June 24th - Day 12

Jun 24

Today was a driving day…We wrapped up our time this morning with my sister and Grandmother in South Dakota and started on the next leg of our journey where we will visit relatives of Becca in Iowa and Minnesota. We left Big Stone Lake in Ortonville, MN; drove south through South Dakota towards Iowa; and then ventured east into Iowa. We ultimately ended the day at Becca’s Grandfather and his wife’s place in Lehigh, IA where they spend their summers in her log home on their family farm.

A few observations/highlights of the day:

Driving in the rural Midwest today, we learned that Google Maps is not always the most helpful. On two separate occasions, it took us down LONG gravel roads. Maybe this is what people are used to in the rural Midwest? We made it where we needed to go, but the RV now needs a wash. ;)
Being tipped off to it by an ice cream loving friend, we made sure to stop in Le Mars, IA on our way through. Le Mars is referred to as the “Ice Cream Capital of the World” as there is more ice cream produced there than in any other city in the World. It is the home to Blue Bunny ice cream. We walked through their visitor’s center, checked out their gift shop, and ultimately enjoyed large portions of ice cream. While we all agreed that Umpqua (#1) and Tillamook (#2) are better ice cream; one child did announce that this was the best stop of the trip so far.
Shortly after entering Iowa, Aubrey was looking out the window and exclaimed “that’s a lot of corn!” The endless fields made for a beautiful drive.
While it is now our 12th day of living in an RV, we apparently are still working out the kinks. This time, someone (most likely a child) left the bathroom sink running while we were driving. Besides running out of water to use in the RV and the sink overflowing all over the floor, our gray water tank is now full. Fortunately since we are staying at Becca’s Grandfathers, we can use their bathroom; but I will need to find some place tomorrow to go empty the gray water tank. Moving forward, I should probably keep the water pump turned off while driving so this doesn’t happen again.