We wake to a dewy morning full of fog from our stay at a Nebraska state recreation wayside. It was hot and humid the day before and was devoid of any campers, save us, and by nightfall all the fisherman had left as well. However, we did hear the close-by freeway all night. But with lush green lawn and more than adequate space in a convenient location, it was a nice boondocking spot. Had we come a month later we probably could have harvested a couple ears of corn growing right next door too.
Nebraska takes a long time to traverse at nearly 400 miles. The more arid open cattle ranches and dry western portions level out to the Midwest namesake of field after field of nothing but corn and large hay bales as I-80 follows the Platte River closely. Leaving the freeway at Lincoln, the capital, we make our way for Missouri, first hitting just the southern tip portion of Iowa where we cross the broad expanse of the Missouri River.
For all its beauty and pristine cleanliness, neat and tidy farms and gorgeous homes, courteous drivers, and great highways and pavement, Missouri is not an RV friendly state. There has been no boondocking, few RV parks and also surprisingly, few WalMarts for dry camping. So tonight we are in a Good Sam RV park at $29 called Cottonwood located near Columbia. That is palatable since we needed to take on water, dump, be able to do laundry (which takes a sewer and water hookup), and soak up our first WIFI since leaving SLC. A fair trade I would say. When the Duske’s roll in to stay at a park we really get our money’s worth.
Tomorrow—after traversing the dreaded St. Louis, MO freeway system (thank God it’s Sunday!), on through southern Illinois and hopefully somewhere into West Virginia. I have heard it is mountainous—maybe that means some national forest boondocking? We may not have internet again until next week about Tuesday or so when we expect to arrive at Marc's sister's place.
