Day 36 Epilogue
As the rains began to pound the earth, we decided it was time to tackle the last leg of our trip - arriving home.
This day was a day of travel, trying to outrun the rain to arrive home dry. Emotions are up, down and all around the spectrum - sad to be ending the trip, excited to see the changes at home since we left and wondering when our next long adventure will be.
Today became new views of home and settling back in to the routine of life that is defined as home.
Day #35
Today had a few adventures. The first was the Ark Encounter, which opens on Sunday from 1:00 - 7:00 p.m. People were already in line when we arrived in the parking lot at 12 noon. The buses were already making their runs from the entrance to the encounter, so we got in line. The park was almost empty which made it great for taking pictures. As you can tell, rarely were people in the pictures. This was our first time at the Ark Encounter and the 40 days and nights of concerts sealed the deal. Especially when Doug found out that The Hoppers were headline of the concert, opening with Sherry Anne and Riley Harrison Clark.
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We did not visit the Ararat Ridge Zoo, petting zoo, kangaroo walkabout, playground or Truth Traveler Virtual Reality Experience.
My guess is that if you wanted to see each display, it would 45 minutes to an hour on each deck, with deck #2 & #3 taking longer because the increase in displays.
Kids would enjoy the playground, zoo and petting zoo and the Ark - kids will want to rush through the Ark as the lengthy plaques that explain the displays are not as interesting as the cages with animals.
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| Animals were shown in cages |
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| I shot pictures through the bars. |
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| The animal cage on bottom, touring you must look everywhere or miss something |
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| Looking up from 1st deck |
Ground level is the entrance with a gift and snack shop on the other end.
Deck #1 begins with the animals in cages and talks about types of animal, birds, insects and reptiles taken on the ark. The processes of storage, watering, feeding and disposing of waste displays. A 1:48 scale model of the ark is housed on this level. The explanation about moths and reptiles was very interesting. The walk through of the small animals in cages was accompanied with sounds of the animals. Displays on the building of the Ark of the Bible and the Ark Encounter.
Deck #2 began with the pre-flood world, more animal cages, animal care, kids spooky animal encounters and who was Noah displays, along with the "Noah Interview Theater"
Deck #3 held displays of the living quarters for Noah and his family on the Ark. Where food was prepared and stored for almost the year they were on the Ark. Things that made you rethink those 40 days and nights of Noah's Bible Story as a child - food storage, repair of animal cages and storage containers, medicine for the family and animals, building fires on the Ark for food preparation and blacksmithing. More interesting things on the 3rd deck is displays on Flood geology, ice age, Babel, Ancient Man, Flood legends, Rainbow covenant and Doors of the Bible.
Before we left the park, we were already planning to come back and really spend time there.
Our second adventure today was driving back to the camper from Dry Ridge where we ate supper and filled up with gas. We plugged in the campground on the truck GPS which took us on a ride-about that was probably 8 miles out into the country on a one lane paved road! At first we thought that we were on someone's driveway. Sometimes driving over the hills, we could not see where the road was going. If we met a car, one of us had to stop for the other to pass, there were not turn outs for pulling over. We did see a deer crossing this road, in one of the wooded areas. Check out the video at the end of blog.
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Day #34
Transition day from Goodfield, Il. to Georgetown, KY. traveling down 74 to 75 with a detour due to a minor accident. My couple of hours at the wheel was like déjà vu, construction for 15-20 miles through Indianapolis. The interesting part - only the first 3-4 miles was actually being worked on, the rest was just block off down to one lane!
Illinois to Indiana to Ohio
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Stopping in Harrison, Ohio we enjoyed Freddy's steakburger and frozen custard.
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| Lunch at Freddy's! |
Then crossing over the Ohio River gaining pavement closer to home.
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| Bridge crossing the Ohio River |
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| Ohio River |
Whispering Hills RV Park is a big improvement over where we were. The last place looks like it had been one of those parks named after an animal, that in it's prime, it was the best park around - over 300+ sites, huge playground with swings, jumping pillow, tires to climb on, fishing pond, swimming pool, laundry and bathhouse. The pool was still nice with no posted hours; no quiet hours - the golf cart parade with whooping started about 11 p.m. We would not even do our laundry and our shower was a dip in the pool!
Whispering Hills RV Park is closely patrolled. All campers must have an escort to their site. Doug was stopped because he had to circle a second time to park for us to get our slide out. Clean laundry, showers and pool. playground, jumping pillow under a shelter and a fishing pond!
The sad part of the park is that the pool closes at 8:00 p.m. Closing a pool at 8p is just indecent, the best time to swim is when all the kids are at their campsites, the sun is setting, the heat of the day is waning and the heat of the water warms the soul!
