Ahhhh!  Home sweet home.

We arrived home yesterday around 4:30, a whole day earlier than we thought.  The drive home was very smooth and fast with very light traffic on I-80. 

Here are some of our stats:

Drove 9,070 total miles
Spent $1984 in fuel (averaged around $2.45/gal)
Stayed in 28 RV parks
Went through 31 states plus D.C.
Walked a bazillion miles
With only a few minor disputes :)

We are still pinching ourselves about all the things we did and saw.  It was all absolutely amazing.

We racked up 515 miles today to Elko, NV, Elko RV Park, $29, very adequate park.  We planned on taking 5 days to get home but at this rate we'll be home tomorrow night (4 days).  I have to say, I-80 is fast and pretty much stress free and that's the only reason we're getting home as early as we are.

We celebrated our last night on the road tonight with our last steak in the freezer and reminisced about the amazing, incredible journey we've had.  We are so thankful that Denny's back held up so well and that we were able to do all the things we've done. No more searching for RV parks--we will come home to our favorite campground in the whole world

This is the first western sunset we've seen for quite some time.  This is the first day since we left Iowa that we've been able to go outside and enjoy a walk after dinner.  It got down to high 30's last night in Rawlins, WY....brrrrrrr.  Elko is about 5,000 ft elevation and it's in the 70's...very pleasant.  One last post tomorrow and we'll cross this fabulous journey off our bucket list.

No pix today, just 460 miles under our belt.  We are at Rawlins, WY, Western Hills Campground, $31, an adequate Good Sam park with the basic necessities. One thing about boring I-80 is that you can really put away the miles without a lot of stress...nice straight highway, light traffic, fast.  At some places, it was 80 mph speed limit.  Only problem....the cable TV is not broadcasting the Greenbay/49er game so Denny is sitting in the truck listening to it on Serius SM radio:(  Oh well, last I heard, Packers were ahead.  (Sorry Steve:/)

At this rate, we will be home by late Tuesday afternoon, a day earlier than planned. 

We traveled about 420 miles today to Kearney, NE, Kearney RV Park, $41/night, pretty over-priced even though it's convenient and the park is good, the "wifi" is non existent PLUS they charged us $5 for an extra person (Booker).  Oh well, not many choices here along this strip of I-80.  Denny finally let me drive today and it was a piece of cake.  You don't even know the trailer is back there with this new truck.  Nice and straight, low traffic just the way I like it.  That way we were able to travel farther than we normally would.

We enjoyed our stay at Amana Colonies.  It was Octoberfest there and being a German settlement, they really celebrate big time.  They have wonderful gift shops, woolen mills, bakeries, and smokehouse/meat shops.  I bought an authentic, hand made straw broom.  Can't wait to give it a try.

Denny and sister Charlotte at her apartment in North English, IA

A giant walnut rocking chair. I FINALLY get to feel tiny at the Broom and Basket shop in West Amana.

Denny, Lola, Leroy, Charlotte, Diane, Rick.  Missing are Les and Greg.

Rick and Jackie, Denny's youngest brother and wife at their home in Luzerne.  They prepared an absolute FEAST for our reunion.

It's cold here and a little rainy.  Definitely fall-ish.

A nice easy drive today and we arrived in Amana, Iowa around 2:30.  This is a huge RV park, Amana RV Park, $31.  They put us in the south 40 in what feels like our very own "field of dreams" right up against a huge corn field.  I keep waiting for a bunch of baseball players (preferably Kevin Costner) to come walking out!

And, this is the most fun Booker's had since we left home.  He ran and ran in this huge field of grass.  We had dinner with Rick and Jackie at a place called Ronnenburgs where they serve family style.  Pretty good!  Tomorrow we'll go visit sister Charlotte and possibly sister Lola, then we'll have a big get together on Friday evening at Rick and Jackie's.  The weather is getting cooler but still clear and sunny.

It's a one night stand here in Champaign, Illinois, D & W Lake RV Park, $30/night , very nice park and it's actually on a lake!  We did see a little bit of color today along the way.

We gained back an hour today and tomorrow we will land in Amana, Iowa for 3 nights.  Rick and Jackie, Denny's youngest brother and wife will meet us there for a Amana family style dinner.  Can't wait to see them.  Weather has been rainy off and on today and the north wind came up this afternoon.

Fall is definitely in the air but the weather for Iowa shows full sun all three days and 65ish so that will be fine.  We've been very fortunate on the weather so far, except for the first few days of our journey.  We plan to be home for Tyler's football game next Thursday night, Oct 8.  By the way, as a freshman, he is STARTING on offense and defense plus getting A's and B's in honors and college prep classes.  So proud of that boy.

Hugs to all and see you soon.

We left D.C. this morning after a fantastic experience there.  I must say, though, we were not sorry to leave the heavy traffic in the D.C. area.  We're now in Zanesville, OH, Wolfies RV Park, $36/night, a very nice park with 2 major drawbacks...1) no cable TV for Denny to watch ESPN, the Packers/Kansas City game, and 2) can't get ABC for me to watch Dancing with the Stars:(  We will survive.  It rained on us a little the first half of the day but is beautiful now.  We are about 1/3 of the way to Amana Iowa where we will stay to visit the family on Thursday and Friday.

All is well and it feels good to be heading west.