Hampton IL (Mississippi River)

Hi to all my fans! Kathy & I arrived in Hampton IL Thursday 23rd The RV park is located on the banks of the Mississippi (Illiniwek Forest Preserve)in the city of Hampton there is a COE park just down the road a mile but they don't have water at the sites and this park has both elect and water for two dollars more a day There is a lock and dam #14 out our window it offers a good view of the barges going thur the locks. Yesterday we toured the Rock Island Arsenal which is a active army base and they have a great Museum of ordnance developed from the 1800s to present day and they still manufacture weapons for the U.S. The Museum is opened to the public and there is also a National Cemetery and a Confederate Cemetery as this was a prison camp during the Civil War where over 1900 prisoners perished during the war mostly from(smallpox). The Corp of engineers operate lock and dam #15 here and have a visitor center that explains the complete operation and history of the Mississippi River waterway. The tour was very informative and I think is a must see if you find yourself in this area. The Arsenal offers so much for us history buff's. Not sure what we will do today maybe just hang out and enjoy the sunshine as it has been rainy the past few days We will leave Monday and head to Canton Mo for the night and then onto Sullivan Mo for a few days. Why you ask? Because we can. Hugs and safe travels.

Tomah (FT McCoy) Wiscinsin

WE arrived here Thursday pm stopped overnight @ Shabbona lake State park (Shabbona IL) where Kathy picked up two new birds on her life list, nice little park with elect only. This is our first visit to Wisconsin and some hardwoods are beginning to change along with the weather.A little cool here in the low 50s at night and mid 60s daytime with some rain in between. We plan a week here this is a Army training base and covers a big area they have a great Fam camp here but is pricey compared to other military camp grounds.Kathy's brother Butch and sister in law Barb will come down Monday for a two days from Minneapolis its been a few years since we have seen them.Butch did his summer camp here when he was in the reserves many years back. looking forward to their visit. We will be heading south when we leave here not sure which route we will take yet but plan to stop in Ark. for a few days to visit family before heading to AZ for the winter. As you know by now our plans are written in jello so when I post again it could be from anywhere. Hope everyone had a great time at the 50th escapade in Goshen. Later and safe travels.

Elkhart IN

Hi to all you that are waiting to see what I will post next. Kathy and I pulled into Elkhart campground RV park on Tuesday pm we moved a grand total of 12 miles, boy it was a tough trip fighting a head wind all the way,but with very little help from gamin (Bitchin Betty) we managed OK. We pulled into our spot and our friend Marty Cassidy came over to greet us after a few minutes of greeting's Marty left to let us finish setting up. Kathy invited Marty over for dinner later he brought over a bottle of wine and a side of coleslaw to go along with the fries and brats that I grilled. Marty is Kathy's wine drinking Buddie they talk about grapes and birds and I throw in my knowledge of hops & Barley and we catch up on our travels and future travels we had a great visit that evening. Marty left for Michigan Wed. morning after breakfast we might see him again before we leave this area. There are a lot of folks here in this park that we know from our travels.they are staying here before going to Goshen on Friday for the Escapades (Escapee's rally) yep 12 miles away. Everyone is in a parting mood and the class of 2007 will be well represented. Kathy and I did not sign up this year as we really did not know when we would be up this way,but here we are and will plan on day tripping over to visit and insure that folks are behaving themselves.

We went shopping for recliners yesterday and after some discussion went back to Lambrights furniture today and ordered the two that we liked. Will pick them up Monday and will leave our two for them to give to less privileged folks that can use them.

The Amish people up here are hard workers very skilled craftsmen and they are very strong in their beliefs. most use horses for farming and transportation so as you can imagine there are horse droppings all along the roads. One thing that puzzles me is that there are no minorities in the Amish community. I can't believe that the ACLU has not looked into this???? We have also been following the Quilt garden tour and have seen some awesome flower gardens and Kathy has been taking pictures of and maybe will post them on her blog soon. I still don't have the skill to post them yet but one day hopefully will learn when kathy has the patience to teach me. Until our next adventure safe travels.

