To Estes Park

Our “hunker down and get through the 4th of July” time in Loveland was over and we were moving up in the world…literally…to Estes Park, which is 3,000 feet higher than Loveland! 

This morning after breakfast I got the RV road ready and then headed over to wait for Mom and Dad to be ready.  While I was waiting I decided to use Dad’s tire pressure gauge to check the tire pressure.  I still wasn’t fully satisfied with the resolution to the tire dilemma from back in OH and wasn’t convinced that my tires were the proper inflation or that I knew how to check it and had the proper tools to check it.  Dad had a different type of tire gauge that we thought would be easier.  It wasn’t.  I couldn’t make it work to read the pressure for the outer tires.  Dad came over to see what he thought.  He took the gauge and jammed it onto the valve stem extender on the inner tire and broke the valve stem extender! 

There was a Mercedes dealer in Loveland and so I called over there to get an appointment and they could see me mid-morning so I quickly finished up my chores – unplugging, dumping the RV and taking the trash out and headed over to the Mercedes dealer. 

I think Dad breaking off the valve stem extender was the best thing to happen to my tires in a long time.  One of the technicians at Mercedes of Loveland is a Sprinter Van expert! He came out to talk to me and go over all the finer points of tires!  Not only was he an expert in Sprinter Vans he knew about RV Sprinters and all the brands and all the things that the different companies do!  It was a learning experience for sure!  He said that the rear duallys need have 70-80 psi in order to carry the load!  I knew then that they were low, all of my readings were below the recommended 60  psi!  Also we discovered that back in December or whenever I took the RV in for it’s 10,000 mile service they rotated my tires and they didn’t adjust the tire pressures.  The front tires have less pressure in them than the back.  I knew something didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t tell if it was just that I was fully loaded and trying to get her to go fast uphills or if there was a tire issue.  Turns out there was a tire issue.  I amazed at how obvious it was to me trying to drive it that something was wrong!  He fixed everything up and I noticed instantly that the ride was much smoother!

After my adventures at the Mercedes dealer I got fuel and met up with Mom and Dad at Sam’s Club in Loveland.  We ended up grabbing a slice of pizza for lunch and then headed out, up the Big Thompson Canyon headed for Estes Park. 

Mom had gotten a new camera at Sam’s and she needed to open it and make sure she had everything she needed so I headed out ahead of them to get to Estes Park.  I was excited to get to drive not stuck behind them!  That was until I got stuck behind a different large RV!  This one was about 45ft long and towing a car with bikes and stuff.  Looked very similar to Mom and Dad’s RV. 

Once in Estes Park I stopped by both the Estes Park Visitors Center and the National Park Visitor Center to get some info and hiking maps and then headed to Elk Meadow Campground where we were staying. 

The campground is basically a big gravel field, but the views are awesome and it’s very close to everything in Estes Park. 

We ate an early dinner then went out to explore Bear Lake Road! We stopped at Sprague Lake and Dad and I walked a 1/2 mile around the lake.  WE saw tons of elk and a coyote!  He was was running across the road and then stopped to relieve himself before running away.  I couldn’t get my camera fast enough!

There are so many hiking trails in the area that it’s next to impossible to choose!  Nothing really stands out over anything else! Tomorrow Dad and I are headed back to the Bear Lake Trailhead to hike to some lakes! 

Lunch & Hiking in Grand Lake

My Dad has stayed in very close contact with many of his friends from High School, which is very cool, and rather unusual – even with the invention on Facebook I don’t care to re-acquaint myself with many of the folks I went to High School with!  But, Dad and Ken are still close and as a result our families have gotten to know each other.  When I was little we used to get together with Ken, Julie and their two boys, Brian & Chris, frequently.  The parents would play bridge while we kids played together.  Brian is a few years older than me and Chris is a few year younger so it worked out. We even went to Kings Dominion together once and I remember spending Easter at their house one year.  We moved around a lot however and the boys and I grew up and got our own lives and while our parents stayed close, we kids had drifted apart.  I remember stopping by to see them when I was probably in the 13-15 age range, and I saw the boys then, but haven’t seen them since!

