RV Life

The Best Rest Stop Ever?

| jamiefeinberg

Yesterday was a long day, but we powered through and we are hopefully within a day’s drive of our destination today. Moving forward we would like to limit the driving to more like 5-6 hours plus stops, but the car issue definitely set us back. On days where we sightsee, we want to drive even less. 

Although the internet was only useable during the evening when the Visitor’s Center was closed, the Lamoni, IA rest stop makes the most of its location in a way I haven’t seen before. Art permeates the building, with the Mormon Trail as a centerpiece. The gorgeous design includes lots of comfortable seating, and against the wall are booths with Internet and seats so that you can work with electricity (and heat!) in comfort. The rest rooms are really nice too.

Outside you’ll find a pet area, tons of picnic tables and some historical information in the area. An outdoor patio invites you to linger. Two additional walking trails are worth a look. One leads to an overlook of the river. It’s a nice walk, even if the foliage is a bit overgrown like it was when I was there. And the other leads to an absolutely incredible spot on the lake with a picnic table to enjoy the views. There are also walking trails (not handicapped accessible) that look like they go around the lake, but I wouldn’t explore that without an orange vest at this time of year.

I absolutely loved waking up to the sunrise here. What beautiful (and free!) views.

Other things we did yesterday:

Got gas in Kearney, MO (and resisted the excellent Krispy Kreme displays)

Crossed the Missouri River

Walked downtown of historic Independence, MO, home of Harry S. Truman and his library; full of beautiful homes and sidewalks and diverse residents (at least one that didn’t seem thrilled we were visiting!)

Drove through Kansas, including a few city areas that were crazily busy

The highways had “exits on exits” which weren’t our favorite

Drove the Frontier Military Historic Byway

Enjoyed the look of Fort Scott, KS (future trip?) which seemed fun and historic

Enjoyed this pretty state with lots of lakes and trees 

Visited Missouri for literally another minute before entering Ohio

Stayed warm although it got down to 25 degrees outside our RV (40 in)

We had hoped to stay at another rest stop last night, but they actually close it down after hours so we found a different free parking lot (Walmart) to crash in. Miami, OK is home to eight American Indian nations and it is kind of fun to be in Miami! We were also charged the car rate when we exited to pay a toll, $.75, so that was fun. 

Today we will head toward a friend who lives outside of Dallas for Thanksgiving. No grand sightseeing plans for today. We are ready to relax our pace after this. Thanks for reading!  

Dining in Des Moines

| jamiefeinberg

We had originally hoped to leave Iowa on Monday, but after a ton of frustration with our car insurance, we didn’t get the word that the car would be totaled (and hence no reason to stick around) until late Friday. After getting our electric step adjusted (will need to order a new motor, but at least it’s all the way in now), we drove back to our friend’s in the crazy wind before some snow came in. So we planned to leave Sunday morning, after the wind fest was over. 

We had an admirable goal of 9 am but by the time we were actually ready to depart it was closer to 11:30. We said our goodbyes to Dan and Aoife, to their cats Buddy and Zoe, and to my adorable dog friend across the street, a collie. We were off. 

We stopped an hour or so in for a quick break in Mason City, which looks walkable from the brief bit we saw. I visited my first Hy-Vee grocery store. They’re quite the experience! This one has pizza, Italian, Asian cuisine (all in mini stores along the outside) as well as a pharmacy, a huge alcohol selection, great deli and bakery and everything you’d expect. I grabbed some additional Thanksgiving essentials since a friend of mine in Texas has invited us to join them!

We passed through Ames, IA, as well, which has a university and a bus system for public transit as well as lots of lakes and nature trails. We didn’t explore, but maybe next time we pass through. 

Our main goal for the day was to visit a food co-op or natural food store. Since we hadn’t been in Des Moines yet, we headed there, only a few miles off our route.

Gateway Grocery was beautiful, with a market cafe attached. Parking was a challenge in the RV but we made it work. Don’t bring a big rig here unless you want to park on the street. The little glimpse we had of Des Moines showed us some very nice neighborhoods worthy of further exploration. 

