Can You Smell It?

 Our first full day in Dubuque on this trip was almost a washout. Literally! We got up to a full on thunderstorm that lasted until early afternoon. It was time to do a little housekeeping, so we vacuumed and dusted and such. The rain was beating on the roof so hard that we couldn’t hear the vacuum! Midafternoon the storm took off to bother someone else, so we went into West Dubuque for an early dinner.

The Dubuque Mining Company took care of us very nicely!

Donna ordered a “kinda rueben”, which added pastrami to the burger.

And I went with the traditional mushroom version…

Which was a mouthful!

Sunday morning was much the same as Saturday. Heavy rain early.

But then it quit raining, so we jumped into the truck, looking for something different to do. Winding north through farmland, our first destination was the Balltown Overlook. On the way, we had an up close and personal visit with some extraordinarily beautiful farmland.

At the overlook, just a mile or so from the 100 resident hamlet of Balltown, we stopped to take a deep breath. You can smell corn growing!

Thats the Mississippi River in the far distance.

We soon found a part of the Great River Road that we hadn’t seen before, so off we went!

Near Turkey River, we found a sidelight that sounded interesting. Off we went two miles down a well maintained dirt road.

And we found the Cassville Ferry!

This ferry, which runs seven days a week, is the only available river crossing for miles, and has been used off and on for years. Here’s the story:

The journey takes about 20 minutes to cross a narrow channel in the Mississippi, and we had a chance to talk to some fellow travelers who had come north to escape Floridas summer heat.

Our landing was at a city park in Cassville, Wisconsin. We stopped for a look around.

Cassville is a cute little town with several restaurants and, inevitably, a dozen bars! We were getting hungry, but decided to head back south on the Wisconsin Great River Road, eventually crossing Ole Miss back into Dubuque.

We couldn’t wait any longer to eat, so…

Catfish Charlies restaurant is right on the river, and serves a spectacular variety of dishes, from ribeye steaks to oysters. Donna enjoyed a seafood platter and said it was great. 

N’awlins style Jambalaya was more to my liking, and yes, it was wonderful!

Just about half of those dishes came home with us, so we’ll have some good eats at out next stop tomorrow!

Deja Vu....All Over Again….

 Two hundred miles across Iowa taught us that corn and soybeans can indeed be grown in adjacent fields but the rows of corn are much neater.

Heading east on Interstate 80 toward Davenport, we had to make a stop at The Worlds Largest Truck Stop, the Iowa 80. This facility has anything a truck driver could want: fuel, tires, truck service, a place to rest, a dentist, a chiropractor, restaurants…..you get the picture, even a museum with a huge collection of antique trucks! We dropped in to the vast truck parking area to have lunch and walk Sasha.

I 80 led us into the northern outskirts of the Quad Cities, Davenport, Moline, Bettendorf and Rock Island. From there we turned onto US 61 north and found ourselves in Swiss Valley County Park, just a few miles from Dubuque, Iowa, the city on the Mississippi most famous for its meat processing history. Swiss Valley is an attractive park, both in terms of green lawns for games, to nicely spaced camping sites, to an ice cream truck that cruises through the campground, softly playing that famous melody, dit, dot, dit,dot, dot, dit, dit. We arrived early, to a sparsely populated campground and didn’t realize that it’s a weekend. By 6 pm the campground was full and the sounds of laughing and screaming children was everywhere! 

While it’s great to see families enjoying themselves, the “witching hour” of 9:30 pm arrived, all the young ones went to the evil side and then fell asleep! Good to hear!

Weather prediction is for rain tomorrow, so we’re see what we can do. Cleaning the trailer and doing laundry are on the list, so maybe…..

Middle America!

 The overnight stop at Loves truck stop in Cameron Missouri was ok, but we had to make a mad dash out of there this morning. Neither Donna or I got much sleep last night, what for worrying about a granddaughter that’s about to have a baby, and trying to soothe Sasha during a horrible storm. Sasha hates thunder and could not leave us alone for needing constant reassurance. We woke early this morning to news of another major thunderstorm, so we scrambled and got out of town, crossing into Iowa and outrunning the storm.

The countryside is dominated by by endless acres of corn and soybeans! It’s incredible!

As we cruised through Altoona, on the north side of Des Moines, we spotted a sign for one of our favorite restaurants! We’ve eaten here several times over the last few years, and it’s always been wonderful!

I 35 makes a slight jog in Des Moines before continuing north. We were supposed to bail off east on Interstate 80, but somehow missed that bit of information and stayed on 35.

The signs were perfectly clear, but I’ll blame it all on the gps app! So, another 15 miles north and then south, got us back on I 80, east.

A little town named Kellogg appeared on the horizon, with an rv park called…..Kellogg RV Park….we turned in. This little park is immaculately maintained, and claims a diner that has “the best burgers in Iowa.” Well, maybe…

The park itself is very well kept and is in the middle of a soybean field. Next year corn, they tell me.

Off in the distance a traditional farmhouse surveys the fields.

This is another overnight stay for us, with a short driving day tomorrow. Hopefully it’s a good nights rest!

Get the Dyrt Outta….Wichita

 The couple of days spent in Wichita were humbling….boring….frustrating, and we’re glad to be gone. There must be hundreds of places to visit while in the city, and more hundreds of restaurants and bars to sample, but we were unable to find them! We usually gravitate to Old Town since that area is renovated with good walking/shopping/eating, but in Wichita we couldn’t find a place to park King James downtown without walking a fair distance, a situation that wasn’t a good option considering that two old people don’t like hot weather!