Brian and his wife Heather live in Winter Park, CO and Mom got in touch with them to set up lunch and maybe a hike.  Brian and Heather are big into hiking, backpacking, biking, mountain biking, running (they had a close call at the Boston Marathon this year!  Luckily they both finished before the bomb!) and other active things!  In fact, about 10 years ago now, my parents were doing an off road Jeep “car-hike” in Yankee Boy Basin which is down near Ouray and pretty far off the beaten path and they got out to look at something and they hear “Mr. Amory?  Mrs. Amory?”  It was Brian and Heather! They were out backpacking in the same area!  Crazy!   So today we headed up and over the mountains, through Rocky Mountain NP to Grand Lake on the other side to meet up with them for lunch. 

It was a great drive!  The storms hadn’t rolled in yet and the overlooks we hadn’t stopped at on Thursday were now clear views and we stopped to take pictures and use the facilities!  Coming down the other side there were views we hadn’t seen yet, but by this time we were getting a little rushed to get to Grand Lake on time so we didn’t stop.  We barely stopped when saw a moose even b/c by then we were really pressed for time. 

We just arrived in Grand Lake when my phone rang – it was Brian – they were running late, be there about a 1/2 hour later!  So we had some time to explore Grand Lake before lunch! 

We had a lovely lunch at the Sagebrush BBQ and Grill and talked about hiking, running, RVing, jobs etc!  Then after lunch Brian, Heather, Dad and I headed out to hike up to Adams Falls and beyond. 

 

Adams Falls

The falls were about a 1/4 mile in and then the trail wound through a meadow and then back into the forest! At the first view we of course took pictures.

The Meadow

Dad and I

Brian & Heather

 

We saw a bull moose eating the willow!

 

Moose!

Soon after we saw the moose the rain went from occasional drops to a steady shower, promoting us all to put on our rain gear.  We were guessing it was a typical CO afternoon thundershower so forged ahead.  There were a few rumbles of thunder, but we were low enough and had enough tree cover that the lighting wasn’t as a huge of a danger as it is above the treeline.  Soon though the rain turned to little hail pellets!!!  We pulled off the trail into the woods to shelter from the rain/hail and almost as soon as we did, the rain slowed and stopped and the sun came back out!

We saw a bunch of wildlife on the trail – deer, a marmot, a very large chipmunk and fish in the stream.  Brian seems to have a 6th sense for animal spotting!  Dad even had a butterfly land on him and try to get nectar from his shirt!

We walked in about an hour and then turned around right the trail to a campsite and walked back about an hour.  On the way back the storm clouds were building to the east.

Soon we were back at the car ready to head back into Grand Lake and get mom so we could head back over the mountain.  It was a lot of fun hiking with Brian and Heather and I wish we could do more of that!

One more photo before Brian & Heather headed back home:

We spent some time dillying in Grand Lake – getting ice cream and then checking out the three campgrounds over there for possible places to stay next weekend and didn’t end up starting the trip over the mountain until almost 7.  It was a perfect time to be driving the high elevations as the sun was to our backs and making the mountains pretty colors!  It also brought the elk out in droves! There were many “elk jams” on the way down!  It was after 8 before we reached Estes Park to grab a quick dinner before heading on to Loveland!

To see more pictures from our drive over the mountain and the hike see my album on Google+: Lunch & Hike with Brian and Heather

Loveland

After our adventures up into the mountains on Thursday we took 2 “town” days to get stuff done! 

Mom and Dad had to get their mail (since they aren’t in one place very long they have a mail forwarding system where they call in each week and tell them where they want it sent and it comes there.  It’s pretty cool and works most of the time with minimal drama), we needed groceries, I needed to hang out at Starbucks and use their wifi to post blogs (Mom and Dad have a jetpack and can be a wifi hotspot but they have data limits & I didn’t want to push them over!)

We also had RV maintenance to do – Dad and I changed the oil in my generator and he fixed several loose screws in their RV.  One of the loose screws involved removing the entire window treatment and searching for possible water damage! All these chores involved trip to Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Advanced Auto Parts as well as crawling around under the RVs when it was blazing hot outside. 

