Update from last night: Shortly after logging off, we were faced with the decision if we should stay or pack up. I had received a message from Katie warning that a strong storm had just hit her a few hours west of us. The radar looked bad and we decided to pack up. Good news is we discovered we can tear down the entire campsite in about 15 minutes. Luckily, we had eaten salads for dinner so we didn’t have the grill or campfire to deal with. As we were putting the camper down it started to sprinkle a bit and the winds picked up. We noticed another pop up was taking down as well. Thunder started shortly thereafter. Just as we were hooking up the camper and car a man came running up and told us we should find shelter because the storm was practically there.
As we jumped in the car a branch hit me in the head (just my luck). We took the car over to an area that had cover for the car. The man and his wife directed us to go down to the basement of the park office. We assumed it was the owner of the park, but instead it just happened to be fellow campers that were looking out of others. We both commented at how we were shocked that the owners weren’t warning anyone about the storm as it approached. They were from Iowa (she’s a teacher and he owns a Veterinary Medical Supply company). They had seen reports of 80 mile and hour winds and hail. It was nerve racking sitting in a basement bathroom but we felt that we had made the right decision seeing how locals had made the same call. They were very nice and we shared traveling stories as we waited out the storm for about a half hour.
There had been heavy winds but no hail. The rain continued as did the thunder and lightning. A local man told us today that he had never seen lightening like that. We decided to go into Winterset and get a hotel room. We arrived at a Super 8 at approximately 11pm our time (midnight at home). Michael mentioned that this was our honeymoon and the man gave us a suite at a cheap rate. The room was very nice and it was great to shower this morning.
We started off to the Covered Bridges of Madison County. Michael was able to get some pictures where they filmed the movie. We then went to the birthplace of John Wayne. II t would have been 6 dollars to tour of the 4 bedroom house we lived in until he was 2. We passed thinking that seemed a bit hefty. The gift shop was of course extremely over priced as well. Seeing what we wanted in Winterset we jumped in the car Minnesota bound. Mall of America here we come!
The first campground we went to was almost completely flooded. There were 3 sites available. The bathroom was 30 feet from the one we were offered but the bathroom was under 6 ft of water. The man offered for us to stay there still but there was only a port-a-john and mud everywhere. We opted out and opted to go to the KOA instead. We called ahead of course and made sure they were not also under water. I feel bad for the owner of that campground. He said while the water shouldn’t rise anymore, its also not going down. For someone who’s livelihood is dependent on a short season to begin with, this takes a major cut into his profit. At this point he still has people booked for the 4th of July but I wonder how that will happen.
We spent the evening at Mall of America. I found a store that specializes in tall women’s clothing. I was in heaven!!! Tomorrow Walnut Grove!
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