Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!
I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is the Bluegrass State –
Kentucky
Kentucky became the 15th state on June 1, 1792 and the capital is Frankfort.
When I think of the Bluegrass state I think of horses, bourbon, and Colonel Sanders famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. We never got a chance to visit the original Kentucky Fried Chicken but we did get to experience horses and bourbon and a whole lot more.
Late one fall we set up camp at the Kentucky Horse Park State Park near Lexington. Seeing these magnificent horses was the highlight of our visit to the area.
Kentucky Horse ParkKentucky Horse ParkOn the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
One very overcast day we left the horse park for a scenic drive by many beautiful horse farms and a tour of the Wild Turkey Distillery located right beside the Kentucky River.
Bridge over Kentucky River at the Wild Turkey DistilleryWild Turkey Bourbon is aged these barrels
Until we visited the Elk and Bison Prairie in the Land Between the Lakes I never knew that bison once roamed in this area of the United States.
Elk and Bison Prairie in the Land Between the Lakes
The Land Between the Lakes has been a perfect stop over for us several times in our wandering. It doesn’t get much better than camping near a body of water and Canal Campground in the Land Between the Lakes is one of our favorite Corps of Engineers park.
Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal Corps of Engineers CampgroundRushing Bay on Kentucky Lake
Located in central Kentucky, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system known in the world. There are many options for guided tours of the cave. Above ground the scenery is beautiful with hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.
Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!
I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is
Kansas
Kansas became the 34th state on January 29, 1861 and the capital is Topeka.
We’ve wandered through Kansas on our travels and camped there twice. Both times we camped there it was only for one night. Both times we arrived late after a long driving day and left early the next morning for another day of hard driving. Both stays were pleasant and a cornfield bordered the campground. Both times as we drove through Kansas we passed by pastures filled with grazing cattle and many farms with fields of corn, wheat, and other grains. Wild sunflowers beside the highway added a splash of yellow to the landscape.
The last time we drove through Kansas was in the summer of 2013. We fought a head wind all day as we drove east on I-70 and stopped for the night in an RV park near the interstate. I took a few photos of the fields surrounding the park but unfortunately, I lost my Kansas photos after my computer’s hard drive crashed last year.
Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!
I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is
Iowa
Iowa became the 29th state on December 28, 1846 and the capital is Des Moines.
Iowa is another state we have driven through numerous times while wandering around America. On one of our trips we planned our journey through Iowa around two bucket list destinations.
Our first bucket list destination was the Field of Dreams Movie Site near Dyersville. (We actually camped across the Mississippi River in Wisconsin but that is for another post).
As we walked around the bases I couldn’t help but think of the famous line from the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan:
“If you build it he will come.”
The corn was high when we were there, just like in the movie. I could just imagine the ghosts of famous baseball players walking out of the cornfield onto the baseball diamond to play. Another famous line went through my head the entire time we were there.
“Is this heaven?”
“No. It’s Iowa”
Kids were batting and running around the bases
It was easy to imagine the players coming out of the corn to play ball
View from behind home plate – If you build it he will come
Field of Dreams Farm House
The next Iowa destination was Winterset and it also had a movie theme. We fell in love with the town with it’s six covered bridges, John Wayne’s birthplace (and a street named after him), movie locations from “The Bridges of Madison County” starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, and a pizza place that delivered to our campsite in the City of Winterset campground.
Driving along the gravel country roads in search of the six covered bridges was a wonderful way to spend the day. As we went from one bridge to the next we passed by acres and acres of cornfields.
Cutler-Donahoe Bridge, built in 1870
Hogback Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
Cedar Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
Holliwell Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
Imes Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
Roseman Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
The stone bridge located in the park next to the city campground was featured in one of the movie scenes. Another scene was filmed inside the Northside Cafe where the walls were covered with photographs of scenes from the movie.
Stone Bridge in Winterset, Iowa
We enjoyed breakfast at the Northside Cafe – over 100 years old and featured in “The Bridges of Madison County”
John Wayne was born in Winterset and The John Wayne Home is filled with memorabilia.
John Wayne’s birthplace in Winterset, Iowa
Winterset, IA – Birthplace of John Wayne
A few years later as we traveled through Iowa we decided on the spur of the moment to take a break from driving to explore around Coralville Dam. Before we got there, we crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa and stopped at the Iowa 80, the world’s largest truck stop.
The World’s Largest Truck Stop
A little later that day we set up camp at the Dam Complex, a Corps of Engineers Park on Coralville Lake near Iowa City. In addition to taking a look at the Coralville Dam, we discovered fossils at the Delvonian Fossil Gorge and later took a walk on a nature trail for a view of Coralville Lake.
Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!
I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is
Indiana
Indiana became the 19th state on December 11, 1816 and the capital is Indianapolis.
On our one and only trip to Indiana we spent a night in Elkhart, Indiana to get some work done on our refrigerator and to do some sightseeing. Right after we got set up at the campsite the sky turned black and the rain started coming down in buckets. We ran inside the RV and turned on the tv to discover we were under a severe thunderstorm watch. Luckily, the storm only lasted a short while but by the time it was over it was too late to do anything except eat dinner. The next morning we had to continue on our way after getting the refrigerator repaired.
The storm and refrigerator repairs prevented us from visiting the RV Museum in Elkart or going to South Bend to visit the campus of the University of Notre Dame. Even though we couldn’t spend much time in Indiana I enjoyed seeing the country side as we traveled across the state.
Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!
I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is
Illinois
Illinois became the 21st state on December 3, 1818 and the capital is Springfield.
Sometimes in our travels the only way to get to our destination was to go through Illinois. As we traveled through the state we discovered beautiful lakes, country roads, fields of corn, farms, historic places, and even saw Superman in Metropolis.
We went through snow flurries on our way to Tin Cup RV Park in early spring ( Mahomet, Illinois)South Sandusky Campground on Rend Lake near Sasser, ILThe St. Louis Arch as seen from our campsite at Casino Queen Campground in East St. Louis, ILOne night we stayed at the Kamp Kompfort campground on this country road in Carlock, ILThis old barn is located just down the road from Kamp Komfort in Carlock, IllinoisWe visited Superman in Metropolis, Illinois
I’m really glad we took the time to tour Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield, Illinois. The Double J Campground was a few miles out of town with a corn field in our back yard.
There was construction being done when we visited Lincoln’s home in SpringfieldBlondie looking to see what’s in the corn behind the campground near Springfield
Wandering Dawgs 