June 12
Our last day of our Cross Country Trip. I’m excited and a little sad also. We headed out from Rick and Kate’s around 7:30 and heading home! This will be our longest drive. We are on Rt 90 for 400 miles. We went over pretty Onondaga Lake in Liverpool and crossed the Hudson River in Albany.
Arrived in Massachusetts around 1:00. Oh beautiful MA!
June 10
Got up, had breakfast, said bye to Andrew and Tom, Mary and I went to Mike’s church to see him sing in his choir. Nice job! Said our goodbyes and off we go at 10:30 to Rick and Kate’s house. Our last stop before home!
We are driving Interstate 90 along Lake Erie through Ohio, northern corner of Pennsylvania and up to just before Buffalo NY. This road is the longest interstate in the country, running from Seattle WA to Boston. Riding along the Niagara River over the North Grand Island Bridge, we arrived at Rick and Kate’s in Niagara NY around 7:00. So glad to finally be here and to see my brother and sister in law. Their home is lovely and we have a nice guest room to stay in. I love their three cats but Rupert is my favorite.
June 11
Rick made us yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Kate had to go to work today so after breakfast the three of us headed over to Niagara Falls State Park and did the Cave of the Winds tour. Another breathtaking beauty. We walked up to Hurricane Deck where it was the most beautiful view and got soaked, but it was so worth it. Saw the three falls, American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horseshoe Falls and got a free pair of sandals to keep. What a great time. Came back to the house to just hang out for a while.
Quote from my brother which perfectly describes this. “Cave of the Winds. The stairs that the people are ascending, take you to the Hurricane Deck, where you are almost standing directly under the falls. We went up there. I don't even know how to accurately describe it, other than "awesome", in the literal sense. I stood there like Tim Robbins, after he crawls to freedom in "Shawshank Redemption", with my arms outstretched, just getting pounded by wind and water. It's spiritual, seriously.”
June 8
Today is my mother’s birthday ❤️
Hooked up and out by 9:30 heading to Cincinnati - Mike’s house. Entered Indiana at 12:00, time changed to EST and Ohio at 3:00. Got to Mike’s house 3:30. Oh my gosh it is so great to see family! I feel like we are home. Having coffee and Mike is making sauce for pasta tonight. Yum!!
Mary and Andrew arrived around 8:00. All here now and so good to see my cousins. Just hung out and talked until bed.
June 9 Andrew made us breakfast and then we went to Jungle Jim’s, which is always an experience ☺️
Made yummy lunch with stuff we bought. Real food, yeah!
Went to local bar to watch the Belmont Stakes and watched Justify win the Triple Crown!
We had a delicious dinner of asparagus risotto and salad and then went out for ice cream. Nice end to a beautiful day.
June 7
Left the campground at 7:30 to head to Coon Creek Campground in Shelbyville IL. About 8:15 we entered Missouri and 10:30 we crossed over the Mississippi into Illinois.
We stopped in Springfield IL to visit Abraham Lincoln’s home and to take the tour of his house. What a beautiful and lovely tribute it was to the kind of people he and Mary Todd were.
We’ve been driving on Rt 72 for 130 miles. One long straight road! Driving down the road to the campground cornfields line both sides of the road! We saw this monster truck right out of Star Wars. Not sure what it was but think they use it to spray the fields.
We checked into Coon Creek and set up. Nice wooded area on a lake. Little confusing driving around the campground but our site is nice and quiet. No neighbors yet. Drove down to the lake but couldn’t find an access to the water. Went to do laundry and take showers. Restrooms are just okay, shower curtain was gross. We had salad for supper and straightened out our camper for the last night camping. It’s very humid tonight. Off to Mike’s house in the morning.
June 6
Woke up early, it looked like rain so we packed up and headed out by 6:30 to head over to Lake Wapello State Park in Drakesville IA. We are four hours into the trip and absolutely nothing to report. Long, boring road on Routes 29 and 80. Saw the pretty state capital building in Des Moines.
The highways around here are in poor shape. To pass it time I snapped pictures of farms and cornfields we passed along the way.
We stopped in Bloomfield to eat lunch at Farmers Table and such a treat to get homemade food and bread. This is a cute little town with a pretty town hall. This is the third largest Amish settlement in Iowa.
We checked into our campsite which is located on pretty Lake Wapello. There aren’t many people here and its not a large campground. It is very nice with lots of trees and restrooms are decent. There isn’t any place to buy ice or water near the campground. There is a soda machine and they have electric. We sat on the dock by the lake for awhile. Sunny 88°. We made sandwiches for supper and joined the other campers for a game of cornhole but about an hour into it we got a pretty severe thunderstorm. So we were in for the night.
