The trip. Day One

I promised awhile back that I would write about our trip from Iowa to Texas.  I am not writing this as a manual or how-to guide, this is just to document parts of our journey.  I can not and/or will not recommend that anyone takes a 35 year old motorhome and attempts a trip like this one particularly in the summer months. Whenever Toie and I travel with more than one vehicle, we make use of a pair of 22 channel handi-talkies.  We have found that they are easier and safer than fumbling with a cell phone.

Our first day was planned out and mapped months in advance. the only thing that changed was our choice of campgrounds.  We went from Ainsworth, Iowa to Stanton, Missouri, a trip of about 250 miles, in the course of about 6 hours. We fueled the car and the motorhome at Four Corners in Ainsworth at about 9am and proceeded on our way. I probably didn't start to relax until we were south of Mount Pleasant, when the rv and I finally seemed to get into our groove. The rest of our trip out of Iowa went smoothly. On trips south we always seem to stop at the Flying J just south of the Iowa-Missouri border on US61 and this time was no different. When we stopped the old beast had been running quite well, the temperature gauge showed in the good range, oil pressure was good and the charging system was working top-notch.  I did notice that there was a slight drag to the brakes when we pulled out and got back on the highway, but once underway everything seemed fine. We did not travel through St.Louis instead we chose to leave US 61 at Wentzville and travel the two lane highways to St. Clair, where we picked up I-44.  Taking this route saved us about 90 miles and avoided the heavy traffic around St. Louis.  The first road (Highway W) was somewhat of a challenge being that it was quite narrow AND heavily traveled by large truck traffic. With portion of Highway W we traveled being only about 13 miles, it had to be the worst stretch of road we traveled this whole trip.  In addition to being narrow, the road subjected myself and the rv to quite a bit of rough treatment, The posted speed limit of 55 is much to fast for certain parts of this road, a lesson I quickly learned when everything started flying around behind me.  I have to admit that other than a few issues with the road condition, the scenery was beautiful and I wouldn't hesitate to drive this section again in a much smaller vehicle. Once we crossed I-70, the two lane highways became much smoother and scenic. Washington, Missouri was quite a treat, especially driving over the bridge coming into the city.  We made a quick stop so that I could check the torque of the lugnuts and were quickly on our way once again.  Once we made it to I-44 I made a beeline to the Flying J in Sullivan so that we could scout out a place to spend the night.  We decided on th KOA in Stanton because of its easy access to I-44.  The KOA was wonderful, we were treated to a nice quiet spot  in the rear, away from most of the other campers.


To be continued.....