Back at the campground, a much-needed coffee was brewed (7,000ft altitude is, I think, making me a little “heady” and weary) before pulling out at 11:30am, stopping on the way through Santa Fe for groceries, a lunch sandwich, a gas top-up, and then heading on north.

The initial drive out of Santa Fe was an extended downhill run, doing wonders for the mpg, and the second half a delightful drive beside the meandering Rio Grande (starting its journey down to the Gulf of Mexico) before coming out onto the high desert plain on which Taos sits.

Checked in to the campground on the southern outskirts of town - where the rather crammed in individual sites seem to be individually owned and then pooled for rental - and then scooted off for a little late afternoon photography.

First stop the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church on the southern edge of town...

...and then up to the Taos Plaza area where, among the tourist stores that were open – only about half of them, it seemed – I managed to find the ice-cream I have been hankering for over the last few warm days.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 – Taos, NM

Checking e-mails first thing, I received the sad news that an old friend of mine from the days of my first job (with Lever Brothers, 1978-82), much socializing and many skiing trips thereafter, had died. He had been gravely ill, but having received an e-mail update from him only a week ago it was something of a shock to find he had suddenly gone.

Desk work first thing, and a call to my mother, waiting for the day to warm up, then back down to the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church to get some better photos with the full sun on its entrance before heading into town for a coffee.

Coffee shop #1 had no interesting pastries left, #2 made a much too dry cappuccino (when I has asked for it to be "slightly" dry), #3 made a good strength cappuccino but the coffee was rather bitter.

So an underwhelming coffee morning. Hey ho... such is the life of a coffee taste fairy.

Then off heading north to Questa to start a clockwise loop of the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway.

Big horn sheep duly appeared a mile after the sign warning about them, just before the road headed into a twisting canyon section beside the Red River.

Pulled over in the town of Red River, planning to stop there for a walk around this mountain town, but a slow drive down the long main drag didn't seem to offer anything of interest and everything was very quiet, so perhaps I was there a little early in the season.

So onward and upward, over Bobcat Pass at 9,820ft elevation, then to Eagle Nest, where I drove east for 5 miles down into Cimarron Canyon, the road winding alongside the rushing river, though I did find one bend in the river where a calmer pool had formed.

I then retraced my route back onto the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway with a commanding view over Eagle Nest Lake and snow-capped Wheeler Peak, at almost 14,000ft the central point around which the scenic drive essentially looped.

Stopped at the architecturally contemporary and minimalist Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Chapel at Angle Fire, set very prominently on a hill overlooking the valley.

Back on the scenic byway, I diverted briefly into Angel Fire before closing the loop drive with the final 20-mile stretch back into Taos.

More desk work to finish off the afternoon, making detailed route plans and booking some campgrounds, though a couple of phone calls tomorrow morning will be required to solidify it all.

Thursday, May 13, 2021 – Taos, NM, to Great Sand Dunes National Park (Mosca), CO

For the past week, I have been querying figures and chasing updates from my UK-based tax accountants to get to a final version of a particular part of my 2020 federal tax returns... And at last, just before 8:00am, a “ping” on the laptop announced arrival of duly amended forms. 13 pages to print out on my trusty compact HP printer... which decided to run out of black ink half-way through.

Fortunately, a Walmart store two miles up the road towards town had the specific ink cartridge I needed, so the printing got finished and I scooted two miles down the road in the opposite direction to a Post Office.

Quite a relief to get that all finished and mailed, but it rather compressed the time available for the list of other things I had to get done before pulling out of the campground by the 11:00am check-out time: make coffee - most importantly - fill the fresh water tank, dump and rinse the black tank (requiring the RV to be backed up to get close enough to the sewer pipe), dump the grey tank, stow all hoses, and hook up the Jeep.

Finally out of the campground at 11:10am, heading north through the congestion of town and then starting on a couple of hours of driving.

Pulled over after about 10 miles at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, having to wait for big-horn sheep to make way in the entrance road to the parking area.

Took a couple of photos of the Rio Grande Gorge, my stomach knotted walking out to the center of the bridge, both due to the rather significant drop to the rocks in the gorge below and the bridge juddering whenever trucks rolled across it.

