Day 4 Trailing away... Newton, IA to Louisville, NE 191 miles

Ah, a short travel day. Because we went a little further yesterday we arose this morning knowing that we had only a 3 hour drive. Tonight we are staying in a Nebraska State Recreation Area so we were looking forward to getting to our destination early and hiking or reading or even napping. But Mother Nature had other plans.

An hour into our drive we looked through the windshield to see the sky looking like this:

And then minutes later like this:

And then this:

And finally this:

Cars were pulling off the road. Before we knew it, we couldn't see due to the wind and rain. We pulled off the freeway and took shelter in our car behind a gas station. The trailer was pulling side to side. A warning came on the phone. "Violent thundershower. Take cover immediately in an inside first floor room or basement. This warning is in effect for 30 minutes." Really? Twice in one trip when in my whole life I have never had to take shelter due to life threatening weather conditions. Either California really is Eden when it comes to weather or possibly we humans are doing something terrible to the environment. My money is on number two.

Despite this auspicious start the drive has been short and lovely. More cornfields, more windmills, more friendly mid-westerners. Now we are settled in the state park. I was dubious when we took a left at Omaha and I could see nothing that possibly looked like it could be a state park. I am humbled now. We are probably in the prettiest place that we have stayed on this whole trailer trip. Unlike California there are numerous empty camp spots. We did get here early enough to go for a hike around the lakes and on a trail to the Platte River. We have electricity tonight but are boondocking otherwise. Thomas brought a small speaker and we are listening to Paul Simon and enjoying such peace and beauty.

We are both missing home though. We are ready to stop moving and go back to our familiar social distancing life in Santa Clara. We are way beyond Thomas' 10 day rule about being away from home. We are also constantly assessing our enjoyment of trailer travel. It has been simultaneously both a wonderful and a trying adventure. We are grateful that we had the opportunity to make this trip; without a trailer where we could be totally self-contained, I doubt we would have been comfortable going to see Tala. And what a loss that would have been. Still, this kind of travel would have been so much more romantic 30 years ago when all of our knees worked well and when dirt seemed so much sexier.