Tuesday, June 4 The trip has been mapped out, the trailer is packed, the house is clean, the mail is on hold, the yard is mowed, the truck has been serviced . . . we’re all ready to leave for eight weeks to the Pacific Northwest! The only problem is . . . we don’t leave for two more days! Thursday, June 6 Fast forward two days, and we blasted out of the driveway at 7:30 with a 400 mile drive on the agenda. Tom’s favorite activity in the winter when we are not camping is to plan . . . camping trips! He has an innate instinct for targeting a destination, and planning a meaningful outline of routes, campgrounds, and things to see along the way. He also has the patience to make the many contacts necessary for reservations and confirmations, and to record everything in a calendar format. Tom’s Trip Ticket! The first day of driving took us along familiar paths as we make a bee-line west: up and through Chicago, and then onto Interstate 80. We would be on I-80 until we reached Salt Lake City. Riding in the back seat are Charlie and Jasper; they know this routine quite well but probably don't know yet that this is going to be one of the long trips! With a time change assisting us we arrived at The Tailwater West Campground in Iowa City by 2:30. It is an Army Corps of Engineers campground in the recreation area comprised of Coralville Lake and Lake Macbride; beautiful grass, long concrete pads, hook-ups, and nice bathrooms . . . all for $24. In the immediate area there are 11 campgrounds, 11 boat ramps, 3 marinas, 5 beaches, and 27 miles of hiking trails! Not even bothering to unhook, we took the dogs for a walk along the dam flume where the water was rushing fast and furious as a result of recent rains and flooding. We then walked down into a Devonian Fossil Gorge. The Gorge is labeled with 20 “discovery point” markers and we casually walked the 375 million-year-old seafloor viewing and reading about the fossils. At 83 degrees and breezy it was a nice walk except that the cottonwood trees were shedding millions of fluff-balls that combined with swarms of gnats making it hard to breathe! Back at the campsite we sat under the shade of a big tree with fans to blow the gnats away, ate dinner, and sat some more!
1 Comment
Mike
6/7/2019 11:37:24 am
Safe travels - looking forward to the updates
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |