April Recap

Location: Elkhart, IN (High 79, Low 57)

It has been a very busy traveling kind of month for us.

Hard to believe just one month ago today we were coming off a month hanging out in Williston, FL. It seems like we have been traveling forever!

 

But no, it was only April 1st that we left Florida and traveled north, with stops in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland on our way to Lancaster, PA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although we have been lucky, and have avoided any severe weather, we did find the temperatures to be a little cool for our liking after two months down in sunny Florida.

 

 

There were two main objectives for April…attend the Heartland Owners Campout in Lancaster, PA…

 

 

 

…and become official residents of South Dakota after a two day stop there to get our drivers licenses.

 

 

Our statistics for April…

• Total miles driven…3332 miles
• Amount spent on diesel fuel…$1285.67

And now we are on our way back to NY, and plan to be heading up I-90 to our first NY stop this Thursday.

We are ready to land in one place and take a breather!

I Feel Good!

Location: Elkhart, IN (High 70, Low 54)

We started out this morning bright and early at 8 am central time. That is much earlier than we usually leave but today was a longer traveling day, plus there was an hour time change coming up.

 

For the most part it was an uneventful travel day except for one thing – I drove today for the first time! Last week on a long traveling day, I was thinking then that I really should be able to take a turn driving. But at the time we were both whipped, and neither of us were mentally ready for my first time behind the wheel. It’s been on my mind ever since though, and yesterday I told Harry that I was ready to just do it! It went really well, especially considering I hit construction almost immediately. A little nerve-wracking, but it went ok. And now I am ready to keep taking my turn!

We’re going to be here now until Wednesday and then will be moving on. It’s almost time for us to arrive back in NY!

Anyone Know This Cat?

I got up this morning and started my usual round of blog-reading. One of the first I read was Donna’s Travels in Therapy. We are starting to get ready to head out, but thought I would pop on here quickly and pass the word. Would be really cool to be able to reunite these people with their lost cat.

Wind Power

Location: Kellogg, IA (High 73, Low 52)

The other day when we were traveling I-80 toward South Dakota, I was awestruck when we passed through an area that had wind turbines as far as the eye could see. I noticed the sign identifying it as the Adair Wind Project. I took some pictures and classified it as a “cool thing to see.”

 

But today, when we drove through it again, I decided to learn a little more about it.

 

 

 

I wish I could take pictures that do it justice. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the wind turbines stretching off into the horizon.

 

 

I learned that Iowa is a leading US state in wind power generation with 24.5% of the state's electricity generation coming from wind in 2012. It is surpassed only by Texas and California.

 

Wind farms are mostly found in the north and western parts of Iowa, as that is where the winds are the strongest and most reliable.

 

 

I tried to find out how many wind turbines there are here at this wind farm. I found a couple different numbers, but it looks like there are between 250 and 300 wind turbines located here.  And that’s just in this one wind farm. I found a list of wind farms in Iowa, which listed about 30 different locations throughout Iowa.

I had no idea that wind energy was so prevalent in IA…I’m glad that I decided to find out more about it.

Speaking of Iowa, this is our last night here in the Hawkeye State…tomorrow morning we head out bright and early to head back to Elkhart, IN.

Retracing Our Steps

Location: Onawa, IA (High 72, Low 47)

It was another beautiful day for traveling as we headed out this morning.

We sure lucked out with the weather we had in South Dakota. When we watched the forecast this morning, there were highs in the mid 40s showing for next week. We got in and out in the nick of time!

 

We feel really good to have this last piece of business behind us. Alternative Resources sure made the whole process very painless.

 

 

We aren’t going to be dilly-dallying too much on our way back east.

We are going to stay over a day in Elkhart, IN and hopefully take in a factory tour.

 

Other than that, we are making a direct course toward NY.

It’s going to be quite a change after all of these wide open spaces!

Packing It In

Location: Sioux Falls, SD (High 71, Low 40)

Today was our one full day in Sioux Falls, so we had quite a bit to get accomplished. We had heard that Fridays were not the best days to go to DMV, especially at the end of the month. So we planned to be there bright and early since they opened at 7 am. It helped that our bodies are still pretty much on eastern time, so that really felt like 8 am to us.

We had all the needed documentation…our NYS drivers licenses, W-2s to prove social security number, US Passports, and the campground receipt from Tower Campground. We went to the new DMV office on Russell St. There was a short check-in line, where our paperwork was looked over and we were handed the forms that we needed to complete. Before we had even finished filling them out, our numbers were being called. We handed over the paperwork, took the eye test, paid our twenty bucks, had our picture taken, and about 15 minutes later we were walking out with our new SD drivers licenses. Mission accomplished!

