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We've been home a few weeks now, but I thought I would post a pic of our full route. If you want to scan the blog in chronological order, start with the oldest post. Thanks for following. We are looking forward to our next adventure!

Back to Minnesota

September 2: Aloft Wichita, Wichita, KS

We left Dodge City at 2-ish after leaving the urgent care. Annie had a freak accident the night before, tripping while midnight peeing. Three stitches in her cheek later, we were on the road again. We were looking forward to a shower that morning, but the urgent care trip meant we had to skip it. Instead, we decided to splurge again and book a room at Aloft in Wichita so we could have our showers! 

September 3: Leavenworth State Fishing Lake, Tonganoxie, KS

After Wichita, we continued on our path west, aiming for Kansas City. We chose a "state lake" which is reserved for fishing. The campground was "primitive camping" (which we now use a lot). We pulled in and explored a bit before retiring to Lucky. It was another hot and dusty night.

In Kansas City, we went looking for the jazz district, but there was no activity. Too early in the day for those jazzbos and we had to get moving. We did manage to find the best BBQ joint in the world (according to them), Arthur Bryant's. They had many photos with celebrities/presidents, and great tasting rib tips!

September 4: Arrow Rock State Park, Arrow Rock, MO

Now that we are in Missouri there are trees and grass and our coffee doesn't take 15 minutes to brew! We can tell we are getting back to the terrain we are used to. Arrow Rock is a historic site and another key part of the growth of western US. They have maintained the old main street, which includes a tavern that claims to be the oldest continuously-running restaurant west of the Mississippi.

Our original planned route back from the Southwest was via Route 66, but we decided that was not far enough north. We planned or routes day-to-day and by the time we reached Arrow Rock, we realized we had pretty much followed the Santa Fe trail the whole way.

The Arrow Rock visitor center also had a display describing riverboats. Both of us have been reading Huckleberry Finn, so it was fun to start seeing historical information from that time. The town of Arrow Rock was used in the filming of Tom Sawyer, a movie made in 1974. We watched it the next day at Jo's house.

September 5-6: Jo's House, Columbia, MO

We were hosted by Mat's sister Jo, who is an equine vet/professor in Columbia, MO. It was great to do laundry and shower and hang out with Jo. We watched Netflix, went hiking at Rock Bridge State Park (see us below at the "Devil's Icebox") and had a fun meal in town. Mat even got his haircut (last cut more than 3 months ago).

September 7: Ted Shanks Conservation Area, Ashburn, MO

As we get closer to Minnesota we are finding less to do. It is past Labour Day, lots of things close down and there are less people touring around. Most campgrounds are close to empty, but we are enjoying the cooler weather and hearing the crickets and birds sing.

This campground was right next to the Mississippi, so we could re-live excerpts from Huckleberry Finn and watch the huge barges navigate the river.

Unfortunately, we left our side vents open across very dusty roads and we had to spend a lot of time vacuuming and wiping to get rid of a layer of fine dust.

September 8: Blanchard Island Recreation Area, New Boston, IL

The next night, another campground on the Mississippi. We were the only ones here at a great location with 15-20 sites. No riverboats, but a lot of jumping fish.

The woods on the river side of the levy have mostly dead trees and have been taken over by vines. It gives a Dr Suess feel!

Near our campgrounds in Muscatine, we found the National Pearl Button Museum. The majority of pearl buttons in the late 19th century were made here from freshwater mussel shells from the Mississippi. It was quite an industry and the whole town was involved until they depleted the supply of mussels and plastic buttons were introduced.

September 9: Yellow River State Forest, Harpers Ferry, IA

For our last night, we stayed in a nice campground near Harpers Ferry. On the way to the campground, we stopped at Spook Cave in McGregor, IA. This a former town that has been transformed into a charming campground. They offer boat tours of the cave, so we took one. The boat was a small skiff with an electric motor and the host (an excitable teenager) guided us into the cave as we ducked to avoid the low ceilings and stalactites.

We're looking forward to being back home and seeing everyone again!

Heading East

August 27-28: Rio Bravo Campground, Orilla Verde Recreation Area, NM

The drive from Mesa Verde to Taos wasn't that long. When we were almost into town we stumbled upon a housing development called Earthship. There was an info center but it had already closed for the day. The community is centered around solar power and using alternative building techniques.

Farther down the road was the Rio Grande bridge, a spectacular view of the grand river basin. The river was low. 

To get to our campsite we were directed to a dirt road. Yes another and it was just as bad and full of hairpin turns. Mat did a great job of getting us down! That night we had fun playing games in our screen tent, and we met our camp host who travels with her 2 cats, and the old cat goes on hikes with her in the hills, on a leash of course.

The next day we spent in Taos. It is a cute town full of shops and galleries. 

August 29-30: Caja Del Rio Dispersed Camping, Santa Fe National Forest, NM

This site was our first real camping in the desert. Hot sun and not much cover. We were thankful for our solar charger to keep our fan and refrigerator working! Here we also saw the huge "super blue moon".

Santa Fe is a beautiful city with lots of tourists. Lots of them with money! The shops on the downtown square had some of the most beautiful Native American jewelry I have ever seen. I enjoyed looking at it, and Mat was patient with me, he found bookstores and benches to keep himself occupied. 

Our first full day we went to Meow Mouse, an artist created "museum" full of psychedelic paint, animals, and passageways, all infused with a story and clues and mystery. when we asked if the gift store person knew what the story was about, she said that even the artists cant remember what it was. The museum was created 20 years ago and things get added in . Meow Mouse was a great time! Mat LOVED it!

August 31: John Martin Reservoir State Park, Hasty, CO

At this point the heat, sun, sand and driving was starting to get to us. There wasn't much for camping and we settled for a site near a dam in Colorado. Sadly it had lots of bugs and the lake was low. Mat was getting down. The good ending is that we did our laundry and in the morning we both felt better. I guess it was the start of dove hunting. Our neighbor and his son were there for the opener. He likes to eat his dove wrapped in a green chile and bacon.

September 1: Dodge City KOA, Dodge City, KS

We are starting to get homesick and are taking longer daily drives and one-night stays. Today we stayed at the KOA in Dodge City, Kansas. KOAs are expensive but have many great services, including electrical and water hookups, Wi-Fi, showers, laundry, camping supplies, and snacks/drinks.

We picked Dodge City because the Internet "agreed" it was one of the hippest cities in Kansas. It was a key city in the wild west and they have a great interactive museum that included a gunfight reenactment.

We also enjoyed a brewery/pizza joint and a distillery in town.