Sandwich supper while doing our piled up laundry, then a nice hot shower!
It is sad for our trip to be coming to an end, but OH the JOY and anticipation of being home!
Day #33
Up and on the road to Eureka, Illinois, home of Eureka College. The Ronald Reagan Museum is located on their campus. President Reagan was born in Illinois and went to college at Eureka from 1928 - 1932, graduating with bachelor's degree in economics and sociology.
Here are a few quotes of Reagan:
- If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
- Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
- Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Wherever we had gone, it has been the same conversation that we had with our waitress today for lunch
"Where y'all from?"
"North Carolina. How could you tell?" (laughing)
"Well, you ask about vegetables, you ordered okra and your accent!"
That southern accent gave us away every time.
A hometown, blue-plate special diner with great food and friendly people at the Cornerstone Family Restaurant on Hwy 24, Eureka, Il. Broasted chicken, pressure fried (tender; non-greasy) and homemade Texas Sheet Cake ever!
This afternoon was spent at the pool enjoying the semi-warm water, sun, reading and cowboy caviar with chips. Just relaxing before a long driving day tomorrow!
I had to update this post because of my cooking! I was able to slightly brown toast in the camper gas oven!
Day #32
The morning dawned cool, breezy with the sun peeking through the
clouds.
We got on the road about 8:10 a.m. this morning which is
about an hour earlier than our normal hitting-the-road time. We are facing a 6-hour
drive that translates into 7 or more hours on the road when factoring in gas
stops, lunch stops and walking stops.
Passing into Iowa, we got off in Mason City for gas and
rolls of quarters. Rolls of quarters mean that it will be laundry day. Hopefully
this will be our last laundry day on the trip.
Today we are riding Hwy 18 (US 18; S17) east toward Goodfield,
Illinois to camp for the night. Above the highway sign for South 27 is a blue
sign – “Avenue of the Saints”, it must be because for the past 10+ miles it has
be on the straight and narrow!
Fields, no acres, acres and acres of corn flank both sides
of the four-lane along with windmill fields!
Twenty – thirty windmills turning out energy.
It is 10:00 a.m. with overcast skies and a cool 73 degrees.
Passing cornfields near Plainfield, some of the corn stalks
were laying flat as if a strong wind had blown through a swath of the field
leaving the rest of the corn stalks standing. This went on for several miles.
Waterloo, Iowa –home of the Sullivan Brothers. This
article in the Navy
Times in 2019, explains how this changed Navy regulations.
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| Brian look it's Cargill |
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| Civilization |
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| Back lot parking |
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| Gorgeous Sky |
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| Approaching the Mississippi River |
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| Looking more like the Mississippi |
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| Wonder who parked that crooked camper! |
Timberline campground is a huge campground. It is a tired-looking Jellystone.
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Day #31
Doug was up early and on the golf course as evidence by these sunrise pictures.
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| Doug's pictures of the morning sunrise |
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| Golf Course |
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| More golf course |
I spent the morning cooking spaghetti and posting blogs to get caught up from not having internet. The writing was there, it was the resizing and uploading the pictures that took so much time on limited internet.
Doug and I enjoyed a swim in the Olympic size, cold water pool. A five-year boy and his grandfather came to swim, but the boy spent more time checking the six pool drains for "toads" to catch than he was interested in swimming.
We had several air TV stations, so we could watch the national news, Public TV, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Jeopardy, Tales of Wells Fargo, Rawhide and Laramie. This was a big change from further north.
Cowboy caviar appetizer, spaghetti, salad and garlic toast for supper. Leisurely reading and PBS history channel for the evening.
Day #30
I had forgotten to take pictures of the campground at Blueberry Hills, so I snapped these on our way out of the campground. The property included the Blueberry Bowl (bowling, lounge, and dining), Blueberry Hills Golf Course (a nine hole golf course) and Blueberry Hills Campground.
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| Blueberry Bowl |
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| Welcome sign |
Leaving Blueberry Hills Golf Course and campground, we are heading toward Albert Lea to Hickory Hills campground in Twin Lakes.
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We stopped in Crosby at their city park for a walk break and found the best playground I have seen. It was called the Tot Lot for kids two – five. On the lake was a dragon.
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| Tot Lot |
Skirting past St. Cloud, Minnesota we had lunch in the suburbs at a Perkins Restaurant. Doug had loaded potato soup with half BLT. I had the most tender, flavorless porkchops. They were supposed to be grilled with garlic seasoning, but I couldn’t taste garlic!
