Saturday, July 17

At 10 PM last night, during the storm, a huge motorhome pulled in next to us. It was an interesting parking configuration which put his A/C and various other auxiliary motor noises right next to our bedroom. It was not the owner’s fault, but louder than any rigs we’ve been next to thus far. The easiest thing for us to do was to move to another spot, which we did. It is much better. We checked out the town about 10 miles away and found most shopping that we needed, including a Best Buy (oh, what a great surprise).I cooked chicken on the grill for dinner…..my first time grilling on the trip, and we had wonderful Iowa sweet corn directly from the field.

Oakwood RV Park, Friday, July 16

We arrived at Oakwood RV Park in Clear Lake, Iowa today and part of the “check in” procedure was to inform us of the shelter in the event of a tornado warning. If we heard a siren, we should make our way to the basement of the little church located in the park. Comforting! We settled in at a very pretty campsite and sat outside to enjoy the lush green view. Our neighbors told us that, according to the news, we could expect a thunderstorm. We retracted our awning and stored the outside chairs just before the sprinkles began. As predicted, the storm came with thunder, lightning and pouring rain that continued for hours. There were no sirens and it was actually pretty exciting! I loved it!

Travelin' West, Thursday, July 15

We were in three states today….left Indiana this morning, drove through Illinois and stopped for the night in Iowa. This is our first experience in a county campground. It is beautiful with all sites well manicured. The registration office told us to drive through, pick out the site we preferred, park and come in and pay our $19.00 for full hook up (electric, water, sewer) at our leisure. Wow! Too bad we are only here for one night. The weather is absolutely perfect. Ivan grilled burgers and we enjoyed sitting outside in the cool air.

La Porte, Indiana, Wednesday, July 14

A 200+ mile drive brought us to La Porte, Indiana today. We have a nice spot in the campground which is bordered by a big soybean field.

I was thrilled to see a brand new John Deere tractor roll in to spray the crops (either fertilizer or bug stuff). It would have only been more fun if I could have finagled a ride!

Day two at the repair station,Tuesday, July 13

We vacated Buddy early this morning so that the maintenance crew could get started. It is such a relief to actually be having the recall taken care of at last. Having a few hours to wait, we started with Ivan’s favorite breakfast spot, McDonald’s. A hair trim for me was next, then the post office, drug store, ACE Hardware (why not?) and Target. The maintenance took longer than expected, but we didn’t mind at all, since this place was so awesome. We couldn’t have asked for better service from everyone here. It is a great facility, immaculate inside and out and they had a popcorn machine in the customer lounge. What more could we want? Anyway, because it was late in the day, the service folks recommended a great Mongolian barbeque restaurant for dinner, and we were invited to stay another night in the parking lot.

Henry Ford Museum, Monday, July 12

We had T-storms most of the night and lots and lots of rain. A small boat would have been nice to paddle next door to see Curt and Yvonne, but we just waded! Fortunately, it remained dry while we prepared to leave for our next stop.

Again we are taking different routes; Ivan and I are headed for a repair station in New Hudson, MI. while Curt and Yvonne are heading for a repair station near Grand Rapids, MI. As it turned out Ivan and I stayed two nights in the “repair stations” parking lot, but arrived early enough on the first day to drive the car to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

The museum is only about 30 miles away. This vast building—12 acres under one roof, is filled with the history of men and women whose vision and courage changed the world around them. There were more original cars, carriages, bicycles, motorcycles, trains, airplanes, engines, furniture, tools (the list goes on) than one can imagine. We sat in a Model T which is disassembled and reassembled everyday by visitors so they can see the ease of assembly.

We saw the original Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, the rocking chair that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in on April 14, 1865, and the limousine that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in on November 22, 1963. This is one of the most beautifully displayed and maintained museums we’ve seen and well worth the visit. Dinner at “Outback”.

Mill Creek Trestle, Sunday, July 11

Ivan and I walked a 2 mile trail today over the 60ft high Mill Creek Trestle built in the Late 1800’s. This is part of the “Rails to Trails” project that has converted many miles of railroad tracks to provide safe access to bicyclists, pedestrians and equestrians. It was a nice walk and much needed exercise. Tonight we have rain, so there will be no sitting around the campfire.