Road Trip Days 26 and 27 - Council Bluffs to Peoria to HOME!

Sunrise in Council Bluffs

The Epic Road Trip of 2015 has come to an end.  The best part of any trip for me is almost always to get home and sleep in my own bed again.  Last night was no exception.

Day 26 started out in Council Bluffs, Iowa with this beautiful sunrise.  I was really ready to get home but know that I cannot drive more than about 400 miles a day maximum.  So after the mandatory stop at Starbucks I started driving.  As for the majority of this trip, I took the less traveled road, which in this case was I-34 along the southern part of Iowa.  There are not many towns, just a lot of farming.  South Dakota was mostly wheat.  Iowa seems to be farming mostly corn and soybeans.  The terrain is hilly with trees.  Smaller farms than in SD.  Really beautiful!

Tree damage in Peoria

The weather can always be an issue and I was watching a huge thunderstorm that was passing through just ahead of my route.  I got all the way to Peoria, Illinois, before I had any rain and then it was not much.  Apparently, I had just missed a mother of a thunderstorm.  The power was out at the Courtyard and for almost 14,000 people in Peoria!  Power was OUT!  No lights, no elevator, no air conditioner and no BAR!  What to do?  Oh, what to do?  And, of course, my room was on the third floor!

Peoria rainbow

As with most of my travel experiences, there is always a rainbow at the end of the storm.  And the seasoned traveler is always prepared!  When I left Hartville Wyoming, Scott and Christine gave me three bottles of a Wyoming white wine. The brand is "307" which is the area code for the entire state of Wyoming.  I travel with flashlights, sewing lights that hang around my neck, knuckle lights for walking in the dark and.... most important of all, a corkscrew!! So I settled into my room with a bag of Doritos, a granola bar and my bottle of wine.  Funny.  After three glasses of wine, I really did not care that the power was out.

Roughing it in Peoria

About three hours after I checked in, the first phase of the power came back on with bathroom lights and the air conditioner.  That was all I needed!  When I checked out in the morning, that was still all that was on.  No elevator, no hot water, no Starbucks latte.  Just part of the adventure!!

The Epic Road Trip of 2015 took 27 days and covered over 6,400 miles.  My 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe was absolutely fabulous for traveling.  I think I have finally found my favorite car!

I am so very glad to be back home in Indiana but definitely will be planning my next Road Trip soon! For now I will get back into tennis, gardening and quilting.  Lots of quilting!!  So many ideas, so much fabric, so little time.