Goshen IN

Kathy and I arrived in Goshen IN staying at the fairgrounds here with a FHU site for Labor day weekend.We thought we would do some shopping for new RV furniture this weekend but everything is closed Ran into some friends Bob & Molly Pinner & Paul & Connie Anderson that happen to be here to prep for the Escapee rally that will start I believe on Thursday. We will move on Tuesday to Elkhart IN about 10 miles west as they will close fairgrounds here to prepare for rally. We didn't sigh up for Escapade this year as we not sure where we would be at this time of year but might day trip it over to visit folks and vendors if we are still in area. Will rest up today and get ready to move tomorrow and start shopping. Later folks and safe travels.

Monroe Michican

We are parked in Wm. C Steering state park our view out the back window a few hundred yards is lake Erie. Monroe is home to General George Custer and also In the war of 1812 was the famous battle of River Raisin out of that battle (Which the British forces won) came the rallying cry "Remember the Raisin" Kathy and I are driving up to Ypsilanti MI about 50 miles north to visit a cousin that lives up there (L'Reata & Gene Albright)we haven't seen in a few years. We will leave here Friday not sure where we will land next probably north Indiana as we want to look at replacing some of our RV furniture.Please keep our friends Jay & Fay Carter in your prayers as Jay is recovering from brain cancer surgery and will start treatments soon. until later safe travels.

Wooster Ohio

We arrived Friday 27th at the fair grounds (Wayne County)here in Wooster and landed in the middle of chapter 36 (Escapees) rally. We stopped here to visit family and the SKPs said they are family so we parked with them. The rally hosts Don & Diane were very understanding and my family that came out saturday to visit us got a glimpse of what this lifestyle is all about. We all went out to eat Sat. evening and the rest of my family that didn't come out to the fair grounds met us for dinner we all had a great little reunion. Today we visited more with family and tomorrow will do a little of the same. We will leave Tuesday and go to Michigan for a few days. Why you ask because we have never been there!!!! Safe travels.

Salem Ohio (Small Bump)

Hi Gang well we are in Salem Ohio arrived here Friday towed in by a strange truck. We had a check engine light come on followed by a see dealer now message. Well we were on a two lane road and 20 miles from Salem where we had planed to spend the weekend anyway. and then a few miles out the truck lost power a few times so panic and stress entered my brain. As there were no place to pull over no shoulder to pull off on. Found a small business and pulled into their parking lot and while Kathy was on the phone with "Good Sam road service I went in and asked them if we could use their parking lot till a tow truck arrives they said no problem. The truck ran so we repositioned our home and disconnected. In about 40-50 minutes two trucks arrived and the roll back took our truck to dealer and the other took our home and us to the park (Stoneridge Terrace) nice campground that has Passport America discount We called ahead to get the spot lined up and I called the Dealer to brief them on the truck. They said they would get on it first thing Monday We called enterprise rental car and scheduled a pick up on Saturday morning for car. We had friends in the area that we planned to see Paul & Connie Anderson,called them and they wanted to help in anyway but we declined. We picked up our car Saturday and done our weekend grocery shopping and then invited Paul and Connie over for a visit. We haven't seen them in two years so we got caught up on our travels and made them stay for dinner then reluctantly let them get home before dark. They were staying in a COE park near by. Its always always great to see folks we have met in this lifestyle some of you know what I'm talking about.We picked up our truck today, they took good care of us a few parts and a little money and it looks like we are back in business. We will leave here Wednesday and go to Wooster Ohio to visit family we plan on staying at the fair grounds.Well before I close this I will ask for Prayers for Two RVing friends of ours Jay & Fay Carter. Jay will be having brain surgery Thursday or Friday for a mass that was found a few days back and yesterday Fay had a heart attack in her hotel room. They put in two stents today and she is recovering but Im sure she is worried about Jay. please keep them in your Prayers. Sometimes when we have bumps in life they are very very small compared to others. Until later safe travels.