We have had this trip planned for months. We camped with Jim & Bonnie, the friends we made on our way to Alaska in 2010. We've camped with them a couple of times since then, but it's been about three years since the last time. We really had a good time with them. Biggest problem we had was that nobody cared what we did and when we did it, so we had a REAL loose schedule - like none at all!
This was the first time we camped in the Alto with no electrical hookups. The solar panels charged the battery during the day, even though we only had partial sun in our campsite. The 12 volt fridge, propane detector, and water pump never missed a beat. We had no problems due to not having shore power.
Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park includes the "Historic town of Forestville" as well as Mystery Cave. Forestville no longer has any inhabitants and you have to park your car and walk across the river bride to get to it. Mystery Cave was like a lot of other caves we've visited, but the temperature was cooler, 48 degrees, because of the lower average temperatures in the area.
It was about twelve miles to Preston, the nearest town and there were several other small towns in the area that we visited during our stay. We saw "Souvenir" at the Commonweal Theater in Lanesboro, one of the highlights of the trip. Marsha also found a purse she liked there, so she bought herself a birthday present.
After saying good-bye to Jim and Bonnie, we headed home at about 8:30am on Monday, the 18th. Around noon, as we went past Cedar Rapids, I was in the right lane on I-380 north of the Cedar Rapids airport when one of those big "traffic conditions" signs said, "Traffic slowdown ahead." A short time later, I saw brake lights about a quarter mile ahead, so I let off the gas and turned on my 4-way flashers. As I was coasting, at about 30mph, WHAM! This car sideswipes the left side of my car, smashing in the front fender. He said he was looking at an accident on the side of the road and when he looked ahead, traffic was slowed down in front of him. Instead of taking the shoulder, he tried to go between the two lanes! Luckily, he didn't touch the camper.
Oh, well, it could have been a lot worse and the damage was confined to the fender, so now all I have to do is get some estimates and get it fixed.
Enjoy the pics!
