Leg one was from Florence, AZ to Vicksburg, MS, and I've already reported on that one. This leg was from Vicksburg to our daughters place in Wisconsin.

We arrived in Vicksburg on May 2nd, and pulled into the Isle of Capri Casino RV Park at 12:55 PM. Our plans were to stay for 2 days but there was too much to do and see, so we stayed an additional night. The country in that area is beautiful, full of trees and populated with helpful and friendly people. I got some really great pictures of the Mississippi, barge traffic and sunsets over the water. While in Vicksburg I got to meet 2 new doctors. One because of a kidney stone that eventually moved on it's own and another because of a bone spur on the heel of my left foot. Oh, well, that seems to be life as we move into middle age. This assumes that most folks live to be around 130 years old.

May 5th
Vicksburg to Tunica = 208 miles, 5 hours 50 min.
US 65 in LA, to US 82. Cross the Mississippi to Greenville and pick up MS 1 to MS 444 then East to US 61 to Tunica.

We left Vicksburg heading to Greenville, Ms. Plan was to spend the night in Greenville and have dinner at Do's, but we couldn't find an RV park so we just drove on through and ended up in Tunica at the Hollywood Casino RV Park. Lon and Carolyn were there and it was nice to see them and visit with them again. The RV park at the casino is a really nice park and is only $12.00 per night for full hookups with 50 amp service. Another stop that took longer than planned. We wanted to rest for a bit, and there were things we wanted to see in Memphis, (only about 30 miles north), so our 3 day stay became 7. We spent time in the casino and won a few bucks, and ate some good meals. Went on a Mississippi Riverboat tour with Lon and Carolyn, took a day at Graceland, another day looking round old Memphis with time on Beale Street. Every day something to do, even if it's only hanging around the RV and taking naps. :-)

One of the very interesting things about the casinos here is that they are back about a mile or so from the river, however, according to the law they must be floating on Mississippi River water, so, the gambling floor is built on barges, floating on a pond of river water that is pumped in. They are, legally, river boat casinos. Arrrgggg.

May 12th
Tunica to West Memphis = 43 miles, 1 hr 15 mins. (Stopped for gas in Memphis $1.979)
US 61 to I-55. Cross the Mississippi to East Memphis.

We left Tunica at 10:30 AM. If you've been following our travels you can see that we don't start moving very early in the day. We arrived in West Memphis, AR at Tom Sawyers Mississippi River RV Park at 11:45 am ($26.00 per night). This is a really great park, right on the bank of the Mississippi, quiet, clean and a view of the river that is breath taking. Tugs pushing up to 35 barges up the river. It's an interesting thing to watch. The park has benches out by the rivers edge and you can just sit and watch the water flow by. I was told that there is about 1,000,000,000 gallons of water per minute flowing by this area.

May 13th
West Memphis to Sikeston = 138 miles, 2 hrs 45 mins.
I-55 from West Memphis to Sikeston.

We left West Memphis at 10:20 am and stopped in Sikeston, MO. Quiet little park just off the freeway, Hinton RV Park, ($23.00). We were in a pull through site and didn't even unhook the car. At about 1:00 am there was a thunder storm the scared the heck out of our little black and white Shih Tzu. She doesn't do well with loud noise and the thunder went on for close to an hour. She ran back and forth, then up in our laps, then to the door, then repeated the process, shaking like a leaf the whole time. I feel so sorry for her.

May 14th
Sikeston to East Memphis = 153 miles, 5 hours. Filled up with gas in Cape Girardeau for $1.879.
I-55 to MO 34 at Cape Girardeau and cross the Mississippi into IL. IL 3 to IL 15 into East St. Louis.

Pulled out of Sikeston at 9:30 am headed for St. Louis, (well, East St. Louis, IL). We stayed at the Casino Queen RV park, an OK park with small sites and IMO overpriced at $24.25 per night. We still stayed one more night than we'd planned on, (are you beginning to see a pattern here). Being able to visit the Arch, go through the Museum of Western Expansion, visiting the Lewis and Clark Center made the price of the RV park more bearable. I knew the Arch was big. It dominates the skyline of St. Louis, but when you get closer, it's huge. The top of the Arch is 630 feet high. Mary & I went to the top of the Arch and for Mary that's an accomplishment. She continues to amaze me with here willingness not to let her phobias stop her.

On this part of the trip we got off the freeway at Cape Girardeau, MO and crossed the Mississippi into Illinois and got back onto our preferred roads. The freeway is faster, but, IMO we see less, and the back roads are typically better. Some areas of I-55 darn near shook us apart. By getting off the super slab we got to drive through several really neat small towns.

May 17th
East St. Louis to Hannibal = 119 miles, 3 hours 15 mins.
I-70 to MO 79 to Hannibal.

