fields and see a porta potti sitting in the middle of it. The ones we saw were green and matched the corn, but then we came to a porta potti distributor who had red ones and we decided that it would be much better to have the red ones in the corn field instead of the green ones at harvesting time. “Chopped them right up and spit it right out with the rest of the corn!”

Brad has picked up on this southern accent really fast. That is the only way he talks now. About ready to jump out of my skin listening to him. A Northern Yankee, trying to talk southern is such a hoot! Can’t wait to hit the west where they talk even different. “No one will understand him when gets home.”

Speaking of home, I think he is homesick.

6:36PM Finally have a campsite with internet access! Yahoo! Now I will be able to upload some pictures for you. I want you to see all of the corn:

We have seen some beautiful places so far, and our journey hasn't taken us that far. The "hills" of West Virginia were great (Brad does not want to call them mountains, but I believe they are.)

The campsite that we are in tonight (in Knoxville, Illinois, not Tennessee) is very nice. The best place that we have stayed at so far. We feel a tad out of our league (you should see the big rigs here, they are just beautiful!)

We are going to take a walk, but will wait for a while, it is 86 degrees out here and very HOT! We already stopped for our first Dairy Queen. (Not that we haven't gone by plenty, but the first one that we actually sought out and found.) ((We are supposed to be losing weight on this trip, we both have to look good for an October wedding.))

Dad, we were on Route 74 West all the way to Knoxville, IL. (You can only look at so much corn! The highway seemed faster.



July 4, 2007

We made it through Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana and I mean right through the middle of them. Yes, NUVI took us right through the cities! But let me tell you, driving on a day when no one is at work is great. No traffic. What interesting places. The streets were easy enough to maneuver. Wide enough, and no tight places. Just a tad nerve racking for Brad, he was driving. I was taking in the sights. One missed turn can take you 30 minutes on a scenic tour of the city! No sweat, NUVI to the rescue!

Murtle was so excited to see the Indianapolis Art Museum (OK Murtle didn‘t go in, but we drove by), the Cincinnati sky scrapers (looking up beside them is awesome!), and so much more. We went by a really swanky hotel, with valet parking, and bus persons, and we waved!
Right after we took the 30 minute tour of Cincinnati streets, we decided to stop and make a pit stop. It’s odd pulling into a huge shopping center and being one of only about 23 vehicles. (4th of July nothing is open around OHIO.) We didn’t see any place in Ohio that sold fireworks, I wonder if that had anything to do with it? We had lunch, grabbed a snack for later, then hit the road again.

Needless to say, the drive was great! This morning before we left, we programmed NUVI for the Bad Lands in South Dakota. Decided to let her take us. After we drive for about 5 - 6 hours, we will punch in for a campground and make a call (if we have cell service) and just enjoy our trip. Last night we spent hours trying to figure out what direction, and where we were heading and what campground we were going to stay at.

We saw lots of corn fields, and lots of fields filled with what we now believe is soy (thanks Mom)! A few cows, but not many. No deer were seen today, though this morning while we were packing up the camper a lady who came walking up the road said that she just saw two fawn, but we didn’t get a glimpse of them.

We stopped by a canal with locks. Not sure just what used the canal, because it could not have been more than 10 feet wide. Maybe a small boat. It was right next to a corn field.

Our route today (for those of you who are following our progress) started in Bainbridge, OH, WEST on 50 to Cincinnati the NUVI took us on a tour through the heart of the city. We came out and headed toward Indianapolis by way of Metamora, Rushville, Arlington, and Morristown. Once through Indianapolis we headed north (can’t remember the route number), then took Route 32 west for a ways, checked for a campground and found one in Colfax. This is a nice place. There are a lot of seasonal campers also at this place. Murtle and I will take a walk tomorrow morning and get some pictures.

As soon as we got here (around 5:30PM) we set everything up and started dinner. Just as we sat in our camp chairs (yes, we have new ones) to wait for dinner to cook, it started to rain, ever so lightly. Then the sun came out, then it rained again, then the sun came out, we decided to go for a walk after we did the dishes, then it rained, then we got back, the sun came out. Guess what? The weather here is like New England!!!! Except tonight on the TV Brad saw Tornado warnings. So I looked up the county that the warnings were for, and all I could find was South Dakota. So I will sleep good tonight. Now, South Dakota is where we are headed for. But we won’t be there for another 3 to 4 days, so I guess we will be fine.

Murtle does not want to see a twister of any sorts! (and neither do we!)