The day's drive took me over the state line into Colorado around 1:00pm and I pulled over not long thereafter for a bite of lunch before heading on north up to Alamosa, and then east towards the Great Sand Dunes, way off in the distance but standing out clearly at the base of the mountains.

A day of driving on rough road surfaces was capped off with a half-mile drive down a rough dirt road to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, the park and campground now turned into a “State Wildlife Area". But a $10 SWA permit, bought a couple of days ago online, allows access and the campground infrastructure remains mostly intact with power, but no water, at the camp sites.

Although largely overcast, I decided to drive the 20 minutes down to the dunes to at least get the lie of the land – or the lie of the dunes – for my planned sunrise photography trip tomorrow morning.

Some sunlight unexpectedly broke through the cloud cover at the end of the drive when I was close enough to the dunes to get some shots with the telephoto end of the lens.

A creek has to be crossed to reach the dunes and, with the water in the creek flowing directly from the snow pack of the mountains, it was icy cold. But nothing to be done other than remove my shoes and socks and roll up my trouser legs if I wanted to get across to the dunes.

I needn’t really have bothered walking across, however, as cloud cover rolled back in and made photography a little pointless.

Although I stumbled about for 30 minutes hoping for an improvement in the light, nothing much changed, so I decided to call it a day – an evening, 7:20pm by now – and head back to the campground.

A late supper with a short night ahead as I’ll have to get up at 4:30am if I’m to catch sunrise down at the dunes tomorrow.

Friday, May 14, 2021 – Great Sand Dunes National Park (Mosca), CO, to Creede, CO

Up at 4:30am as planned, a mouthful of breakfast, and out just after 5:00am for the 30-minute drive to the sand dunes parking lot.

Only a few degrees above freezing, so I sat in the Jeep for 15 minutes watching the sky lighten before setting off to see what the sunrise might bring – due a little before 6:00am but because of the mountain to the east it wasn’t until 6:30am that the first light touched the top of the tallest sand dunes.

Last night’s previewing suggested there was no advantage in wading the creek to get closer to the base of the sand dunes (from a photography perspective) and the freezing water certainly wasn’t tempting. So sunrise shots taken from the side of the creek.

All pretty much done with dune shots by 7:00am, so I took the Jeep up the Medino Pass Primitive Road, stopping at the “Point Of No Return” parking lot. The road to this point is accessible by most vehicles but rather intimidating signs there suggested that going any further – even with 4-wheel drive – would require tire pressures to be dropped to 18-20 psi otherwise you would get trapped in soft sand.

So instead or risking the drive I took a stroll along a trail and then the half-mile down to the creek – quite a tough hike back up soft sand paths to the Jeep and parking lot.

At which point a truck scooting by with apparently fully inflated tires made me decide to take a deep breath and head on past the point of no return, figuring I could always drop tire pressures if I got stuck (as long as I wasn’t stuck too deep...!).

The first couple of miles of the track weren’t too bad, with speed getting me through the softer sections.

I still hadn’t reached the creek crossing and really wanted to get the Jeep baptized, so I took an even deeper breath and pressed on (past more warning signs about soft sand) and did indeed find a stretch that was touch and go.

But I also found the creek – a deep crossing, though I didn’t open the door in the middle to find out how deep.

Having made it to the other side, I decided to make a multi-point turn in the single-track road and head back... again touch and go through the very soft sand section, and quite a relief to be back on hard-packed dirt.

One more trail walk before heading back to the campground – with a high vantage point over the dunes, which by now were looking quite bland with no shadows to define them.

Showered before a much-needed coffee (and bagel) back at the campground, and worked on a Plan B itinerary as I sipped... another day at the sand dunes not likely to offer much more that I had already seen and done, and showery weather forecast for the beginning of next week. So I decided to bring forward the next event – the Alpine Loop drive with the Jeep though high mountain elevations – and booked in for tonight at the campground in Creede that I had already reserved for tomorrow and Sunday.

