Overnight at a Winery

June 25, 2023

We packed up and left the I-80 Lakeside Campground on Wednesday morning (June 21st),

We drove past the South Platte River as we headed to I-80.

Here are some pictures along I-80 as we headed to our next overnight stop, a Harvest Host winery in Iowa, just inside the border.

Most of the rest stops along I-80 in Nebraska had limited parking for trucks and large RVs. The parking was parallel to the grass.

Gravel and sand pits were common sights along the Platte River.

We drove underneath the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument. They have parking for big rigs, but we didn’t stop.

After a good while of light rain on and off, we crossed the Missouri River into Iowa.

The winery, Bodega Victoriana Winery and Wedding Barn, was in a lovely spot, not far from I-29.

We stopped in and asked where they wanted us to park. We were told we could park anywhere in the lot, but not along their driveway. We parked near the road and leveled the rig.

After checking the batteries, we needed to run the generator to charge them. We also needed to cool down the RV so we could leave Nox safely inside. Once the generator was running and the RV was cool enough for Nox, we headed inside the winery to sample the wine and have a bite to eat.

We tried all their wines. Bruce let me have a sip of each sample before he tried the small glass of wine. As he sampled the wine, he decided which ones he wanted to purchase.

The winery offers a smoked salmon board, a cheese board and a mixed meat and cheese board. They also offer a crusty bread loaf and olives as extras.

Bruce ordered the salmon board and proceeded to demolish it, between sips of the glass of white wine he ordered. He raved about how delicious it was. I ordered the mixed meat and cheese board and a side of crusty bread. Bruce helped me eat my meat and cheese board. I was glad I had ordered the extra bread. It was so good!

Bruce bought two cases of wine. One case of mixed reds and one case with a mix of a dry white wine and the dessert wine.

They allow you to walk around the grounds and sit outside.

Their many funny signs about wine made me think of my delightful friend, Jeanne from http://www.ajeaneinthekitchen.com. She enjoys wine and I know she would’ve loved this winery.

At dusk, the fireflies came out. We sat outside and watched them flashing.

We had to run the generator several times during the night to keep the batteries charged. Bruce spent some time trying to figure out what was using up the batteries. He didn’t have any luck.

Early in the morning, Nox desperately scratched at our door while whining. This got us up for the morning.

I took Nox out for a walk and noticed these footprints on the RV. (The photo was taken later at a rest stop.) I did wonder if this animal is what caused her to become so agitated.

We headed out not long after sunrise to our next stop.

We really enjoyed our visit to the winery and would stop again.