We got farther than anticipated today. Mark was able to drive about seven and a half hours, but with stops it was over a nine hour day. He thought about pushing even farther, but by the time we got to Omaha the sun had set so we stopped. We’re making up for lost time!
We left Madison under a thick cloud of fog around 9:30 this morning.
Crossing the Mississippi River…
…and entering Iowa.
Dubuque, IA
Couldn’t seem to get out from under the clouds
Ah! Here’s a story to tell…
I haven’t mentioned before that we are traveling without a refrigerator. This dates back to last winter when Mark was on his way to Florida for training. The refrigerator stopped working, so when he started his classes in RV Tech school, he told his instructor about it. His instructor gave him some ideas of things to check. He turned the refrigerator switch on and went outside to open the panel behind the refrigerator. When he opened it he saw flames. RV refrigerators are notorious for catching fire. He ran into the RV and turned the refrigerator off and the fire went out, but what this meant was that there was a leak in the tubing that holds the gasses that keep the refrigerator cold. It couldn’t be fixed.
Before we left home, Mark took the refrigerator to the dump and we began looking for a domestic refrigerator that would fit in the hole. We found one that would just fit, but no one had it in stock in Green Bay. Amazon didn’t even have it for us to order. We don’t want another RV refrigerator, so we decided to put all our cold food into a refrigerated cooler to take across the country with us. We are hoping that we can find the refrigerator we are looking for in Oregon since Portland is much bigger than Green Bay. If anyone out west knows where we might find a Haier 9.8 cubic foot top freezer refrigerator, please let us know.
Des Moines, IA
Some brightness in the sky to the south of us
Plateau farming in the hills
We stopped at a truck stop before leaving Iowa.
For one thing, our gray and black tanks needed dumping. Note the blue sky peaking through!
Bridge ornamentation at the Iowa/Nebraska border. The ornamentation looks so militant it seems like a warning!
The elusive sun was setting as we crossed into Nebraska.
Almost our first and last glimpse of the sun for the day.
Our campground for the night
After last night, we have learned to call ahead to be sure that the Walmart we are aiming for will take overnight campers. Mark traveled from Walmart to Walmart last winter and liked it. I’m not used to camping night after night at Walmart, but at least it’s saving us some money.