Old Folks Home

 5/23/2023 to 5/30/2023          The campground at Union Grove State Park is the smallest we've seen so far. It's on a small lake, but only the two cabins have a view of the lake. Scott paddleboarded around the lake twice. He tried fishing from the kayak, which he plans to do on a regular basis in the future.           There were several nice hikes - one on the south end and one on the north end of the lake. Because of a sign on the trail head marker indicating the trails is ok for snowmobiling we were reminded that Iowa's weather is not always as mild as it was for us this week (lows in the 50's in the mornings and highs in the 80's during the day).           At our last two sites, we were amazed by the number of dandelions. Here there were just a few dandelions, but we had the same "snow" from the large cottonwood trees around our site. The ground is covered with the windborne seeds.   ...

 5/16/2023 to 5/23/2023          Ledges is a small state park in the middle of Iowa. When we first got here, it seemed like the middle of nowhere. But like all the places we've been, it grew on us as we discovered what it had to offer.           There are about ten + formal trails in the park, all of them about a mile each. For our longer afternoon walks we combined several trails to get my goal of 10,000 steps. Three trails were relatively flat (and easy on my arthritic knees), but the rest were carved with lots of steps into the side of the canyon. The road through the canyon is very pretty. In the winter, when it's closed to motor vehicles, people hike or cross country ski on the road.             My favorite spot reminded me of hop rocking in Montreat. We got there following an informal extension of one of the trails down to a creek.               ...

 5/9/2023 to 5/16/2023     Green Valley State Park is a base camp for people fishing at three area lakes. We came in on a Tuesday and were surprised to find the campground very full - like most parks on the weekend. We found out that one of the neighboring campgrounds on a fishing lake is under renovation. People who had planned to go there came here. By Thursday every site was filled. The sites are small and crammed together. Some sites are available to reserve online, plus about half that are first come first serve. This was true at Waubonsee, so I assume it's an Iowa park thing. In other states, sites can all be reserved. This is a view of the camping area from the trail on the other side of the lake.      The park has a 9+ mile trail all around the lake. Half is a paved trail that meets up with other paved trails that go to Creston and another campground. The other half is mowed grass with loads of ticks. We took Annie on a variety of 2-3 mile hikes, st...

 5/2/2023 to 5/9/2023     Waubonsee State Park is a small park just over the border from Nebraska into Iowa. In fact, when we go into town for groceries we go into Nebraska City, Nebraska. We cross the Missouri River, which is the border. We added Iowa to our states map on the RV, but will wait to add Nebraska until we actually sleep in Nebraska.     The park is small, with just 16 sites available for RV's with electricity. More tent camping sites are available. This is the first park where we've stayed that doesn't have a water hookup for RVs. There are three spigots at various locations so you can hook up a hose and fill your fresh water tank.  This type is designated on Scott's spreadsheet as EDWDS (electricity/drinking water/dump site). We just happen to be close enough to reach the nearest spigot, so we didn't have to move the RV to get water. Scott bought extra water hoses for just this purpose.        We were here Tuesda...

4/28/2023 to 5/2/2023     We were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this park. Our water view with sunrises was breathtaking, the trail system is great, and we had easy access to the water for paddle boarding.      Our site, like all sites, was very unlevel on loose gravel. Our auto-leveling system raised our right wheel way off the ground, and the golf ball leveling technique Paige described had our ball barreling toward the front of the RV. But it actually wasn't bad. Being level side to side seems more important than front to back. And now that we don't have any excrement to leak out of our plumbing system we weren't too worried about getting completely level.      When we got here on Friday, the park was almost empty, but quickly filled up. Our group of neighbors right outside our door had three large golden retrievers, often off leash and interested in Annie (but nice to her). Appeared to be three generations having a family reunion, ...