Joan on the Road...of Life

Cloudy, rainy, cold...fall is in the air. It's amazing how quickly it changes in the Midwest. Hopefully there is Indian Summer around the corner for a few days.

We needed to get out and do something besides grocery shop so we went to a movie Wednesday afternoon. In keeping with our recent Air Force Museum adventure we saw Flyboys. It's a true story about some Americans who served with the French Lafayette Escadrille in WWI prior to the U.S. getting involved.

It's a war story/ love story, kind of hoky and predictable but the flying and dogfight scenes were quite incredible and the acting was pretty good.The docents at the Air Museum told us about the movie; they were quite impressed. Seeing the movie was like seeing the old planes from the museum come to life. Like this one!

It's truly amazing that these planes were flying only about 10 years after the Wright brothers first sustainable flight. This is the kind of movie that needs to be seen in the theater, something we don't often do. The dogfight scenes wouldn't be nearly as exciting on the small screen. It's a slice of history about real people doing ordinary and extraordinary things...something lacking in many current movies.

Posted by Joan at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've mentioned the "girls" before...my friends from grade school and high school, most of whom live here in Gurnee, IL. When anyone of the wandering girls returns "home" it's an occasion to eat. So on short notice seven of us got together yesterday at Baker's Square for brunch. Amazing that we all made it, except Carla who couldn't catch a flight from Florida fast enough :)...and Pat CM who went to the wrong restaurant but finally realized we weren't there. Coordinating one of these outings is exasperating....but Lynn did a bang up job.

So what was the reason to gather? Lynn got fed up with her J O B and quit much to the surprise of all. She loved the job but was hating the environment. Then she took a relaxing trip to Virginia to visit her kids and wound up putting an offer on a condo. We had to hear all about it. So it looks like Lynn will be leaving the Gurnee fold. She says this just gives us another place to visit :)

Our brunch lasted a couple of hours, the wait staff was getting a little antsy...who cares. There were lots of empty tables so we did not feel guilty. Some of us then adjourned to Lynn's to see pix of the condo in VA and to give her our two cents worth on what she's doing....and most agreed it's a sensible move. Now who am I to give any opinion, having packed in house and family to move to CA 30 years ago and then suddenly selling it all to live the vagabond RV life.

It's an interesting psychological experience to be in this area for an extended period, where practically every turn in the road holds a memory. I tried to explain what I'm feeling to the girls but can't quite put it into words. It's something like this. When we are traveling, every town and park is a new experience and we can be whoever we want...there's no history, no expectations, no memories. Here in Northern Illinois there's a "timeline" that goes back before I was born. I am very conscious of where I fit in that timeline and am much more conscious of my age when I'm here.

That's why it's fun to have a girls day because we are all the same age...well all except Maryann who graduated with us but somehow is still celebrating her 39th birthday :) We are lucky to have each other.

Posted by Joan at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After sitting for six days with just electrical connections we were ready to dump. I was getting a bit nervous about flushing the potty, thinking .....well that's never happened! We have filled the gray tank in the past but never had a black emergency. So we packed up, dumped the tanks, filled the water, reparked, took the time to dust and clean and were re-setup in two hours. Not too bad.

I just realized today that we have only had full hookups for one week since mid July. And it hasn't seemed like too much of a hassle. We've been parked in such nice places!

It was sure good to see the sun shine today after a rotten weekend of rain. We managed to be in a safe place while a rash of tornados hit the Midwest. Today the radar screen has no rain. It's really nice when there is flex in our schedule so that we do not have to travel in the bad weather.

I think we'll have some nice Midwest Indian Summer weather now and we'll be here at the beach or in a nice wooded park in Wisconsin.

Tonight we're watching Angel's baseball and wondering if by any magic they could win the rest of the games and clinch the division. Nah!

Posted by Joan at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've had a few rainy, cold, uneventful days here at Illinois Beach State Park. Even the weekenders haven't come out to play. I've had the sniffles, just feeling a bit punk so we haven't done much except read, watch movies and try to decide what to do next.

Jim's eye appointment last Wednesday showed further improvement (a lucentis injection for his form of macular degeneration). So we are encouraged and will hang around the midwest for another month and another treatment.

