Antique Archeology 8/20 tue
Morning arrived and I was still full from Jethro"s BBQ and didn't want to go to a breakfast buffet at the Adventureland hotel. Nate actually felt a but sick all morning. Making our expected difficulty in Nate skipping the buffet, a unanimous choice.
More revisiting of last years stops. The first of the day being the Worlds largest truckstop in
Walcott, IA. Really it is just a convenient place to stop because we needed fuel at the time. Last year I took a photo outside, refueled and did my chain maintenance. This year we spent time walking the interior shops. It sems a bit like a mall inside. There's a lot to see, and we didn't go to the truck museum.
Another of last years stops was Antique Archeology in Le Claire, IA. Tucker wanted to stop here. I enjoyed it a lot in 2023. And even had a notebook that I liked enough to buy another. What I found was that most of the souvenir items had changed. Even the sticker on my side case isn't for sale in 2024. Tucker brought a number of items. Loading down his poor old 650 strom with 90,000 miles on it. The notebook was out of stock, so my new 1050 with 60,000 miles didn't gain any more to carry.
After leaving Antique Archeology and logging more miles we finally ate at another Steak and Shake. Then we visited a Walmart across the street for a 2nd gallon of Rotella T6 oil. Tucker's strom has been thirsty for it. Five quarts in so far.
Back on the road, we discovered Rt80 closed west of Chicago. Sending us north on backroads until we bypassed the closed section.
It was late by the time we arrived at Warren dunes state park in Michigan. The park gate houses unmanned and campground checkin closed. Instructions, forms and drop boxes all present, but not obvious. We took a form and searched out the cheap seats on the far end of the park. The form requires a lot of info, and I needed to return to the drop box in order to complete it. Needing the park and section we camped in. The hardest part was cost, because the site names didnt match the prices list. Eventually I found a note on the door that listed all open sites and their price. We also needed out of state vehicle passes for three bikes. Total campground cost of $63 dropped into the box. Then back to setup my tent.