Turn Around Point

Again, I've not had internet access, so it has been too long since I've posted.    My last couple days in Illinois were fun.    We watched my grand nephew play baseball (they won).

After a week with my sister I packed up Waddles and headed north toward Ontario, Canada.   It felt good to have Waddles attached to my car as I drove down the road.

I drove on Hwy 20 northwest toward the Wisconsin border and then got on the 'Great River Road' which is a series of highway sections that follow the entire length of the Mississippi River.   I followed it until I got to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and then took Highway 53 north.  

I stopped for the night at a Wisconsin state park that was lovely.   I saw a pair of swans with babies, but could not get a photo of them.   In the morning when I was leaving there was beautiful ground fog as the sun was coming up... and I saw happy Wisconsin cows all along the way.

I reached the Canadian Border around noon at International Falls.  I discovered that you have to pay a bridge toll to get to the border ($7. for the car, $4. for Waddles).   I also learned that I could not take my tiny mace can into Canada.  I had to go inside and fill out a form and forfeit my mace.

After I crossed the border I headed East on Highway 11 to Highway 503 which heads north to Dryden, Ontario.   It is a lovely road, 2 lanes that winds through forests with these funny moose warning signs.  I am wondering if there are ghost moose that come out at night and terrorize the drivers.

I reached Dryden and found my friend Rachel with the study Caribou.  These little ones don't like to be touched, but have huge personalities and were a delight to watch.  The adults are shedding so look a bit ragged this time of year, but they are beautiful animals.

I spent 2 nights here and then headed west.  

The Windy City

I'm not sure if I can top the Sock Monkey Museum, but I'll try.    Saturday we drove up to Wisconsin Dells to attend my great niece's high school graduation party.   Turns out my great nephew was playing tuba in a street concert with his Jazz Camp group, so I got to see that also!   It was a fun day, and I got to meet 'almost' family members I've not previously met.  

Waddles has been sitting 'mooch-docked' in my sister's driveway, skootched up against the garage and I've been sleeping out there all cozy.   When I got up on Saturday morning I thought there was a terrible smell in the air, and figured it was the hot, humid weather creating it.  When we got back from the graduation party, my brother-in-law commented on the smell and told me it was not something he'd smelled before.   I did some investigating and discovered that it was coming from Waddle's battery!  And the battery was quite hot.   So I unplugged the shore power right away.  The battery is sitting right next to the propane tank, so that was NOT a good thing.    The smell went away  and the battery cooled down.    Something was not right.   So Sunday we went to a Batteries Plus store and they tested it.  They said if it had just been charged (which it had) something was definitely wrong and I should replace it.  They did not have a similar battery in stock, so we went to Napa and found what we were looking for.   I installed it and all is well.

Also, I think I may have mentioned before that Waddles' battery is not charging when hooked up to the running car, which it should be.  So today I took it to an automotive place to see if they could figure out why.   I'd not tested this before leaving home, and suspected that the needed wire was not hooked up when the hitch and wiring was installed.   They confirmed that suspicion and fixed the problem.  I just hooked up the trailer and all is right with the world.   I'm hoping this will make my return trip a little easier.  I've been worried about the battery up until now.

Old battery 

The new battery charging while the car is running!  YEA!

Last night we took the train into downtown Chicago to attend the Chicago Blues Festival. This is a free 3-day event with 4 different stages!    On the way from the train to the festival we found the end of Route 66!

And the festival was right next to 'The Bean', which has a virtual geocache.

The music at the stage we went to was wonderful...and there were a LOT of people

Rhiannon Giddens was fabulous

Gary Clark Jr.  was really amazing

The first performer was Ronnie Baker Brooks, son of Lonny Brooks.   Another wonderful performance.    We headed back to the train at about 9:30pm.  On the way we saw this Picasso sculpture:

The the view sky-ward was pretty cool...

On the train home, the doors were not working, so we got home after midnight because two conductors had to manually open the doors at every stop!   It was entertaining.  At least the train was running.

Tonight we are going to see my other great nephew play baseball.    Tomorrow I'm not sure what is on the schedule.  Wednesday I'm planning to head home, via Ontario to visit another friend!   The next few days here in Illinois are going to be tough.....  check the precipitation as well as the temperature.

