West to Rochester, MN - #52-02

May 26, 2005 (Thur)
Hickory Hollow Campground #G1 w/e/s $15.00p B+
Decatur, OH to Utica, IL (273/965 miles) Q013279

It gets light early here. This morning the dawn woke us well before 5:00 and we lay in bed and watched a beautiful sunrise reflected in the windows of Ed and Kathy's motor home. After a 2 mile walk and breakfast we broke camp and were on the road headed west by 8:15 (65.5°).

Indiana is really quite beautiful. The roads west from Decatur, US-224 and US-24, go through miles and miles of flat farmland sprinkled with occasional industrial complexes. In Markle, IN we saw a huge blue smiley face emerge from behind some trees. It was the town water tower. In Huntington we resisted the temptation to stop at the Dan Quayle Museum but instead enjoyed seeing the wonderful old houses as we passed through. There were many and most were beautifully restored and maintained. A restaurant in Monticello, IN had two doors. A sign over one read Granny's Kitchen. The other lead to Grandpa's Still. In Illinois we found I-39 and turned north.

This is a small campground (75 sites) off I-80 just east of the intersection with I-39. It is very nice - quiet and well maintained. We can see I-80 out our back door but it is far enough away, across a large corn field, that the traffic noise is subdued. It probably won't be tonight though.
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May 27, 2005 (Fri)
Camp Wamart Prairie du Chien, WI B
Utica, IL to Prairie du Chien, WI (243/1208 miles) Q013522

"The Great River Road" was our destination today. This is really two roads - one on each side of the Mississippi River. All sources describe it as scenic and beautiful. We picked it up where it crossed I-80 at Le Claire, Iowa. The first part of the road was where you'd expect it to be - along the Mississippi River. It was beautiful, as advertised, but there were few other close views. Much of the road is normal highway (US-67 and US-52) with small cites and towns breaking up what really was a beautiful drive.

North of Dubuque, IA the scenic byway leaves US-52 and winds through hilly farmland far above the river. We could see it off in the distance occasionally but the main attraction was the view. At one point we were driving along the top of a ridge with great views on both sides.

In Le Claire just after crossing the river into Iowa we saw gas prices as low as $1.88. We vowed to fill up the tank before leaving Iowa at the end of our day's run. The price kept going up as we drove north. Here it's $2.09 and the tank is about empty!

There's a Buffalo farm south of Dubuque and a few llama "out standing in their field" along the way. There was a painting of a violin covering a whole grain silo, a Laundromat named "Scrub Pub" and some concrete lawn dinosaurs - that we resisted buying to bring home!

There's no hope of finding campground space on Memorial Day weekend so we've found another Walmart Parking lot to roost for the night.
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May 28, 2005 (Sat)
Camp Kohl's Rochester, MN C
Prairie du Chien, WI to Rochester, MN (139/1347 miles) Q013661

Between 500 B.C. and A.D. 1300 Woodland hunter gatherers raised thousands of conical and animal shaped earthen burial mounds on bluffs above the Mississippi River. Effigy National Monument was established to preserve these national treasures. Before starting out this morning we went with Ed and Kathy in their toad (their towed car) to pay a visit to the site. Of the 15 miles of hiking trails in the park, we took the shortest (2 miles) and most popular to the top of one bluff. It was an interesting and educational walk - and grueling.

The drive up WI-35 (part of The Great River Road - east side) was much more what we'd expected yesterday's to have been. We went right along the river most of the way. Beautiful! We stopped at Lock and Dam #9. No boat traffic but a 97 car train went by on the tracks beside the parking lot. Goose Island County Park was our venue for lunch. It was huge with camping, picnicking, and recreational areas. The camping area was packed solid - we drove through it - but we found a place to park right on the river in boat launch area to eat our salad wraps. I-90 was typical interstate.

The Rochester, Minnesota Walmart parking lot was crowded and busy. There was no place to park a couple of motor homes, much less spend the night. Before we got here, Ed had gotten permission from the Kohl's (next door) manager for us to use his lot. He said sure, for one night, so here we are. We're next to the highway though. We hope it will quiet down overnight.