A Great 47th Anniversary

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018

Today was our 47th anniversary, and I say a day which starts with a hot shower and includes a stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop just HAS to be great! And that describes our day.

We started the morning in our beautiful park--after rain during the night, the temperature was down in the low 70s and the humidity was all gone. The park's shower house actually had HOT water.  And I was thrilled, because Joe gave me a beautiful bracelet--he bought it in the gift shop at the Elephant Museum in Lincoln a couple of days ago, and surprised me! So we started the day feeling just great.

We knew we were basically "just driving" today, but a look at the map showed us that we were going to go right past the Amana Colonies, which we had visited back in 2007. We bought a really cute lawn thingie which we still love. So we decided to stop there and go back to the same shop. We drove about 45 minutes to Amana, then parked and walked to the shop--which was exactly where I remembered it, even after 11 years! And we bought another lawn thingie this time too.

Then we had some lunch and got back on the road again. As I drove, I saw a billboard which reminded me that we were going to pass the World's Largest Truck Stop, the I-80 Truck Stop at exit 284 in Iowa. It was about 4pm when we got there, and of course we had to stop. We were not in the mood for the truck museum adjacent to the truck stop, but we loved the enormous building with its vintage filling station just outside the door, and it's unashamed celebration of the truck driving life.

The I-80 Truck Stop has been described as "Disneyland for truckers." It has all the things a regular truck stop has, but much more of it-- food (8 restaurants), souvenirs, gifts, CDs, DVDs, and books on tape, etc. It also has a huge department for aftermarket upgrades on everything from horns to lights to hubcaps and tire nut covers. There is also a chiropractor, a dentist, a laundromat, a barber, a movie theater, and a library, as well as the usual TV lounge, showers, and of course restrooms. Outside there's a truck wash and a dog wash too . 

Joe found windshield wipers, which we still needed to replace, and we both had something to drink before we went back to our RV (we did not wash the dog!) And after that, it was back to driving. Soon after that stop, we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and overlook just on the Illinois side, but it was closed "indefinitely", the sign said. So we used our wifi and apps, and determined that about an hour down the road was a likely-sounding campground.

And that is where we are tonight-- at Condit's Ranch. It appears to be a multi-purpose kind of place-- it is HUGE, and has a lot of "seasonal" RVs parked here, as well as people like us passing through. There seem to be several houses on the property, and I suspect that these barns near us are not unique. We are adjacent to a cornfield which is also owned by the same people (and the corn, by the way, is taller than Joe and I! There is a LOT of corn being grown in this country, that is for SURE.)  The grounds are very spread out, though, so it seems quite uncrowded, and the trees make it seem like a gigantic park. Definitely a good choice for a stopover for tonight.

And that was our day!