We left the mountains and corn was calling our names. Not really but we were on our way to Minneapolis and it was nothing but fields of corn that stood between us. We added the 32^nd state to our list and crossed into Nebraska by way of Big Springs and headed toward North Platte. As under-the-radar as Nebraska may be, it’s chock-full of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) that make for a buffet of free camping options. Most that we checked out were small grassy areas on some sort of river or slough that weren’t necessarily places we’d want to set up camp for a week but made for great overnight spots with easy access to the highway. As convenient as being 3 minutes off the Interstate was, it was definitely a little noisy at times but nothing we couldn’t tune out.

The sun that we had briefly got re-accustomed to had quickly disappeared back into a heavy mass of brooding rain clouds that seemed to hover above us wherever we went. As much as torrential rain sucks, we seemed to have left Colorado at the right time because they got dumped on with another 15”+ of snow – suddenly the rain didn’t seem so bad. We spent about 5 days driving across Nebraska in a routine of finding a Starbucks to work at and then a WMA to sleep at. Again, this was shockingly easy to do. One of our last stops was in Aurora where we stayed the night at a city park with free hookups and even a pool with a giant waterslide. Sadly it wasn’t open but that was probably for the best because the sky looked like it was getting heavier and heavier. We spent another night earlier in the week where a local actually came to check up on us the next morning to see if we survived the rain. Just like in Alberta, the thunderstorms in the Midwest are pretty intense. Coming from Ontario, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lightning storm so electric in my life. Naturally, we were too entranced by the light show to take pictures. Somehow Pierogi managed to sleep through it all and barely batted an eye when the thunder rolled through.

Instead of cooking over to Des Moines, we made a little detour to check out Kansas City. It’s never really been a place that’s caught our eye on a map but we had recently heard a lot of cool things about it and had been told it’s a super underrated city. We were three hours away so why not? We continued to venture into new territory and closed in on the city in the late afternoon of a scorching hot, humid day. After running a few errands and remembering it was Memorial Day weekend, we thought we’d be best to try and snag a spot somewhere to camp for the weekend and do our exploring on Monday. A wise choice it definitely was because we scooped up the last open spot at a free campground in Louisburg, KS just in time. Unfortunately, the excessive rain turned the lake we were on into a swampy bug-filled mess and didn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon. We were happy when it started raining because it broke through the heat but the many folks tent camping definitely were not as thrilled.

We used the long weekend as a chance to catch up on some repairs and maintenance projects instead of slamming cans of Budweiser and eating Americana-coloured foods like I assume Memorial Day is usually celebrated. We packed up on Monday morning and headed to the city and quickly realized that we made an excellent decision by choosing to visit on a holiday. The streets were empty and free parking options were abundant. We parked at the River Market and scoped out all the cool food and drink options around while a Pierogi fan club started to form and we realized we couldn’t get very far without people constantly stopping us to give her some puppy love. We eventually managed to explore the surrounding areas and see the library in person, which was one of our must-sees in the city. If you’ve never seen photos of it, the parking garage for the public library is painted like a giant bookshelf with the locals’ favourite titles on the spines. It’s really, really awesome.

The only downfall of the holiday was that Boulevard Brewing and Joe’s BBQ were both closed. We headed to the east part of town and went to Gates BBQ and man oh man those baked beans were something else. We both agreed that we’d never had beans so good or quite frankly, that beans could even taste that good. The pork was amazing and the sauce was amazing but those beans were out of this world. People of Gates, if you’re reading this, yes, we would love to do a sponsorship. Please get in touch. Please.

After a great day in the city, we headed slightly north to camp around St. Joseph and continue en route to Minnesota. Similar to Colorado, we seem to have left KC at the right time because the tornado warnings were coming in hot. We were driving through Missouri to Iowa when the emergency signals took over the radio. It was a violent rain storm already but the winds were really picking up around the Kansas/Missouri state line. Thankfully we seemed to be in a safe zone with only flood warnings upon us but even driving in that was a task. We settled into a very wet county park near Osceola and considered ourselves lucky because the tornado in Kansas ended up having a one mile radius. I’m sure people down there are used to it but that’s just plain nuts.

We put in a work day in Des Moines and stayed the night at a lovely lakeside spot near the Minnesota state line and were ready to conquer the home stretch drive to Minneapolis. The Midwest always gets a bad wrap for being boring but honestly, there were way more trees and things to look at compared to driving through Texas. Sorry Texas, your cities are cool but getting from one to another is boring as hell. Anyway, we’re always stoked to be pleasantly surprised by underrated places and states and felt like this little jaunt did exactly that. People often coin these areas as “fly-over states” but next time you’re through, slow down and smell the corn because it actually smells pretty sweet.

Anyone who’s taken the I-95 into Georgia has seen them: row after row of huge billboards that won’t let you forget exit 58 in Townsend, GA. And anyone who has seen these signs knows that that is the exit for none other than, Peach World. Falling almost too easily into their trap, we had to stop and see what all the hype was about. I mean, peach wine? Peach salsa? Peach cider? Yes please! Gotta say that we were quite surprised by how small and unassuming the place was but once they started hitting us with free samples, we had both feet in the door. With peaches not being in season, we stuck mostly to pralines but were determined to try the peach wine. If you like syrupy sweet wine that has the strangest aftertaste of oregano, then this is for you. I found it to be pretty much undrinkable unless mixed with soda water or something else to dilute it but Justin couldn’t get enough. He also loves Vienna sausages so make of that what you will.