As you can tell the Mississippi has widened a bit since leaving Lake Itasca.
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Because of fire restrictions, we have had one campfire in Michigamme.
The fire restrictions continue here.
We enjoyed a quiet evening, what was left of it.
Day #29
First day of school for Ella, Kate and Abby! Learning and
growing. It is such a joy to what them as they experience God’s world in new
and different ways. Each of them may have the same experience, yet each will
come away with a different perspective and learning experience.
As we headed out to the truck, the wind was brisk at 18 mph
and 61 degrees with overcast skies. The weather app said it felt like 57
degrees.
Driving out of Warroad, we headed to Thief River Falls along
miles and miles of fields on both sides of the road.
Doug and I were discussing how disappointed I was in the
Waters of the Dancing Sky Scenic Byway. Miles of straight roads, I mean
miles with fields of corn for silage, what we think is winter wheat and
bales/rolls of hay and farms with houses and silos. Nothing else. I expected
places like hiking trails or road side stops about historical markers. Nothing.
Just wide-open fields. Within 45 minutes we were stopping along the site of the
road for Doug to recalculated our drive to Grylga. Once in Grylga we calculated
to Red Lake, a town on the Red Lake Indian reservation toward the head waters
of the Mississippi River.
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As we entered the Itasca State Park, where the head waters of the Mississippi River was located, I remember that there was a webcam at the headwaters. I had discovered it while researching our trip. I didn't know if anyone was available to view it, but I sent out a quick text to the kids for those who might be.
A pleasant walk to and from the headwaters and I encouraged Doug to wade. I think a couple people were able to view us on the webcam. Doug & I pulled it up and were able to view ourselves on the cam.
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| Wading at the Mississippi Headwaters. |
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| The pool below where Doug is standing, flowing out of Lake Itasca |
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| Mississippi river below the headwaters |
The area had three historical markers: one telling of the geology history of the area; second telling the history of the first colony of the Northwest Territory and the last how far it flows to the Gulf of Mexico.
Heading back to the campground on Sunday evening, we discovered that restaurants were few, far between and closed! French toast and sausage at the camper was followed with a quiet evening.
Day #28
Sunday morning dawned with clear skies, 48 degrees and cozy
warm rays of sun. We packed, got on the road and soon discovered that one bar
of cell service would not allow us to watch Grace CC services on Facebook. So
gospel music via Sirus XM would be our worship this morning and we would watch
service tonight on Wi-Fi.
We are heading north to International Falls and hopefully
the Waters of the Dancing Sky Scenic Byway. I would love to see the aurora
borealis tonight. The most northern part of Minnesota is supposed to be able to
see the northern lights.
I’m writing today’s blog as we head out, maybe I can get
caught up soon and be able to do this every day! The lack of internet service
early in the trip for a week or longer put me way behind. I continued to write
daily blogs, but uploading the pictures is lengthy process.
Traveling in the Chippewa National Forest, Minnesota is not
called “Land of a ten thousand Lakes” for nothing – cattails line the road on both
sides, lakes appear every few miles. In this part of northern Minnesota there
are more stands of Aspen than pines and hardwoods. The aspens are yellowing
now, making us think Fall will be arriving anytime now to this part of the
country. We found out the brush that lines the roads in bogy areas – quaking aspen
as a bush.
There is not a shoulder to the road that I would trust. One wheel off would slide into the marshy areas of the landscape. As Doug says, “One step and you are knee deep in mud.”
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| Canadian Border in International Falls, Minnesota |
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| Paul Bunyan |
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| Only Moose we encounter on the trip. |
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| Huge Wolf |
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| Moonshine jugs flown out during prohibition |
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| Canadian shore across the Rainy River |
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| Canadian Shore |
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| Willie Walleye of Baudete, Minnesota |
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| Loman City Park Pit Toilet resident! |
A Being built in 1944 by "Erickson Brothers" to a depth of 200 feet with a three inch casing. In the 1950's, the Flowing Well was tested and was providing 16 gallons of water per minute.
As with all the parks in Minnesota, a vault toilet was installed in the park. I went over to the toilet and meet up the resident garter snake. I left his residence to him.
Doug is enjoyed golf on cable TV and now the movie – Ford vs Ferrari at the Hampton Inn!
Supper was from a Lao and Thai restaurant, who assured us
that it was not spicy unless it was requested. Even Doug commented on how
spicy his beef Pad Thai was after he had requested only a “little spice”. I
ask for “no hot” on my chicken Pad Thai. Red pepper flakes were abundant.
The rain started while picking up supper, along with the lightening and thunder - crashing any hopes of the Aurora Borealis.
