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!