58readytotravel

Hello family & friends! Nice of you to stop in. I could not access the Internet yesterday, so today will be a double post. Here we are in Shelby, IA at Shelby Country Inn & RV Park. Wow this was really an expensive stay here at $26 a night with such a tiny site. If there had been someone beside us, we would not have been able to open our awning and just barely open our slide. Everyone that stopped used every other site to avoid over crowding. No park map, no discounts of any kind, no cable, no internet, the gal forgot to give us a key to turn on the water with when we checked in. Good thing that Mark had a wrench to turn the water on. When we pulled into this park it was raining cats and dogs. Glad all we had to do was hook up the electric and the water. I guess that they can get these rates because they are right off of I-80. We did park at the back and it was quiet considering it is right next to the expressway. We had a building and a small hill between us and the road. Later we did walk up the the Dairy Queen next door and Mark got a hot fudge sundae.

Here is a shot that I took from the cab of the truck along I-80 in Iowa. What pretty country this is. Rolling hills filled with fields of corn and soy beans......mostly corn though. Some terraced fields to hold the water on the crops. Didn't see hardly any cattle or hay baled in the fields. Diesel fuel was $2.87 when we filled up on I-80 mm125 at Flying J's. We couldn't resist enjoying their lunch buffet. This Flying J's buffet was pretty good. No ice cream though!

Nearly every rest area in Iowa has wireless internet! I didn't get a chance to try it out. I was itching to, but we didn't want to take the time. Also most of the rest areas had dump stations. How nice if you just want to stop for a dry camp.

Here's a windmill that we passed along the road at Stuart, Iowa. We saw a group of over 30 in one place, but it was too far off in a distance to get a picture of.

Here's a crop duster that I got a shot of. We saw several of them dusting the corn fields. Those pilots must LOVE their jobs the way that they flip and twist in the air and then zoom just at the tops of the corn tassles. It was fun just to watch the show in the air!

Once we turned up I-29 on the west boarder of Iowa, the land started to flatten out. The Missouri River runs along the side of the state with Nebraska on the other side. More cattle and hay bales started to appear. Less corn and soy bean fields now. The wind mills are gone as well as the crop dusters. We continued up the boarder and crossed over into South Dakota at Sioux City, IA. Here's a rest area that we stopped at in South Dakota. Pretty nice for a rest of a few minutes! Took a photo of the teepee and state sign of South Dakota. Every rest area so far that we've seen in South Dakota had this same teepee art.

Mark had to make a pit stop while I was driving. We tried pulling off I-90 on an interchange and saw this bunch of cows that I REALLY wanted a picture of, so I pulled off onto the side of the road THERE! I'm also hoping to get a picture of the bales of hay in a field. Just waiting for that "perfect" shot of a field full of them. I only see to see those "perfect" shots when I am driving. Noticed that in this state the farmers plant and bale the hay right up to the side of the expressway. Have seen the Wall Drug signs along the road today. Free ice water, 5 cents for a cup of coffee, etc. We hope to be able to take the time to stop there again. We really enjoyed it when we stopped there years ago.

Along further down the road, the cows were right down into the ponds that were along side of the road. They were trying their best to cool off.

Here's my last photo for today. We stopped at Mitchell, South Dakota at the R&R Campground for the night. Pretty nice for Passport America price of $16 with full hook up and heated pool! This is where I am sitting at this time typing away on this blog so that you can all see where we've been and what we've seen so far. Below is a photo (that a gentleman was kind enough to take) of Mark and I in front of the famous Corn Palace. Pretty neat to see. It is free to enter, but once in there are all sorts of booths set up with everything you could ever imagine all made from corn. The walls were lined with photos of each year that the exterior of the Corn Palace was changed. Nearly every year they totally redo the exterior of the building using just corn and the stalks to decorate the walls. The work continues on day after day until it is completed. When we stopped, the front was completed with a rodeo theme and you could see them working on the side wall on yet more scenes.