Yesterday, Friday, evening after dinner Dad and I took the bikes out on the bike path and rode about 6 miles roundtrip in the park! The bike path goes all through the city of Loveland and it’s really nice!  Very wide and very flat!  We are right on the edge of the prairie here and it’s quite flat!  And hot.  Going up into the 90s everyday. It had rained & stormed most of the afternoon which cooled things off and the sky was still cloudy, which also helped the intense sun! Biking around 7 in the evening was perfect! We got some great views of the sun setting over the mountains!  I didn’t have my camera, or my phone even, with me so no pictures! 

This afternoon we’d planned to take the kayaks out.  Dad has his pedal kayak and he recently purchased an inflatable kayak that he wasn’t as fond of, he’s going to get himself a small hardsided kayak, and so I was going to try it and see what I thought.  An inflatable kayak is the only kind I can have in the RV because I have no way to haul a hard sided one.  We were going to go out around 4:00 but it started to rain!  So, we ate dinner early so Dad and I could head out after it stopped!  The inflatable kayak is a full body workout!  First you work your legs to pump the air in (it’s not hard and doesn’t take long), then it’s a workout to paddle it!  It’s very comfortable to sit in and very stable, I’m not sure I could tip it if I tried.  You do sit very low in it though so you end up using your arm & shoulders more than your abs to paddle.  I did find that if I got up on my knees I could paddle better, but my feet fell asleep.  So, it’s good for short trips, small lakes to paddle around, not so much for longer trips.  I think we’ll keep it and see how much use it gets and if it gets a lot maybe look into buying something different.   Once again the evening weather was perfect – clouds were breaking up the sun and the temperatures had cooled off! We did get some more great views of the sunset on mountains, but I still didn’t have a camera! The rain clouds were still hanging around making it more interesting, but it wasn’t raining! We also saw two white pelicans! 

Tomorrow we are heading over the mountain to Grand Lake to meet some friends for lunch!

Rocky Mountain National Park: Old Fall River Road

After much debate about what to do on the 4th of July, since everything was likely to be crowded, we decided to just deal with the crowds and go go up to Estes Park and on to drive the Old Fall River Road.  

There are two roads to the top in Rocky Mountain NP – Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road.  Old Fall River road is the old road up and it’s one way – up only – dirt, no guardrails, no facilities, and has tight turns and lots of switchbacks.  Trail Ridge Road is the new road through the park.  It’s paved, has pullouts and facilities (pit toilets mostly), and is more graded (max 7%).  It’s also US34, so a major-ish US highway!  We were going to drive up Old Fall River Road to the Alpine visitor center and then come down on Trail Ridge Road back to Estes Park. 

Between Loveland and Estes Park we had to pass through the Big Thompson River Canyon.  It was pretty cool!  It had steep rock sides and we could see the river as we climbed!

Part of the Canyon Walls

Estes Park is a tourist town nestled in the heart of the lower Rockies.  The town is kind of in a bowl and mountains rise up around it! Other than it’s spectacular location, there’s not much special about Estes Park – it’s a typical tourist town, a lot like Bar Harbor, but a little Gatlinburg! We drove right through to a NPS visitor center (and restaurant and gift shop!) where Mom and I got our passports stamped and we picked up a book and some other “must haves”. 

Soon we were heading up into the park.  The first stop was the Endovalley Picnic Area for lunch.  We weren’t hopeful that we’d be able to get a table, but we were surprised! There were a lot of people there, but it wasn’t totally overrun!  We had a nice picnic and we were ready to head off up the road!

Only about a mile in on Old Fall River Road there was a short trail to Chasm Falls.

View looking down the river

Chasm Falls

Dad and I took the short walk down there and back and then we headed back down the road.

Old Fall River Road

The road up is only 9 miles long, but it covers a lot of ground!  It goes up from forests to alpine and all the zones in between!  Estes Park it at about 7,000 feet (I think) and the Old Fall River Road goes up to 11,796 feet, so it’s a lot!  There are a few pull outs and wide spots in to road to stop and take pictures.  There are also a few trails, but we didn’t really walk any. 

We stopped at a the Chapin Mountain trailhead and we were considering walking up, but it was a least a mile before you could see anything and the storm clouds were building. We were almost above the treeline at this point so lighting is extra dangerous.  We walked up a little bit and as we were walking down heard several rumbles of thunder! We got back in the car and continued up the road.