Plan in place, I headed out, suffering more poor road surfaces, straight roads and monotonous scenery until arriving at South Fork, the 20 mile drive from there to Creede probably one of the nicest I’ve taken, even with the rather overcast skies, the road following the Rio Grande as it wound its way out from the mountains.

Another early start tomorrow, to drive the 50 miles to the start of the Alpine Loop in Lake City and get onto it while the sun is still shining (if the forecast holds) and before it gets too crowded.

Time to stop rattling on the keyboard and crack a beer...

Saturday, May 15, 2021 – Creede, CO

Up a little before 6:00am to get showered, breakfasted, brew coffee to take along and head out onto the Alpine Loop early – both for the best weather (as forecast) and to avoid any crowds that might show later.

A hour’s very scenic drive from Creede to Lake City, over Spring Creek Pass (and the Continental Divide) at 11,000ft with a good view across to the San Juan mountains, source of the headwaters of the Rio Grande and into which I would be driving.

Just before entering Lake City proper I turned off onto the southern entrance to the Alpine Loop, the early section easy driving and running past Lake San Cristobal...

...so peaceful in the early morning sunlight that I could have stopped for a while and just soaked it all in, but a lot of driving ahead so I pressed on.

The early lower sections of the drive were not too demanding, following Lake Fork river up the valley, the winter snow largely melting at these lower elevations, and the day warming nicely with the full sun of the morning beating down.

Although mainly dusty and with loose gravel to this point, the road surface became gradually rougher a few miles further on, and the gradient significantly steeper at the start of the "4x4 only" portion of the Alpine Loop.

I had been guilty of rather too much halting and hopping out for photos early on, but the increasingly rough road surface started to demand more attention as the climb into the mountains continued....

...particularly once above the snow line where the trail had been plowed just enough to let one vehicle make it through, with deep snow banks at the side of the trail and some sections very tight - not much in the way of passing spots if another vehicle were to be coming the other way.

Plenty of icy surfaces on the trail at these higher (and much colder) elevations, probably due to overnight freezing after a slight thaw yesterday afternoon.

Got up to Cinnamon Pass - 12,600ft elevation - without too much difficulty, however, and detoured from there down to the old mining town of Animas Forks, where a little walking was required to explore some of the mine ruins.

Heading back up onto the Alpine Loop from Animas Forks the road wound on towards Engineer Pass, becoming significantly more challenging, with very tight hairpin turns (where the surface always seemed particularly rough) and occasionally requiring off-road low gear to scrabble up the steepest sections.

But on the few occasions where I was able to safely pull over and take in the view I was rewarded with broad vistas down into the valleys below...

...the ploughed trails snaking away across the landscape.

And despite my concern to get going early in the day to miss any traffic building on the Alpine Loop drive - as I assumed it would be a popular weekend activity - I was pretty much out there on my own and had only seen a couple of other vehicles lower down on the trail leading up on to loop from Silverton.

Not much chance of a breakdown truck getting to me up here should anything go wrong...

The triumph of arriving at Engineer Pass, at 12,800ft, was rather short-lived as I realized on arrival that the trail from there on hadn’t been cleared.

At the top of the world, but forced to turn around and go back down the way I had come...!

Rather than head all the way back to Lake City, however, I decided to take a trail that branched off and would lead down to Ouray and then drive back to the campground via a long loop to the north on regular roads.

But after heading down the trail for half a mile – reassured by the snow plough parked at the top – I found it was blocked, with snow not yet cleared. So I made a 7-point turn in the roadway, drove the half-mile back to the fork in the road and pondered my options.

The only other choice - to avoid heading all the way back the way I had come - was the trail down to Silverton from which I had seen vehicles coming earlier.

Not too demanding heading down, with the road gradually improving to the point where it turned into a 2-wheel-drive accessible trail and then a very dusty gravel road into Silverton, where I parked up and treated myself to a second coffee.

Suitably fortified, I began the long – 170 miles - drive by regular road down south to Durango, east to Pagosa Springs and South Fork before the final stretch north to Creede that I had driven yesterday.

In reality, there was probably not much difference in the time for this route versus heading back into the mountains, back over Cinnamon Pass and down to Lake City, from where I would in any case have had an hour's drive back to Creede.