The Grocery was quite overpriced for most things, but the food was really high end which helped make up for it. Ross was tired and had worked hard all day, so I treated him to some Spicy Pork Belly Ramen. He loved the pork, enjoyed the spicy dish and kept raving about it, so I think I did good!

After our food adventures I grabbed some dinner and we headed to our destination, a rest stop in Lamoni with wifi and walking trails that other RV-ers had found really welcoming. We had quite the adventure getting there – we tried following one of my apps for a gas station and spent way too long amidst corn fields and deer – but we worked it out and got back on course, found gas and found the rest stop. It gets dark so quickly now. We were settled into bed before 8 am! 

The temperature dropped to 25 degrees last night (winter weather camping isn’t our favorite but we are very capable) so we are glad to be heading out of Iowa!

Today we might make a quick stop in Kansas City as we pass through. Time will tell how far we get. We can stay in Texas tomorrow night but we can also wait until Wednesday if we don’t want to rush, so we will see how the driving goes. Thanks for reading!

There’s Nothing Halfway about the Iowa Way

| jamiefeinberg

So begins the song that’s been rollin around my head (thanks, Meredith Wilson) since we entered Iowa about a week and a half back. We really came here to visit friends and get some stuff done, but we’re managing to have plenty of fun along the way. 

We are in a tiny town of about 100 people, but there’s a nice neighborhood feel and I usually get out for a walk each day, particularly enjoying the river views. Ross and I have also visited Decorah twice, which is a lovely college town that is home to Luther College. It has some gorgeous architecture, an extremely walkable downtown with fun historic information and murals and all of the chains and big box stores one needs for the essentials. (Including a 24 hour Walmart. Why can’t NH have more 24 hour stores?) 

One museum we haven’t visited yet (it’s pretty pricey for us) is Vesterheim, the four story National Norwegian-American Museum & Heritage Center. It looks like it would take at least four hours, so plan ahead around the guided tours of some of the out buildings. 

The fact that we skipped the museum doesn’t mean we have lacked for activities. We did some shopping (I couldn’t help it – the dress and the cowboy boots were gorgeous and the boots were at an unheard of price) and picked up some goods and goodies at the New Pioneer Co-op and at the bi-weekly farmer’s market. They’ve also got a music store and a game store, so Ross was a happy camper, and we bumped into the headquarters of StoryPeople, a wonderful company that makes artsy books and wooden things that are colorful and with wonderful stories. I’ve always enjoyed their products at fancy galleries/boutiques in New England and have given a few as gifts. Who knew they were based in Decorah?!

We managed to catch a wonderful concert by the community orchestra last weekend. A local professor was the soloist for Rhapsody in Blue, and the concert also included works by Bernstein and Copeland that were very well done. Best part? The concert was free! 

Our first RV puzzle has come up. We have a small power steering leak. So we need to find someone to fix that, ideally before we leave but definitely soon. Stay tuned for that one.

Otherwise we have been super busy transferring prescriptions, lining up health insurance, revising resumes and websites and lots of other important things. Still tons to do, but we are making progress – and Ross booked his first gig from cold calling! 

Lots to do. And the election and the pipeline are making me nervous. But we are blessed and thankful to be here. Thanks for reading! 

Captivated by Cedar Rapids, IA

| jamiefeinberg

On our final travel day before reaching our friends in Iowa, we awoke at Cracker Barrel. After grabbing a Harry Potter-esque butterscotch flavored soda to share at lunch, we began our trip to Cedar Rapids, IA. Much of the scenery was repetitive, with open fields and farms, but there were absolutely gorgeous moments when the landscape would open up and we’d have nothing but gorgeous hills, farms and rivers ahead of us in a scene worthy of a painting. As we headed out of Illinois there were some especially beautiful waterfront areas – Moline and Rock Island were a couple of them. And crossing the Mississippi into Iowa was very exciting! 


I really liked Cedar Rapids overall. The new development areas we were in had affordable and fancy housing mixed and right across the street from a variety of food options, big box stores, doctors, dentists, banks and more. I love these mixed use communities and wish they were more common throughout the country. I also spotted a music and dance academy. (Musician goggles and all that.)

