We made our final push to Wisconsin after spending two weeks in Moab, Utah. We left Moab at noon after the final meet and greet event was over and arrived back in Wisconsin on May 11, 2023. Due to leaving this late in the day, it took us an extra night to get back to Wisconsin, staying at Harvest Hosts for three nights. The arrival in Wisconsin, as seems to be usual now, was celebrated with a frosty mug of root beer at A&W in Baldwin, Wisconsin.
Night 1, Colorado
Our first night was only a couple of hours from Moab, because of the late departure from the off-roading event. It is harder to find a location in Colorado because the interstate is tucked into the mountains. Fortunately, there was a Harvest Host location well placed for our first night.
The Stoneyard Distillery (Gypsum, Colorado) has two locations, one of them is a Harvest Host location.The entire premise behind the Harvest Host program is that you will patronage the host location. You are expected to purchase at least $20-30 of goods or services from them. We loved their Horchata Colada and we took a 4-pack to go after enjoying some samples in their tasting room.Some Harvest Host locations are very tight on space, that was not the case with the Stoneyard Distillery host. However, as with some hosts, it might be hard to find a level location. We try very hard to not use our leveling system in parking lots, as are the guidelines associated with the membership. We have gotten to the point where being even significantly off-level is okay for a night.
Night 2, Nebraska
Day two of travel was all about making miles, but also checking off a location that is not easy to get to without commitment. After a full day of traveling, we finally made it with minutes to spare, but unfortunately, train operations were mostly done for the day.
Wheezy has taken to needing to be held most of the time when we travel. His brother Rico on the other hand has found his comfort in laying on the blanket we set out on Jason’s desk. On this particular day, somewhere in Nebraska, both Barb and Wheezy seem to enjoy the comfort of a soft warm blanket.From the two observation levels of the Golden Spoke Tower, you can observe the “hump” sorting operations. This is where they push a train up one side and then through several rail switches, the cars gravity roll to their new line up to be pulled out across the country.The Golden Spoke Tower (North Platte, Nebraska) overnighter location is another Harvest Host site. This one is really easy to navigate because of the large parking lot. This host asks that you normally park in the gravel lot unless there is rain in the forecast. Since we arrived just 45 minutes before closing, it was not an issue to park on the concrete given there was rain forecasted for overnight.
Night 3, Iowa
The third day is always a much rougher travel day than the previous. Both the cats and the humans are just done with it all. We would have rather pushed to Wisconsin but that would not have been safe. We arrived in the Des Moines area around 5 PM and met up with Ceci and Allie who drove down to kidnap Oma!
Even though Barb and Jason may have been too tired to make it another couple of hours to Wisconsin, Ceci, and Allie came down to retrieve Oma! We had dinner together and then Oma abandoned Opa and the kitties for the night at the Aviation Museum.Our final Harvest Host location was the Iowa Aviation Heritage Aviation Museum (Ankeny, Iowa) located northeast of Des Moines, Iowa. This aviation club is very proud of the materials they have amassed and you will receive a private guided tour of the museum. If you are into aviation, you will enjoy this museum.The Iowa Aviation Heritage Aviation Museum (Ankeny, Iowa) provides access to a very level, and surprisingly quiet, area for parking overnight in front of the museum. Unfortunately, to get at this parking space we had to disconnect the Jeep to back into the location.
Home!
“Home is where you park it!” Technically, our domicile is in Bushnell, Florida, but our “home base” is back in Wisconsin with family.
Once upon a time all A&W restaurants probably served their root beer in frosty mugs. The Baldwin Wisconsin A&W is very unique in that you can have sit-down table service and a frosty mug of root beer! This was a common Sunday evening family treat for us!
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