Back in Creede just after 4:00pm, stopping in town to fill up with gas, to buy a Creede T-shirt (since I had now been there and (almost) done that) and an ice-cream reward for a long day in the driving seat, thankfully with no major mishaps.

I was impressed with how well the Jeep managed the rougher section of the trails, as a stock road-going vehicle, now wearing the mud and dust to prove it.

Sunday, May 16, 2021 – Creede, CO

Another fairly early start in order to take advantage of the morning sunshine, though the forecast had changed a little since last night and afternoon cloudiness seemed to have disappeared from the forecast.

Stopped at the North Clear Creek Falls on the way to Lake city. Quite an impressive waterfall, tucked away off the beaten track and easily driven by if not signposted.

On into Lake City and the lower section of the northern part of the Alpine Loop, that I hadn’t so far driven, leading up to the snow-bound Engineers Pass,the early part of the drive winding alongside a creek deep in a canyon before opening out into a broader valley.

Nothing very spectacular to see, however, and the road quite passable by 2-wheel-drive vehicles, so no scrambling fun for the Jeep this morning.

Stopped at a couple of the identified spots beside the trail but really not a lot to write home about...

...and the trail not the challenging drive yesterday had been.

A small lake caught the reflections of the mountains beyond just before mile marker 14, at which point I decided to call it a day and scooted on back down the trail rather more quickly than I had come up it.

Cruised through Lake City once off the trail – a fairly typical small mountain town, tourist-trap galleries not open yet this early in the season.

Managed to find the “Toy Wash” on the outskirts of town – a rudimentary open-air pressure washer and foam brush set-up, but just fine for its intended purpose of getting mountain mud and dust off the Jeep.

Headed back to Creede in a fresh-feeling, clean Jeep, deciding not to detour into a couple of recommended scenic routes as they were both unpaved and would have covered the Jeep in dust all over again...

Lunch in the RV back at the campground, a little route planning, and a load of laundry done before a late afternoon drive the couple of miles into Creede for a brief stroll around town.

Monday, May 17, 2021 – Creede, CO, to Gunnison, CO

A reasonably calm and measured start to the day for once - I wanted to get on the road reasonably promptly, to try to avoid wet weather on the day’s drive, but no fixed deadline.

In the end, pulled out of the campground at 9:00am to start the drive north, the skies still mostly clear and sunny.

The first half of the drive over now familiar roads to Lake City, with a couple of stops made on the way to try to get as much of a “beauty shot” as the rather boxy shape of the Winnebago will allow.

Hard work climbing up to the high point of the day, Slumgullion Pass at 11,500ft, with a lot of high-rpm second gear work. But that turned out to be infinitely preferable to the long descent once over the pass – lots of engine braking utilized but still had to overwork the brakes to the point where they were squealing with heat build-up on occasion.

A huge relief to get down to Lake City safely, where I pulled over to brew a calming coffee.

The second half of the day’s drive a little less stressful, starting with a scenic - and thankfully hill-less - meander alongside the Lake Fork River, cloud cover unfortunately now with me and detracting a little from the views.

Eventually some climbing was required, with spotty rain greeting me on the elevation change. In a couple of stretches the road became damp and then wet, so I slowed to around 40mph to try to minimize the spray I would be kicking up onto my clean RV and Jeep.

But these valiant efforts were entirely undermined by a very wet stretch of road heading into Gunnison, which drenched both vehicles with road spray – a distressing sight as I stepped out of the RV for a grocery top-up once in Gunnison, the newly-washed Jeep now filthy again.

All too much to bear... so I found a spot in a small park by the river and broke out buckets, brushes and microfiber towels and washed the RV as well as I could, the Jeep rather more quickly and conveniently washed at the end of the afternoon in a coin wash on the edge of town.

Broke my dry weekday routine and cracked a beer to start the evening, in celebration of getting down the steep mountain road into Lake City with no mishap and getting both the RV and the Jeep cleaned up.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 – Gunnison, CO

A little route planning first thing, but not coming up with a satisfactory plan after the next couple of nights. Weekends are usually busy at campgrounds anyway, especially in season, but since everyone and his dog (often literally) has taken to camping as a result of not wanting to fly or stay in hotels due to Covid-19, weekend campground bookings are now close to impossible unless made months in advance.