We saw more of downtown as we headed toward our destination. As we passed the Czech Village we saw the gorgeous, gargantuan Czech/Slovak museum, which we will have to return to. Downtown had a nice mix of buildings, older homes and different types of businesses. I enjoyed the river front, hills and green spaces and loved seeing more people of color than we are used to in New Hampshire too. Lots of bicycle lanes as well to make things more accessible. 

Our destinations for today included Walmart, Videogames Etc. and the New Pioneer Co-op, but without a doubt the real destination was the African-American Museum of Iowa. It is housed in a beautiful, inviting building that has unfortunately seen major flooding since it was built, since restored. The museum has two exhibits at one time. The rotating exhibit highlighted African-American authors, poets, playwrights and more throughout the history of this country, and was a great overview of both well-known and lesser-known figures. But the permanent exhibit is a definite must-see. It has elements throughout that encourage you to contemplate, interact with and wrestle with history. We learned a lot about Iowa’s role as a more progressive state, including how African-Americans were voting and holding elected positions in the 19th century before reconstruction had begun elsewhere. Really fascinating and complicated. And as we have found elsewhere, the video oral histories they’ve collected contain some of the most powerful material on our history, in this case on the role of segregation in daily life and on the civil rights movement. 

This was the second museum I’ve been to that was founded by a church – the first was the Harriet Tubman house. The idea that churches could take on this role hadn’t been on my radar previously, but so far both have been excellent so I think it’s a wonderful model when education and history are at its core. 

After a lengthy visit to Cedar Rapids, we headed two hours north. We are now settled in with our friends. We anticipate at least a few posts while we are here.

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!

From Dayton to Peoria in a Day

| jamiefeinberg

Our night in Dayton was a bit different than planned. We had originally thought to camp at Walmart, but there was a part of us that wasn’t thrilled to be solo in their parking lot for the night. Not uncomfortable, but not comfy, I did a quick search and saw there was a Flying J only 15 minutes away. They’re a well-loved travel plaza chain, so we headed there, found a spot for the night and settled in. The next morning we had breakfast and hit the road after much discussion of interstate vs. not. We settled on interstate to allow time to visit the Luthy Botanical Garden in Peoria, IL. All went well on the drive, although the wind was often intense. We ate lunch at a beautiful rest stop in Indiana (our first time there) and we’re making great time. But when we arrived at the BP Google had suggested, it was tiny, so we retraced our steps to the Cracker Barrel in the outside of town. Once the night’s lodging was acquired, we booked it back to downtown, which gave us a half hour inside and all the time we wished outside to explore the beautiful garden. Ross gets credit for finding this and it was really wonderful! Tons of art and sculptures, birds and squirrels and a bunny, nooks and crannies and seating and the setting sun. Such a wonderful way to spend an hour or two. And it’s free!
Peoria didn’t WOW us like Cleveland, but it was nice enough and we loved the area with the garden, which had other things including a playhouse. Some of the residential areas were really fancy too – and some seemed to have two houses but one driveway. Old homes perhaps? Only negative was both children and adults crossing busy streets without crosswalks!

After a quick snack on our drive, we were back at Cracker Barrel. After some debate we decided to sit down for dinner. Unfortunately they aren’t very good at taking to people with allergies but we had a good meal (and I got my coveted cinnamon sugar baked potato) and Ross has more than enough food for a meal or two today. We’re hoping for a midday adventure before meeting our friends tonight! 

Besides seeing two new to us states yesterday, Ross described how much he enjoys seeing things that are different from what we know in New England. Big farms and open fields, wind turbines and even the steel architecture (including some reminiscent of Dayton’s plane history) excited him. To me, they weren’t that much different from North Dakota, but I do love realizing we aren’t in NH anymore. The adventure has definitely begun!

Rainy Days are not Lazy Days

| jamiefeinberg

What a wonderful two days we have had! Wonderful is subjective, of course, but we have had so much to be thankful for. I still can’t believe we are doing this! 