Left the Casino Queen RV park at 10:30 am headed for Hannibal, MO. where we had reservations at the Mark Twain Cave and RV Park ($23.67). The drive up to Hannibal was through really beautiful country and old sleepy towns. Streets and Trips had routed us up US 61 to MO 79 and then into Hannibal. I didn't like that route because it took us too far from the river, and history, so I re-routed to MO 79 all the way up. It's a slow run in a 37 foot MH towing a car, but well worth the slow drive. Beautiful clean farms, historic towns full of old buildings, and forests. One night in Hannibal was one night or more short of enough. We did get to tour all of the historic buildings, spent time in a great museum, walked along the river and ate really great pizza at the Breadeux Pizza restaurant.. I saw Wes's post where he said that he'd not paid for the access to the buildings, and IMO missed some history. We did enjoy Hannibal and bought a small book of Twain quotes and 3 coffee cups for gifts.

The RV park was quite, clean and a place I'd go to again.

May 18th
Hannibal to Nauvoo = 72 miles, 2 hrs, 10 mins
I-72 across the Mississippi to I-172 to IL 96 to Nauvoo.
Nauvoo RV Park. $18.00 nt. An old, unkepmt park at the edge of town.

On to Nauvoo, IL. Nauvoo is the last settlement of the Mormons, (LDS), before their migration to Utah. It was here that the Mormons bought 138 acres of useless swamp land. They arrived here in 1839 with almost nothing, within a few years they had drained the swamp land, built a town, farms and a thriving community. They were driven out in 1846. There are several homes preserved and the historic area of Nauvoo is extremely well maintained. In back of the Nauvoo information center there's a garden called the Women's Garden, dedicated to the role women play in our society and lives. Several statues that are exceptionally well done, so much so that I walked around several of them trying to see all angles. Another good day.

May 19th
Nauvoo to Moscow = 95 miles, 2 hrs, 10 mins.
IL 96 to Niota, IL. Cross the Mississippi to Iowa, US 61 north to Moscow.
Then I-90 west to US 218, south to IA 22 to Wellman, then back out again to North Liberty.

At 11:30 am we left Nauvoo heading for HWH in Moscow, IA. HWH is the largest manufacturer and supplier of hydraulic jacks in the US. The left front jack on the MH has been leaking for some time. I'd set an appointment at HWH for 11:30 on the 20th to have the jack repaired. Plan was that I'd get the work done, get a free lunch and pay the price of the jack repair. I pulled into HWH at 1:50 and asked where I could park for the night. The lady at the desk said that they had guys with the time to do the work now, pull into bay 1. Pulled into the shop and the tech changed out the jack in a few minutes, put the jack down to test for leaks, took a 15 min break, came back and checked out the whole system and had us out the door by 2:50. No charge. No free lunch, but I saved about $300.00, so I'll buy my own lunch.

OK the jack is fixed, It's early in the day and we're close to a little town called Wellman, IA. It's where my Mom was born so I want to see the area. We left HWH and drove the 46 miles to Wellman. It's a clean, old, little town in the middle of Mennonite country. Road signs warning to watch out for buggy's, farms that are so neat and clean they look like movie sets. I've now visited the area that both my Mom and Dad were born in and believe I've learned something about them from the visits.

No where to stop here so we head back up to Iowa City area. We wind up in North Liberty, IA, and find the Colony Country Camping RV Park. Another winner. Gravel roads, grass sites and quiet, clean and lots of nice people. Here we meet the Central States Reps for the WIT (Winnebago, Itasca, Travelers), and boy, do they have a deal going for them. Hired by Winnebago, they get a new DP coach every year, fuel allowance, food allowance, RV Parking fees, and benefits. WOW.

May 20th
North Liberty to Winona, MN = 245 miles, ?? hours, we'll figure it out in time.

Out of the RV park at 10:15 and stop for gas in East Liberty ($1.959). Todays destination, Winona, MN. Once again the goal was to get close to the Mississippi River, so we cut north/east to Dubuque, IA. From there it was another beautiful drive with stunning views of the river. There are several dams on the river that form long wide lakes filled with tree covered islands. The river looks different this far north. Less of a muddy look and more of a water look. :-) Don't remember what time we got to Winona, we forgot to write it down, but it was late afternoon. This was a long day, 245 miles but we were running out of time on our goal to get to our daughters place. We stayed at Prairie Island Campground, a city park right on the bank of the river. Ate dinner and breakfast out at a neat little place in downtown Winona. Another one night stay and our last night on the road for awhile.

May 21st
Winona, MN to Ceturia, WI, 143 miles, 3 hrs, 15 mins.
US 61 Winona to Red Wing, Crossed the Mississippi at Red Wing, MN and zig, zagged north to US 8 and the west to WI 35.

We started this day by going to breakfast at the Stake N Cake restaurant, the same place we had dinner the night before. Finally got out of the park at 10:15 am and fueled up the rig in Winona before hitting the road, RUL at $1.959. This last drive took us along the Mississippi from Winona to Red Wing, MN. The road ran close to the river and we got some really good views of the country side. Again, old towns and old buildings. We arrived at our daughters place in Centuria at 1:30 pm and will be here, on and off, until July 17th, when leg 3 starts. That leg will take us to Maine.

This leg of our adventure:
Miles = 1165.8
Total fuel used = 189.48
Total fuel cost = $376.05
Average mpg = 6.694
Generator hours = 11.38