Had an early coffee and bagel at 10:00am to fortify me for a mountain bike ride in the nearby Hartman Rocks area and headed up there at 11:00am.

Figured out a good loop route to ride, parking at an upper parking lot to save a little climbing – I’m still not fully acclimatized to the altitude (8,000ft) and haven’t ridden in a while, so planned to take it reasonably easily.

And the plan was working out pretty well, quite a good mix of trails – some technical, with lots of granite boulders, some more flowing, lots of good view from the high points of the trails – until the final trail of the morning...

...where I chose a blue trail over a double black, as I was feeling pretty bushed, but half-way down had a big spill and landed on my face, breaking the visor on my helmet, jamming my glasses into the bridge of my nose and eating dirt, quite literally.

A little shaken up, I took a few seconds to disentangle myself from the bike on top of me, plenty of blood in my mouth and running down my face.

With the car less than half a mile away, I got back on the bike and rode a little shakily to it.

Pouring water on my face and looking in the passenger sun visor mirror, things didn’t look too pretty, though nothing seemed broken. My lower lip cut, but all my teeth seemed to be there and in one piece.

Tried to mop up some of the blood and water mixture and wipe off some of the dirt (rough granite sand) before loading up the bike, heading back the few miles to the campground and getting directions to a local walk-in emergency care clinic as I didn’t think I would be able to do a good job of picking all the granite sand particles out of the cuts and abrasions, and the slice across my nose probably needed professional attention.

Got seen promptly at the emergency care clinic and duly cleaned up, declining – in my squeamishness – stitches in the cut on my nose in favor of some butterfly stiches, though I did reluctantly agree to a tetanus shot.

And so I’ve had to cancel all my modeling engagements for the next couple of weeks while things heal up...

Dosed up on Ibuprofen, feeling banged up but not in a great deal of pain. Took an early beer anesthetic, too, though a little tricky drinking with my swollen lower lip.

I doubt I’ll get a lot of sleep tonight, my left shoulder having also suffered in the fall, and will likely be properly stiff and sore tomorrow.

Campground WiFi crapped out early evening as I was part way through trying to distract myself with some more route planning... so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 – Gunnison, CO, to Central City, CO

Campground WiFi still AWOL this morning, so no point delaying departure, though with one thing and another still not out of the campground until 8:00am.

Stopped on the way through town for $150 worth of gas (only two thirds of the 80-gallon tank) and at the City Markets grocery store.

Then a long phone call with Ted to catch up – and explain my face-plant event while riding yesterday – after which I decided to brew coffee before getting into the day’s driving. So in the end not actually heading out of town until 10:00am, the weather brightening as I headed east, the road following the meandering course of the river.

A pleasant drive, mostly flat to start, but after about 3 miles the long climb up to the 11,000ft Monarch Pass – and the even longer descent after cresting the peak, with lots of engine braking to try to ease the load on the brakes.

Pulled over for a couple of mouthfuls of early lunch at around 12:30pm, then back into steady climbing up to Quandary Peak...

...from where the road headed on down for a good distance before reaching I-70.

Once on the interstate I had been hoping for a little climbing/descending respite but instead there was another long, low-gear/high rpm climb up to Gray’s Peak.

To add to the torture, the road surface on I-70 was dreadful, destroyed no doubt by a combination of high-altitude winter weather and 18-wheelers.

And then the rain started... which I had been dodging all morning, hoping to keep the RV and Jeep clean.

A very long descent after Gray's peak, still on a dreadfully dished and broken road surface, and through more rain, until I pulled off I-70 for the final 7 miles of the day’s drive to the KOA campground at Central City, with more slow climbing up steep inclines.

Tough day on the road.

Thursday, May 20, 2021 – Central City, CO

A little more forward route planning first thing – slight complication with the Memorial Day weekend coming up next week, which is around the timing that would naturally put me at the Winnebago factory in Forest City, IA, where I want to drop in for a visit.

