Iowa

We slipped into Iowa through the back door, talking the small rural roads that bypassed Omaha to the north. The conditions of the road for the first thirty miles or do were pretty poor on the 680. When it filtered into I-80, things were much better. 

Long day of driving, a few short breaks but we were focused on getting through Des Moines before the evening traffic. Tired today and the eyes are dry. The dogs are lethargic, just one of those days.

Pulled into Rock Creek State Park near Kellogg, Iowa in the late afternoon. Frustrating system. They are too cheap or too lazy to have anyone on hand to check you in and all of the sites have reserved tags on them. There’s an autopay kiosk at the entrance with envelopes. Several people intending to be helpful gave us contradictory Instructions. We finally figured out that we check the tags and if the dates aren’t today, we can get away with parking in the spot. Or so we hope.

We were a bit grouchy and just wanted to be stopped. We finally settled on a space with reservations for the Kohl family starting Friday and parked up. Jumped in the lake and then relaxed in the shade in our folding chairs.

Just a commuting kind of day. Quiet campground, lots of families. Friendly folks.