By the time we got to the top the storms were brewing on all sides and the thunder was booming!  It wasn’t bad, in fact you could watch one storm move off and then it would be sunny while you watched another storm brew!

Storm clouds in the distance

But turn around and it’s sunny in the other direction!

Just before we got to the visitor center at the top there was a large group of cars stopped along the side of the road and everyone was looking at something and taking pictures…it was a very large, very well endowed Elk, just hanging out in the bushes!

When we reached the top the sky was looking ominous, but soon it cleared up!  There were still people climbing to the top of the ridge just above the visitor center though!  We visited the gift shop and the visitor center and then, since the storm had cleared up enough, Dad and I climbed the ridge.

I’m not sure how far the ridge climb was, but it felt like we’d gained a couple thousand feet.  A guy at the top told us were at about 11,800…that would mean we gained 4 feet.  ummmm…no…it had to be more than that!  The hike up the ridge was tough not because it was long or even steep, but because of the elevation!  You had to go slow and take breaks.  I didn’t have as much trouble as I thought I would!  While it wasn’t thundering, it had started to rain.  It was a light cold rain so not enough to make me turn back, but it was cold.  I was wearing a skort and tevas so my legs and feet were freezing! At the top I put my fleece on and was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of gloves in the pockets! I love wearing fleece and gloves on the 4th of July! :-)

 

Once we got back to the car we headed out down Trail Ridge Road.  The road went up up a different valley and we had different views than the way up! We also passed over the highest point on Trail Ridge Road – over 12,000 feet! WOW!  Soon after we began our descent it began to seriously rain and got very cold – into the 40s!  brrrr!!!! We didn’t stop to take pictures or anything, just kept driving!

View at the last pullout before the rains came! 

We arrived back in Estes Park and continued on to Loveland in hopes of getting back before the fireworks traffic got going.  We cruised right by the lake where the fireworks were going to be and found a sandwich shop open to grab some dinner before heading back to Boyd Lake.  The fireworks were visible from our campsite so we sat out at the picnic table uploading pictures and eating ice cream and watching the fireworks!  Then it was time for bed!

To see more pictures from today visit my album on Google+: RMNP: Old Fall River Road

Pawnee National Grassland & Boyd Lake State Park

The Sterling, CO Wal-Mart is the quietest Wal-Mart I’ve ever stayed at!  A few truckers came in and one other RV.  There was no bass kicking drag racing through the parking lot, no delivery trucks, nothing!  I didn’t sleep as well as I do in a campground, but much better than I expected at Wal-Mart!  It even got cold and I used needed my extra blanket! 

With no picnic table to sit at I took my coffee into Wal-Mart and did some shopping while I drank it! :-)  Picked up a thermometer for the RV and nice new shirt!  By about 7:30 I was on my way to the Pawnee National Grassland. 

I headed out CO 14 from Sterling and soon I saw a sign “No Fuel for the next 60 miles”.  It struck fear in me.  I knew I had more than 1/2 a tank and would make it all the way to Loveland on what I had, but I still had the urge to turn around and top it off!  I didn’t though, I forged ahead.  Very soon I was crossing a vast expanse of nothing.  Just mile after mile after mile of fields!  Grain fields I think.  The road was straight and the speed limit was 65!  It was a little unnerving being out in the middle of nowhere.  What if something happened?  Car trouble?  Luckily I actually had better cell service out there than I did in Sterling!

Soon I arrived at the only developed area in the Grassland – a small NFS campground.  I pulled in and parked Roxy and got out to explore.  There were a couple small trails – one for birding and one that lead onto the prairie.  It was very Laura Ingalls!  I walked out onto the prairie until the trail gave out and then walked back.  It was a nice cool morning, but the sun was intense!

 

Little Van on the Prairie

The Grasslands was a nice place to visit and it was a great spot for a walk and some sightseeing  on the way, but there wasn’t a lot to do there and soon I was on my way to Loveland!  I had even more “nothing” to cross through before I got here though!  I even lost cell phone reception for awhile.

