We got an early start with the goal of getting past Chicago by lunchtime. We made that goal even with a doggy stop to the west of O’Hare.
After lunch we pushed on east and stopped for groceries near Elkhart, IN.
We re-entered the EDT zone before Elkhart.
We arrived at Harbor Cove RV resort, the same campground where we stayed two weeks ago.
We hope to make Akron, OH, tomorrow before our final leg home.
Left Wisconsin Dells and headed south on I-90 towards Madison. Stopped for a doggy break and for lunch. We stopped again at a Pet Smart in Madison for supplies. Marla stated that the area we were in did not look familiar even though we were near The Univ. of Wisconsin, where she went to graduate school.
Got back on I-90 and headed for Illinois. We reached a campground just across the state line in South Beloit, IL. We plan to go around Chicago and then into Indiana tomorrow.
Today, we took a break from traveling at a campground in Wisconsin Dells. We needed to relax and do some housekeeping before making the last few legs of our trip.
When we arrived yesterday afternoon, the campground was nearly filled with campers and their families. By this afternoon, we remain as one of about half a dozen occupied sites. I suspect we will have no problem finding open sites for the rest of the trip. I spoke with the manager and she said some of the local schools start this week.
Wisconsin Dells reminded me of Branson, MO, but it’s very family oriented. There are boat rides along The Wisconsin River, several amusement parks, theatres and restaurants.
We ordered pizza delivery and this is how it was delivered:
Marla liked this.
This morning was the first real steady rain during our trip. It was also much cooler. Today was the first of our journey where I didn’t feel like I was marinating in my own sweat at the end of the day.
We left the campground near Rochester and drove towards town. Marla wanted to see The Mayo Clinic. It isn’t hard to find since it consists of many large buildings at the center of town. The main hospital is less than a mile to the west.
The second causality of the trip are the built in backup cameras. The problem seems to be a loose connection. This morning they totally ceased to function. That should be a warranty repair. I’ll get by on pull through sites and the mirrors.
We continued east on I-90 into Wisconsin. The plains abruptly ended with the bluffs to the west of The Mississippi River. We crossed the river to the north of La Cross. The vegetation and geology changed. There are more trees and topography in this part of the country than in southern Minnesota.
We are spending two nights in The Wisconsin Dells.
Left Pipestone, MN and headed east to Rochester, MN.
We stopped for lunch in Worthington, MN.
Along the way we passed a Hormel plant in Austin, MN. Hormel is the maker of Spam.
We traveled through many large wind farms.
One of the rest areas along I-90 had an enclosed dog park. Our pups really enjoyed the opportunity to run around. There should be more rest areas like this.
We arrived safely at our campsite outside of Rochester, MN.
Tomorrow, we plan to make it into Wisconsin.
It had rained during the night and was sprinkling this morning.
We left the KOA in North Sioux City, SD, and headed north on I-29. We made a doggy stop just down the highway for a doggy break. The speed limit is 80! At Sioux Falls, SD, we headed east on I-90 for a few miles into Minnesota. Both Marla and I added another state to the list of those we have visited.
We then headed north to Pipestone, MN, made another doggy stop, and had lunch at a Casey’s General Store. Afterwards, we visited Pipestone National Monument.
This is The Oracle, a rock formation at the monument. Do you see a human head?
The monument site also has a tract of undisturbed tall grass prairie albeit with 70 non-native species of plants.
We camped for the night at a campground just outside the boundaries of the monument.
It grew more cloudy as the day wore on and there’s a chance of scattered thunderstorms tonight. We plan to push eastward toward Wisconsin tomorrow.
Trixie ran out of TP this morning.
Packed up, fueled up and left Nebraska City. We then headed east, back into Iowa, and then turned northward onto I-29.
We stopped at Camping World in Council Bluffs, IA, to replace the GPS tablet that I damaged. It had fallen to the floor once too many times, cracking the touchscreen.
Then, we did some shopping at a mall in Council Bluffs, as well as got lunch.
We got back onto I-29 North and made it to North Sioux City, South Dakota. We settled into a site at a KOA. This is Marla’s first visit to South Dakota and my second.
Tomorrow, we will journey to Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota. This will be our first visit to Minnesota.
