On Sunday morning, we packed up the camper and left the Lewis and Clark Lake area and headed back into Vermillion. There we worshipped with the Vermillion church of Christ, a small congregation of about 25. They were very nice and all spoke to us. We met the McClurg family who told us they had family who lived in Alabama now. And what a coincidence when they told us that their family were members at West Huntsville! It was neat talking to them and sharing our connections with West Huntsville.
We continued traveling, leaving South Dakota and back into Iowa. So many cornfields everywhere! You just cannot fathom that we would ever have a shortage of corn. We also drove through an area where we were pretty close to some of the wind turbines. I had to take some more pictures, of course.
We came to Indianola where we found an RV Park amongst the corn fields. It was close to Des Moines so after we got all set up, we drove into the city to look around. We were able to see the capital building which was neat.
On Monday morning, we packed up and left Indianola with plans to ride east a couple of hours to visit Iowa City and the campus of the University of Iowa. After passing through more farmlands (corn and some beans) we came through this small city of Kalona where we saw several horse and buggies. According to Google, it is is the largest Amish community in Iowa.
Just a few more miles up the road, we came into Iowa City, which was much larger than we had anticipated. With only a few minor almost mishaps with pulling a camper through a large University city, we were able to find a parking lot amongst the practice fields on campus. We parked the truck and camper and then walked over to the Carver-Hawkeye Arena where Iowa basketball (gymnastics, volleyball and wresting) occur. This is where Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin (both in the WNBA) played in college. We have enjoyed watching women's basketball with Amelia so this was fun to visit. We didn't get to see much but did use the restrooms there which was a huge relief.
We also walked over to the track and xc facility. Afterwards, we made our way back to the truck and camper, fueled up and headed back onto the highway with hopes of reaching Missouri before stopping for the day.
Throughout the trip, we have prayed for our safety during travels (and thanked God upon reaching each destination). Thus far, we have not had any issues. But as we were about an hour out from our next stop, I noticed out my window and in the mirror black pieces of material flying up from the camper. Then seeing smoke, I told Daniel immediately that it appears we may have a tire blow out. He carefully pulled over onto the shoulder, in a grassy area and we got out. Sure enough it was a blow out. He noticed just a few more feet away, there was a gravel road that led to a barn in the cornfield. He was able to pull up so that he could use this more level surface to change out the tire. Daniel was able to successfully and safely change the tire out and it really didn't take too long to do so. We were only about 5 miles from a city and after googling, we found a Goodyear Tire Center. We were able to get the blown tire replaced in just a short while. After all that and because we were hot, exhausted and overall drained by the experience, we found a state park with a campground to stay. Prayers were definitely answered and it is easy to see that when you look back on it. Although it was a negative experience that we would have wished to avoid, we were blessed in that it happened so close to that gravel road, on the side away from the highway and so close to a city where we could easily get the tire fixed. So thankful that God was taking care of us!
After setting up camp on our spot in the Geode State Park (Danville, Iowa), we ate supper and rode over to the next closest city. West Burlington was a newer city with all the major shopping, stores and restaurants. Just a little further was Burlington which was older. Burlington was discovered in 1805 during the mapping for the Louisiana Purchase. It is on the banks of the Mississippi River and has many old business and church buildings. We rode around the downtown area and saw so many pretty buildings and homes. We also saw Snake Alley, which according to Wikipedia, is the most crooked street in the world (picture taken from Wikipedia because I didn't get a chance to take the picture myself).
It was good to be able to sleep well last night and take it easy this morning. I'm not sure what our plan is from here. Just thankful for the provisions and spending time together.
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