2006/03 Southwest USA trip (AZ-MN) - Stephens state forest |
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At Kansas City, w e crossed the Missouri River into the state of Missouri. We’d intended camping in Missouri but the books showed that all the state campgrounds that had been open at this time last year on our Deep South trip weren’t due to open until April 1st.
So we decided to camp further north in Iowa. This would reduce our driving on the last day but it would also reduce the overnight temperature! We stopped at the Iowa border to visit the Info Center, and it looked like all of Iowa’s state parks were closed in 
March too. Most of Iowa is used for growing corn or hogs, so there aren’t many wild areas for camping. I found a reference to Stephens State Forest and hoped that it would be too much trouble to close those campsites for winter. Sure enough, we found a spot there in the forest, all by ourselves of course.
On the way in we’d seen a ringneck pheasant on the road a sure sign that we were in the North Country. I took a stroll at dusk and walked in amongst some strange shaped shrubs before they exploded into a half dozen waving white flags. I’d walked into a herd of white tailed deer. The temperature was already close to freezing when I got back to the camper.
Friday March 3rd
It didn’t get as cold as forecast, but it was still a bit nippy, in the twenties.