We weren’t able to register to vote at DMV since we had a PMB address, so we returned to Alternative Resources to fill out the voter registration paperwork there. That only took a short time, and then our main business for this trip was finished.

Next, we headed to find Rosie’s Diner. When we met the driver from Sioux Falls at the rest stop earlier this week, he gave us directions to the DMV, and told us about his wife’s local restaurant. When we arrived to find the place full with crowded tables of older residents, we knew we were in for a good breakfast! And we were right! Yum.

 

The last thing that we really wanted to do while we were here was to see Falls Park. We are so glad that we made stopping by there a must. It was beautiful. And having temperatures in the 70s didn’t hurt either. What a gorgeous day!

A few photos from Falls Park, Sioux Falls, SD…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great day, and lots of fun exploring our new home town. Our time here was way too short. We are already looking forward to next spring, when we plan to make our way back to NY from the southwest traveling through South Dakota. We really want to spend some quality time exploring the different parts of our state. But for now, we will have to say…so long, until next time…

Tomorrow morning we will head out and start making our way back east.

Views From the Road in South Dakota

Location: Sioux Falls, SD (High 65, Low 39)

We have made it! Early this afternoon we pulled into Tower Campground, and are happy to be here at last.

 

 

After we were settled into our site, we took a ride over to Alternative Resources to pick up our mail, and we went to dinner at one of our favorite spots! Outback!

 

 

 

That was one big and yummy drink!!

 

A few scenes from our trip today…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow morning we will be going to DMV to make it official.

Views From The Road in Iowa

Location: Onawa, IA (High 57, Low 28)

Today we were back to our usual type of travel day – a little over 200 miles.

It was very easy to get going this morning as our bodies are still on Eastern time. We headed out right around 10 am.

 

The scenery hasn’t changed too much in the past couple of days, but I still keep snapping pictures. I am fascinated by the wide open expanses and broad vistas.

 

 

We passed through areas with tons of wind turbines, I don’t even know how many. (I’ve seen them before but not in these numbers.)

 

 

A lot of them were on the driver’s side so I couldn’t get a great picture, but it didn’t keep me from trying.

 

 

We arrived around 2 pm and settled in for the evening.

 

 

 

Tomorrow we have a short two hour trip and we will finally be arriving in Sioux Falls, SD!

Ohio – Indiana – Illinois and now Iowa

Location: Kellogg, Iowa (High 44, Low 26)

We’ve gotten a number of miles under our belt since the last time I posted. Three new states for Harry and me…

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we haven’t had time for any sightseeing in these areas, as we are on a bit of a timetable. For the past couple of months, Harry has been having a minor medical issue…I say minor, because it’s not an emergency that would have required that we find a doctor at our current location. Unfortunately its not minor enough that it’s going to go away by itself, and from everything we’ve read about it, it looks like it will require a medical procedure that may involve a little recuperation time. So we have already set up a doctor’s appointment back in NY in about three weeks, and that is why we are making tracks across the country and not really taking our time.

After watching the weather, it appeared that the weather today was going to be a little iffy for traveling. So we made the decision to travel right through Illinois to central Iowa yesterday, so we could sit out the messy weather today. We still plan to make it to Sioux Falls by Thursday, which will give us Thursday afternoon and Friday to take care of our business, and then on Saturday we will start heading back east.

The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday, and we got on the road around 9:30. We had about a six hour trip ahead of us.

 

I entertained myself by taking pictures of the wide expanses of farmland we were passing.

 

 

 

I just can’t get over how far I can see in every direction. The camera doesn’t do it justice.

 

 

 

Unfortunately this picture came out blurry, but I had to include it anyway – yesterday was our first time over the Mississippi River!

 

 

We stopped at a rest area for lunch. The driver of this transport came over to chat with us. Turned out he was from Sioux Falls. He gave us some info about the new DMV location which moved as of yesterday, and told us about a family restaurant nearby that his wife runs. Sure is a small world!

We finally landed about ten of six our time. (Also our first time in a new time zone!) It was a long day, but we are glad we did it. We weren’t parked for more than an hour or so when the rain started coming down, and it is still a windy dreary day today. Tomorrow looks to be a much nicer traveling day.

 

 

I’ll close today with one of my favorite pictures from yesterday. I saw the billboard at the last minute and just barely managed to get my camera up in time.