Wednesday, June 13, 2024
We were awakened around 4 am this morning by the hotel alarm system blaring from a speaker about five feet from our bed. Jane instantly responded, but I was just starting to sit up in bed when the alarm stopped. We looked out the door and only saw a few fellow lodgers walking about in the hallway, so we went back to bed. My racing heart took awhile to slow down so I could fall back asleep; it took Jane much longer to resume sleeping.
As a consequence of our early morning sleep interruption, we were late getting up today. We arrived at the hotel’s breakfast room at 9:05 am and rushed to grab food items as the attendant was rushing to store them away. After a hasty breakfast, we packed the car and drove to a nearby grocery store for some food supplies then headed back to Lichtsinn where our trusty RV awaited us.
We parked the car by the RV, and hurriedly transferred our groceries and luggage back into the RV. While doing so, we determined that the freezer door latch wouldn’t catch. We couldn’t determine the cause immediately, so I used a tie-down strap and ratcheted it shut for today’s trip hoping that we could fix it this evening at the campsite. Finally, we hitched the car to our RV in the Lichstinn parking lot and shoved off.
We headed out of Forest City on IA-9 for about 20 minutes, then took I-35 for about 10 minutes before exiting and winding our way east on rural Iowan roads. The silo-speckled green ag fields didn’t allow much wind protection so we were swaying back and forth in the cab as we rolled forward. Eventually, in Cedar Falls, we got back onto interstate highways, I-385 S to Iowa City, then I-80 E to Davenport where we crossed the Mississippi River and entered Illinois, and finally I-74 E to our campground exit.
—— Along the Route ——
We were exhausted after pulling into our campsite (#37) at the Galesburg/Knoxville Illinois KOA Holiday. We determined the freezer door wouldn’t shut properly due to ice accumulation, so I chipped it away using a screwdriver as an icepick. We then relaxed in the RV and enjoyed beers with a homemade meal which tasted great after all the restaurant meals we had consumed on our RV-less adventure.
The campground appeared to be in the middle of cornfields, but after dinner, we decided to explore. The campground property behind the campsites was very nice with mown grass and an attractive pond. And, the campground owner maintained grassy trails through the woods further in the back. We had a pleasant hike as the evening temperature moderated, munching on wild mulberries and identifying birds based on their songs. Eventually, we retreated back into our motorhome and retired for the evening.
