On Our Way

June 22

We left early in the morning to drive 15 hours and 42 minutes and 768 miles. The frequent gas stops reminded us of our abysmal MPGs. More shocking however were the incredible tolls through PA, OH, and IN! You certainly get penalized with 4 axles. It doesn’t just double the amount paid by cars, but seems to be on an exponential scale. To top it off, the condition of these roads is horrendous. They should be paying us to travel on them! Instead of improving road conditions, I think whoever is collecting our money is pocketing it and having a Pina Colada on some tropical beach instead…

Initially we were only going to go as far as western Indiana, to the east of Chicago, but decided to push on as long as we could. As we drove through Chicago our dislike of big cities was reinforced. Liam pointed out the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower). We finally pulled into a Walmart Supercenter parking lot in Belvidere, IL. Everything was unremarkable and went smoothly except for a vexing electrical problem in the camper – no12V power off the fully charged camper batteries. It seems something always has to keep us on our toes.

Sears (Willis) Tower in Chicago, IL

June 23

We had a more leisurely morning as we projected a shorter drive to our next stop. There was also an RV dealer there we anticipated having to visit early Monday morning to help solve our electrical problem before heading to Badlands NP.

We continued through Illinois and into Wisconsin, a new state for us (Esther however spent several years in Wausau, WI as a young girl). The temperatures were generally in the 70s and low 80s, not the 90s-100s of last year! There was nothing remarkable to be seen except farms, cows and generally flat plains with occasional rolling hills. At the border between WI and MN we crossed the swollen Lake Onalaska and the Mississippi River which are one and the same at that point. At a lunch rest area near La Crosse, WI the boys discovered a houseboat that had been capsized, only the battered roof could be seen. Southern Minnesota had more of the same terrain. We saw many wind turbines in huge clusters all across the state. Go green energy! What struck us was how lush and dark green all the vegetation was, quite a contrast to last years drive across Kansas where everything was brown and dry. Evidently WI and MN had had quite a bit of rain as the whole area was soggy with many corn fields partially underwater.

Esther and boys overlooking the Mississippi River

At an ice cream stop in MN, Liam got to hear the Minnesota accent – think of the movie Fargo. The clerk commented how Washington, DC shuts down with 2 inches of snow and we must have come MN to see some “real snow”.

We still seem to be a curiosity with our rig and 4 brightly colored kayaks on the roof. People routinely stare and one even took a picture while passing us.

Our planned stop was going to be just inside the SD border at Sioux Falls. Fortunately, during the day William discovered that a dirty and wiggly ground cable that wasn’t making consistent contact was most likely the cause of our non functioning 12V system. So far so good. We decided to go further and ended up in Mitchell, SD after 576 miles and about 10 hours of driving. It seems this is the last stop for anyone headed west as there is nothing much else for 300 miles. The Walmart Supercenter there was very popular and attracted many overnight campers and truckers. There was also a huge Cabelas store there. To “pay” for our overnight stay we purchased a few things at Walmart including another adapter to allow both boys to charge or play their demanding electronic devices simultaneously while driving.