Roving Reports by Doug P: 2019-18 Iowa into Nebraska

2019-18

western Iowa, heading into Nebraska

Johnson Iowa
Des Moines Iowa
Mapleton Iowa
to
Madison Nebraska
Kearney Nebraska

Campground: Bob Shetler Campground, Saylorville Lake. Multiple C.O.E. campgrounds. $10 senior rate. I’m below the dam. Electric 30 amp only at my site. Water and dump station available.

Campground: Mapleton Roadside park. Mapleton Iowa. $15.00. 50amp electric, water and sewer. A hidden gem off of the main street. Kind of the middle of nowhere.

Mapleton Roadside park. A little used
almost abandoned park

Campground: Memorial Park/Campground, Madison NE. $12 full-hook ups. 50 amp. Next door to the Memorial Park divided by a fence. Good price, small town USA.

Electric/water/sewer. Restrooms were closed

Campground: Buffalo County Fairground, Kearney NE. $15.00 50 amp, water and dump station available. Sites are in the parking lot, next to each light pole. In-town camping.

Fairgrounds have become a staple for my travels
as they are usually cheap and close to town

Distance traveled: 41 miles

Just another inexpensive stop along the way. Because there are so many good options for camping in Iowa, I’ll actually be heading out on Saturday, labor day weekend. Not worried about finding a spot on down the road as I have I’ve got so many choices on down the road. Iowa has lots of city and county parks available. I use Ultimate Public Camping APP to find places like these.

Distance traveled: 132 miles
Mapleton

a couple of nice homes in this small community

walk to the Dollar General
only food in town, three bars/restaurant

Wayside Park, great walking trails
on top of levy. Not to be confused
with the Wayside Rv Park i'm staying at.

along the levy walking trail

The wayside park is tucked away behind
the community pool which was closed before labor day

The drive mainly along hwy 141 was pretty good. A combination of four lane and two lane through rolling hills and valleys. Must be interesting farming land like this as nothing along this route seems to be level. The roller coaster drive seemed to become bigger with each mile heading west.

Mapleton is a small farming town east of Sioux City (approx. 50 miles). I’ll hang out in the area for a couple of days before heading into Nebraska and maybe South Dakota.

Odd thing seen: 5^th wheel camper going by (Dollar General) and two bikes were laying on the road being drug behind the camper. Apparently their bike rack failed. Tried to get their attention, but they just kept on driving past. They weren’t able to hear the screeching sound of two bikes dragging behind them.

Second oddity: Like this small town (Mapelton) the only places to eat are at local bars. Mapelton having three to choose from or the local gas station (Casey’s) being the best choice for a quick bite.

Distance Traveled: 105 miles.
Madison Nebraska

while doing my laundry, I walked over to one of local banks
they offered me a free cup of coffee, score!

Well don’t you know, things can happen along the way. Before even heading out, the back right leg on the camper would not retract. Could it be damaged from the tire falling off earlier this spring? Bummer. It remained down, except for the portion of the leg that I was able to manually retract. Long story short, I was able to pick up an electric/cord drill to use to manually retract the leg when needed, as my battery operated drill never has enough power in the batteries to do any good. Will be disposing of that piece of equipment soon enough.

I’ll plan on having the leg replaced at the next opportunity down the road. Will keep an eye out for an RV repair shop along the way.

So after getting a late morning start, I ended up stopping in Norfolk Nebraska for lunch and a quick stop at a Harbor Freight for the electric drill (cord included). I dare not terry long in that store as there are too many things to entice additional purchases.

basic laundromat, not crowded

the few stores are only open Thursday, Friday
and Saturday

Tyson pork processing plant
the town caters to a large Spanish population

the town of Norfolk NE where Johnny Carson grew up
is 15 miles away, making this town almost a ghost town

no one even sitting on the bench today

Distance Traveled: 134 miles
Kearney Nebraska

So my first plan of action was to stop by a small Rv sales place to order the new level control panel and stabilizer leg. That being accomplished I headed to the fairground for a cheap place to stay. $15.00. What a deal. Ok it’s really basic parking lot style camping but for the price it’s hard to beat. And city camping can be rather pleasant. Being close to shopping, restaurants and museums.

One of the places I toured was The Archway. A museum over highway 80. It’s quite a landmark with a unique tour of 19^th century Western migration. More of a One Note museum experience. Large visual displays of the wagon train experience, railroad, and eventually the automobile. Use of headphones for narration was good, but left the listener standing in front of static displays that quickly become old.

I’ll be here in Kearney for about a week waiting for Rv parts and installation. Not a bad location to be held over.

The Arch (museum) over I-80

hwy 30 which I traveled on is the
original Lincoln Highway from NY to Calif.
Hwy I-80 have now taken most of the traffic

escalator leading up the the arch over the
highway, museum
Awesome entrance to the museum with moving
image ahead....
but become a bit of a letdown once in the museum