Wednesday, September 8, Day 93

Today’s travel day was an easy three hour drive time and the whole drive was on I 80. The roads got worse the further east we got. Go Figure!!!

We pass under the Archway in Kearney Nebraska that spans I-80 at Exit 275. We didn’t stop at the the Archway. I did google it and saw that it offers unique historical exhibits that brings American history to life and so much more.  I did take some pictures of the Archway as we passed under it. There are three reasons we do not stop. 1. We have reservations at our next campground and 2. We are not sure what exit would bring us to this attraction and 3. We don’t know their pet friendly rules.

• 

• 

We go through a time change and arrive at the Grand Island KOA at 2pm Central Time Zone. Check-in was quick and easy and we, again, had an escort to our site. The KOA sign was very noticeable. If you miss this sign, you are in trouble. We are staying here for two nights.

We have a corn field behind us. Actually, the corn field surrounds the campground. Even though this campground is minutes from I 80, I think because of the corn fields and our site being close to the back of the campground, we were not bothered by the road noise.

Our site is long, level and gravel with full hookups and really good cable. They do offer WIFI, but I am using mmy own WIFI since I get a good signal using mine.

• 

• 

Although, we were not bothered by interstate noise, we did, however, hear locust or cicada noise. So loud I closed my window next to the bed so I could not hear the singing or chirping sound. I can’t even describe the sound but I am sure everyone has heard it before. I’m not even sure if they are Cicadas and locusts. I just know they are annoyingly noisy.

There is a camp store in the registration office. They have a snack bar that sells pizza and wings. I ordered a veggie pizza. It was delivered hot and it was so good. I cooked for the Hubby because he lost his taste for pizza for some reason. Hmmmm!

In the mornings, the sites are mostly empty. By late afternoon, almost every site is filled.

• 

• 

Our site is right next to a line of campground cabins. It appears that when the cabins are not rented, the campground rents sites in front of the cabins to small camper vans or truck campers.

One of our neighbors is traveling in a camper van and the other couple is traveling in a truck camper. There is no-way getting away from your spouse in something this small. But the upside of something this small is you can stop at any roadside attraction and if you miss a road or attraction you can turn around easily. If we miss a road or an attraction, we keep going. It isn’t easy to turn around a 44 ft 5th wheel.

Friday, September 10, Day 95

Today’s travel day is a little longer. The drive time to Des Moines is close to four hours. We stop half way at a roadside rest to take a break and walk the fur kids.

At 2:30 pm, we pull into our campground. Yep, another KOA. I was pleasantly surprised when the reservation host told me my second night was free. Some kind of customer appreciation package that I didn’t know about. I love my KOA campgrounds.

Again, we have a long, gravel, level site with full hookups, a picnic table and a firepit. The sites in this KOA are very close together. We, however, only have neighbors on one side of us. When i was in the camp store, I overheard the reservation desk telling a camper they were full so I wonder if the few empty sites were no shows.

We have a small strip of grass between our site and our neighbors. Our picnic table is right next to our neighbor’s utilities, including their sewer. But we don’t use the picnic table anyway. This is good for a two night stopover. Especially when I am only paying for one night.

Close to sunset, there was a huge sunball in the sky.

• 

• 

• 

The camp store is very nice. They are having a 25% off sale. I’m going to have to go check it out. This KOA, like the Grand Island has a snack area that sells pizza. I can pick my toppings so I got a veggie pizza without cheese again. It was delivered to our site. Yummy! Hubby ate a frozen Scalloped Potatoes and Ham by Marie Calendar.

• 

• 

• 

This KOA is huge. This is a section down below.

This KOA has lots to do, especially for the kiddies. I have to admit that every campground I’ve been in, the kiddies are good campers. Kudos to the parents for teaching their small campers how to camp. This KOA has a small lake/pond where campers can fish and rent pedal boats.

Every camper gets an escort to their site. There is a constant line of RVs coming in for the night and maybe since this is a Friday night, they are coming in for the weekend. By the end of the evening, almost every site is filled.

The two sites next to us are still empty.

Saturday, September 11, Day 96

The two sites next to us remain empty. We have one more night here. We will be at our home base in one week from now. This adventure we are on was just amazing. We are so blessed to be able to do it. We are already planning next summer’s adventure. What a life we are living.

God Bless, Stay safe, Be Kind to Every Kind.