But the more we looked at weather projections the less we wanted to head north. Even the lure of crossing the Mackinac Bridge doesn't make us want to travel. Then we find that some of the family is coming in from Arizona and there's a potential get-together of local cousins next weekend. So we've decided to stay here another week, The fourteen day limit will cause us to move then and we'll probably go up to Racine, WI to the lovely Cliffside Park then back to Illinois and maybe try the Chain of Lakes State Park for a fall color experience. There's always a new space even in an old place.

Last night a swarm of tornados struck the midwest and we were really glad we'd left Indiana. I think there must be some kind of "lake effect" that causes weather to lift or break up right at the lake...and that's where we are. So we've avoided lots of bad weather here. But I must admit to getting a little anxious about getting to warmer weather. The geese are flying south...I feel the call.

Posted by Joan at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We hung around the park in Peru until about 10:30 when the sky started to lighten up and the rain became a drizzle. We hooked up in our raincoats which I think we've done just one other time in 3.5 years.

The trip from Peru, IN to Zion, IL is 250 miles that I figured would take us six hours because we wanted to travel red roads. That's really an easier drive....until you get lost. In most little towns across the country the main drag will take a couple of right turns to take you through the business district. In Monticello, IN we took the first few turns OK and then stopped for gas. Now if you're driving a motorhome towing a car you have to be pretty focused on the gas station when you pull in...gotta be sure you can pull out.

We got in, filled up and made a tough U-turn to get back on the road. In a few blocks we realized that we were not on US 24, our red road. We pulled over and looked at our maps but didn't have enough detail to figure out where we'd gone wrong but we could sure see we were headed in the wrong direction. Now where do we turn this rig around and back track.

Mr. DeLorme to the rescue (thanks Tom). I booted up the computer and zeroed on on the town. Oops! When we pulled into the gas station we'd missed the turn for US 24. Lucky for us we quickly found a wide spot in the road and got back on track. OK...why wasn't I using the GPS mapping and direction feature on DeLorme. We've tried it a couple of times but it seems a bit of a hassle to have the computer set up and listen to lady Microsoft tell us what to do. After yesterday I think I'll try it again.

I do use the software to print out lots of detail city and interchange maps...too bad I didn't do that for Monticello :) I did have several maps printed of the freeway interchanges to get us through the Chicago area and that was very helpful. It took us a bit over six hours to get to Zion and by the time we got gas, dumped the tanks and got set up it was past dinner...we ate out :) There's a Culver's around the corner and a Butterburger really hit the spot.

And then the cold wind came. It went down to 52 degrees. The furnace went on, the electric heater came out and the blue velour blanket went on the bed. Not only was it cooler but the wind was blowing about 25 mph. That warm, sunny weather back in SoCal sounds real good right now!

Posted by Joan at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We took a short side trip to the Mississinewa River to see the Seven Pillars. The limestone here is soft and the rushing river (before the dam) carved out these "rooms" in the cliffs. Legend has it that the Miami Indians used these carved out rooms for council meetings.

Saturday night while sitting by the fire I was sure I heard a Basset Hound barking. So Sunday morning Jim rode around the park to see if he could find the dog. A few people pointed out the trailer where the dog lived but no one was home. So in the afternoon we stopped by and sure enough "Ernie" was outside. I could have sat on the ground and held him for hours. His face looked so much like our Rocky and he sounded exactly like Rock. However....we hugged and licked....and then moved on.

While sitting outside later in the afternoon a little hound dog came by, no collar or ID. She was sniffing around obviously looking for something. Later in the evening I'm sure I heard her barking and this morning she is stll running around loose in the rain. She didn't seem to want to stay and we think someone must have left her behind and she's looking for her owners. Most campers are gone but there are several "hosts" here so I'm sure she'll be taken care of.

It's Monday morning and we're waiting for the rain to pass so we can head out today for the beach...Illinois Dunes again :)

Posted by Joan at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've had several campfires the last few months, probably because in the public parks the firerings are there, sites are large and wood is available. Everybody's doing it :) Last night's fire was lovely. I got to thinking that campfires have always been a large part of my life.

I grew up on a "farmette"...Five Acres and Independence was the guidebook for my parents. My Mom is from a large family so often we had family gatherings and would end up around the campfire with uncles playing guitar to accompany family singing.

