Tuesday, June 16 These little guys seem to enjoy the camping routine – new sights and smells and lots of additional walks. They settled down in the back seat of the truck and are excellent travelers. Continuing across Iowa on I-80, it was another short day (265 miles/5 hours) of blue skies and temperatures in the mid 80’s. We always look forward to a quick stop at the largest truck stop in the world -- and I even masked up and went in for a quick purchase. Our campground at the Iowa State Fairgrounds (remember the movie and the song?) was a nice surprise. . . choose whatever spot you want – out of the over-2000 spots! It was lots of green grass, shade trees and smallish hills, and maybe a dozen other campers spread out all over 12 large areas. It was like camping at the National Cemetery -- without toombstones! We enjoyed a few hours letting the dogs run free in the immense grassy area around our camper and then headed into town to see the Golden-domed State Capital Building. (Fact: the 23-karat gold leaf covering the dome is so thin that 250,000 sheets pressed together would measure only 1” thick.) The city streets were bare of pedestrians and cars, and we are supposing that is due to the Pandemic. We never thought the Capital Building would be open – the many parking lots were almost empty – but we found that it was indeed open, even for visitors. We masked-up, had temperature taken and a security scan, and were handed a map for a self-guided tour. We were warned that the doors to offices were locked, and our walk-thru was limited to the main hallways, the rotunda and the grand staircase leading upstairs. It was stunning with many murals and mosaics, a magnificent rotunda, and the beautiful crowning of the inside of the dome. We probably saw less than 8 people, inside, and guessed again that that was due to Covid. Downtown, on the way back to the Fairgrounds, we noticed some establishments that were boarded up. We wondered if there had been a threat of rioting due to the nationwide upheaval; at 4:00 in the afternoon there was nobody around!
Last night we ate out at the Starved Rock Lodge, so tonight we had our first camping meal: homemade potato salad, and Cornish hens – all cooked (heated up) and eaten in the Silvermine.
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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 |