Aug 2007

Very dreary this morning with lots of fog, but the rain has finally slowed down.

We're very close to Shanksville, the site of the Flight 93 (September 11, 2001) National Historic Park, so we decide to stop and see what's there.

They have a small temporary building where a National Park volunteer is stationed to answer questions and explain the memorial. The final memorial was originally planned to be finished by the 10th anniversary of 9-11, but construction has not been started and it's doubtful that it will be completed in the next 4 years.

We look at the many things that visitors have left in memory of the Flight 93 passengers, and then talk to the volunteer for a few minutes. Interesting stop, and the dreary weather seems appropriate for this somber place.

I think the memorial is also supposed to honor the passengers' bravery, and many of the momentos that have been left here by visitors reflect the appreciation for the passengers' bravery in preventing the plane's destruction of our Capitol or White House; but it's a final resting place for the crew and passengers of that flight, so a sad place.

Home is less than 3 hours from the memorial, so we arrive home in early afternoon. The house is still there :-)

I've been very homesick the last month or so, so it feels wonderful to be home. After living in the trailer the last 7 months, my house feels like a mansion. I look around the kitchen and almost cry because it feels so good to be home. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll feel like traveling again, but right now I am SO GLAD TO BE HOME!

A Rainy Drive Across Iowa and Illinois
Saturday, August 18, 2007
It is pouring down rain when we pack up in Iowa at the dragstrip campground. Jere is soaked and cold. It is not only raining, but it is cold. Today's scenery is more fields of corn and soybeans. Lunch at roadside rest again today, but it's cold so hot soup in the trailer.

We cross the Mississippi River today and then we stop at Joliette, Illinois, near Chicago for the night. The rain finally stops, so after dinner Joe and Jere play basketball while I watch TV and update my journal.

Note: No pictures today--too much rain.

A Rainy Drive across Indiana
Sunday, August 19, 2007

It rains all day, sometimes heavy. They had 2 inches of rain in Toledo today with high of 62 degrees. So another cold and rainy day.

We had hoped to stop in at the RV Hall of Fame Museum today in Elkhart, Indiana, but it is closed Sundays. Half of the RVs built in the U.S. are manufactured near Elkhart, Indiana. We pass several of the manufacturing plants today, but it's raining too hard to even take pictures of the plants or the museum.

We stop at the Milan RV Park near Toledo, Ohio and are stuck inside the trailer, listening to the rain for the evening.

Yet Another Rainy Day: through Ohio
Monday, August 20, 2007

It pours down rain all day! Toledo had 2-5 inches already in the last 24 hours and they are predicting another 2-5 inches today! Luckily we didn't unhook the trailer last night, so Jere doesn't need to hook up the trailer in the pouring down rain.

The drive today is not enjoyable -- it pours for the entire drive through Ohio and then into Pennsylvania. I don't even try to take a picture of the Welcome to Pennsylvania sign. We see lots of fender benders but thankfully no serious accidents. Our trailer brake alarm keeps randomly 'dinging' throughout the day, so by the time we get to the campground in Rockwood, Pennsylvania, I'm frazzled and glad to stop. I take a hot shower and then we're stuck in the trailer again tonight listening to the rain hit the trailer.

They are forecasting for more rain tonight and tomorrow. So it looks like we'll end our 200+ day trip across the United States with several days of cold and wet weather. I feel like the dreary weather at the end of our trip means something, but I'm not sure what. Some kind of sign? But sign of what???

The good thing with the crummy weather is that we'll get home a day earlier than planned. Due to the rain we made very few stops. Boring, long days of driving to end our trip :-(

We leave Minneapolis and head to Iowa. Our first stop in Iowa is the Welcome Center. Since Iowa is filled with farms, the visitor center looks like a barn.

Again today we pass lots and lots of farms. With lots and lots of corn and soybeans.

We stop at a campground at a dragstrip near Dyersville, Iowa.


We have driven out of our way today so Jere can visit the location where the movie, Field of Dreams, was filmed. To the non-baseball fanatic (that would be me), it's a baseball field in the middle of some cornfields and no big deal. BUT to baseball fans who love baseball, the field seems to represent everything that is good about baseball. So we quickly set up camp and drive over to the Field of Dreams movie site.

