Magnus Goes North With Summer, Day 5

Saturday May 31

It was very hazy the night before and then again on our drive. We learned that the fires in Canada were drifting down our way, covering all the north central states with a dusty overcast.

Northern Missouri was kind of flat with a few hills and lots of big fields of corn.  So many McNuggets—do we really want all that corn in our diets?

 

It seemed to be taking forever to get to Iowa. The drive to Ponca State Park had been planned to be fairly long--four hours or so according to google--but I didn’t go back and check the actuals. Ed was trying out a free trucker navigation app on his phone so he was kept well entertained and didn’t get impatient. Not that he usually does, but it is a little tedious for him to drive on and on with little feedback that he was getting somewhere. Having the app open (hands-free, of course) made that easier.

 

The only problem with the app (or so we thought) is that it doesn’t repeat itself. So if you get on a road and are supposed to turn off in 17 miles, it will tell you—at the beginning—to turn on Highway XYZ in 17 miles. But when you actually get to the highway, it stays silent. Not helpful—after 17 miles, we’ve already forgotten!

But eventually we ended up at Ponca State Park, in Nebraska on the border with the Missouri River and Iowa on the other side.  Lovely place. Even Ed said we’d want to come back for a multiple day stay here sometime.

I may not bother writing a review, but if I did I’d gripe long and loud about the vehicle day use fee.  On top of our camping fee, we had to pay $14 per vehicle just to enter the park.  For one night!!!!  Not sensible, Nebraska.

But aside from that, we’re talking serious hills all covered with big trees, a great Missouri river overlook—

Trails all over the place although I’ll probably not get to travel any this time; a swimming pool; playgrounds; and probably other cool stuff.  Plus lots of birds and the insect population that feeds them.

The roads are like rollercoasters and kids ride bikes all over them. But still people seem to speed excessively—faster than I’ve ever consistently seen people drive in a state park. Molly and I walked way down the road past another camping loop and down to some sort of prairie wildflower restoration project. It was pretty but I didn’t care to walk through the brush—I’d already picked up enough ticks just walking around camp—so I couldn’t appreciate it. And we didn’t have a lot of time.

Next day we walked up the road that went just past our camp site and discovered another whole camping area.  It was either primitive or electric only, but there were a handful of people camping there. Looked nice.

House wren, Eastern Towhee, Spotted Towhee, Yellow Warbler, Wood Thrush, White-breasted Nuthatch, Warbling Vireo (I finally got to see one singing! I think I’ll know this from now on. It has a very distinctive exclamation point at the end—Weebly_warbly_woodle_widdle_wee_wwbly-WHIT!)