Got up bright and early, had a nice breakfast with Ruth before packing up the car. We said our farewells, shared lots of hugs and waved as we drove down the street. We will miss her dearly, as we may not get back this way for a very long time.
We decided to take a short detour before officially leaving the Goshen area. We drove to South Bend, which is the large city in the vicinity. This is where Notre Dame University resides, home of the Fighting Irish. Kim had seen a glance of the campus the first time she came to Indiana, but this was a first for Mauvereen.
It's just beautiful there. Old architecture dating back to at least the 1800's. Trees surrounding the area, and a large cemetery with headstones at least a century old. From a distance you can see a golden dome of one of the buildings. Similar to that of our parliament with the Golden Boy standing atop the roof. We drove towards this, leading to the end of the road on campus. Here we were at a roundabout, blocked by hundred's of students continuously crossing back and forth to their classes. We had to inch our way through the crowd, few acknowledged us. You can tell for a big city it still has that small town persona, as few people look left and right when crossing the street. They just mind their own business and keep going.
Leaving here, we headed for the border of Indiana to Illinois, finding our first toll booth along the way. We found this one interesting as we didn't have to pay. There was a ticket machine, which gave you your pass to get to the next toll booth. There they would figure out how far you had travelled through the state, and charge you accordingly.
Just a few miles past here, we found our first rest stop. Quite Brilliant if I do say so..MMM YES. This was a gas station, McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Washroom, Convenience store and Chocolate shop combined into one! who ever thought of this, was really a genius. The other amenity they had was a massive parking lot for the big rigs, at the side of the building. They also had showers available for the long haulers.
We continued on into Illionis, this is where the trip got tricky. The GPS wanted to go to Chicago, we didn't. We had to trick it to go down the highway we wanted but even at that, we had some human error. We followed the I-80 to where it turns into HWY 294, The signs said go north for Wisconsin, and go East for Iowa. We went North, the GPS wanted East. Hence we managed to go through the same toll booth, twice at $0.60 a pop. At the ticket toll in Indiana, it cost us over $3.
Finally headed in the right direction, we stopped for lunch in Rockford, Illinois at the local Cracker Barrel. The food was good, as usual, but wasn't up to par with the first one we visited.
We did our last bit of souvenir shopping, then went next door to get gas.
We drove our last four hours of the day, and made it to Alma, Wisconsin...or so we thought.
The KOA campground has a different address, than the one in the GPS, so it took us the long route on I-94 Alternate, leading us through Alma Centre, population 500. and finally, "Destination, on Right". we peer to our right, and it's a massive dairy farm, filled with cows and big rigs for shipping...not exactly a campground. Pop in address number 2..."continue 3 miles to destination, on right!"
Drove the last 3 miles to discover the KOA sign...no campground. "Drive another 1700feet", found the drive way, got in, confirmed our reservation, upgraded to a cabin. Really nice accommodation. Mauvereen scored herself a twin bed, while Kim got her choice of bunk bed. Just like the summer camp days!
Along the way, saw some beautiful farmland, forests and Kim was particularly intrigued by a mail box designed to be a Turkey. Painted with full tail, wings and neck.
Now to explain, the KOA is located 3 miles outside of Hixton in one direction, and 3 miles outside of Alma Centre in the other direction. But the GPS took us about 15 miles out into the bush to find this place, when directly at the entrance to Hixton is the freeway ramp. Go figure...the difference engine must have been tired too...OR it's gotten diabolical again...THE CAKE IS A LIE! (reference to Portal...for those non-gamers)
On the way to food saw "Blue Moo", the water-skiing stop. (no water for MILES)
We went for dinner at the local truck stop, Clark's Gas Bar. We both ordered ourselves a pepsi and quesadillas. While eating we noticed the most entertaining sign "Eat and Get Gas!" (photo to follow eventually) on that note...
Now we are cozied up in our cabin, teeth brushed, getting ready for lights out. We've secured our hotel room for tomorrow in Jamestown, North Dakota. Forecast: Thunder Showers! our first rain on the trip (Mauvereen claims there was 5 minutes of rain at Ruth's...but no one else saw it). We'll see if it holds up.
Goodnight! and update soon!
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