Day 70: A little sightseeing and a lot of Beach

Day 70: Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Our friends Ted and Ruth Ann moved from the RV park to the site next to us on the beach at the state park. While Henry took the truck to the mechanic I rode with Ruth Ann and Ted to Homer to check it out.

The last few miles into Homer are down a hill with a spectacular view of the bay and mountains with glaciers across the bay. We stopped at a couple of the city of Homer campgrounds on the famous Homer Spit and looked at the private parks there also. Ted and Ruth Ann needed to pick up their mail at the Homer Post Office and while Ted went inside I managed to get a few pictures of a mama Bald Eagle and one of her babies on their nest across the street.

We stopped on the way out of town to get gas and discovered an RV park sitting on the bluff with a spectacular view. We liked it the best of all the ones we saw.

Back at Deep Creek State Park we cooked hot dogs over a fire and took a late night walk on the beach.  Life is good.

Day 10 and 11: Traveling West on I-90

Days 10 and 11: Saturday, May 25, 2013 and Sunday, May 26, 2013. Welcome, Minnesota to Midland, South Dakota. KOA Belvidere East Campground, Midland, South Dakota. Site 26. 331 miles traveled. Crossed into Mountain Time.

Road weary after traveling through 10 states in 10 days, we decided to take a break from driving and spent two nights in Midland, SD.

We stopped at a rest area on I-90 near Chamberlain, SD for a scenic view of the Missouri River. There is also a museum at the rest area celebrating the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

We stopped for a few groceries at the Walmart in Mitchell, South Dakota. Mitchell is the location of The Corn Palace, a popular tourist destination for travelers in South Dakota. We have visited the Corn Palace before, so we decided to pass it by on this trip.

We have stayed at this RV park twice before on our western travels. It’s a very nice park with very nice, hard working owners. The wife is the cook in their small restaurant and we enjoyed our Indian tacos. Yum!

Day 6: Crossing the Appalachian Mountains

Day 6: Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Claytor Lake State Park to Chillicothe, 278 Miles traveled.

Our prayers go out to everyone in Moore, Oklahoma.

We woke up and it wasn’t raining! We left our campground a little after 9:00 am.

We traveled through the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia most of the day. We climbed many steep grades and passed through the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel and East River Mountain Tunnel. The mountains are covered in their brilliant green spring leaves.

Traveling through the mountains means slow driving. To make it even slower there was construction all along the route. We had to stop three times to pay toll on the West Virginia Turnpike. The toll is $2 at each toll booth for a car, $2.50 for our truck and trailer.

We arrived at our campground around 3:30. Henry made a run to Walmart to fill the truck with diesel – $3.759 per gallon.

We relaxed outside in the sunny, warm weather before dinner and managed to catch the sunset before settling in for the night.