7th Stop - Amana, Iowa

We ended up heading to Amana a day early after Ed made several phone calls around for a couple of parts for the air conditioners.  The back one is not working and the front one ends up working overtime thanks to the high temperatures.

Carol and Gary also pulled into Amana early and they had just checked in and were pulling into their site (they came in on 80 East / we came in on 80 West) when we pulled up to the office to check in.  Once we got set up, Gary and Ed went out to look for corn (you would think it would be easy to find in Iowa!) and over an hour later they were back.  They "had" to stop at the brewery to get directions for a place to buy corn...go figure!! 

We were getting ready to eat and Ed got a call from Pat, his sister, who was heading to Iowa City returning from Cheyenne, WY with her hubby, Michael.  They stopped for a short visit and sat and had some corn on the cob.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of flies that came around while we were eating and while I was swatting one, I hit Ed in the eye with the flyswatter.  I thought he was joking until Gary noticed his eye was bloodshot...uh oh.  Luckily Pat was good at first aid and she put a bandage on his eye and wrapped up his head with gauze to give it a rest for the night.  We may have to look for an urgent care place tomorrow.  Am I in deep doo-doo, or what?

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We rode our bikes on the bike trail to one of the Amana Colonies (7 villages make up the colonies).  It was HOT!!!  The bike trail led right to the brewery so we "lost" Ed and Gary there and Carol and I pedaled on around the town and stopped and checked out a few places. 

Ed ended up getting an appointment with an eye doctor (at the suggestion of our eye doctor back home) to get his eye checked so we went to Cedar Rapids.  Ed's going to live but the fly swatter has been put out of commission (better the swatter, than me) and he's on antibiotics to avoid an infection from the burst blood vessels. 

We ended up going to the Ronnenberg, a German restaurant, for dinner in town which was great.

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More bike riding on the trails into town to check out the local stores and luckily we had bags and baskets on our bikes since we ended up supporting some of the local merchants.

6th Stop - Joliet, Illinois

We got an early start to head to Joliet, IL; Ed found the bicycle he wanted in Chicago so this stop was only an hour's drive to go pick it up.

We arrived at the Hollywood Casino & RV Park a little after noon time and quickly unhooked the car and set up the RV before heading to Chicago.  Traffic was horrendous and Ed said during the week it's worse.  We got back to the RV Park and once we finished cleaning the site (Ed borrowed a shovel and broom from the maintenance guy and scraped thick layers of dry mud off the patio while I raked a bunch of leaves from the site and picked up dog poop someone left behind), the maintenance guy came with a bunch of gravel and filled in a muddy rut someone had left after driving off the pad.  We ended up going over to the casino for dinner and checked out the slot machines.  High technology has taken over and it's definitely not the way we remember it when we played with coins.  We tried playing in one machine and lost a $1 in a matter of a second so Ed found someone to explain how it worked.  He got another $1 and ended up with a voucher for $6.70.  Monday is 55 where you play $5 and you get $5 so we're going back to see how that works.  My limit has been set for $10 and once it's spent, I'm outta there.

OK...Monday we went back to the casino and we each "won" $5 on a scratch off and the casino "gave" us $5.  Ed had his voucher from the day earlier and with his $10 that he got, he left with $25+ in his pocket.  He was the lucky one.  I lost the $10 that I got from the casino PLUS I put $10 of my own money in the machines and I ended up "donating" it to the casino. Oh well...it's not that fun anymore because all you do is sit there and push a button on the machines.

5th Stop - Fenton, Missouri

We arrived in Fenton, Missouri on Thursday, 7/26 and checked into the Covered Bridge RV Park.  Friday we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, spread out over 79 acres, it's the oldest botanical gardens in the country.  On display was the Lantern Festival exhibition and that with all the gardens (Japanese, Chinese, Victorian, the Climatron and many more) was awesome.  I loved it and Ed's favorite was the Climatron with all the tropical plants under the dome.  We had to walk a couple of miles there and then we went on and walked more on the Anheuser-Busch tour.  Ed liked the very end of the tour when he got to do some tasting in the Hospitality Room.

It's been VERY hot (we're worried that Gary and Carol aren't going to leave the cool weather of Colorado...they're suppose to meet us in Amana on the 1st of August) and the back a/c of our RV pooped out when we first started out and the main a/c is working hard to keep the rig cool but today when we got back we ended up taking the dogs outside to sit in the shade since there was a breeze blowing.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we're heading back to St. Louis and checking out the downtown area.

(click on the pictures below to enlarge them)

On Friday, we headed to downtown Missouri and stopped at City Gardens where there were sculptures, gardens and water spouts for the kids (and Ed) to run through to cool off.  We took a lot of pictures there and then headed to the waterfront to see the Arch, the Mississippi Riverfront and Lacledes Landing where we had lunch. 