Around 3am the fridge alarm went off.  Whenever the fridge loses power an alarm goes off to alert you that there’s a problem – it keeps your food from spoiling! I was having an issue with the fridge in Shenandoah in May – it would suddenly not be able to ignite (I run it on propane when I’m dry camping) and I didn’t know why.  I hadn’t had an issue with it again until now.  Sterling is at almost 4,000 feet, and so it could be the elevation…   So at 3am I simply turned the fridge off and turned it back on this morning.  It was fine until the middle of nowhere.  I could hear the alarm going off over the radio, but I couldn’t pull over to do anything about it, so I just turned the radio up! 

Between the fridge alarm and the seemingly never ending nothingness I was getting frustrated.  I was ready to be done with the driving.  Then I noticed in front of me…the haze looked different, more solid…I couldn’t believe my eyes….MOUNTAINS!!!!!!!  We’d made it across The 1000 Mile Flats! I hadn’t expected to be able to see the mountains from so far away so I was extra excited!

 

Look carefully, you may be able to see the mountains in the haze.

Soon I was at I-25 heading south to Loveland and Boyd Lake State Park.  It was only 10:30 am but I was able to check in and get my site!  First I had to dump (the black tank had reached totally full!), and fill my fresh water tank and then get settled in the campsite.  This involved a lot of driving around the campground, sometimes going the wrong way, but I got it all accomplished. 

Mom and Dad are driving 400 miles from Moab, UT and should be here soon, traffic is bad since it’s the night before a holiday weekend.  I spent the rest of the day at Boyd Lake, doing laundry, finding out info about the area, drinking water to help me acclimate to the elevation (Boyd Lake is 5000 feet!) and generally recovering from the long trip across the country!  

When I was doing laundry I met a couple from PA – Mercer, PA to be exact.  That’s just a few miles from where I went to undergrad at Westminster College!  Small World!

No idea what we will do tomorrow…

Driving Day: Nebraska, Lake McConaughy and COLORADO!!!!!!

This morning, around 4:30 AM the train game through Anita.  Anita is just a few miles from here and sound really travels.  I thought the train was coming right through the campground! The whistle was soooo loud!  Well, that was good because I was awake early to get an early start on the driving! 

Originally I’d planned to overnight tonight at Lake McConaughy in the far southwestern corner of Nebraska, right by Colorado.  This is another Gadius Family Favorite and while I know they’d never steer me wrong, the pictures I’d seen of the lake made me think it was a place that I wouldn’t be that interested in and the pull of actually putting my feet in Colorado today rather than waiting until tomorrow was just too strong.  If I pushed on it was just another hour and a half and I’d be in Sterling, CO, only 100 miles from Loveland!

It was chilly this morning at Lake Anita!  I ended up getting an extra blanket!  I wanted to drink my coffee and watch the sunrise, but it was too cold so I had to walk and drink (and I spilled coffee on my clean shirt too…). 

I was on the road by 7 am!  The rest of Iowa was as lovely as the 1st part and soon I was crossing over into Nebraska!  Omaha was hazy and smoggy and not very attractive.   That was a trend that would be followed by the whole rest of the state.  Where Iowa was scenic and pastoral, Nebraska is harsh and desolate.   There were long stretches with nothing.  The rest areas were in poor shape – very crowded and very small truck areas.  Everything seemed to be covered in dust and haze.  The good news was that the speed limit was 75, which basically meant “pick any speed under that".  I picked 70 and set the cruise and barely had to tap the brakes. I was both passing trucks and being passed.  Again, most of the traffic was trucks and RVs.  I think another part of why the driving is nice in the “1000 Mile Flats” is that everyone there is trying to be someplace else so we all just hold on and get through it!