On the other hand, the praline pecan honey butter has got to be one of the best things to come out of Georgia. It sure is sweet but in the most heavenly way possible. Seriously, this stuff is dangerously good. And as far as dangerously good goes, we also had to make a stop at a Krystal after beginning our love affair with White Castle in Vegas. Seemingly the exact same mini square burgers, we’re still confused that they’re not actually just the same company. That being said, there was something about the Krystal burgers that took them one step further into the weird processed “why did I just eat 12 of these” world that they live in and for that, I have to pass the throne onto Krystal. Feel free to argue otherwise, I’m always up for a debate about important things in the world like burgers.

After all this new food excitement, we headed into Savannah and were so bummed to see that the visitor’s centre no longer allows overnight parking. Some fellow vanners had just stayed there not long before us and recommended it but it seems that the change happened in response to people taking advantage of the great parking opportunity and treating it like it was their backyard. We’ve stayed at plenty of Walmarts where we’re continuously stunned by how at-home people in big RVs make themselves with their generators running, slides out and even having outdoor TVs or radios going. Just because the visitor centre was charging 10 or 15 bucks to allow the parking does not mean you’re entitled to treat it like an RV Park or even worse, leave trash around or damage the pavement with jacks and hitches. I’m going to save this rant for another post with some simple steps on how not to be a complete asshole when staying in a parking lot (especially when it’s FREE) and ruin it for the rest of us travellers that are just looking for an overnight stop. On that note, we were still able to park for a couple hours in the afternoon and explore Savannah but definitely not as much as we would have liked. It is such a pretty city! It just feels so quaint and cozy with Victorian-style houses shaded by mature trees wrapped in vines and colourful flowers.

It seemed like every street had something lovely to see, whether it be intricate architecture, cool shops or lush greenery like that of Forsyth Park. There was a wedding going on by the fountain and every angle looked like it was out of a storybook. This was our first real look at a city in the south (we only got to see the gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama, which had a much different vibe) and it was certainly chock full of the dreamy secret garden-esque homes that people lust over on House Hunters. Whether that’s a realistic representation in 2018 or not, it sure made for some real purdy scenery. To our dismay, we had to leave the parking lot by 6 so didn’t get a chance to go for a drink somewhere or enjoy the open container laws but it’s at the top of our list to revisit another time. Savannah had many similarities to New Orleans with the European influence on architecture and liquor merriment but didn’t feel at all trashy like the NOLA overkill did. Sigh, onto the nearest Walmart to have a snooze.

The next morning, we made a brief stop in Hardeeville, SC to take Clemmie’s picture with the pink and grey elephants at Papa Joe’s Fireworks (assuming this is owned by John’s lesser known brother). No clue what the significance is but they’re definitely different. When we have longer drives, we use this website to see some “quirkier” tourist attractions that break up our drive and make it a little more interesting.

Our next mission was to see what Charleston was all about but being a Sunday, parking spots seemed to be a mythical concept. When we’re in cities, we generally just drive around to see what’s up so we were satisfied taking in more of that southern charm from the van windows. Looking quite similar to Savannah, Charleston echoed the fairytale look with the historic homes and low hanging trees that lined the streets as people lined up to have their photo taken in front of a row of pastel coloured houses. We took our cue to move away from downtown and headed across James Island to Folly Beach. It was a moderately warm day so it was busy but nowhere near as jammed as Charleston and made for a nice little rest stop on the beach before heading north.

We’re big fans of the multitude of options for camping in National Forests, BLMs and WMAs in the United States. Being from Ontario (Southern Ontario specifically), although we have plenty of Crown Land, the resources and databases offered to the public are quite confusing and make it difficult to navigate exactly where you can and cannot camp. To that point, most of the more known spots that I or friends have visited are meant for portaging and are certainly not accessible in a camper. The amount of fully developed campgrounds that we’ve stayed at in the US that are completely free or require a simple free permit is mind-boggling. If you’re an American reading this, get out there and explore some of these public use spots while they’re still around! We’ve had better free campsites here than some of those that we’ve paid for at home. One of these spots being right by the Francis Marion National Forest in the Santee Coastal Reserve. It was so nice to be back in secluded wilderness after being packed in like sardines in Florida’s WMAs. No cell service and a sky lit up by stars and fireflies always makes for an amazing night’s sleep.

Continuing up the coast, we spent the abnormally cold work week at Myrtle Beach State Park and rejoiced that we no longer have to pay for campgrounds to use electricity to work. Our solar is up and running and we couldn’t be more excited! We were happy to have shore power this particular week because it was very overcast and cold and with the endless storms hitting the northeast, we decided to rethink our drive through North Carolina and just skim the bottom before heading to Tennessee. We made a stop in the Nantahala National Forest and admired how beautiful it was to be back in the mountains. Clemmie’s gotta get used to mountain driving again before we get back to BC and Alberta because everything east of New Mexico has been pretty flat for the past while. We’re on a mission now to get west as swiftly as possible to give ourselves enough time to explore America’s Pacific Coast before our tourist visas run out. As always, seeing all the things we can see along the way. Any suggestions?