Here is a link to all of the eclipse images that were shared by amateur astronomers at our site near Henderson, NE.
It was an awesome, memorable event. Maybe we’ll meet again in 2024.
My Tillie alarm clock went off at 6:50 AM CDT.
We are still in awe after observing the eclipse. We learned today that I-80 was a parking lot west of Lincoln, and beyond our site near Henderson. We couldn’t observe this directly but heard about it from other campers when they went to town after totality. There was also some price gouging in Scottsbluff, NE. One motel charged $900 a night. Another person bought 100 acres of land, for $40K, and charged RVers $1000 each to park without any hookups. He made quite an indecent profit. The average price for our RV has been around $38 a night including 50 ampere electric service, water, sewer, WiFi, and other amenities such as laundry.
We packed the RV, walked the dogs, thanked the campground owners and left. There was just one RV remaining when we departed at 11:15 AM CDT, and began our journey home, headed for Beatrice, NE.
Along the way, we stopped in Lincoln for doggy walks and lunch at a Casey’s General Store.
Just north of Beatrice, I walked the dogs while Marla shopped for groceries at a WalMart. From there it was a short drive to Homestead National Monument .
At the Monument, they were still cleaning up from the previous day’s eclipse activities. The NPS crew looked weary. Marla got her passbook stamped and I was able to get a lifetime senior NP pass before they increased the cost. We also took a brief look around and viewed one of the largest tracts (100 acres) of restored tall grass prairie in The United States.
Our dogs also walked near this area which officially made them:
PRAIRIE DOGS!!!
I also learned the homesteaders secret to success:
Then, we went to our campsite near Nebraska City. I had trouble navigating near the campground since the local roads were torn up and the GPS was useless as a result. I called the campground for directions and arrived successfully.
Tomorrow, we plan to stop at Camping World in Council Bluffs, IA, and then go to Pipestone National Monument, which is just east of Sioux Falls, SD, in Minnesota. South Dakota will be a new state for Marla, and Minnesota will be a new one for all of us.
Tillie, our female Scotty, got me up at 4:50 AM CDT. I took all of our dogs outside to do their business, and I am glad she got me up. The sky at that hour was mostly clear, and I saw many stars. I cannot remember the last time I saw The Milky Way as clearly as this morning. Nebraska does have the darkest skies in the country. It was a good start to a memorable day at The Prairie Oasis Campground.
The forecast for today had improved to mostly sunny which gave us some hope. A system of thunderstorms was staying well to our south over Kansas.
I met two amateur astronomers who were camping near us, and they let me look through their 10 inch Dobsonian, which had a solar filter. I was able to observe two groups of sunspots. I asked questions and listened as they explained the many advantages about their Dob. The woman who did most of the talking was named Sheila and she and her husband are from Ontario, Canada. I was also able to observe first contact with the moon at that precise time with their Dob.
We walked our dogs and had lunch about an hour before totality. I went out and took photos of everyone making preparations. At 20 minutes before totality it was looking weird. It was daylight but the lighting was curiously subdued. It was mostly cloudy, and I was preparing for disappointment, and was resigned that it would be a bust. However, Marla and I went over to sit on a picnic table, not far from our RV, to watch the sun through our eclipse glasses. At this point the sun was a crescent, and faded in and out with the passing of the cirrostratus clouds.
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The local Mourning Doves started cooing as the clock ran down to totality. Suddenly, there was a opening in the cloud cover, and with that, totality occurred. There were cheers and hoots when we were rewarded with an awesome sight.
Television and photographs simply do not do it justice. The sky is actually a dark blue during totality. I looked directly at the incredible sight and tried to take photos. Totality lasted for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I also kept an eye on the time and did a 5 second countdown to 3rd contact to warn people to put their eclipse glasses back on, and the sun emerged precisely at zero.
With only 250 seconds of totality, I messed up my camera settings, and didn’t get any useful images. This was my best overexposed image.
However, I asked the astronomers if I could buy their images. They said they’d share their images, copying them to my memory card, after processing them following 4th contact. I thanked them and said I’d be by tonight. Later, I obtained over two dozen images. Here are a few:
There was also an effect on the air temperature during the eclipse.
Through it all, our dogs were not impressed.
Stormstown Dispatch 