13 September 08 - 18:57
An Ordinary Day
In the early hours of Thursday morning one of our brand new window shades broke. The shade itself didn't break, the double sick tape holding it let go. After much discussion we decided we did not want to backtrack to Winnebago's service facility already. So, we'll keep our eyes open for a place to buy some heavy duty double stick tape and keep moving east.
Or south as the case may be, since our route took us down a stretch of the Great River Road. For those of you who think Iowa is flat, come drive it's borders sometime. We were going up and down many hills along the west bank of the Mississippi River. We were alternately getting huge views across the countryside and and glimpses of the river. Hills make Dave reach for the gear shift and me reach for the munchies to distract my stomach from rollercoaster responses.
There was a very narrow shoulder there where you could not clear the road if you tried to pull over which made me wonder why they bothered until I saw the sign that said "right lane bicycles only". I hope the bicyclists have lots of gears!
Along the way we passed a sand quarry. I've seen lots of rock and gravel quarries but this was my first sand quarry. It looked very much the same as most quarries except for the fineness of the product being taken from the hole in the ground.
US Hwy 52 in this stretch, at least, was a groovy road that hums to you. They have milled it out in preparation for resurfacing it so the tires were singing to us. As sleepy as I was, it sounded like a lullaby to me.
Dubuque was the last town in Iowa before we crossed the river into Illinois. We wanted to stop here for fuel for us and the RV but needed to follow the rather tricky turns of the roads to keep from getting lost. Finally, at the last turn before we crossed the bridge we discovered, if we went straight instead, we could get fuel and be able to find our way back. So, we parked along a curb at the HyVee gas station next to a Burger King. But, when Dave went to open the side door, the step didn't clear the curb. I can get out the cab door OK but getting back in through it is a real challenge. So, I stayed in the RV while Dave fetched food and we ate inside. Then we pulled up to the diesel pump and fed the RV.
Diesel here was $3.99 which is about as cheap as anywhere lately. When we crossed over into Illinois a few minutes later it was $4.24. I'm glad Dave decided to find a pump before leaving Iowa.
So, we followed US Hwy 20 though a bunch of Illinois, doing ridge running along this stretch, which means we had amazing views along both sides of the road.
About 3:30 p.m. I saw a school bus reminding me that today was an ordinary day for most people. Our view of ordinary has changed a lot in the last couple of months.
We were definitely back in farm country. There were tractor crossing signs along the road.
We stopped early for us at Blackhawk Valley Campground in Rockford, Illinois. One we checked in, instead of heading for our campsite, we parked next to the laundry room and did three loads of laundry. It's been nice having choices of clothing again.
We had a nice camp site under the trees right next to the river. Where it rained heavily during the night including raining black walnuts onto our roof. That will wake you up! Time and time again! I'm going to need a nap on Friday.
TTYL,
Linda
one comment
My view of ordinary changed quite a bit when Hurricane Ike came through town! Lost electricity at 23:58 on the 12th and the batteries on my computer and cell phone slowly but surely ran down. Thank goodness the phone company still supports traditional land lines; I got a dial tone!
Robert in Houston () - 15 09 08
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