I’d kinda decided that I wasn’t going to camp at Lake McConaughy, but I also knew that I wanted a driving break and I wanted to visit the park and see what it was like.  If I liked it, I could stay, if not, I could keep moving.  It was 10 miles from the highway!  I drove all the way out there and found the lake to be just like the rest of Nebraska, harsh and desolate.  The lake was huge and it was surrounded by sand beaches, there were few trees.  The big thing out there is to camp right on the beach.  People drive their RVs, trailer, 5th wheels, cars, etc, right out onto the sand and camp by the water.   It’s all very exposed and there’s no shelter from the sun.  As I suspected, it wasn’t my kind of place!  I still went down to the lake and paid m $5 admission to walk on the beach and swim.  I walked a ways down the beach hoping to see more of the lake but I couldn’t, so I went for a swim.  As a swimming lake, Lake McConaughy, is fabulous!  No rules, no designated swimming area – you can go anywhere.  It get’s really deep, really quick!  It was nice and cool!  I enjoyed about 20 minutes in the water and then was ready to head back to the highway.

Lake McConaughy from the top of the dam

 

 

Lake McConaughy was created for hydroelectricity!

People camping on the beach

Looks almost like a tropical island!

Piping Plover!  These birds are endangered – I got a flyer about protecting them when I came in!

I have no idea how long I spent there.  Just before I got to the exit for the lake I crossed into Mountain Time.  My phone must have still been connected in Central Time (how do people who live on the time line manage?  Does their phone constantly shift back and forth?), so I was still thinking in terms of Central Time.  Then my phone switched!  I had no idea was time was what!

Back at the van I used the outdoor shower to hose off and got changed, got a snack and headed out!  Soon I was back on the highway cruising toward Colorado! 

I was very excited to cross the state line into Colorado!  I’d made it!!!!! 

The Colorado State Line!!!!! 

(trying to take pictures and drive never works well, but I had to have a pic of the sign!)

Of course the Northeastern corner of Colorado is very different from the other parts.  It looks a lot like Nebraska in fact.  Although a few miles in the landscape changed – it’s all very low shrubs and dirt.  Very dusty.  Looks very dry and desert like. 

Tonight I’m staying at the WalMart in Sterling, Colorado.  There’s a state park up the road but it was 15 miles away via rural road and I was too tired.  Even though it’s only 7:45 I’m tucked away in my van in my jammies waiting for the sun to go down so I can hopefully sleep.  It’s pretty quiet here so I hope that continues. 

Tomorrow I’m going to stop at the Pawnee National Grassland and then head to Loveland to meet up with Mom and Dad.  They are coming in from Moab, Utah and have a 400 mile drive to make!

Driving Day: Lake Anita State Park

Somewhere along the line yesterday afternoon my phone decided it was in Central Time, I’m not sure if we actually were in Central time as I never saw a sign on the highway indicating that we had crossed over, but I figured I was close enough to the line so I’d just go with it. (In fact I thought Indiana had opted out of Daylight Savings Time and that I’d lose the hour when I crossed out of Ohio, but no…).  This morning I woke up at 4am because I heard a loud ca-thump, ca-thump noise in the distance.  At first I thought it was thunder, but a quick look at the radar told me it wasn’t thunder.  I finally decided we must be near a military base that running maneuvers or something.   Turns out I think it was highway noise – despite the lovely woodedness of the park, we were only a short distance from I-74. At first I was perturbed at being awake at 4am, but then I realized it was really 5 and I’ve been getting up at 5:30 and I’d gone to bed early so, after dozing a bit until 5:30 I just got up and got moving.  I figured if I got on the road early I’d get to Lake Anita early and have time to enjoy the park.  This was a plan that didn’t work on Friday but I was hopeful today would be different. 

I was looking forward to my stop at Lake Anita! A few years ago when we were planning out Alaska trip we stumbled upon an amazing blog of some folks who travel in a Lazy Daze class C RV and have taken a cross country trip every summer for the last 10-15 years!  They had posted detailed travel logs with campgrounds and activities! They both are very good writers and their stories are very entertaining.  They had taken an Alaska trip and it was very similar to what we’d already planned for ours!  Their website, Lolo’s Extreme Cross Country RV Trips, has become my go to site for planning RV trips. As I was planning my trip west I discovered that the Gadius’ always stop at Lake Anita State Park in Iowa when they pass through.   I knew I had to check it out!

