Traveling With A Purpose -- Heading North

The following days are the traveling we did to get to our present location which is Plymouth, WI where we are staying at the Plymouth Rock Camping Resort. We are using up some of our free camping and relaxing before we make the final push for home. When we get home we will take a day to get the Stinger B unloaded and then the task ahead of us will be to go through the rest of our stuff. We hope to have the house up for sale in June. Wish us luck.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 (Missouri)

We pulled out of the Branson Stage Coach Campground around 9:00AM it was overcast but not raining. Once we were out on the side road we could see the fog in the distance which would pretty much stay with us until we reached I-44.

The road out to US-65.

We are at our turn onto the highway.
We had the sheriff following us the entire way out.

The highway and fog ahead.

Patsy and George I know from reading your blogs you like
water towers. Wish I could have gotten a picture of this one
at night, the large "B" and stars light up.

Always uplifting to see a cross in the distance. It is
amazing for a country that has groups of people that
want to eliminate God from everything how many crosses
 you see. (Small white cross upper left.)

Between the fog and the signs (even with all the "hills" we
were up and down we hardly ever saw this sign in Missouri)
it was a little worrisome what would be over the crest in the hill. 

Even with the fog the road ahead brought beautiful views.
We did experience some misting when we reached the top
of the various hills.

Kept thinking they went through a lot of rock to build
this highway.

I am about to rant...if you do not want to hear please scroll past the next picture. I am pretty sure everyone who RV's has encountered the vehicle that does not know how to merge, the one who doesn't want to wait and get behind but at the same time has trouble getting into the lane at a decent speed. One of our favorites is when you are in a two lane exit in the left hand lane and the person in the right lane changes their mind and decides to go straight. Then there is the passing vehicle that cuts back in about as close as they can and exits in front of you; that one goes hand in hand with the car that waits until you are almost to the crossroad and then pulls out going your way to turn at the next corner. Especially enjoy these drivers when there is no one within sight behind us. We have also been passed on the exit and entrance ramps more then once. Tuesday the motor home pictured below passed us on the curve as we were keeping right at the fork to enter onto I-44 and in our opinion that was the saddest driver we have encountered. Another RVer doing what so many non-RVer's have done to us all. Causing Tom to hit the brakes and move over to avoid them. This was not a two lane fork and luckily Tom saw them out of the corner of his eye. Enough said, I'm done.

We are on I-44 going east and we have blue skies...:)

It was a beautiful day and the scenery added to it.

Tom, driving us smoothly through St. Louis.

The mystery to me is how and when they do the graffiti.

We have crossed the Mississippi into Illinois then
turned north on I-55.

Illinois rest stop.

No wildflowers today even the dandelions are done...:(

Our day ends as the sun sets behind the mini-mall parking
lot across from us.
(We are definitely not parked in the desert anymore.)

We are parked in a Walmart in Litchfield, Illinois after 316 miles.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 (Illinois)

It was around 9:30AM when we pulled out of the Walmart and Hazel, google maps, directed us back towards I-55 by traveling down about 6 miles of Old Route 66. We have driven the whole of Old Route 66 through Arizona and a short part in New Mexico but this was our first section in Illinois.

I know the picture is blurry, out the side, and I do not know
what they are but I am saying yellow wildflowers.

This looked to be like fields of lavender. I looked it up and
they do have lavender farms in Illinois. So that is what
I am sticking with.

You know you are in the Midwest when you pass a sign
for the Hawes Grain Elevator Museum.

We are on flat land.

Going over the Illinois River.

We are seeing a lot of farms now.

I kept missing the lilac bushes but I did catch these.
Though I am not sure what they are.

They have their own mini-lake.

The wind turbines were barely moving today.

You know you are getting close to Wisconsin when a
Kohler truck passes you.

Illinois got us again...$4.55 this time.

Some beautiful, if not ominous clouds, as we drove
along today. 

You know you are welcome when Culver's says so.

Almost made it to our stop for the day and then the rain hit.
At this point we have fingers crossed the windshield wipers
will not let us down and they didn't.

Going around the outer edge of Madison just before we
turned off of I-39 and onto US-151.

Tonight's view out our dining room window is Cabela's
located in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

It was cold and drizzling as we pulled in for the night after a 307 mile ride. Overnight it got quite windy as a thunderstorm went through. The Stinger B did its job and kept us warm, dry, and safe.

Thursday, April 20, 2017 (Wisconsin)

We took our time leaving today as we only had about 93 miles to go and check in at the park was at
1 o'clock. So we enjoyed our coffee then pulled out around 11:00AM.

We started the day with a familiar sight but at least no
concrete dividers.

