One month already?

Exactly 4 weeks ago today we headed out in the RV, our new home! Its seems impossible that much time has gone by. We have spent the last few days traveling, staying in a different state each night, heading toward South Dakota from Tennessee.

Relaxing with the slides in

reading free mags from the campsite library! haha

 During these short stays, we have not been unhitching the car, or putting out the slides, so we are able to get an early start to the day's travel. We are just hooking up water and electric, and sometimes just electric. It has been quite cozy...really! It works for us!

Our travel path this week took us through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa (and a timezone change). If I am not careful, soon I won't know what day of the week it is, what the date is, where we are or what time it is.

We've traveled through Kentucky:

Kentucky horses

Kentucky farm

easing on down the road

Indiana:

lots of farms and fields

the walls are closing in (j/k)

view from campsite in Indiana- nice and peaceful, huh?

We are in the Heartland now

Detour from 74 through backroads of Indiana (yikes-this is not an interstate!)

You never know where the road will lead

oncoming traffic

Center of town

detoured back to 74! Yeah!

Back on the interstate and into Illinois:

truckload of cute pigs (hopefully going to another farm?)

we are in the farmbelt

Windfarm

country road to the campground

It is so much nicer traveling early in the morning....then breezing in to a campground around 1-2. We then have the whole afternoon to relax....or do laundry, or make reservations somewhere, or make RV service reservations based on where we will be in 2 weeks. Those routine things that were mindless, now require some investigating and lots of planning. No more just calling the car dealer (in this case, the RV service center) and not really having it matter when they can fit me in. We pretty much need to know where we will be in 2 weeks when they have an opening, or just schedule maintenance way ahead of time. Its kind of like doing a jigsaw puzzle-with some patience it will all fit together. Its all new to us!

Illinois:

still passing mostly farmland on the interstates

more

more

 The Mighty Mississippi

crossing the Mississippi River

there it is now

Tom is not driving "SWIFT"ly, but the passing truck is

Iowa:

Iowa state line

view of us from the rest stop

Come on Susie...

 Right after this rest stop, we stopped for gas. Its always a little dicey since for this huge vehicle to fit, the gas pump islands should be facing horizontal to the road for us to get in, not vertical into the building. If the gas pump islands are vertical and the vehicles face the buildings as they are getting gas, we usually don't stop. It is a very tight fit and usually impossible for us, depending how many cars are parked and where they are parked. Tom is getting really good at this however! Today he managed to get gas at a vertical pump island, the very first time we could fit into one! I should have taken a picture, but I was just a tad nervous.

Back on the Interstate in Iowa: with rough weather expected later in the day

off and on rain and lightning

View of the campground from the road. Its so cool. Its Kellogg RV, which is located behind their gas station and the best burgers in Iowa! At least, that is how it is advertised. The whole complex is family owned. We are surrounded by fields, except for Rt. 80, which is right there. Its not like Rt 80 in Jersey though, that's for sure.

 a really cool campground!

You can get gas, pay for your campsite, and eat lunch all in one place!

we were ready for this meal!

it lives up to its name..."Iowa's best"

The campground is great for an overnight, like what we are doing. When we got here at lunchtime, there were hardly any other campers. I like our site...right next to a solid building (laundry room) which we can access quickly in case of really rough weather. Tom is laughing at me, but I have the emergency plan worked out!

Note the laundry room right near our camper

My workstation and the view, as I write this blog.

I am on  tornado alert...seriously, severe storms are expected in the area (hail, severe thunderstorms, possible tornados) late this afternoon and overnight. Its pretty windy now, and we are rocking. Tomorrow, when the weather is expected to be better, we travel to another location in Iowa, where we will park it for several days. Our pace will really begin to slow now, and we will be spending considerably longer time in each location. That's the plan! We are looking forward to relaxing a little bit.

Every day we look at each other and say how lucky we are to be able to "live our dream". I know this is not for everyone, but we are enjoying (almost) every minute, with very few exceptions (i.e stitches in Tom's head).