The driving today was uneventful! It did not rain at all, not one drop! YAY!  Illinois is flat as a pancake.  It’s just a whole lot of flat nothing.  The only exciting thing was that I think I saw Jason Aldean’s tour caravan heading east on I-74!  First I saw two Prevost tour busses traveling together – that seemed odd, but not totally unusual. Then there was a giant semi truck that said “Jason Aldean” on it and had a picture of him larger than life.  Then over the next 20 miles or so I saw 6 more Prevost tour busses towing toy boxes.   Prevost busses aren’t uncommon to see on the road, but 8 at once is rare! I checked his website to try and see if could have been him, his next show is in Ohio, but it’s not until July 11.  I couldn’t tell where the last show was. 

Around 11 I crossed the Mississippi and into Iowa!  Uncharted territory! I’d never been to Iowa! Almost immediately after entering Iowa I came to The Iowa 80 Truck Stop.  It claims to be the largest truck stop in the world and was featured on reality TV show on the Travel Channel or Discovery or one of those.  I hadn’t expected to pass it and I kinda wanted to stop, but I also kinda didn’t want to stop.  I ultimately didn’t stop, opted to keep going and get to Lake Anita.

Iowa is a lot like Illinois, a whole lot of open farm country! Iowa is better than Illinois though! It’s not as flat, it’s more rolling.  And it is pretty, in it’s own right!  There are farms everywhere you look, and miles and miles of cornfields and windmill farms.  I realize most of the corn growing in the cornfields will be used to feed cows or turned into high fructose corn syrup, but they were nice too look at!  Iowa also has even spaced, frequent rest areas – about every 30 miles – and they tell you at one rest area how far it is until the next! Most of the exits had plenty of services – lots of truck stops and opportunities to buy diesel.  The majority of the travelers on I-80 are truckers, RVs and oversize John Deere farm equipment being moved on big flatbeds. This actually made the driving easier!  The speed limit was 70 and I set my cruise at 70 (I get better fuel mileage when I go 65-70), and I was passing people.  Everyone out there was driving a large vehicle so we all kinda got along!  Right now, Iowa is my favorite state to drive across!   I’d happily take Iowa over any section, no matter how short, of 95!

My leave early, arrive early plan worked this time!  I pulled into Lake Anita State Park a little after 3!  Lake Anita is a wonderful place!  most of the campsites have a lakeview!  I was able to get a perfectly level site right on the front row with a great view of the sunset! (Which means I’ll have to stay up for it!).  One of the big draws for me at Lake Anita was the opportunity to go swimming! It hadn’t panned out for a Caesar Creek so tonight I was hopeful.  Turns out the swimming beach is a long way from the campground.  You kinda needed to drive.  boo.  A quick study of the map however revealed that there was a bike path you could walk. It was a long walk, but you could walk.  So, since I’d been in the van all day and I really wanted to move a bit I gathered my stuff and headed out.  It only took about 40 minutes to reach the swimming beach!  When I got there and saw the lay of the land better I studied the map and discovered that the bike path went all the way around! I could walk the rest of the way to get back to the campground! 

Part of the bike path by the campground

Lake Anita

 

There were bunnies everywhere!

 

The swimming beach left a lot to be desired.  It was very shallow and the bottom was squishy and full of “seaweed” – or is it “lake weed”? I waded in and swam one lap back and forth across the deepest part and decided that the walk was more interesting so got out and continued around the lake.  Lake Anita is very small – it was about 5 miles around and the trail wound around all the coves.  The banks of lake are covered with flowers and grasses and trees! There are all kinds of birds, bugs and lots of bunnies!  Between all the animal action and the views of the rolling farmland and the windmills it was a great way to spend an hour or two! 

Now I’m just waiting for the sun to go down so I can go to bed! LOL! 

The lake in front of my site

 

Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’m going to do, I have on the agenda to stop at Lake McConaughy in southern Nebraska, another Gadius’ family favorite (and I was talking to a guy at the beach and he suggested it too..), but if I get an early start like I did today I may want to just drive the extra 100/150 miles and get into CO tomorrow.  I want to stop at the Pawnee National Grassland in Northeast CO on Wed on my way into Loveland and they have a campground, it’s off the beaten path but I might be able to make there tomorrow and then have more time for exploring before heading to Loveland.  I’m going to play it by ear tomorrow, maybe take a long break at the Lake and keep going?  I’ve really been enjoying these state parks each night, but I’m ready to actually be in Colorado!