July 15th & 16th Two bum numbing days of towing

Two long days in transit to South Dakota are behind us now and boy are our bums sore from sitting in the TV (tow vehicle for you non Airstreamers). We left Jackson Center and the Airstream factory before 8:00am on July 15th and pushed into Indiana where we encountered some of the worst roads we've ever driven on. Route 70 is grooved concrete with expansion joints every 10 or so feet so our TV and rig bounced to the loud whine of the tires as they passed over the grooves. When we stopped for fuel (our first stop of the trip because of our extended fuel tank with automatic fuel transfer - we carry 101 gallons of diesel on board between the two tanks in our truck) we checked to see how things were riding in the trailer and found one of the mattresses halfway off it's bed, the microwave door unlatched and open, cabinet doors open and their contents spread all over the floor of the camper. What a mess! Also Indiana didn't seem as pretty as Ohio because we took the highway route to increase the miles we could cover each day. We'll need to put it on our list of states to visit in the future, maybe in a few years the roads will be better! Anyway, we continued our travels into Illinois with the hope of visiting the Caterpillar factory in East Peoria. We stopped at the Illinois Welcome Center when we entered the state to inquire about tour times and were told that the Cat factory was shut down for scheduled vacation time and the tours were not running. You should have seen Leon's face, you would have thought someone told him Christmas was canceled this year. As we approached East Peoria Leon pointed out the Cat factory and we both noticed it seemed pretty active for being on holiday. It's parking lots were filled with cars and we could see equipment being moved around on the property. We didn't stop because we didn't have any details about the tours (Leon looked wicked grumpy). As time went on we made the decision to find overnight parking somewhere around Davenport, Iowa. So as Leon drove I used my mobile phone broadband access to search for spots using www.parkfreeovernight.com and www.freecampgrounds.com and found a Walmart Super Center, a Flying J and a Welcome Center as options. Well, we checked out Walmart and received permission from the assistant manager to stay overnight but Leon wasn't loving the lot as we could not find a level enough spot. So we moved on to the Flying J which I did not love because our TV and rig were a bit too big for the RV slots they provided, meaning the nose of our truck would be sticking into the driveway where the big rigs enter the rest stop. We moved on to the Welcome Center and finally found a slot that was acceptable to both of us. We parked, made up some dinner and then retired for the evening because we wanted to be on the road about 7:00am.

July 16th we pulled out of the Welcome Center at 6:30am after both having had a crappy night's sleep due to the number of big rigs that came in and out of the rest area overnight. We decided to shoot up to Minnesota to catch Route 90 which would bring us into South Dakota. Frankly, as pretty as the farms and fields are we were growing weary of them and were hoping for a change of scenery though it was not to be, it's amazing how much corn and soy beans are being grown here in America's heartland. As we were traveling on Route 380 in Iowa heading north towards the border I spied a faded, peeling sign that proclaimed the worlds largest frying pan attraction was just at the next exit. I was tempted, but I didn't give Leon enough warning so we could not pull off the highway safely. Oh well, I'm sure it's better in my mind than in person. But I'll tell you I cannot get the little ditty from the movie "Michael" out of my head after seeing that sign; The lead actress singing "I was sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere" which was after they got a flat caused by the angel Michael because he wanted to see the darn worlds largest frying pan. As we approached the border with Minnesota we passed through an amazing wind farm which was located on both sides of the highway. There must have been 100 wind turbines spinning in the breeze! Very impressive and beautiful. After we entered Minnesota we decided to have our lunch stop at the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth. What a hoot! The well kept park is behind a rundown and defunct gas station but the giant did seem to mind. After lunch we traveled another easy, pleasant 3 1/2 hours to Mitchell, SD for overnight parking at Cabelas.