After our wonderful Thursday adventures visiting Auburn and the House of Guitars, we settled in for dinner and for the night at Cracker Barrel. They had six RV spaces I had learned were highly coveted, but we were shocked to be the only overnighters! It was a great neighborhood, only about 25 minutes from Rochester, very high end. We got cozy there quickly and had a nice night’s sleep, even if using the restroom and such were a bit awkward. (We bought another treat the next morning as a thank you.) We decided to winterize our RV before leaving NH, which was the right call but which means we need to avoid using our on board bathroom unless it’s an emergency. 

Enough about bathrooms. The next morning the deluge of rain continued, so as soon as it was light – in fact, quickly after 8, a new record for us – we hit the road to try to escape the rain and at least take advantage of daylight. I was worried our drive would look like our stressful Rochester driving (pretty tame compared to Boston but still), but we were quickly out of the city and enjoying the hills and mountains of NY, incredible foliage and my favorite, a gorgeous drive through New Harmony that combined big mountains, lakes foliage and an aerial view. Wish I had a camera to capture those! 

We left as early as we did, in part, to give us time to visit Cleveland. After much investigating I had settled on Punderson State Park, 45 minutes outside the city, to spend the night. With 20 amp electric, showers, restrooms and a gorgeous setting for only $25, we were really excited. After we chose our site, hooked up and made an early dinner, we headed to the Cleveland Museum of Art. The drive was a breeze until maybe 3 miles in. Old historic homes, huge forested properties, bike trails and bus lines – we loved it! The last few miles were a little stressful as it was true city driving, but Ross handled it like a pro. We loved the architecture in Cleveland and despite the rain we were really looking forward to it.

I think Ross fell hard for the museum almost as soon as we got there. I had to check my water (!) but there was no ticket required for this gorgeous free museum. To do it all would have easily taken 4-5 hours, but we crammed as much as we could into less than 2, marveling at Monets , Tiffany windows and Egyptian tombs as we learned more through the museum’s easy to use app, which included audio and visuals to enhance our experience. When 9 pm arrived, we and the multicultural crew who were also enjoying the incredible exhibits made our way out of the building and to the parking garage. We love you Cleveland, and we will be back! 

Yesterday was a nice break. We relaxed at the campground since we had learned we didn’t need to checkout until 1 pm! We were on the road by noon, and we stayed at a Flying J in the Dayton area which was a wonderful, comfortable plaza for the night. I visited the Carriage House MetroPark which is charming – a living history museum, horseback riding, petting zoo and more animate this charming historic 1880s country setting in the middle of the city. Today I we continue on to our destination, which we hope to arrive at tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

History & the House of Guitars

| jamiefeinberg

This morning we awoke at the Petro “stopping plaza” in Tyre, NY to a gorgeous sunrise. Well, I awoke to that. Ross was asleep of course!  We loved it here! They cater to truckers but it was perfect for travelers and I slept like a baby too. 

We managed to pull ourselves onto the road by ten o’clock. Our first destination was the Harriet Tubman house in Auburn, NY, which has been designated a National Historic Site by President Obama. Our tour guide was phenomenal and accommodating, full of animation and humor. The house had been maintained by the African Methodist Episcopal Church which I found fascinating. After learning a lot, we headed to the Cayuga Museum and the Case Research Lab. The museum is cute, with rotating galleries in a gorgeous mansion, and we walked amongst Native American art displays and a fascinating prison exhibit highlighting Auburn’s prison and its roll nationally in the prison industrial complex. The mix of races and classes in Auburn for hundreds of years must mean we’ve only heard the tip of the iceberg in terms of interesting history here. 

The reason for visiting the museum was to check out the lab. Case actually was the first person to figure out how to put sound on film, literally, and Ross was especially excited to see the old equipment and learn about this rich man who achieved his life’s dream and then quietly sold it to Fox who continued using it on the West Coast. 

Our final destination was the House of Guitars in Rochester. Our two earlier visits had cost us $5 each, not too bad! The visit to this historic music store would have been free, but Ross finally found the loop pedal of his dreams…luckily he had set aside money specifically for it! 

We are hoping to pick up the pace to Iowa from here on out, but with a few fun stops along the way. Thanks for reading!