So I'm trying to figure out the best way to get there by mid-week, without either missing anything worth seeing or getting into very long drives.

Headed out around 9:00am in the Jeep to drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park, stopping on the way at Nederland for a (good for once) coffee from a local independent coffee shop.

The line to get through the entrance booth into the park (free for me due to my Senior Lifetime Pass) should have given me the clue that things could be crowded inside, even though it’s early in the season, and a Thursday, and the famous Trail Ridge Road is not open yet.

Drove up to the Bear Lake trailhead, planning to hike to Emerald Lake, but the traffic ground to a halt several hundred yards short of the parking lot and only inched forward from then on, with people clearly having to wait to try to find a parking space. So as soon as I could – after 10 minutes of stopping then creeping forward – I made a U-turn and headed back down.

Once back in the valley I stopped in quiet Moraine Park to walk along the stream rushing through there, tumbling vigorously over huge boulders.

I then drove up the part of Trail Ridge Road that was open as far as Many Parks Curve with its panoramic view of the mountains and down over the valley, though only a "picture postcard" kind of view so not shown here.

Then out of the park via the northern road, stopping briefly in Estes Park – too touristy – and on back south down Route 119 to the campground, detouring via a car wash to hose the road dirt off the Jeep from yesterday’s wet drive.

An e-mail message “from my Jeep” - slightly spooky - informed me that an engine check light had been detected (though nothing showing on the dash) so I called the nearest Jeep dealership in Golden, conveniently on the way north tomorrow, to arrange to drop in to have them read the engine code that would have registered.

Friday, May 21, 2021 – Central City, CO, to Scottsbluff, NE

Out of the campground a little after 8:00am, having taken on some fresh water and dumped tanks.

Winding downhill curves to get onto I-70 East which continued descending for miles, with a long stretch of 7% and 8% grades and by the time I pulled off in Golden just before 9:00am I had dropped from 8,500ft to 5,500ft - out of the mountains and into the broad valley at the foothills of the Rockies.

Pulled into the Jeep dealership, unhooked the Jeep and took it into the service bay where the error code read by the scanner suggested that the Jeep thinks it moved with no-one in the driver seat. Weird. And weirder still that it would turn that into an e-mail alert suggesting I needed to take the car to a dealer...

Hooked the Jeep back up and jumped back on I-70, winding around the northwest of Denver and onto I-76 north, pulling over once clear of the crazy traffic near the city into a Starbucks for coffee, then continuing on north, stopping around 12:45pm for lunch at the Welcome Center just over the state line into Wyoming.

Since it represented only a minor detour from the route north, I headed into Cheyenne to visit the state capitol, conveniently able to park on the street within a hundred yards of the building.

Took a fairly swift self-guided tour of the interior, which seemed largely devoid of other visitors... or indeed anyone working there.

Consistent with the exterior, the interior spaces of this state capitol building - relative to others I have visited - was somewhere in the middle of the scale from the more elaborate, opulent and baroque to the more restrained and business-like.

But at least this time I did actually get into the building, as it was covered in scaffolding and all closed up for renovation last time I came through here in June 2017.

A few miles of driving from the center of Cheyenne took me onto I-80 East for 50 miles before turning north for the final 50 miles of the day to Scottsbluff.

Weather warnings were pinging on my phone as I pulled into the municipal campground in town and sure enough within 30 minutes skies darkened and the rain started, soon turning into pea-sized hail raining down with some ferocity on the roof of the RV.

Had a walk around to check for damage after the storm had passed, including climbing up on the roof to check the solar panels. All seems to be OK.

Weather forecast for the next few days rather uninspiring, and not a lot to see on my intended route, so I'll press on with a full day of driving tomorrow to then allow more modest days thereafter to arrive at my next “destination” of Forest City, IA, the site of the Winnebago factory where my RV was built,

Saturday, May 22, 2021 – Scottsbluff, NE, to Grand Island, NE

Drove all day.

That’s pretty much it.

Low cloud early morning meant that Scotts Bluff, close by the campground, was mostly obscured so a detour there clearly not worthwhile.

