We are off!

Tuesday Oct 27, 2020.  We woke up to a 12 degree temp! It really is past time to leave.  We left the house at 9:00 am when the temp was up to 16!  But the Sun was out, it was a beautiful morning. 

Kind of messy but it all fit!

Our journey today is to get to Mason City Iowa, 250 miles, with our stops we ended up going 280.  Iowa does not require masks!  The hotel does but that was about it.  Luckily we did not need to go into any buildings.  We made a few stops along our way to walk, the temp and wind shortened all of our walks but we did manage to get a few miles under our belt. 

Stop 1 was at the Joel Marsh near Turtle Lake.  Its normally a nice place to take a break and enjoy a quiet walk but today the temp was 22 and windy.  The waters were frozen over so no ducks.  Stop 2 was in Owatonna in Mn, nice trail system, temp up to 32 and still windy. Final stop at Myre-Big Island SP in Albert Lea Mn.  Still 32 and windy but the water was open. We arrived at our hotel at 5:10pm, a bit tired and wind burned.  Pizza Hut was right next door, good place to pick up dinner!

Oct 28: A bit warmer as we left today, 31degrees at 7:45.  today we head to Omaha Ne. Skies were clean and sunny the temp got to 59 by the time we got to our hotel!  Our first stop was in Iowa City, where we found the Whispering Giant (Peter Toth).  Not a long stop as it was right by the road.  We are hoping that since we are not lugging the RV behind us we can take side trips to find a lot of this beautiful sculptures.

2nd stop was at Ada Hayden Park in Ames.  Beautiful 3 mile walk, weather began at 39 and rose to 50  by the time we finished our 2 hour walk. 

3rd stop was at Saylorville Dam to look for a few year birds, but no luck!  It was a nice place to stop, we did not do any hiking but managed to kill an hour looking for our needed birds.  We arrived at the hotel at 5 pm, after checking in we went to Hy-Vee for dinner!  They always have a nice selection of take out foods. 

Instead of 260 miles we ended up at 293.  Its a bit longer than we are use to..  Getting to the hotel after 5 pm is a bit hard on us old folks.  We liked stopping by 1:00pm with the RV... and not lugging stuff into the hotel..  its all good, new adventures, new experiences 

Thurs Oct 29: Since we are at a Hilton Garden Inn we went down for breakfast at the restaurant.  There was one man eating breakfast so we thought we would try to eat there.  Our food came fast and no one else came into the restaurant.  It was ok...

We went to Chalco Hills Rec Area not too far from our hotel.  It was so nice, concrete paths around the lake, we walked 3.6 miles but it was cold and windy.  At times it was really really cold.  Next stop was Lake Manawa State Park back in Iowa.  Not the greatest State Park but we did find a nice trail and they had open and lots of water fowl.  We then went to Fontenelle Forest but it turned out to be a private place with too many kids and $11 per person!  Needless to say we drove away.  We did a quick stop at Mount Vernon Gardens that was close to the forest.  It was not in bloom but a nice very short walk. 

Back to Hy-Vee for dinner, soup and salad...  at our hotel room.  Our room is a one bedroom suite, so it has a separate living room.  Unfortunately no 1st floor room so we took a second floor and the stairs.. Nice walking path and lots of small shops and restaurants around our hotel but we did not take advantage of any of them. 

Fri Oct 30: off to North Platte Ne.  morning temp 31 deg @ 7:50 when we left for North Platte NE, 275 miles, we ended up at 286 for the day.  Our first stop was at Marsh Wren Community Wetlands in Lincoln NE.  It was about a 1.5 mile hike with lots of birds!  So glad we stopped here. 

Our next stop was to be at the Whispering Giant by Peter Toth in Lincoln but it was gone!  Only the pedestal was remaining.  this is what it looked like in 2006, it must have deteriorated until it was taken down.  too bad it was gone!

Our next stop was the Lincoln Saline Wetlands, No wetlands!  A little water but not really any birds.  When we left Lincoln at noon we had traveled only about 50 miles of our 275! Got to keep moving...

Archway over I80 near Kearney

Yanney Heritage Park in Kearney was a great park to walk, some wetlands with beautiful Mute swans!

Nice sculptures too...

We arrived at our hotel at 5:00 pm when the temp was 71!!!!  had to take off a few shirts and jackets.   After getting dinner and lugging our stuff up to the second floor we went across the street to Peg Leg Brewery.  Nice place with a patio but as we are in Nebraska (Red State) no face masks are required.  We felt very uncomfortable inside waiting for our beers to be poured.  Nice place but don't need to go back. 

Saturday Oct 31 Happy Halloween!  Off to the West side of Denver, our final long day of 275 miles to Lakewood.  We left at 7:45 with temp of 38.  Arrived at our hotel at 4:40 Mountain Time.   We stopped a few places before getting out of Nebraska. We were suppose to change time somewhere in Nebraska but all of our clocks did not change until we got into Colorado.  We made one stop in Sterling Co for a nice 2 mile walk.  Our hotel is a Homewood Suites it's a one bedroom apartment.  Nice uneventful ride and our final 270+ mile section.  from now on we will travel a about 175 miles a day or less. 

We like to stay on the first floor to avoid stairs and elevators.  Well this hotel's first floor is downstairs! We are here until Tuesday.   

 I managed to drop my glasses on the floor and they busted!  I hope I brought my spare pair or I will have to walk around with tape on my glasses!!   Yep, found them on Sunday Morning!!