Drive To North Utica, Illinois.

Today we clicked off the last 289 miles of our 1,000 mile trek on I-80, we are currently at the Hickory Hollow Campground near Utica and from here we will head north on I-39. Today’s drive went well, we woke up extra early (due to the time zone change yesterday), but waited until after 8 AM to start the mothership. We had some rain during the drive but it was not heavy and didn't slow us down much as everyone seemed to be driving accordingly, by 1:30 we were set up on our site.

 

CR-P58 took us back to I-80 from the KOA.

 

It looked like rain was coming.

 

There was more traffic in Des Moines than we expected on a Saturday morning.

 

The rain wasn’t heavy when it started.

 

We thought of Janie and John when we drove through.

 

Rain with road construction always makes it interesting.

 

Back across the Mississippi River.

 

Then the sky got darker and the road became very rough; cars roared past us at excessive speed, tailgating and changing lanes without signaling; Must be in Illinois! (OK, just kidding, it’s an Illinois – Wisconsin thing).

 

We finished the drive with more road construction.

 

 

We always appreciate the comments we receive on our posts but don’t  always reply to them, your comments always make us think so today we would like to respond to them:

Rod and Loyce said that Nebraska seems to go on forever, that is not an exaggeration. The first time John drove it alone he was in High School and on his way to visit a friend in Colorado, when he reached the State line with Iowa he thought this is easy, the next State is Colorado so I’m almost there. Well, Nebraska kicked his butt and when he had enough he slept in the front seat of his car at a rest stop. This time we drove it from Wyoming to Iowa and it kicked both of our butts, but that’s part of the fun of traveling.

Chuck and Anneke commented that despite the long day yesterday we still “ended up at home”. That made us appreciate how lucky we are to travel like this, wherever you stop you can push a few buttons and you are right there in your living room relaxing – What a life!

Happytrails noted that accidents like the one yesterday are always sad. During his career with the Sheriff’s Department John worked more of these accidents than he cares to remember; despite displaying a callused or “professional” exterior you always lay in bed that night (or day), thinking about it and yes, it is always a sad thing for everyone involved – Drive Safe.

Janie and John commented that when they drive I-80 there is always something going on including major construction, accidents… From what Sandy found online, yesterday’s crash may have been related to the road construction in that area. Witnesses commented that a construction crew was cutting concrete or something that raised a large cloud of dust that was blowing across the road and reducing visibility, the crash started when a semi rear ended a car that had probably slowed because of the dust cloud.

Jim and Sandie asked when we will slow down, I think we started this afternoon. John fell asleep on the loveseat for an hour or so and when he woke up Sandy was asleep on the couch, we will take off tomorrow to rest and complete our drive to Wisconsin on Monday.