Thursday/Friday, September 17 and 18: We left at 7:30 Thursday morning and drove the rest of the way through Colorado and onto I-80. We stopped for a late breakfast in Ogalia.

I had thought that a lunch time stop in Kearney, NE to the Cabelas store would be a good break for Jim, thinking of the store we have stopped to before in Sydney, NE however that turned out to be a disappointment. I think it was one of their earliest stores and it was very basic. We looked around for a few minutes but then just ended up eating lunch in the camper in the parking lot before getting back on I-80.

The rest of the day was taken up with driving almost all the way across Nebraska. We stopped for the night in Greenwood, just west of Omaha. The campground seemed really nice when we pulled in and set up - nice green grass and trees. We ate our supper outside and there was a beautiful sunset.

However what we did not know ahead of time was that we were right next to the Nebraska Speedway. And boy, were those cars LOUD! from 7:00 to 11:00 PM.

Because we were not able to get to bed early the night before we left a bit later on Friday morning. We drove past Omaha and stopped again for a late breakfast at a very nice restaurant in Shelby, Iowa with a red barn theme. It seemed good to be back in the Midwest! Great food and friendly down to earth people.

The Missouri River - Nebraska/Iowa Borde

When we left there we could see a storm brewing in the West and before noon it caught up with us. Jim had to drive through some pretty heavy rain for awhile.

We stopped for lunch in Williamsburg IA. I knew there would be several restaurant choices there since there was a Tanger Outlet by the off ramp. I couldn’t resist a quick stop to Christopher & Banks since I could see it across the parking lot from the Arbys where we had lunch. :-) While we were stopped there the rain let up quite a bit. We took a detour just south of I-80 on a county road because the Google mapping was showing a couple of accidents on I-80 with at least a 1/2 hour delay. We were thankful for having the info to avoid the backup.

Mississippi River - Iowa/Illinois Border

I called the campground we had been thinking of stopping at for the night in Utica, IL however they were full. We had planned to stop just west of Chicago and finish the trip in the morning. Jim said he was OK with continuing on home so we kept  moving. We stopped for supper in Morris, IL at a Chilis so we could have a good break from being on the road.

Jim had to make one more repair under an overpass along the highway because the passenger side windshield wiper started acting crazy and hitting the driver side wiper. At one point they got tangled together so neither of them were working. With the rain we were driving through the wiper was a necessity so out came the tools again.

We pulled in to the driveway about 12:35 AM. Wow is it good to be home! After almost seven weeks in the camper the house seems enormous!

Our great adventure has come to an end but we were able to see some of the most spectacular scenery that our Great God has created and we have seen His hand of protection over and over. To God be the Glory - He is truly and Awesome God!!