Family

Spent Wednesday driving south from Hannibal toward St. Louis Missouri, to visit Cahokia Mounds.  We took in the Visitor's Center and climbed the largest Mound.  I followed a path through the prairie vegetation from one site to another.   It was very interesting and informative.    From the top of the Mound we could see the St Louis Arch.  We spent a second night in Hannibal before heading home,

Thursday we took backroads driving from Hannibal, Missouri to Elgin, Illinois  It was lovely countryside.  We discovered Coatsburg, Illinois is the birthplace of William S. Gray, one of the authors of the Dick and Jane readers.    We also drove through Cherry, Illinois and learned that in 1909, it was the site of third largest Coal Mine disaster in the US.   It is truly amazing what you discover when you go off the beaten track!

Waddles is parked in my sister's driveway for the next week or so. Today I did laundry and changed out the flannel sheets for cooler sheets.    It was almost 90 degrees today and predicted to be hot and humid for the next couple days.    The Pendleton blankets are also off the bed!

Today I took the car in for an oil change and general check to make sure everything is operating properly.  Got a clean bill of health.  My sister and I then drove to Rockford Illinois to visit the gravesite of an aunt and uncle.  I had never been there, so it was lovely.   Then we attempted to find the historical society office to see if we could find more information about these relatives.  That search took us to a museum, where the historical society meets, but they do not have an office.  What WAS there was the Sock Monkey Museum!!!   I didn't know that was on my bucket list, but it was pretty darn cool!

We will be attending my great niece's High School Graduation party tomorrow.

Heartland

I had a wonderful time in Colorado Springs.   Catching up with people I'd not seen in more than FIFTY YEARS was just incredible.    Lots of hugs and smiles, and music and new friends.   Here I am with my best friend from 5th and 6th grade....  She lives in Chile, and has two beautiful daughters,   who are 1/2 Easter Islanders.  One daughter, Mahani, is a concert pianist, the other a journalist and concert organizer.   Check out this music school on Easter Island that Mahani and her husband, Enrique Icke, are creating.  It is really amazing.

I spent 3 nights in Colorado Springs, and visited the Garden of the Gods, which I remember being WAY north of town... and is now kind of in the middle of town, but still awe-inspiring, with Pikes Peak behind it.

The last night I spent at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, south of Colorado Springs.   The views were wonderful, and gave me a pretty good sense of the landscape I'd be seeing for the next few days driving East.   This was looking east during sunset.

As I have mentioned before, I'm trying to stay off Freeways, so chose to drive east on Hwy 36 across northern Kansas and Missouri, ending in Hannibal.   In Colorado and Kansas this is a 2 lane highway with a speed limit of 65 mph.  It goes through lots of very small farm towns.   Cope, Colorado is one of those (I stopped to mail some postcards here).

I finally hit the Kansas border and had to stop for a photo op.

No longer seeing spectacular mountains, but rather spectacular skies!

A few observations about traveling in Kansas.

1. There are many 'picnic' areas along the highway. They have picnic tables, but no bathrooms.

2. Semi trucks drive with their right tires on the white line, whether they need to or not.

3. Cars wait for the 4th opportunity to pass before they actually pass.

4.  Kansas is not flat, but miles and miles of rolling hills.

5.  I got better gas mileage driving in the mountains of Colorado at 45-50 mph than I did in the rolling hills of Kansas at 65 mph (on a 2 lane highway I didn't want to hold up traffic so tried to do the speed limit).

6.  There was a Post Office in almost every small town I passed through.

7.  There was a Dollar One store in a lot of the small towns I passed through.   I wanted to go inside one to see what they sold, but didn't.

8.  There are almost no McDonalds along Hwy 36 (they have clean bathrooms, so I stop there a lot)

I had to stop here (and found a geocache even though I didn't have any geocaching technology with me).

I spent the night at Lovewell State Park, near Mankato, Kansas.  It was 94 degrees and humid when I arrived, so I was glad for lots of shade in a lovely park on a large body of water and lots of camping opportunities.   I think it must be a Kansas thing... the ONE bathroom was about 1/8 mile from my campsite.  I saw an Eastern Bluebird and a Baltimore Oriole in the campground.

Up early the next day so I could make it to my destination to meet up with my sister and brother-in-law.   When I crossed the border into Missouri, Hwy 36 became a 4 lane divided hwy, so I slowed down to a saner 55 mph and my gas mileage improved a great deal.

So now I'm in the land of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Hannibal, Missouri.    We are spending a few nights here before heading back to my sister's house near Chicago.   Tonight we went on a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River.   It was sweet!

Tomorrow we are going to explore Cahokia Mounds, near St. Louis.   Not sure how long I'll stay in Illinois, so now I have to plan my trip back to Oregon!   Waddles and I are still in love.