Yesterday seemed like a very long day even though we were slow rising. It was off to the coffee and roll tent for our morning bracer (no coffee for me, just a muffin or two). Then closing ceremonies which were brief and well done. Finally to the east room where there was an impromptu Computer help session scheduled (I guess).
At the computer help session, it quickly became apparent that my trying to ignore Visita is finally catching up with me. (Or is it an excuse to let someone else do it?) Anyway, there were about 10 folks their needing help and about 4 talented experts willing to give them a hand. It was close to noon when all seemed satisfied and cleared out.
Back at our rig, it was "button down the hatches and prepare to move out". First we had lunch while the microwave was till powered. Before we headed to the dump station, I decided that if I let the pump empty the fresh water tank, we could measure how much fresh water we had left. We had arrived 13 days earlier with 70 gallons of fresh water, and tried to be very careful about water usage. We recorded the amount of time to fill a 2 quart container from the pressure drain line and the total pump run time. In the end, we concluded that we had about 2 gallons of water left in the tank. As Sandy said, "it wouldn't have lasted another day."
We then headed for the Mason City Walmart, where Sandy restocked the pantry while I decided to unhook the toad to fill it and then we filled the motorhome. (Walmart was well paid and we weren't even staying for the night.) Before we hooked up, Sandy spotted a tent across the road and suggested that we drive over first to get some sweet corn. Well, it was not a corn sales location, but we headed on down the road and found a pickup selling corn at the Kmart store. (We'll feast tonight.)
We hooked up the Saturn and headed south, intending to get onto the 380 interstate. But we chose the wrong county road and waved as we passed over it. So we took the lesser traveled roads south and east and picked up the interstate at Nashua. Wind was a factor in our driving, a cross wind going east and a stiff head wind once we headed south. Traffic was light and I enjoyed the country side looking at the clean bean fields and maturing corn. Iowa is set up for a record crop again.
We missed a turn heading out of Cedar Falls for Hudson, IA and ended up traveling on a mile of gravel before we got back to the highway. We finally took a break at the little town of Traer, known for its circular stair case on main street. I get a chuckle out of the welcome sign on the edge of two that says, "Wind up in Traer", a take off about the stair case. The stairs actually projects about 6 feet from the building and then comes straight down in the middle of the front sidewalk on main street. It is the emergency exit in case of fire.
It was past 6 pm when we finally arrived back at the farm, a very late arrival for us. All was in order and we just parked it in the yard. After we get the lawn mowed, we'll move it onto the lawn and our usual parking space. In the mean time, it was time to make more phone calls concerning Gene's mother who is rapidly going down hill health wise. Nothing specific, just old age. Then he learned that his kid brother who is on chemo for a return cancer was told to enter the hospital because of an elevated white count. They obviously took him seriously and he entered surgery at 5 pm for a problem in a kidney. Hopefully, it was treatment in time.
Finally, to cap the day, we heeded the weather man's warning and at 9 pm we headed into town because of predicted bad storms and high wind. That took an hour and thankfully, all we had was a brief heavy rain and a mild wind. Saturday will be busy, off to see mother and brother, perhaps mow the lawn and settle in for about 2 weeks of farm duty (watch the crops grow). But it is always good to be back with mother nature, parked on the hill, listening to the birds sing at 5 AM and relaxing.
Gene
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