There are about a dozen cars there with others visiting the Field of Dreams. It's free to come here to see the movie location, read the signs and play ball on the field.

The family that owns the farm has a souvenir stand where they sell souvenirs and use the profits to pay for the upkeep of the field. Interestingly, the family does not own the left field and part of the center field of the playing field. So a group of investors has purchased this part of the field and has set up a competing souvenir stand by the left field, calling it "Left and Center Field of Dreams". Very odd.

Anyway, we buy a few souvenirs, including a bumper sticker with one of my favorite lines from the movie, "Is this heaven?". Joe has started a bumper sticker collection over our kitchen table and sofa in the trailer.

We read the boards about making the movie and then get on with the serious business of going on the field. First we go check out the cornfield and take the requisite pictures of walking out of the cornfield (just like the 'ghost' baseball players do in the movie).

Then we take turns tossing the baseball to each other in the outfield.

We sit on the bleachers for awhile watching a group play baseball. We had hoped to have a little batting practice ourselves, but it gets late and the field closes to the public at 6pm. Jere and Joe go to the outfield for some batting practice, but Joe smacks the first ball almost to the cornfield and they concede there's not enough room for Joe to hit. They'll have batting practice in the field next to the dragstrip at the campground instead.

We pack up and leave the Fargo KOA.

Well today we are back on an interstate. It's great to be able to have regular rest stops where we can park our large rig, but the scenery is nowhere near as interesting as it was on the smaller roads :-(

We drive through Minnesota and see lots of cornfields and more farming combines. Today we also see a crop duster applying pesticide/herbicide on the fields.

We stop at the Town and Country RV Park just south of Minneapolis and then head to the Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in North America. When we walk in, we first see an exhibition being given by some local Sioux indians. They are having a pow wow in the area and the exhibition is part of the pow wow. Their dance costumes have incredibly intricate beading.

We walk all around the mall, including the amusement park in the center of the mall and Legoland.

We have dinner at the Kokomos Restaurant in the mall and then leave without buying anything from the largest mall in North America.

On our way back to the campground we stop for gas and the gas pumps have little televisions in them showing the local news and weather! Maybe this is common in some parts of the country, but I've never seen a gas pump with a televison in it before. I've seen several gas pumps with advertisements and monitors, but not a live television program. So I watch the weather and news while Jere pumps the gas. I usually wash the windows while he pumps, but I'm fascinated by televisions in the gas pumps :-)

We pack up and leave the Rough Rider Campground in Minot, North Dakota.

We drive across North Dakota today. We pass lots and lots of farming combines, as well as fields of corn and sunflowers.

Another nice day so we have a picnic lunch at a roadside rest again. We also drive by the world’s largest buffalo statue :-)

So now in the last 3 days we've seen the world's largest moose, largest teepee and largest buffalo :-)

We get to the Fargo KOA in mid-afternoon and immediately head to the pool for a quick dip. The air is a little cool, but the water is warm. We meet a mother and daughter from Manitoba and they tell us about a steak buffet where they plan to have dinner. We decide to try it too: The North American Steak Buffet. All you can eat, including steak and salmon, drinks and dessert for $10.19. What a bargain and the food is very good. After the high food prices in Alaska, where a burger alone costs $10, this is a great deal for us.

After dinner we drive over to the Roger Maris Museum. It's a small museum, which is free, that is part of a nice mall. Apparently Roger Maris grew up Fargo, North Dakota. For the non-baseball fans reading this blog: Roger Maris was a NY Yankee who broke Babe Ruth's homerun record in 1961 of 60 homeruns in a season. We had watched the DVD about Roger Maris' 1961 season,"61*" , a few weeks ago, so stopping at his museum is actually interesting. Of course it's very interesting to Jere.

It's dark, but we decide to drive down main street Fargo anyway. Not very picturesque and a little rundown. I had also wanted to visit the Scandinavian-inspired church that they have here, but we simply run out of time.