Friday 7/1

I-29 between Sioux City and Council Bluffs - water is higher than the road, a photo by Olivia Linkel on Flickr.

I feel like this picture sums up today's journey.

We drove over to Ponca State park this morning arriving about 8:30. This is a visitor center for the Missouri River. We explored the great exhibits and got a stamp and were quickly on the road.

As I started looking at the map on the road ahead, I realized that we were in for a detour. I had seen a sign in the KOA office that said I-29 was closed and you had to use I-680 as a detour but I had no idea that it applied to us when I saw it. I-29 is pretty mucg the only highway that take you from Sioux City to Kansas City, all of it along the Missouri River. Some places are 5 - 6 feet above flood stage and in the picture here, the water is actually higher than the roadway but the sand/gravel bags is holding it back. There was actually a section of road that we drove through that had been under water a few days ago.

So, since we had to go on I-80 to detour anyway, we decided to stop in DesMoines and pick up the state capitol. They were preparing for a symphony concert on the lawn which looked like it would be great fun. This building is really an awesome sight to see from the highway as you enter the city. We took our picture and had some lunch and then continued on our drive. We crossed the entire state of Iowa and headed south into Missouri, which Scott and the kids are all calling Misery.

We drove ~550 miles today and arrived at the campground around 9:30 after stopping for a dinner break at Wendy's in a little Missouri town.

We have nearly 900 miles to go tomorrow and then we will be home. The kids cannot wait to go swimming on Sunday and sleep in their own beds.