Out of the slightly shabby municipal campground just before 8:00am, filled up with gas on the way out of town and then followed the scenic route southeast to rejoin I-80. Not a bad drive, with some hillier and more attractive stretches, though it would have been better in the sun rather than the damp grayness of the day.

Stopped for coffee at an historic marker just before joining I-80 East - a long, straight, not particularly scenic, rough road surface in parts, boredom alleviated by listening to a few podcasts on BBC Sounds.

An hour “lost” during the day as I crossed back into the Central Time Zone, arriving at the overnight campground around 4:00pm local time after 325 miles of driving.

Lousy WiFi, so couldn’t get as much done on-line as I had hoped, and very limited OTA TV channels, so couldn’t find any entertainment there...

Sunday, May 23, 2021 – Grand Island, NE, to Gretna (Omaha), NE

Had to use the hotspot on my cell phone to get some work done first thing as the campground WiFi was so bad.

Brewed an early coffee and then decamped, heading back onto I-80 to continue east toward a planned intermediate stop for the day in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Grocery top-up on the way into the city before heading to the State Capitol building. All very quiet on a Sunday, and able to get parked on the street right outside.

The Nebraska Capitol building is somewhat reminiscent of the (new) Louisiana Capitol in Baton Rouge, though not quite as tall.

Rather plain and dismal on first entering on the first floor via a long and dark corridor, but the second floor interior a little more colorful – and quite contemporary in a number of ways – when entering the building via the grand steps to the “proper” second floor entrance on the north side...

...where I met up (unintentionally) with the Capitol tour guide, a middle-aged lady who I think had just escaped from the local repertory company and thought she was still on stage in a one-woman show. Plenty of interesting information about the building and its decoration – too much detail, actually, and delivered with increasingly irritating drama and flourish.

After being trapped with this thespian and three other visitors for 45 minutes, I managed to slip away to finish what little was left of the tour on my own.

The house and senate chamber public gallery doors were both locked, so I wasn't able to see them - rather a shame given the interesting style of the rest of the building...

...but a spookily small elevator wedged into one of the four corners of the main tower (the tower in the corner of the building in the photo above) took me up to the top (14th) floor and the Memorial Chamber where public heroism is honored in eight large murals.

Access here also to small outdoor balcony areas with views over the city...

...and over the RV parked on the street below.

From Lincoln it was a short 40-minute drive to the campground just off I-80, 20 miles short of Omaha.

Monday, May 24, 2021 – Gretna (Omaha), NE, to Adel (west of Des Moines), IA

A couple of hours of desk work first thing, including long overdue hard drive back-ups, as the morning rain gradually eased.

Early coffee, out of the campground at 11:00am, continuing east on I-80.

Pulled off the highway on the outskirts of Omaha as the roads were starting to get wet and it seemed a good opportunity to fill up on gas while waiting for roads to dry, the day’s schedule having been modified as soon as I started out – not for the first time – as I decided not to head into Des Moines to the State Capitol and then 25 miles back out to the campground (west of the city) but to make that visit tomorrow on my way to Forest City.

Once round Omaha and heading east again, I pulled over in a pleasantly spacious rest stop for lunch and then continued on I-80...

...battling stiff cross-winds all the way to the overnight campground 20 miles west of Des Moines.

The extended wind farm along the highway clearly indicated these winds are not atypical of the area.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021 – Adel (west of Des Moines), IA, to Forest City, IA

Up just after 7:00am with little to do other than get ready to head into Des Moines, but somehow didn’t manage to get on the road until 8:30am, though that did include tank dumping and flushing.

Fairly straightforward drive into Des Moines to the State Capitol, only a few short blocks after turning off I-80...

...situated on a significant rise and several blocks away from the present downtown area, and where the streets were quiet, with convenient designated bus parking right beside the building.

There was a rather shabby little public entrance at the side of the main façade, to which signs directed me, but once inside there was proper security screening - something which had been surprisingly absent from the last couple of capitol buildings I had visited - and a friendly and well-staffed welcome desk.