At our first home in Lindenhurst, Illinois we had an empty lot next door that served as the neighborhood party lot. Many's the corn roast and campfire that we held there. Now those are wild memories! Like the time the guys threw Big Russ in the corn soaking bin or the time we blew out the stereo speakers while playing dance music :)

We built a gas fire pit in the deck of our Irvine, California home and soon decided to just use the gas to start a wood fire. Gas just didn't have the crackle and smoke we liked :) How many times we had wonderful family gatherings around that fire pit for kids and then grandkids!

We took long trips in our popup camper with our teenagers and I recall huge fires, the bigger the better, so big that you burned the rubber on your tennies. Sometimes we had music but mostly just sitting, talking and staring into the fire.

What is is about the campfire? Peace, contentment and a sort of creative freedom. It seems that we put voice to thoughts, concerns and dreams around a fire that might otherwise be held in. Last night Jim and I were thinking about what it would have been like here in the Indiana woods when the Indians called it home and sat around the fire. And every time the fire dies down and we go inside it's just a little bit sad.

Posted by Joan at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's the dam at Mississinewa Lake in Peru, IN creating a 12-30 mile reservoir, depending on the time of year.

Across the water is the campground where we have a spacious site and not too many other campers. I think our site is about 50 x 70'.

The town of Peru is about 9 miles away and has good services. We mailed a package today...no line at the USPS on a Friday afternoon. Incredible!

This park is about 20 miles from Salamonie Reservoir and it is very well maintained. I did not have to clean up this site :) We put out our blue carpet for the first time in a year or more. I'm really leary of getting those chigger bites again so I don't want my feet and legs in the grass. I'm covered with Cutter bug protection so hope that keeps me "safe" through our campfire.

We are really enjoying our state park stays. The KOA in Dayton was the only private park in the last 2 months. We've got the "dumping" timing down pretty well and are quite comfy with only electric connections. Really expands our universe to get out of the private parks.

Posted by Joan at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We did go back to see the Early Years Gallery at the Air Museum. Can't stay away! One of the docents then recommended we visit the Wright Memorial down the road. From there you can see the first airport, Huffman Prairie. While we were immersed in all the history, the C-5s were doing "touch and gos" overhead. Incongruous! Here's Jim at the Memorial Park.

We headed home, about 40 miles. Didn't get lost! Yeah! You know what those navigation conversations can be like :) Here's a shot of Tall Timbers KOA as you enter so you understand why I was a little nervous when we arrived. You can see our rig with Mr Moto peeking through the trees.

We almost stayed another day to see a few more Wright Brothers historical sites...but then decided we were "touristed" out. I never thought of Dayton, Ohio as any very special place but there is a LOT to see and it's a lovely area.

Today was a very relaxing travel day. I'm happy to report that all systems continue to work well. We traveled 160 miles on "red" roads...no freeways. It took us 4 hours going 50-55 most of the time. AND...gas fill up at $2.15...yippee! We have a very large site in the Miami SRA at Mississinewa Lake/Reservoir south of Peru, Indiana. It is a very well maintained, wooded, grassy state park. Tomorrow we'll start exploring.

Posted by Joan at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We came, we saw and we may go back again. We've been immersed in airplanes for two days and still have not seen all of the the National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB. The museum is housed in five huge hangars with dramatic lighting and dioramas of the period. There's also an IMAX Theater (you know how I love that ) so we saw a film on fighter training over the Nevada desert and one on the Magic of Flight. I will never look at the Nevada desert in the same way again.

We started our tour in the Cold War Gallery where Jim wanted to see the SR-71 Blackbird. The plane is so stealthy that I could not get a good picture of it. Here's the best I could do.

Out of the 150 pix I took I like the ones of the nose art best. Here's an example.

The planes are loving restored by volunteers. We met a couple of guys inside a C-124 cargo plane where they were painting. They were probably in their 70s....said they just come in on Tuesday morning and ask what they can do! They were telling war stories when we came upon them. Both days there were Air Force groups touring. Sometimes you see an old guy just sitting in a wheel chair staring at a plane. Imagine the experiences and stories in the heads of all those guys.

Each plane has a story, This one is The B-29, Bockscar, that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. We happened to be at this plane when a small group of Japanese tourists came by. I wonder how our thoughts compared..

Here's a section of the Berlin Wall along with a Trabant auto, manufactured in East Germany. Made very cheaply it could not compete with Western cars after the wall came down.

The Presidential Plane display was very interesting to me. We stood in the Air Force One plane that carried President Kennedy back to Washington DC....right where they made space for the casket...gave me chills.

