Day 5 - Iowa City, IA to Doniphan, NE - Repair Day

I woke up early this morning knowing that I had a lot of repairs to complete and a long drive ahead of me. Fortunately, the camper/van repairs went remarkably smoothly! We fixed the rear bumper on the van which involved removing the entire bumper and then smoothed out the dent that was preventing the door from opening. Then we put some electrical tape on the plug of the electrical cord that had tried to jump out the side of the camper during travels the day before. Finally, we put the door back on the tool box which had fallen off the day before. Successes all around!

The last task for the day was to get the laundry done. There were more loads than anticipated and so I got a later start than I had anticipated. However, it did leave time for my dad and I to jump into the canoe for a bit and paddle around the little pond in their backyard. No fish, but still good to get out there and try.

Once ready, the long trek to Denver was underway. I had about 6 hours of driving straight on I-80 to get to the eastern part of Nebraska. Lots of acres of farm and many, many pivot irrigators watering the crops, but not much for scenery. Fortunately, I had some folks to chat with me that helped me get through the miles and I arrived at the Mormon Island State Recreation Area for the night. It was nearly sunset which looked marvelous setting over the lake. I took some time to enjoy being bored and staring into the extremely clear water and watching the fish swim around. It offered the opportunity to see a fairly large bass swim by and scare off the bluegill!




Then as I was walking back to the camper, I found what might possibly be the boat I never knew I wanted until now!



It was transitional day, but a pretty successful one.  On to Colorado tomorrow!

Finished with 1,549 miles, 8 stateTotal miles travelled - 1,549 


# States (Provinces) - 8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 8 - Fort Collins, CO to White River National Forest, CO - Family together again, and the trip goes sideways on us

Image
For those of you keeping score at home, you'll notice that the day didn't end in Medicine Bow as planned.  More on that, but let's just say there was a reason...... The day started out wonderfully, it was a clear, crisp morning and Jackie and I sat on their balcony to visit and stare at the mountains.  I am disappointed in myself for not having made time to visit with Jackie before, but it was amazing to find out all the things she is doing and what a successful academic she has become.  I really enjoyed the visit with her and am grateful for having had the opportunity to get to know her better.  After our visit, we took Pancake for a walk and then it was time to head to Denver to pick up my family.   I had checked in with Amy before they left Raleigh - apparently Terminal 2 at RDU was quite a hit.  They got lunch there which they ordered and then was delivered to a special locker where they could pick it up - fun!   Meanwhile back in Denver, it was my job to pick up food s
Read more

Day 10 - Dinsoaur National Monument, UT to Salt Lake City, UT - The end of the whale

Image
If you’re a negotiator, you know you want to be in a position with limited options and a hard deadline.  Oh wait, that’s the OPPOSITE of what you want to be in.  Regardless, that was the position we found ourselves in this morning. Neither Amy nor I got great sleep last night. Imagine that - embarking on a journey that starts with a potentially smoking engine knowing that you need to come back with a different vehicle.  Isn’t that the thing that dreams are made of?!!! Fortunately, the boys DID get a good night of sleep and we had them prepared for a long day in the car (well, cars really we hope!).  So, we fully emptied the van contents into the camper and started our journey. If you looked at yesterday’s flow chart, you’ll notice that one of HUGE questions of the day was whether or not the van would smoke, or potentially get worse.  So, all of us had our noses on full alert, but thankfully, the smell did not return - at least not strongly.  Amy was driving and Brian was frantically t
Read more

Day 9 - White River National Forest, CO to Dinosaur National Monument, UT - The trip really goes sideways

Image
What a amazing way to start the day.  I had woken up in the middle of the night and had seen the stars and the shadows of the mountain peaks in the distance.  That was breathtaking, but then when Amy woke up, opened the door and said “You need to see this”, the view of the snow-capped, purple mountain across the lake really made the impromptu stop in the National Forest SO worth it.  Just an amazing way to start the day. It turned out that the boys like the camp spot, but for very different reasons.  Robinson discovered that the area was crawling with chipmunk/prairie dog creatures.  While they tried to play “whack-a-mole” with him, he eventually became patient enough to get some great pictures of them as they came out of their dens. Sebastian went down by the lake and started a rock collection of his favorite rocks.  The water there was super clear and rocky - just magnificent to sit and stare at - possibly forever.  However, because of our impromptu stop, we had a long day of driving
Read more