The Capitol Building itself rather grand and more traditionally designed, in marked contrast to the Nebraska Capitol I had visited at the weekend, with a central staircase and highly decorated dome.

A pleasant hour spent wandering around before getting back on the road, quickly and easily merging onto the Interstate passing through town and then onto I-35 North for most of the rest of the day’s drive.

Stopped at the first rest area for a coffee and figured out that not too far ahead, in Ames, I could pull off to a convenient gas station, a Subway, a Lowe’s (for new buckets) and a quiet sports park where I could wash the rain-soaked road dirt off the RV (again... second time in just over a week).

By the time I had finished washing the RV, I was running behind my anticipated schedule, but made it to the Winnebago Visitor Center in Forest City by 3:30pm, in reasonable time to check in and get my authorization and window sticker to allow me to stay for the next three nights.

Although there were plenty of open hook-up spots right outside the Visitor Center itself, it all looked a little close to the road and I would have to unhook the Jeep to back into a spot. Also too many other Winnebago owners there, likely to want to be sociable...

So I decided to check out the Winnebago Rally Grounds across the road...

...a huge grassy acreage covered in row after row of power pedestals, but with a hard standing section in one corner where a handful of other rigs were set up and where I was able to pull in and leave the Jeep hooked up.

No WiFi signal, and the hook-ups are power only (water and dump stations available elsewhere in the park) but hard to beat quiet and free...!

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 – Forest City, IA

Lay in bed debating whether to head out for a run... 8 days since my mountain biking spill, my right thigh still somewhat bruised and painful, but I figured a gentle run might loosen things up.

Three loops around the perimeter of the Rally Grounds, a little hilly, a little breezy but undoubtedly good for me, particularly after a lot of driving seat time.

Coffee mid-morning before walking over to the Winnebago Visitor Center to view the various videos of the factory in lieu of a physical factory tour, currently in abeyance due to Covid-19. Not particularly revealing, and a little repetitive. Very similar approach to the construction of Lagoon catamarans, which I know intimately, with many modules built off-line and then dropped onto the chassis.

More interesting in some ways was the static exhibition presenting the history of Winnebago since its original inception as Modernistic Industries in 1958.

Managed to resist the temptation to buy any W-branded clothing and walked back to the RV to unhook the Jeep and drive to Lichtsinn RV, a major Winnebago dealer just a mile from the factory, but unfortunately the one particular model advertised on their website in which I had a slight interest isn’t actually in inventory... lucky I didn’t invest a lot of my time in getting there to see it.

Grocery stop and quick spritz of the Jeep in a car wash on the way back.

Thursday, May 27, 2021 – Forest City, IA

Big winds overnight heralding the arrival of the forecast heavy rain, enough for me to pull in the passenger side slideout to stop the rattling of the topper in the stiffening and gusty winds.

A day at my traveling desk, mostly working through the backlog of photos taken on the trip so far, though I did brave the elements mid-morning to wash down the side of the RV and Jeep being pelted by rain – no need to rinse off or dry the paintwork to avoid water spots!

Stayed windy, and getting colder throughout the day, though the rain mostly done by mid-afternoon.

Friday, May 28, 2021 – Forest City, IA

Still windy... and cold - 39 degrees, as forecast, but freezing with the wind chill.

However, with a reasonable running route on the doorstep and my general lack of exercise over the past 10 days I decided to brave the elements and made another three loops around the campground.

Not too bad in the event, other than when running directly into the wind and the colder blasts.

Headed over to the Winnebago Visitor Center after my warming mid-morning coffee, having figured out that staying here one more day would be far preferable to driving in grey weather to a boondocking overnight stop somewhere nondescript (with temperatures forecast in the 30’s again overnight).

Permission to stay another night happily granted, so I moved the RV over from the rally grounds to the RV parking area outside the Visitor Center to get access to the WiFi there.

After lunch, drove out to the Winnebago parts company near I-35 to pick up three spare door keys for the RV.

A quick grocery top-up on the way back, then some extended route planning, with a huge amount of frustration and very limited success in finding anywhere for Sunday night – as it's Memorial Day weekend everywhere is either full or requiring a 3-night stay.

Will sleep on it.

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