We Are Somewhere in Missouri!

We just finished dinner at the Happy Trails RV Park along Route 66. We thought about going to the Lake of the Ozarks State Park but it has been raining, sleeting, and snowing most of the day and it is going down to 18 degrees tonight. The dirt roads also looked pretty muddy. We thought it would be best to stay close to Route 66 in case we had any issues. This will be the first night we camp with temperatures below 30 degrees.

Another reason to stay here is that they have good WiFi so we will begin getting caught up on our blog tonight.

Are We Lost!!!

When Ms. Garmin and Ms. Google are telling you to go different ways pay attention! That was our first road trip lesson. After fighting our way through the snow in Michigan we thought we were home free — cruising across Indiana in the beautiful sunlight. We felt so good that we decided to press on, even though the sun set, to get to Lincoln Trails State Park in Illinois.

All was well until we were within 15 minutes of our campground — or so we thought. It was then that Ms. Garmin and Ms. Google could not agree on how to best get us there. Fifteen minutes turned into and an hour — and then more — as we wandered around the the dirt and gravel roads of Illinois in the dark. Ms. Garmin, who has the soul of a dirt road diva hidden in her programing, thought we’d enjoy winding around farmhouses and barns on roads lit only by a silver of the moon.

Of course when we did get to the campground we had to pick our camping spot — also in the dark. With roughly 200 campsites and only four other campers there was a lot to choose from. Maybe we need some criteria for next time!

And yes, the next morning we did discover that when we thought we were only 15 minutes away form the campground we were wrong — it was less that ten minutes. To say the least we took a very indirect route on Sunday night to cover the final few miles.

Our First Day

Our first day took us down the west side of Michigan and southwest across Indiana. The snow broke in southern Michigan and we drove into a blue skies and sunshine. Indiana was filled with flat farmland as far as our eyes could see.

We Left Leelanau County on Sunday in a Snow Storm

After three weeks of prepping Wander, our van, and getting packed we headed out on Sunday morning around 7:00am in a snow storm. The first storm of the season. A mild one by Northern Michigan standards but the first one for Wander. It was the first time we drove her in snow. We locked in the four wheel drive, pulled out of the driveway, and are happy to report that she handled amazing well for an 8000-pound van.

When deciding whether to go our thinking went something like this. Better to find out now, close to home with friends to come help if we got stuck, how Wander handles in snow. In a few weeks will will be in Utah’s snow country which will be unforgiving to poor vehicle performance and/or operator error.

We Are Ready

It is Sunday morning, we are in our van. We are ready to begin what we think if our five month adventure in the Southwest USA. Wait a minute. Is that snow? Our goal was to get on the road before the snow and before hunting season. I guess one of of two will have to be okay.