Sunday, August 4, 2019
Montpelier, IA to Albion, IN
We started off on I-80 heading East but turned off in Morris, IL. There we found a canal town along the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This was built in 1846 and runs along the Illinois River. The canal originally provided passage from the Chicago River at Bridgeport to the Illinois River at LaSalle. This was the first water passage from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. It has since been replaced by the Illinois Waterway and the Chicago Ship Canal.
After leaving Morris we meandered through the cornfields on good secondary roads. There was a right-angle corner at almost every town due to the rectangular survey system. Eventually we crossed into Indiana and then into the Eastern Time Zone. At one of these corners we found a stack of VW Beatles.
While we always thoroughly enjoy the big well-known places like Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, these 2 moments in our journeys are the moments we live for! Delightful, charming, whimsical, and totally unexpected!
We finally arrived at Chain of Lakes State Park in northeast Indiana and found Steve and Kim Hatt there. This is a big campground. The attendant said that all 500 sites were full the night before but fortunately they all went home on Sunday. It was only about 20% full tonight.
348 miles today
Monday, August 5, 2019
Albion, IN to Newbury, OH
We continued along the secondary roads this morning. It takes longer, but it is so much more enjoyable that the Interstate Highways. The weather grows more humid every day as we proceed East. This CSX freight train did not sideswipe us, although it was a little un-nerving seeing it barreling down on us in Ottawa, OH.
Ninety-three degrees and dry (like in Teddy Roosevelt NP) is much more tolerable than 85 and humid outside Cleveland. As we got closer to Cleveland the traffic picked up as did the traffic lights. Ugh! We stopped for the night at Punderson State Park on the east side of Cleveland. We got a nice full service site with a view of a large pond. School has started or will start soon for many Mid-westerners so the campgrounds aren’t as full.
276 miles today
On the road
Rory and Luci
Westward Ho! 