Homeward Bound Mode, Sunday June 23 - Wednesday June 26

 Sunday June 23

Out of Nebraska and into Iowa. Stopped southeast of Des Moines at River Oaks RV Park – out in the country down a dusty gravel road – everything very dusty. Nice spot, lots of big trees and our site had lovely shade. Des Moines river close by, flowing quickly but very brown, not a swimming river. Lots of mosquitos.

Here for two nights.

Monday June 24

Headed into Des Moines for a look around and to go for a run before it got too hot. Thought we’d try a river front run downtown but got there and encountered lots of construction. We opted for another location called Raccoon Lake – a quiet recreation area just west of downtown. Nice five km loop but by the time we started the heat was on. Luckily there was considerable shade and we didn’t totally fry. Returned to camp afterwards for a shower.

In the afternoon we returned to Des Moines, hit the grocery store, went for coffee at a nice urban location and visited REI, not that we needed anything – it’s just a nice store to check out. Had a chat with one of the sales staff who was quite interesting.

Returned to camp for a quiet evening around camp – did a walkabout and the mosquitos didn’t eat us alive, thankfully.

Tuesday June 25

On the road for Madison Wisconsin – a state known for its cheeses. Our campsite was close to town, but we decided to visit Madison before setting up camp. Pulled into town around 3 pm and located an artisanal cheese shop called Fromagination, located downtown across from the state capital building. Picked up some cheese and then went for a coffee around the corner.

For groceries, we had heard of a store called Woodman’s also noted for their large cheese department. The store was massive, but was more of a discount store and didn’t have the nice, prepared meats and specialty items we have become accustomed to on this trip. Also, they don’t accept credit cards! Boo.

Made the short drive to Kengonsa SP southeast of town and found our campsite. It must have rained earlier in the day as the ground and foliage were quite wet at the campsite. The campground was full enough – especially the electrical sites. After setting up and having a quick bite for supper we drove down to the beach (too far and too many mosquitos). The beach was not very tempting – quite weedy and lots of algae too. We are definitely spoiled in Canada with our clean and very swimmable lakes.

Back at camp we had our usual tea and treats, then we ended up turning in early as we wanted to make an early start in the morning.

Wednesday June 26

On our way early to our last campground in the US for this trip. We headed northeast towards Greenbay and across state lines into the upper peninsula of Michigan. Lovely highway along the north shore of Lake Michigan, with long sections of highway right next to the water.

We decided to continue past the campground into the town of Manistique to pickup groceries and ice for the cooler. Nice little town and a great grocery store (Jack’s Fresh Market).

It was a short drive back to the campground and this was by far the nicest campground we’d seen since leaving Colorado. Indian Lake SP on Indian Lake, very clean lake but shallow and approximately 5 by 10 km in size. The campground was busy with over 100 sites on a very well-maintained section of the shoreline.

It was super windy and it didn’t take long to get on the long pants and sweaters – what a change from earlier in the week.