ELECTRICITY OKAY/ FEELS LIKE COMING HOME

Oct. 27th

Dropped off  the Monster  at the Farina RV last Thursday. We didn't know how long it would take for them to fix the electricity, so we emptied the frig and freezer and took a lot of clothes out.  Drove to the farm, unloaded everything into the frig and we were sitting on the porch relaxing.  Only 3 hours since we dropped it off,  they called and said there was nothing wrong with the electricity.  It seems that my cousins house has an open ground.  It was a frustrating 3 days for Denny trying to find out what was wrong. The reason he couldn't was that there was NOTHING wrong.  We were so relieved. We went back to Farina (5 miles), picked up the RV and drove back to the farm.  It  was a little tricky  parking in a level spot, but he did it.  He is very good at parking the RV. It was exhausting to unload everything from the house back into the RV.  We were so glad after it was all over, we celebrated with a bottle of champagne.

We are parked at the family Green farm for about 2 weeks. Feels like I am  HOME.  My great grandparents built this house. My grandfather was raised here. My father grew up in the area and spent a lot of time at the house.  Even tho I only came back for reunions, it has always felt like home. I think my brother feels the same way about it.  It seemed strange to be here by ourselves. Usually it is very hectic with a lot of people.  Most of my cousins are still working, so will only see them on the weekend. Had a busy last couple of days, but back to peace and quiet until next weekend

View as you drive in. 

Close up of house, can't quite remember the date, but it is about 130 years old. 

View looking at the Monster from the house.

TUSCOLA, IL

Oct 22nd

We traveled  to Tuscola to  visit  more  relatives. So glad that we were here when the RV lost electricity. Except for the RV problem, we have had a good time visiting with everyone.

Uncle Burl and Aunt Virginia. Burl is my Dad's brother. 

Darrell and Lorie Ford.  Darrell is my Dad's first cousin

Darrell was a big help with the  problem of the RV electricity. Knew who to call and where to take it. We parked the RV in their driveway. They fixed all the meals and entertained us.   

Thanks so much Darrell

AMISH COUNTRY, ARCOLA, IL

Oct 22nd

After Denny finally gave up on the RV, Darrell and Lori took us for a ride to see the countryside. There is a large Amish community in Arcola, not far from Tuscola.

In the winter there isn't alot for the Amish to do in the fields. To keep his boys busy, one man brought them all over to build rock fences and decorative items.  It is now  a huge rock garden which is quite the big tourist attraction.  We didn't go in, but I took these pictures from the road

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Buggy's in front of us

Farmer in front of us. I took this thru the front window

Turning into his farm

Harvesting  his corn. Notice how many horses

Turning a corner in his field to drop off the full bin

This man brought a new one and is taking away the old. He is backing up. This whole procedure only took minutes. Amazing to watch

 Getting close

Taking off

Going into the  farm across the street from the field.  taken thru the front car window

 Amish don't like their pictures taken, but I always took the them  from a distance

PEORIA, IL

OCT 18TH-20TH

We are making alot of stops seeing relatives along the way. We traveled to Peoria to see my 1st cousin and her husband, Marsha and Rick.  Stayed in a campground about 10 miles from them, but actually stayed overnight with them so we could visit more.   Her sister, Sharon and her husband Gary were also there from Plano, Texas so we had quite a reunion. Marsha and Rick live in the historical district in a home built in 1906. Very beautiful.  It was so beautiful one day that we took a walk in the neighborhood and introduced them to geocaching.  had a good time

This is their home.

Back view

Marsha and Sharon, sisters and my first  cousins

Marsha and Rick

Homes in the historical district

Love the old fashioned street markers

View from our campground, right on the Peoria River

This long RV and toy hauler was parked next to us.  Looks big to me

COVERED BRIDGES

Oct 12th - 17th

We went to a Thousand trails Park in Clinton, IL. to rest up for a while. Since we have been traveling at a fairly fast speed to get ahead of the weather, we were pretty tired.  Stayed a week. This park is in the middle of nowhere so we thought there wasn't anything to see around here. WRONG.  This is the Covered bridge capital of the U.S.  Their annual festival was going on. This is the biggest festival in IN.  One day we went looking.  We didn't want to go to the festival, just look at covered bridges.  We had to go thru 2 towns that had booths, what a zoo. Could barely get thru, people wandering onto the streets without really looking for cars. Signage for the bridges is bad if you aren't from the area. Out of the 6 on the route we chose, we find 2.  There are 31 all together in  the area.  We didn't find the 2 oldest ones, built in 1886.