We've been to several Air Museums but this is by far the best overall display. If you tried to read all the display info you could be there a week or more. In fact, since we missed three galleries we may go back tomorrow!

Posted by Joan at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Joan at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We got a really late start this Sunday morning so Jim suggested we take a day off and head for the Air Museum tomorrow. Today we'll just get acclimated to the area....which means we'll shop a little. So since it's a day off I thought I'd answer a couple of questions.

Tom wondered if I could post a map of all the states we've visited since July 2003. I found a map website that is the same as the map we have on the door. Here's our current "States Visited" map:

I think the count is now 29 visited....lots to go :)

Carla wanted to know, "What are Marilyn Monroes?" that we have for breakfast. Two poached eggs on rye toast. Square bread doesn't work for this recipe! I poach eggs the old-fashioned way. Bring water to almost a boil in a large skillet. Turn down the heat. Break eggs, one by one, into a small cup and gently roll into the hot water which should just cover the eggs. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Lift each egg out of the water on a slotted flat pancake turner and slide onto the rye toast. What does that look like? :)

Donna wrote about how my desert flower pictures from 2004 were very meaningful to her. I am thrilled and humbled when I learn that my writing and pictures are interesting and impactful. I only started to write this blog to keep in touch with family and friends. Now I have hundreds of readers! Glad you are with me on our travels :)

Well it's 1 PM. Time to apply more calamine lotion to the bites (they are better) and sit outside with a cold drink. Cheers!

Posted by Joan at 09:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was a fantastic day! All systems worked! Dare I uncross my fingers? :)

We were on the road by 10:45 going from Andrews, IN to Dayton, OH--about 150 miles. We took mostly red roads and they were pretty good. Traveling through a bit of Amish country we passed a few horse drawn buggies with ladies in long aqua dresses and white hair covers. The roads had passing lanes for buggies.

In Bryant we just missed the Loblolly Days....what the heck is that. Nearest we could figure it was a huge yard sale and food fest. We didn't stop. Not hungry and don't need any "stuff". We did see gas prices of ....hold your breath...$2.28 but we were all full up. Several small heart of America towns later we hit Interstate 70 and traveled east about 25 miles to our KOA campsite ariving at about 2:30.

I had requested a satellite friendly site but when we drove in my heart sank because it is a lovely wooded campground. But KOA seems to know their stuff and Mr. Moto found his satellite with no problem.

After our last several weeks of huge county and state park camp sites this seems a bit cramped but we won't be here too much. Tomorrow we head for the National Air Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Jim has been online planning the visit as the place is huge.

Tonight I'm relaxing in my lounger with a towel on the footrest and my legs covered with calamine lotion. I don't know what happened but I have dozens of bites on my lower legs that itch like fire!! :( I tried benedryl, tea tree oil, cortizone, betaine...nothing calmed the itch until good old calamine. This is the second day of itching so I'm hopeful tomorrow the fire will be dying. I'm not sure if it's ants, chiggers, maybe poison ivy or something. But it will get better.

Tomorrow night we'll put Ohio on the map. It's been a long time since we hit a new state.

Posted by Joan at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's our site 239 at Salamonie Reservoir in Indiana...

After a couple of cups of coffee outside watching the water activity we completed a few chores. Jim washed the bugs off the front of Mr. Blue and fixed the directional signal problem. Seems one of our RV techs had removed the fuse for the right directional and left it lying on the carpet behind the fuse panel. Jeez! Good thing I didn't vacuum it up.

I cleaned up the campsite. There must have been some real SLOBS here before us because I got a half garbage bag full of cigarette buts, cellophane straw wrappers from juice boxes, bread bag ties, pop top tabs, bottle caps and string plus other assorted junk. I cannot imagine the kind of people who would just throw all this stuff on the ground. What do they think is going to happen to it?!

After a breakfast of Marilyn Monroes we went for a long bike ride to scope out the campsites. This is really a nice park and several sites are satellite friendly. Jim went to the marina to get wood for a campfire while I vacuumed. Then we relaxed with some good books!:)

We enjoyed a dinner of filet as tender as butta and baked potato soaked in butta...hmmmm...where were the fat police! :)

Then while the sunset....

Jim started a fire.....

...and we watched the moonrise over the water. We closed out the evening with a few tunes from the 60's and 70's on our Bose Jukebox. Sugar, Sugar.... Mony, Mony....I Think We're Alone Now...So Happy Together!

