By MT Cozzola

Dave drove like a pro trucker but somehow we still arrived at Prairie Oasis Campground in the dark. Our host Patty gave us oatmeal raisin cookies and her partner Todd led us to our site in a golf cart. They said we didn’t need to rush out in the morning, and to check out the paddleboats. The park was empty so we didn’t have to worry about waking anyone when we pulled in, but this trip is still not aligning with my fantasy.

As usual, I blame time. I’ve always sworn-bragged I’d never enter a Walmart, so we kept exiting the highway and searching for small country markets, but we were twenty years too late. After walking through two sad gas stations that had none of the items on our list, I slunk into the Lincoln, Nebraska Walmart and grabbed a cart.

In the morning we briefly considered the paddleboats, but Dave wanted to use his new steel wool and Rainex to clean the front windshield. He went to borrow a stepladder from Todd and Patty, and I walked Nola around the RV park. It contained:

• a short-term section, which was empty except for us and where each site looked identical, with a rig, a picnic table, and hookups.

• a row of cabins, which were unoccupied.

• a long-term section, which was packed, with each site pushing the boundaries of what seems to be allowed: plastic rugs and lawn furniture, mysterious shapes that could be bikes or bodies covered with tarps, dogs tied out and barking at us so ferociously that I didn’t take a picture.

• a designated dog run, which no one seems to use.

Before we left, Dave emptied the black-water and gray-water tanks for the first time. Very impressive. Again, the motorhome is a big human body, kinda. Newbie tip: Nitrile gloves.

Gas: 28.81 gallons, 240.6 miles, 8.35 MPG. Next stop: Fort Collins, Colorado.

Day 1: Rock Island