This is the Roseville bridge, built in 1910

All covered bridges are basically the same. Pointed roof, all wood and painted red.  Didn't realise that they span the rivers, no beams down in the water

 This is a drive thru bridge. Notice the extra wood  for the cars to drive on.

This is the NEET Bridge, built in 1902.  

This is only a walking bridge. Notice there is no extra wood for cars. The entrances are blocked 

This is our campsite in Clinton, IN, close to the covered bridges

The view from our campsite. There were 10 lakes at the campground covering 250 acres. 

Denny and I taking a walk thru the campground. 

 First 5th wheel RV that we have ever seen with a back door. Very unusual. Lots of RV's decorated for fall/Halloween wherever we went in Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana

MAJOR TROUBLE WITH THE MONSTER, BUT DENNY IS LEGAL NOW

Oct 22nd

We traveled to Tuscola, IL  on Oct 20th to visit relatives . We pulled into my cousins (Darrell and Lori Ford) driveway to stay for a few days.  Denny started hooking us up to power and water and discovered  WE HAVE NO ELECTRICITY  in the Monster.  We had  electricity in Peoria that morning, no problem.  Denny has been working on it for 2 days with no luck. As you all know, he is a very handy guy and can usually fix anything.  The one good thing about it is that we are at Darrell's.  He knows who to call for help and  where to go.  Denny  is very frustrated, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay someone to get it done.  Amazingly, there is an RV place in Farina, a very small town close to Kinmundy, our destination.  Never thought that there would be an RV place in such a small town.  He is trying a couple more things and will call to make an apportionment.  He talked to the technician and he thought he could fix it. Hope so. We have never had anything major go wrong with the RV since we started  our snowbird trips. We will probably go to Farina tomorrow and be able to stay at the family farm while the Monster gets worked on. Wish us luck!

Now to the Denny is legal part.  Before we left, we tried to get things done ahead of time that were due while we were gone. Thought we had everything covered.  Denny's birthday was Oct. 8th.  I was talking to Nicole, our next door neighbor who is getting our mail and asked her if anything looked important.  She said  there was something from the licensing bureau, did Denny need to renew his license. OH NO! Sure enough, Denny needed to renew and it was on his birthday we discovered this, What to do ?  I called the WA licensing in Olympia.  We had to download a form, fill it out and include $5.00. It is for a 12 month extension.  They would email us the form that shows he is okay for another year. Until we got it back in the email, he was driving without a  current license.  Came in 10 days, which isn't really long for a gov. agency, but it seemed like it took forever.  Everyday Denny would ask if it came yet. Finally came and he is now legal. He has to carry the paper with his license.  He has 60 days from the time we return to get a new one.  We at first panicked on what to do.

FALL COLORS

Oct 15th

Traveling thru  Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, the fall colors have been beautiful.    Interesting to see all different shades on one tree. Every leaf turns color at its own time.  I have seen every color from  dark red  to  bright yellow with every shade in between. Beautiful. 

Pictures were from all the different  states

 Traveling in the truck to our next stop

Views from our campgrounds and sightseeing

BEAUTIFUL GARDENS

Oct 7th- 9th

The next day Lon and Mary Jo took us for a drive around the area. We stopped at  Hidden Lake gardens. It started out as a private garden but has turned into a 75 acre botanical garden and arboretum owned by Michigan University. It has almost every flower and tree there is. There are over 100 varieties of hosta's and over 500 varieties of trees.  Beautiful place. The students have a sense of humor. They made scarecrows and put them all over the gardens. 

I think she is a long way from Hawaii, probably cold in that hula skirt 

These are just a few of the scarecrows in the park

This is the outside of the tree, but we were able to walk inside.

Inside of tree, very weird truck and limbs

Lon and Mary Jo

 Having fun in the fall leaves

Another cute couple

Beautiful views of the gardens