Saturday, May 1st, we were finally leaving Auburn, IL, with our partially remodeled home. We completed the floors, replaced kitchen and bathroom sinks and faucets, bricked the walls, and wallpapered the toilet room. Tom also built the girls’ beds and installed my shelf for storage. We had breakfast with his brother and sister-in-law then we wandered off to a part of the original brick section of Route 66. We couldn’t think of a more fitting place to start our adventure.
We found the car we wanted, which was not easy with the computer chip shortage. A dealership in Joliet, IL, would have it ready to leave with as we passed through. We stopped and completed the paperwork for a 2021 Chevrolet Equinox we could flat tow. Tom and Liv took off in the RV while M and I cruised down the highways in our new car. We didn’t have a way to tow yet, so I had to drive across the country again. M and I stopped in Colona, IL, to visit another one of my friends, Deb. She is another friend from the Facebook group from years past. The visit was too short, but it was so lovely to finally meet her. We left Colona and headed for Tom and Liv, who’d stopped at the World’s Largest Truck Stop in Iowa, aptly named Iowa 80. It’s in Iowa and it’s on I-80. If you’ve never been to Iowa 80, you must stop as you pass. It’s like a department store. They have an entire semi-truck inside the store. And, it’s like 6 stores in one. It’s crazy large. We walked across the street for dinner at Gramma’s Kitchen and decided to tuck in for the night. In a whole large parking lot just for RVs. A lot of RV delivery drivers were staying overnight, also.
While heading across Iowa, that screeching that told us to stop, that was supposed to be fixed? Yea. It wasn’t fixed. It started screaming at Tom and Liv again. Luckily, Iowa, Eastern Colorado, and Nebraska are primarily flat. We stopped at The Archway in Kearney, NE, and explored the museum on our way through Nebraska. I was born in Iowa and moved to Colorado when I was 7. We made a lot of road trips back and forth, then as an adult, I made multiple. Until this stop, I had no idea the archway was a museum. A visually appealing, informative museum. The Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail all crossed paths in Kearney. The museum holds unique exhibits regarding the travelers of each trail. It explores the different eras in the area and is overall a fun and informative stop. We left the museum and headed over to S.A.M.Que for a BBQ dinner before getting back on the road. Shortly after dinner and heading into the sunset, it started to rain. It would intermittently pour sheets of water then barely rain at all. Not seeing very well at dusk and even worse after dark, I no longer felt comfortable driving, so we pulled off in a rest area for the night. We awoke next to a field of cows the following day, took a family selfie with the cows, and drove toward Denver.
We checked in to Bear Creek Lake Park, and Tom got on the phone with the local Cummins shop. We arrived in Denver on Monday, May 3rd, and Cummins was able to take a look at our home on Thursday, May 6th. Bear Creek Lake Campground was a great campground in the foothills of Denver. We were close enough to visit the adult children, do laundry, and shop without driving too far. We enjoyed wandering the trails in the park. Thursday morning, we packed up the RV and dropped her off at the Cummins shop. We booked 2 rooms at Woolley’s Classic Suites, enjoyed room service and the bathtub. Cummins called Friday morning to let us know that when CIT replaced the fuel system part, they should have replaced a couple of other parts as well. They didn’t, the parts were bad, and the shop ordered them. They were hoping to have them Monday or Tuesday. The girls and I planned a road trip when the parts didn’t come in on Monday. Tom stayed behind in Denver while the girls and I drove back to Oceanside. Tom would follow whenever Cummins was done with our home.
Again, there was rain in the forecast, and it was raining when we left, so we took the southern route to get out of the storm. We pulled into La Quinta Inn & Suites in Holbrook, AZ, to find a room for the night. We settled in then went down the street to Bienvenidos Restaurant for dinner before turning in for the night. We barely got half a mile down the road before stopping at a Route 66 roadside attraction the next day. On our way out of town, there was a closed shop full of ginormous dinosaur sculptures. If they’d been open, we would’ve stopped. They weren’t, so we headed for Oceanside. We checked into the Marina Inn & Suites in the Oceanside Harbor when we got there. My favorite hotel in Oceanside. We were going to have dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack, but we went somewhere else after waiting for an hour. Just as we were getting our food from Rockin’ Baja, Joe’s was texting that our table was ready.
Thursday morning, the girls slept in while I attended my golf committee meeting. Thursday afternoon, we just hung around schooling and working. Cummins was finished with our home in Denver, and Tom was on his way to Oceanside. By the time we woke up Friday morning, Tom was sleeping in the park n’ ride off of the 15 and the 76. We met him at Guajome Park and set up our home. We had fun working the food distribution at VANC Friday afternoon and enjoyed a BBQ with friends that evening. Sunday afternoon, we headed over to Orfila Winery in Escondido to celebrate our friend David’s birthday.
We spent the next month in North County San Diego, Anza Borrego State Park, and Lake Moreno. We completed projects in the RV, including putting the TV on an electric lift and creating a lid. After the June food distribution, we were on our way to adventure.
Where will the road take us?
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