Sunday, July 4
Happy 234th Birthday USA! We heard fireworks going off last night somewhere near the campground, but were too tired to check it out. Maybe we’ll get an opportunity to see the sky light up in a colorful display tonight.
We’re on the road again, and as the welcome sign to the right will attest, we’re in Iowa. (Sorry the photograph is blurry, but that’s what happens when you’re shooting through a rain-streaked windshield on a bumpy road!)
We woke up at 6:00a to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof of the rig. I suppose our marathon of blue-sky days had to end sometime. I like rainy weather, so I didn’t mind. Mui wasn’t too happy that he might have to unhook the utilities, especially the shore power, in pouring rain. Luckily, by the time we were finished with breakfast, the rain had let up for Mui to take care of the outside chores in relatively dry conditions. By 7:30a, we were on the road to Galesburg, Illinois.
Our route from Doniphan, Nebraska to Galesburg, Illinois takes us on I-80 and I-74.
We’re about 85 miles [136 km] out from Davenport, where we will leave I-80 behind to drop down into Illinois. The drive thus far has been uneventful. It rained pretty much all morning — sometimes a light drizzle; pouring rain at other times. Not pleasant driving conditions, but at least the Phaeton got a good wash. Needless to say, I didn’t get too many photo ops along the way.
Rain, rain, go away; come again some other day!
The weather dried up almost entirely as we neared Des Moines. About 35 miles out from the city, we stopped at a rest area for lunch. On the menu today: red pepper & tomato soup and egg salad sandwiches, with fresh peaches for dessert.
A classy classic car adds character to the interstate.
At this rest area on I-80, picnic area panels display noteworthy quotes.
(“I am eternally grateful ... for my knack of finding in great books,
some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel honored to be alive,
no matter what else might be going on.” [K. Vonnegut Jr.])
We’ll be going onto I-74 soon. Need to put on my navigator cap again. More later …
Later … at the Galesburg East holiday trav-l-park
(The welcome sign for Illinois was hidden amongst trees; here’s one I grabbed from the web.)
After an uneventful and reasonably dry afternoon of driving (just a few drizzles), we pulled into tonight’s stop at the Galesburg East Trav-L-Park in Knoxville at 5:30p. What a nice change to arrive early enough to be able to relax for a while.
We’ve established a routine for campground arrival. Mui pulls in near the office and while he’s idling, I hop off to check-in. Today, I actually had a chance to meet the camp managers and chat with them for a few minutes; very nice people. After I’d signed on the dotted line, the manager hopped into a golf cart and escorted us to site “lucky 13” — pull-through with 50 amp service. Our rate for the night is $27.90.
Making short work of the set up chores, we went for a walk around the campground. With only 68 sites, this is the smallest campground of our trip. The sites are relatively narrow and we’re all packed in quite close, but I don’t seem to be minding it as much as I did last night as it feels more spacious here. There are full grown trees everywhere and lots of grass (well maintained, I might add). The corn fields on three sides effectively dull the traffic noise from the highway. The birds that were chirping until night fell a little while ago were a nice welcoming committee.
The Phaeton has been put to bed for the day!
Dinner tonight was another frozen entree — vegetable lasagna — with some wine to go with it. Afterwards, we pulled out the maps and the laptop to determine tomorrow night’s stop. With just 800+ miles [1,280+ km] to go, we’ve decided on a 500-mile [800 km] or so drive for tomorrow. We can then take it really easy on the last day and arrive home reasonably early so that we have plenty of time to put the RV in storage. Not that it will stay there long if we can help it (wink, wink).
With a plan for tomorrow in place, we then settled down to enjoy the 4th of July festivities.
Jimmy Smits is hosting this year’s celebration.
A Happy Capitol Fourth!
(didn’t care for the color on this shot; hence the B&W treatment)
OK, OK … so the festivities weren’t local (they were scheduled to start later). With time on our hands, we were able to watch TV tonight. The trees blocked satellite reception, but Mui managed to get the local channels with our antenna. We didn’t know what to expect in the way of programming, but we lucked out with a PBS station that was airing the annual 4th of July program from the Mall in Washington. A nice treat after being on the road for four days. Here are a few more screen grabs from the mid-ship TV.
On that note, time to call it a night. I’ll leave you with one last shot from the day.
Sunset over the cornfields of Illinois.
(from our campground site)
As the ABC anchor John Daly used to say when he was signing off from the evening news: “Good night and a good tomorrow.” (OK, so who cares if he was a little before my time; it’s still a good line.)
| Start Odometer | End Odometer | Day’s Mileage |
| 10147 | 10642 | 495 [792 km] |
Statistics for Today
Next Up … Maiden Voyage: Day 5 on the Road
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