Have I mentioned how wonderfully
flat Illinois and Wisconsin are.

Shopko, Cheese, and Packer Items we are definitely in Wisconsin.

Cities we are familiar with and a highway I have traveled more
then once visiting our daughter when she lived in Sheboygan
and my sister who also lives in Sheboygan. Not a direct route
but one I would take going there or traveling back home if  I
 wanted to stop at the outlet mall in Oshkosh or do some
shopping in Appleton. We are turning East onto WI-23.

The hilliest it had been since we started through Wisconsin.

Lots of wet fields.

Nothing says rural America like farms and small churches.

The last few miles and we will be parked for a few days.

"Life is like the ocean.

It can be calm or still,

and rough or rigid,

but in the end

it is always

BEAUTIFUL."

                                               ~unknown

We had a beautiful day. Hoping you did, also.

If you have a moment to leave a comment, we would enjoy hearing from you.

Travel Day 3 of 3

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

Friday, April 14, 2017

(I know I am a little out of order with my days but we did not want to miss wishing everyone a Happy Easter and I had not finished going through our pictures of travel day 3.)

We pulled out of the Walmart in Ft. Smith, Arkansas around 10 o'clock. We were only on I-540 for about 11 miles before turning onto I-40. After only a little over 4 miles we were on I-49 towards Fayetteville.

The wildflowers on I-540 are thick and beautiful.

Crossing the Arkansas River.

We are on I-40 for a few minutes.

Heading North on I-49 we will be driving through part of the Boston Mountains. The scenery along here was breathtaking.

The Stinger B's first tunnel.

We will be going right.

The first of several of these signs today.
I call these "wiggle worms".

We are making our way towards US-412.

For a few miles we are on a divided highway.

Then we were on 2 lanes with an occasional passing
lane. (There are, for all practical purposes, no shoulders
on this highway and most of the time a double yellow line. The
passing lanes gave everyone behind us a chance to get by.)

Not many wildflowers but we did start to see some flowering
trees. Not sure about purple one but I believe the white
is dogwood.

Another dogwood and the dreaded "wiggle worm".

A "wiggle worm" on each side and 35 mph this may
not be good.

A short flat section, it was just a tease.

We have turned onto US-65 and now we are in
the Ozarks.

There are still lots of hills and curves but now they are
are longer and the curves are not as severe. Plus, we are
on a divided four lane highway with shoulders.

Leaving Arkansas behind we cross into Missouri.

We are almost to the RV park and now. For a few miles we are 
back on a hilly, curvy, no shoulder two lane road.

Success, after 152 miles we have made it to our home for the 
next few days. This is a Passport America Park with full 
hookups for $25 a night. We are parked on a cement slab 
in a pull-thru site. The views are nothing to talk about but it
is a clean park...we are on a level site...we are smiling.

A few personal comments about our last three travel days. First off all, we have seen some wonderful scenery and we are glad we took the time to drive across Oklahoma and Arkansas on the backroads. Will we do it again...probably not. It is not just the hills and curves, though Tom did mention he has seen enough to last for a while, it was the lack of places to pull over if we would have needed to.  A lot of the roads we were on, if we would have had an issue, we would not have been able to move our motor home off of the roadway. (There were areas you would not have been able to get a car all the way off the road let alone an RV.) This may be why we only saw one other bigger rig during most of our drive. (We did see a few smaller travel trailers and a lot of Semi's.) When we turned North onto US 65 is when we finally started seeing larger RV's again. We certainly plan on visiting these states again, there is a scenic ride through the Boston Mountains we would love to take, we just think we will feel more comfortable with the Stinger B staying on major highways.

I realize this makes two days in a row I am leaving you with song lyrics...but with all the ups and downs on the road these lyrics kept running through my mind...it was mostly the "What goes up must come down" part but then of course the rest of the lyrics would follow.

Blood Sweat & Tears - Spinning Wheel

What goes up must come down

Spinnin' wheel got to go 'round

Talkin' 'bout your troubles it's a cryin' sin

Ride a painted pony let the spinnin' wheel spin

You got no money and you got no home

Spinnin' wheel all alone

Talkin' 'bout your troubles and you, you never learn

Ride a painted pony let the spinnin' wheel turn

Did you find the directing sign on the

Straight and narrow highway

Would you mind a reflecting sign

Just let it shine within your mind

And show you the colors that are real

Someone is waiting just for you

Spinnin' wheel, spinnin' true

Drop all your troubles by the riverside

Catch a painted pony on the spinning wheel ride

                                                                     Songwriters: David Clayton-Thomas

Hope you had a calm and peaceful day.

If you have a moment to leave a comment we would love hearing from you.