Days 52 to 54 ...word is Obama is in town

Day 52 Thursday August 22, 2013 
... 30 degrees
Go Lion's Go

woke at 6:45 to another beautiful, sunny morning

on the road by 9 am and we are AMAZED at the number of semi trucks 

travelling the US freeways....one after another, after another

 

as we drive east of Buffalo there are many more farms

dad is checking the overpasses and he thinks they are all in need of an overhaul

when we drove through Buffalo there were many road closures and cops everywhere 

word is Obama is in town

tolls so far today are $12.75 and $11.50 

{anonymous scribe thinks we might have it good at home with the tolls}

we leave the state of NY and enter Pennsylvania where the main crop seems to be grapes

this is surprising to us but think where there is grapes there is Vino

then on to Ohio where the gas is the cheapest so far at $3.39 a gallon

of course, diesel is always a bit higher

we were grateful that we managed to manoeuvre through Cleavland with out much trouble

Gertrude is doing better and has been a god send but I always have two back up maps at the ready

as we pass through Toledo there are many more farms and less forests

just west of Toledo we pulled into one of the big travel rest stops along the way

we noticed spots where RVers could stay the night and since it was 5:30 

and starting to rain we decided to stay right here at the West Unity Ohio rest stop

for $20 we got a campsite with power

dinner was hamburgers in the trailer then a look at the map to plan our next few days

we've managed to catch on to the expressway toll booths and I guess the APB they 

have out on us has been cancelled since we've not been arrested yet for the $4.20 we owe

to bed at 9 without knowing how the Lion's did today

Day 53 Friday August 23, 2013 
... getting hotter at 32 degrees

woke at 6am to some cloud but the rain had stopped and it was quite muggy

a little bummed that we have not internet and can't text

on the road by 7:30 and heading towards Chicago

Gertrude and I have think we have chosen a route that will skirt Chicago

hope we are right

as we travel west out of West Unity we drove though many corn fields

some of which the entire field was dead

we reached the Indiana border at 8 am

mostly farms now and the day has turned beautiful with no clouds at all

spent $49.05 on tolls today and have noticed many motorcycle riders not wearing helmets

a good thing today is that we gained an hour passing into Illinois

and Missy is laying down in the truck today more than anytime since we left

with great help from Gertrude we managed to get through greater Chicago without any problems

and have I mentioned semis on the road !!!!!

we have travelled a lot and have not seen anything quite like this

west of Chicago the terrain is quite flat and the main crop seems to be corn

stopped in Peru, Illinois at the Walmart to get supplies

as we continue to travel west we pass into Iowa at 2pm

at Davenport we pass over the might Mississippi River and again, nothing but corn

at about 4:30 we scout out a KOA and get settled for the night in Newton, Iowa

we were able to get on-line briefly to find out that the Lions lost in the last few seconds of the game

last night we had frogs serenading us and tonight it is cicadas

there are thousands of them in the trees above us

spent most of the evening in the air conditioned trailer because it is so hot

dad still trying to send some journal pages to his ghost writer {aka anonymous scribe}

but did not have much luck

I think this is only the second time during our trip that we have had cable at a campsite

so we catch up with CNN then off to bed

Day 54 Saturday August 24, 2013 
... Mt. Rushmore

woke at 7am to a beautiful, sunny day

quick breaky then on the road

set Gertrude for Rapid city South Dakota which is near the Mt. Rushmore Memorial site

having trouble with Gertrude again....she has lost her route info that dad relies on while driving

she will need a re-boot later

along the way we pass the birthplace of John Wayne at De Soto, Iowa

as well we passed through the county of Madison which was the inspiration 

for the Bridges of Madison County novel

interstate 80 is very noisy and bumpy at first with many fields of corn and soy beans

when the wind hits the soy fields it looks like velvet shimmering in the wind

many windmills along the way

once we turn onto highways 680 & 29 there is FAR LESS traffic and very few semis

we cross over into South Dakota at 3pm

there are still a lot of corn fields but also a lot of cattle 

 arrived at our KOA campsite at Mitchell, SD at 5pm and it is a scortcher

we ate dinner and spent the evening in the trailer

again cicadas in the trees all around us

Sharon I know you are reading this so be sure to ZOOM in for a better look

dad sent journal pages to his ghostwriter

eventhough the AC was on when we went to bed it was still very hot and hard to sleep

dad woke in the middle of the night to realize we only had the AC set to fan and not cool

we will try not to do that again

S,G & a very hot and tired M