We left Air Capital RV with a never before experienced destination in mind! 254 miles north on interstates 135, 35, 335, 70, 635, 29, and then back to 35 brought us to our destination: Loves truck stop in Cameron Missouri! 

Kansas is beautiful this year, rain has been plentiful and the corn is growing! The I35 corridor took us through cornfields, range land, and woodlots. Quite a variety!

Aside from filling up with discounted fuel, this Loves location offers a few rv overnight parking spots, with full utility hookups. 

Nothing fancy, mind you, but clean, concrete to park on, and a large grass dog park for Sasha! It’s just an overnighter so we haven’t disconnected the truck from the trailer and expect to leave reasonably early tomorrow morning. As we sit here, looking out the window, we’re having great fun commenting on the various cars, trucks, and rvs that are rolling through!

Simple minds….

Uh, Oh

 Our plan to check out the aircraft industry in Wichita was foiled today. Both Beechcraft and Cessna, and other aircraft manufacturers, are owned by Textron Aviation, which is headquartered in Wichita. Unfortunately, public access and tours is restricted, other than a gift shop, so we had to go to Plan B.

Most of the places to visit in this fair city are outdoors and so not so attractive on  90 degree, 55% humidity day! We opted for a shopping trip to a local mall.

Town East Mall is anchored by JC Penny, Scheels, Dillards, and Von Maur, an upscale department store. Dillards, of course, has a tremendous selection of clothing and accessories, and Scheels has a bit of everything from kids toys to kayaks! JC Penny continues to have a great selection of clothing and housewares. The mall is home to over a hundred shops, and I think we checked on them all! The second floor shops just about did us in, so a little time on a comfortable bench was called for. Then downstairs!

Three hours later, we slid back outside, into the heat, and hit the road. On the way back to the rv, we stopped at a Starbucks (yeah, I know) to have a recommended drink, a Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino. Now, most of you know about this non-menu item, but we experienced it for the first time. A concoction of drizzled caramel, crunchy butter brickle, and a frothy espresso base with whipped cream on top. Decadent. And very sweet!

Beechcraft and Cessna!

 Durant, Oklahoma, and the Choctaw Casino Resort, were extraordinarily nice, and very much appreciated, but it’s time to move on. Three hundred miles north on Interstate 35 we have found ourselves in Wichita, Kansas. We’re staying at an rv park named Air Capital RV a mile or so off of I35. I wondered about the name, and soon discovered why.

Our route today took us across Lake Texoma and then on to the infamous cities of Norman and Moore, Oklahoma (no signs of tornadoes, thank you very much), and on into Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City was a breeze to navigate through.

Oke City is understandably a large, busy city, but I’ve got to say it was cake to drive through. Nice!

Just inside the Kansas border, I 35 becomes a toll road, the Kansas Turnpike. Immediately, the road conditions improved immensely, and we were happy to pay the toll. On our last trip through here, toll booths slowed traffic at entrances and exit. That has been automated now, and camera systems track road usage. No muss, no fuss!

Our site at Air Capital RV is a nice end site with a patch of grass for Sasha. We plan to stay for a day or two so we can find out more about the aircraft manufacturers Beechcraft and Cessna, who have a large presence in the area. Wichita was the location of a huge aircraft manufacturers during World War Two, and the flying fascination has been held over. We’ll see.

Sadly, The Stars Didn’t Align

 Our last day in Durant was a mixed bag for a number of reasons. We got up to warm, humid weather, with a clear sky and 15 mph wind. Not insufferable, but not pleasant either. Dew point of 74 degrees. We set up the emergency generator start so that the air conditioners would keep Sasha cool if the power went off, and took refuge in the Choctaw Resort Casino.

The resort is a huge. There are seven casinos in the Choctaw Nation, but the original location in Durant has 218,844 sq ft of gaming floor, over 7,600 slot machines, and 1,616 hotel rooms. The resort has three casinos and three hotels within the complex. The South Casino was completed in 2006 with 108,844 sq ft of floor space, and the North Casino was completed in 2010 with 110,000 sq ft more floor space. Choctaw Inn has 101 hotel rooms, the Grand Tower has 204,000 sq ft of floor space, 330 rooms and suites, and is 12 floors tall. The Spa Tower was opened in 2015 as another expansion for the resort adding 286 rooms and suites. The latest Sky Tower adds 1,000 hotel rooms and suites to the property and is part of the latest expansion opened in 2021. The $860 million resort is the flagship of the Choctaw Nation gaming enterprise.

Our interest was in the South Tower, where the non smoking gaming is located. We were surprised that the casino wasn’t packed with people on a Saturday, but it wasn’t, and we were able to wander comfortably, looking for the perfect, smiling, and welcoming slot machine! I can only say that I contributed all of my resources to funding Choctaw business interests, while Donna nearly doubled her money at one point, but walked out with exactly the same amount as when she went in! We’ll count that as a win!

We were able to enjoy a few hours of cool air and bright lights, along with a nice chicken dinner. I wish I could say “winner, winner” but it’s only “winner.” That the way it goes….

The clouds began to build and we soon got some rain. The wind has been gusting to 50 mph this afternoon, so we were forced to stay inside the trailer this evening.

Weather radar shows a line of storms tickling us most of the night.

We will leave Durant in the morning, Lord willing, with a memory of last nights sunset.

This has been a good stop!