Posted by Joan at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

All I can hear outside is the sound of insects--crickets, and whatever else chirps away at night. It is a peaceful ending to a hectic day.

We were up at 7 and ready to dump the tanks by 9. Good start. Our light check before hitting the road found that our MH right front turn signal isn't working. Both bulbs seem to be out. Now that sound mysterious. Bet we just have to jiggle a wire. Well that signal is not critical...so we hit the road.

Headed down the county roads to the tollway and an alarm starts beeping. Pull over and figure out what it is. The CO monitor! Jeez! No way to shut the thing off except to cut the wires (no battery). It is 6 years old and probably needs replacing. So we opened a few windows to assure fresh air was blowing through, just in case, and proceeded.

Hit the 294 South and traffic ran smoothly until we took the 50 South cufoff to the 30 east. We were trying to avoid a nightmare intersection. Well 30 east at the bottom of Lake Michigan takes you through some very decrepit areas and some really bad roads with lots of stop and go. An hour later we cleared Valparaiso, IN and traffic cleared with way less traffic lights. Then the dreaded orange construction signs showed up. Along the way the overdrive switch decided not to work. Looks like schmutz in the switch as it works if you hit it hard enough and just the right way.

Eighteen miles of one lane construction on the bad side of the road. Ok...enough whining :(. 30 East cleared up and at Plymouth, IN we took 31 south to 24 (both great roads) and arrived at our campground about 5 PM. A long day for us. I had miscalculated the mileage :( and it turned out to be 240 not 200...mostly on 4 lane state highways

We are at Salamonie Reservoir in Andrews, IN. It is in the way-boonies about 5 miles through cornfields to a lovely spot. Our site is on a little peninsula in the lake so we have 3 sided water view. So far I've seen deer, otter, geese and herons. A full moon is rising and this may call for an evening glass of wine outside.

Posted by Joan at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Starting on Wednesday people came in and set up tents or popups then went away to work...claiming their site for the long weekend. By Friday evening the "Campground Full" sign was up. We'd never seen that here at Illinois Beach. Only about 10% of the sites hear are reservable so everything else is "first come, first served." That works well for us because you can surely get in here during the week and claim your 14 days. (more on that later)

The weekend weather was wonderful and the crowd wasn't too rowdy. One group down the way started playing loud music Saturday afternoon but after a couple of hours I guess the neighbors got tired of it and the Ranger came by to quiet the group down. Lots of family groups had adjoining sites with huge screened in rooms and outdoor games. Funny how excited people can get throwing beanbags into a hole or weighted ropes around a bar.

We took several bike rides and got into the swing of "camping" on Saturday night with a huge fire. The family across the way was showing a movie inside their screened room. We were outside all evening and were never bothered by flies or mosquitoes. But lots of folks have the screened rooms and I know it can be a problem here. We talked about getting an enclosure, just in cast, but it's just one more thing to find a place for and so far we haven't really felt the need.

Last night, on a site down the way, el flamo appeared! It was a large family group, with lots of kids including a baby and here they are with the campfire about three feet from the trailer, throwing flammable fluid on the flames. Fire shot up higher than the trailer! ....and they are laughing hysterically! How stupid. And then they are raising another generation who'll think this is OK.

Well we lucked out. We're parked next to the campground host who's pretty quiet, the people across the street were not tooooo noisy and the folks next door were an older couple who had a quiet party. The weather was so good that I bet people didn't believe ran was coming but middle of the night ....it poured. Lots of campers were packing up soaked stuff in the rain this morning.

Two days of rain are forecast in the Midwest. We planned to leave tomorrow but the weather looks stormy here and in Indiana....so....Jim went to see the campground checkin guy. We've already been here 15 days.. (shhhh). Could we stay another day? Good thing Jim had schmoozed with him because he says, "Let me check with the supervisor." He calls the supervisor and says, "I got a guy here who's having some electrical problems on his car and he needs to stay over. OK?" "Well OK...one more day!" says the supervisor. I bet they have that routine all worked out and that's how people get around the 14 day limit.

Wednesday looks to be sunny all around...so we should be movin' then. I forgot to mention that we dumped tanks on Saturday and all systems worked well. So my confidence is slowly being restored but my fingers and toes are still crossed.

Posted by Joan at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)