4th Stop - West Memphis, Arkansas

We had a very short drive today from Memphis, Tennessee to West Memphis, Arkansas.  We were going to do one night at the Tom Sawyer RV Park on the Mississippi River but once we pulled into the site and saw the view and felt the nice breeze we decided to do a second night.  We have a front row seat to the barge traffic on the Mississippi and it's really nice...we would definitely recommend this park to any RVers passing through the area. 

Pictured on the right is a snake that Molly "found" right next to the picnic table where we were sitting at dusk talking to another couple.  Mandy passed right over it while Molly was in attack mode (Mandy had no clue that it was there).  The owner and one of the workers of the campground came down and the worker ended up killing it with a hoe since it was curled up and hard to see if it was poisonous or non-.  The owner returned and said they had looked at it closely and it turned out to be a banded watersnake (very similar to a water moccasin).  It added a little excitement to the end of the evening.

3rd stop - Memphis, TN

We checked into the Graceland RV Park & Campground just before noon today and started going through all the brochures we picked up in the office.  We got the dogs out and called for a pick up for a 2:00 pm sightseeing tour around Memphis.  When we were waiting at the office for the van to pick us up, dark clouds came in and the rains came.  The van picked us up and drove us to downtown Memphis past Graceland (which is right across the street from where we're staying) and made stops at St. Jude Children's Hospital, Beale Street (a 45-minute drop off during a pouring rain...Ed had ribs at the Blues City Cafe) and The Peabody Hotel to watch the March of the World Famous Ducks (http://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks/).

The second day in Memphis we headed out early to get in line for tickets for Graceland tours.  What a mob scene; however, they have crowd and traffic control down to a system for the tours so it wasn't too bad.  It was another hot and humid day but we were in and out of the a/c during the day.  Ed was wondering why Graceland was never on his bucket list so he's put it on and crossed it off.  It was great!  We did the mansion first and the out-buildings and grounds and then got back on the bus that brought us back to the car museum and other Elvis exhibits (including his two airplanes).  For every exhibit there were gifts shops and then some. 

We had dinner at Marlowe's BBQ which is famous for the ribs and one of the restaurants featured on that show with Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives).  On the way back to the RV, we stopped at the wall in front of Graceland and wrote our names on it where thousands of others are written (they sandblast it off annually). 

2nd stop - Dickson, TN

We left Waynesville, NC this morning a little after 09:00; we had gotten up early and walked the dogs and Ed checked the breakfast buffet at Pride RV Resort and opted not to eat there...he said it was an "old folks" breakfast buffet because there were only 8 slices of bacon which he would have wiped out in the first run through the line. 

We're between Nashville and Memphis at Tanbark Campground in Dickson, TN; nothing fancy but a pull-thru long enough so we don't have to unhook the tow car and the price is right since it's a Passport America park.  We arrived here around 14:30 EDT...we had to turn our watches back an hour now that we're in the next time zone.  The girls, Molly and Mandy, are confused that we go for a long ride and then there's different smells when we stop but luckily they are good travelers. 

Ed wanted to unhook the car and take me out for my birthday but it will be a distance to get to a nice restaurant since the only choices close by are Subway and MacDonald's so we opted to stay in for the night.

1st stop - Waynesville, NC

Ed wanted to leave at 08:00 so I set my alarm for 06:00.  At 06:00, I turned off the alarm and rolled over but then figured I better get up and moving.  We had some last minute things to do to "close down" the house and get everything in order and try to get the dogs to "do their thing" (they didn't!) before we pulled out of the driveway.  We pulled out of the driveway BEFORE 08:00 but Ed had to stop and leave the rig in the middle of the road and run back to the house to lock the front door so the official departure time was 08:03.  Our neighbor, Mary, was out to wish us happy trails and we left her behind in diesel fumes as we drove down the street.

We arrived in Maggie Valley and checked into Pride RV Resort a little before 15:00 for a one-night stop.  Beautiful mountain views and temperatures a bit cooler. 

Getting Ready

Departure day is coming up fast and Ed wants to pull out of Fairfield Harbour by 08:00 on Friday, 7/20.  We've taken stuff OFF the RV that we won't be needing and making room for everything we'll need for the three months on the road. 

We plan on meeting Carol and Gary on 8/1 in Amana, IA and then traveling with them throughout Wisconsin, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Michigan.  When it's time for them to head back to Arizona (they're new home base), we'll head to Indiana for a Thor Rally and then for Stephanie's (my niece) and Greg's October 12th wedding in Saratoga Springs, NY.

I hope you check in occasionally to see where we are (and where we've been).