Well, here we are holed up in a hotel in Iowa so I thought it a good time to catch up with the blog.  Just crossed the Mississippi River in a raging snow storm.  High winds, miserable stuff.  So we pulled into the IOWA 80 - largest truck stop in the world, parking for 800 trucks and almost full.  It is a pretty neat place. I could have spend some big bucks on the art and dodad's in there.  T-shirts like you can't imagine.  DVD's - well everything a trucker could want, or would take home for the wife and kids. 

We went in because it was the first place we could get off the highway and out of the snow and viscious wind.  Our little Rialta has no traction (light in the front end and they don't make snow tires in our size) so its dangerous when it gets icy.  IOWA 80 is like a bit of a mall inside, two levels of shopping, eating and services for truckers - and us other mortals.  The complex also houses things like truck washes (like a car wash but bigger), a trucking museum, service bays and etc.  What is the most impressive is the parking.  Reefers and others don't turn the trucks off so there is a mighty rumble of engines.  The parking area was nearly full when we pulled in - the snow and wind were really bad, so most traffic was pulling off.  The landscape here is nearly flat so this storm was powerful.  Yesterday the sky was so awesome with fast moving clouds.  Tornado warnings were out, but don't think it hatched any.

Got a room in a Comfort Inn across the street and are now paused in our westward trek.  Supposed to be sunny tomorrow.  Spent last night in a truck stop with parking for 200.  Lulled to sleep by the roar of reefers and idling engines.  Actually slept like babies with our little rig hidden among the big boys.

We had a great visit with Mom in Ontario.  Got her a new chair for watching TV, had a little birthday party and so on.  She was pretty tired when we left.  Had a nice, but brief visit with Jenny and Jess and had a shorter reconnect with my Aunt Ann and Uncle Peter, and Uncle Phil and Aunt Donna.  We returned the rental car Monday morning, then hit the road going through Sarnia to Lansing, Michigan on the first day.  The traffic on the highways in Ontario is mind-boggling.  Slow getting across the border because of the volume of traffic, especially trucks.

Tuesday we traveled through Indiana and into Illinois.  Most memorable part of the trip was the sky.  Landscape is very flat, cultivated farmland outside of towns and cities.  So the sky is huge.  There was a huge storm system moving across the US from Texas way which made for awesome clouds formations which were constantly changing.  

So back to today.  Didn’t make much progress 3 hours driving, but no regrets.  We promised ourselves we would not drive in bad weather so we didn’t. Just looked out window and the sun is now shining and snow is melting.  We could get a few more miles in, but are staying put.  Jack is laying on the bed snoring away with the kind of bliss that men feel when they have the TV on sports or cartoons, clicker in hand and nothing to do but create some zzzzzz's.

Tomorrow we head for DesMoines, Iowa, then up to Forest City where we will tour the Winnibago plant before going up to I-90 and heading due west.  Looks like 2-3 days of good weather ahead.  Some snow and rain brewing over the rockies so we’ll see.  Might hole up again before we hit the coast.  

We've been traveling interstates all the way.  Don't enjoy them - traffic is gruesome and you just zoom by everything.  But they are good for making time, which we want to do, and have lots of truck and rest stops which we appreciate.  Boondocking is a lot easier on the pocketbook.

Have been doing well camping in the rig.  Warm and cozy.  A little disorganized just because we have been on the move.  When we stop I have been working on Frommers revisions - will be glad when that is completed so I can fully relax.

Look after yourselves folks.  Remember if you want to contact us email julie@seacroftpei.com

Julie