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2026 Leepin’ Across America
  • Mike and Kimberly
  • Mike and Kimberly

2026 Leepin’ Across America

An open-ended adventure by Mike and Read more
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  • Mike and Kimberly2026 Leepin’ Across AmericaTraveler
    Wind turbines
    World's largest truckstopTruck jamboreeTruck "car show"Trucker Olympics2Bridge over the MississippiThe Mississippi

    Starved rock RV-Utica,IL (7/10-7/11)

    July 10 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    Today is leg three of our cannonball across the Midwest. Today’s trip is 440 miles and 7 1/2 hour drive day.

    Today was a little bit of a boring drive as far as scenery in Iowa. Iowa has a ton of wind turbines. There are also are several big manufacturers of the wind turbines here in Iowa itself. In particular there is one that is located right off I 80 which we are taking across Iowa.

    Since the manufacturer is right there on the interstate, we saw several trucks, pulling the wind blades along the interstate. Man, those things are huge. The state of Iowa actually generate 60% of its electricity from Winter turbines. Interesting fact.

    We needed to get fuel on the east end of Iowa and lucky for us, our fuel stop coincided with the I80 world‘s largest truckstop. If you have ever been to Buc-ee’s this place is just like a Buc-ee‘s except gear toward tractor trailer drivers. Coincidentally they also were having truck jamboree at the same time so a large portion of the parking lot was marked off with all kinds of vendors. They had show trucks, like kinda a car show, but with 18 wheeler trucks, and they had contests and vendors. They even had trucker Olympics. We caught the very end of that, they had to pull a truck with a weight in the back as part of the truck as their Olympics event.

    This place is massive. I can’t even explain how big it is. We filled up the rig with fuel and then found a parking space so we could go inside the truckstop. I’ve been in a few truck stops before, but never anything this large. They had every accessory you could think of for a rig. They had a dentist they had a barbershop. They had the usual truckstop stuff. They had an entire food court. Clothing of all types. It was Buc-ee’s on steroids. It was crazy.

    We did a walk-through the entire place and then went back to the rig and continued our drive. The rest of the drive was uneventful and we made it to our spot in Utica, Illinois. Coincidentally, I grew up outside of Utica, New York. So I have to stop and think every time I think of Utica that I’m not in New York. This is our last overnight stop. Tomorrow we get to a campground where we can stay for a just over a week. Excited to be off the road for a little bit and to get back to life as normal. Although Mike has a race to work so he won’t be joining me.    Read more

  • Mike and Kimberly2026 Leepin’ Across AmericaTraveler
    Weird sunshine through the clouds on the last leg of our trip
    Open pit mineI 80 around Gary, Indiana a traffic nightmareSandhill cranes

    Holiday RV-Grasslake,MI(7/11-720)

    July 11 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    After four long days on the road, we made it to grass Lake Michigan. This is just a place to sit still while Mike flies out to Idaho for another race.

    This morning when we got up, the sky looked really weird as we started the last leg of our drive. There was a big light section in the clouds. I think it was caused by the way the sun was shining through, but it was pretty neat looking.

    We passed some kind of open pit mine along the way, and then made it to the Mississippi river. Once we were on top of the Mississippi river Bridge, we crossed into Indiana. Then the traffic nightmare begins. Multiple lanes of 18 wheelers going the same direction we are and we become a sandwich between the 18 wheelers. This is the area of I 80 around Gary, Indiana. Every time we come by here, it’s a traffic nightmare. And we always swear that we will never come this way again. But somehow we keep going on this same stretch of road.

    After that traffic nightmare, we made it into Michigan. We stopped at a rest stop to take a break from the traffic. They had a really cute little lighthouse at the rest area.

    When we arrived at the campground, it was really neat to see two sandhill cranes. We saw these all the time in Florida and I love these birds because they sound like pterodactyls with all the weird noises they make.    Read more

  • Mike and Kimberly2026 Leepin’ Across AmericaTraveler
    Glad to be back in the land of trees
    Huron RiverPortage lake11Postcard

    Ride to Hell and back

    July 14 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    We have just a few days before Mike takes off for his flight out of Detroit to Spokane, Washington. He will be working a race in northern Idaho by Coeur d’Alene.

    We decided to take a ride to hell. Hell Michigan that is. We’ve been here before when we were in Michigan. But it wasn’t too far away from the campground and we needed something to do so we decided to do it again.

    Along the way, we rode along the Huron river. We have been riding along many beautiful rivers recently, and now I have high expectations, but was sadly disappointed. It was nowhere near as beautiful as some of the rivers we rode along in Idaho and Wyoming. We also passed by portage Lake and several other small lakes.

    We stopped at the saloon in hell and grabbed a bite to eat and checked out the trinkets they had in the store next-door. There are lots of T-shirts but nothing that interests Mike but I got a postcard for my nieces. The really neat thing was the postcard says “greetings from hell” Michigan but the sales clerk burned it and put a big stamp on it. Which was kind of cool.    Read more

  • Mike and Kimberly2026 Leepin’ Across AmericaTraveler
    Picture of Mike with Kevin Harvick in the middle
    These are the racing trophiesGetting ready for a ride along with Kevin Harvick2Mike's ride along with Kevin Harvick2Somebody bought all the officials ice cream11Smoke at campsite in Michigan1Can hardly see the sun through the smoke

    Race-Stateline Speedway- Idaho

    July 16 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 77 °F

    Here are some pictures from Mike’s race at Stateline Speedway. He got to go on a ride in the race car with Kevin Harvick. It was the highlight of his weekend.

    Meanwhile, while I was still at the campground, we had a ton of smoke come in the area from the forest fires in Canada.Read more