The Long Ride to Minnesota

We are officially On The Road streaming in our silver home away from home.  We've decided to go directly up to St. Paul, MN to begin our holiday.  Never mind that it requires 3 days of driving...

We crossed the tip of the Oklahoma panhandle where we saw and smelled livestock "farming" on an industrial scale.  I don't like to believe I actually partake of the product.

Texas...

Kansas.  Looks pretty much like Texas.

We began to call these the Kansas Cathedrals  (should that be spelled with a "K" ???)  They are everywhere, all different sizes, same design.

Spent the night in a newish RV park, Western Star RV Ranch,  complete with another dog who ran and romped with Finn.  They both needed the exercise.





Traveling North through Nebraska we began to appreciate the bounty of the American breadbasket.  We could both wax poetic about how we take our grocery shelves for granted. Everyone should have the opportunity to see the "show" behind the slick supermarkets.

We wanted to continue our tradition of visiting state capitols.  We routed ourselves to Lincoln to see what was up in Nebraska.  The building was closed for the day but we were able to appreciate the beautiful art deco design of the capitol.  We took Finn for a walk around the capitol block.  On the backside is a beautiful southern style home that, as we guessed, is the governors residence.  Locked gates, cameras, plaques proclaiming the building a National Historic Landmark and the home of Governor Dave Heineman and his wife.

A gent came out on the porch with a small dog saying she was barking, and he came out to investigate.  Ed asked if he was the governor and he replied "yes."  He walked to the gate, shook hands with Ed, and chatted with us for several minutes.

Thanks to Finnegan, we met the governor of Nebraska..   Lincoln is a really neat town.

(We lost all the photos taken in Lincoln.  Alas.  There was a beauty of the governor behind the bars of the gate.  Use your imagination...)

Drove a bit more, and crossed into Iowa.  We couldn't find a campground so we pulled into a rest area and got permission to spend the night.  Probably the prettiest spot we've been in.  Slept well.  This driving can be exhausting.

Finn has been a model traveler!!!

This is the view from our door.  It was just as pretty in the morning.   Iowa's terraced farmlands are really beautiful.  We were impressed by the wind fields.  Some in Nebraska, tons in Iowa.

Our route was going to take us through Des Moines, so we called Jana and Mike Deaton and asked if they would like to do a parking lot rendezvous with us for a quick hello.

Jana was Finn's first human mommy and Mike his first human daddy.   Jana told us that Finn's sister Emma is the #1 Kerry in the country.  Go, Emma!  She also gave me some grooming tips.

And on to St. Paul...

We are settled into a very nice RV park, East St. Paul RV Park.  It's raining.  It will continue to rain.  Our spirits are not damp.