HappyTrails

Great Platte Valley

We are traveling west through Nebraska and stopped at a rest area where we found this plaque highlighting some of the events of this state's early days.

Last night we were headed to an Elks Lodge in North Platte but found it no longer active. Across from the former location of Elks Lodge is a small city park, Cody Park. We discovered RV spaces situated along the Platte River. It is a good place to overnight for $5. There aren't any hookups but there is an onsight dump and water is nearby. The weather is looking stormy through next week. Our route takes us through Wyoming into Utah and we'll take it day by day. It looks like we'll make a visit to the large Cabela's in Sidney, NE. They have RV parking there. Happy Trails!

Note:  My posts from the iPhone only seem to permit one photo at a time.  I'm adding the two additional portions of the roadway plaques about the Platte River Valley.

First plaque:

Last portion:

Ottawa, IL

We had planned to stop at the Empress Casino in Joliet but about two miles before the exit I started seeing billboards with messages like "we'll be back" with the Empress logo. We made a quick call to the Empress and discovered they are closed due to a fire in March. Sometimes things just happen...we made a new plan. We spent the night in the Walmart, right off I80. We haven't decided if we'll do a typical 200 mile day or push on a bit longer. We an to continue on I80 through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, etc. We will stop at Camping World in Council Bluffs. Happy Trails!

Note:  The Camping World in Council Bluffs is not really a good place to "overnight."(small lot, close together spaces and little room to turn around).  We moved on.

We love the Elks

We are once again spending a couple of days in an Elks Lodge RV parking area. This time we are at a lodge offering full hookup for a modest $16 per day. This lodge is along I 94 in the town of Jackson, MI. Last night we ate a very good dinner in the lodge and today I did our shopping at a nearby market. We have had to change our plan for the next month. Instead of heading to PA I will be going with Jack back to Humboldt. We will be taking care of business and annual medical appointments and will then take a new route back to the East Coast(arriving in September). I'm thinking we will be surprising some of our friends along the way. We should be in Joliet, IL tomorrow. Happy Trails!