Cedar Rapids

We are winding down our multi-day stay in Cedar Rapids. I don’t have any particular fond memories of this city, which is also known as the  City of Five  Smells: Captain Crunch cereal, cooking oats, ADM/Cargill food processing, the Cedar River, and wastewater treatment. 

However, it was a lifelong home for my grandparents and great grandparents. It’s where my dad lived his final days and where my mom has chosen to live for church and friendships. 

During our stay, we took a day trip to Mount Vernon to buy my mom some local honey and to walk the campus of Cornell College (the Iowa Cornell). We (Julia and I) also managed a beer at Big Grove Brewery, a lager house. My amber lager was quite good. 

We also toured the Czech Slavic museum. My great grandmother was Bohemian and part of the large Czech community that formed in this part of Iowa. The clock tower goes off every hour from dawn until dusk. The characters represent different types of Czech workers/members of society. 

Acorn Valley COE

There is a lake here, but it isn’t viewable from our campsite. However, the price is right with the 50% Senior Pass discount. We are close to Drs Moines and in a holding pattern to get to Cedar Rapids for an available campsite. 

On our first day here, we ventured to a nearby brewery not worth mentioning. It’s never a good sign when the oatmeal stout is translucent. 

Cedar Rapids is where my mom lives, so we will be there for several days this coming week. 

We did get in our first campfire of the year last night and saw our first fireflies.

Look closely for the flashes.

Another Day, Another Lake

 The drive from Oklahoma into Kansas was mostly on two lane highways and without any breakdowns or unpleasant surprises. We pulled into Hillsdale State Park in the early afternoon and took Callie on a walk around this huge park with multiple campgrounds. 

Then we headed into town for some Kansas bbq at Poppa C’s.

On the next morning, there was a beautiful quiet sunrise.

We spent that day relaxing. Julia rented a kayak for a couple of hours. 

We picked up supplies at a local grocery store. I’ve never seen an entire aisle dedicated to bbq sauces. 

Early the next day, we dumped tanks and were headed to Iowa.

Canton Lake

Canton Lake is a Corps of Engineers dam project about ten minutes from the sad little town of Canton,  Oklahoma. There’s a Main Street, but most of the businesses are closed, and many of the buildings are falling apart. 

We read online that the town has lost about 30 percent of its population in recent years due in part to dwindling economic opportunities. Someone did paint a nice mural.

The lake is the attraction

On the other hand, the COE campground and our lakeside campsite was really nice with full hookups and decent shower facilities for $12.50/night with our Senior Pass.We spent two nights here. By the end of our stay, temps were hitting 100 with added humidity, so it was time to move on. 

Santa Rosa Lake State Park

We had a rough travel day to this campground east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Somehow, our steps wriggled off the retaining pin and dropped down during travel. It could have been worse. We noticed it at a gas station and spent about an hour bending the steps back into place, sufficient to get them folded in and stored again

Then we devised a temporary solution to tie them off with trimmer string and a couple of wire twists.  After the temporary solution, we made it to the campground, which was at best just okay.  

The good part was that an unusual cold front came through and allowed us to relax comfortably outside and then sleep with the windows down. We both slept a solid eight hours before waking up to a beautiful dawn.

We left early the next morning for Oklahoma..

Elephant Butte Lake

Our first night of the trip was spent at Elephant Butte Lake State Park in New Mexico. We arrived on Sunday afternoon, and there were a lot of hung over, badly sunburned campers preparing to head back to work after the weekend.

We had a delightful meal at Bigfoot restaurant. Green Chili Cheeseburger with a fresh salad and a 1614 dark ale on tap from New Belgium. Then we made the short drive to Truth or Consequences brewery for some live music and a Dark Skies Oatmeal Stout. 

We liked Truth or Consequences. During the middle of the band’s set, the entire block lost power. The band stopped but the beer didn’t stop flowing on the “honor system.”

In the morning we had a beautiful sunrise and were on the road to Santa Rosa State Park (New Mexico).

Elephant Butte Lake