Tuesday, June 7, 2016

This is it!  Our last post for this travel blog.  It's been fun and it's a good way for us to look back at this and see where we have been and what we did.  Today was a great way to end our travels as it now shifts into a different gear.  POLKA!  We are back in the north country and will be attending different fests this summer.  We will be meeting many of our dancing friends that we haven't seen since we left last fall, but we do see some of them in AZ.  We went to Shawano to the library as they had a special guest today and we wanted to see his 'pitch'.  He is Mike Schneider and he is originally from Milwaukee, but now lives in Clinton, WI.  He travels mostly east of the Mississippi to libraries to promote his Pint Sized Polka CD's.  They are awesome.  They make wonderful gifts for newborns or early childhood birthdays, as they are geared for the younger set.  Mike plays the accordion and quite well, and we have danced to him many times.  We really had a lot to get done with just getting home yesterday, but what's one more day?  Shawano is only a half hour from us, and we missed him last year when he was in Iola.  We're glad we went and we did surprise him.  I'll post a few pictures and hopefully, I can post a video, so you can see how good he is.  So, until the next big trip......it's been our pleasure to have you come along!
P.S. I guess my videos are too large, so until we can figure out how to edit it and cut it down, you won't see it. 

 We got a picture with Mike before he did his 'gig'.

 This sign explains all that Mike does in his promoting of his CD's.  He covers a lot of things that are important to instill in the youngsters at a young age.  It is all set to polka music! 

This was a very enthusiastic group, and the young people had a great time and participated well.  They had a very nice turnout, as this only shows a portion of the people there.

Monday, June 6, 2016 - Happy birthday to Jim's sister, Joan!

We arrived at our 'homey shed' (Eagles Landing) this afternoon, and we have had a wonderful two months on the road!  We have seen a lot and met so many nice people, and even got to see some family along the way.  We did have some on again, off again rain showers on our trip home today, and again when we got home.  Everything looks good with our shed, and the farmer that we bought the land from, has mowed our lawn, so that's in good shape, also.  We have never come home to a problem here, and we feel we made the right decision in our building.  I filled the niger seed feeder, and the Humming Bird/Oriole feeders, so we will await their arrival.  Jim had to flush out the water pipes and get the antifreeze out of my washer, and we're good to go.  So much easier than when we had a house!   I will have one more day to post on the blog, as we are going to do something kind of unique tomorrow.  We need to share it with all of you.  We appreciate the comments and loyalty to our blog, whether you are a daily reader, or occasional, but we are glad to share our journey with you.  We have lots of company coming this summer, and we also have some short trips that we will be making, but it will be good to stay put for a while.  We picked up our held mail today and we have two occasions that we need to get on the calendar.  The summer will go quickly, and we look forward to Autumn, as it's beautiful here in the fall.  Thank you, friends, for sharing our journey with us.

 This is what we call home!  It works for us and we really love it here.

Looking from our shed, we have a lane down to the farmer's field.  We have lots of Balsam trees on the edge of our yard, so it hosts many birds, and the deer like to hang out in there.  It looks like Jim might have some tree trimming to do this summer, as the walkway seems to be getting smaller. 

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Barb (Jim's sister) came over to watch Greg play baseball and she brought us some rhubarb, asparagus and radishes!  Thanks, Barb!  We had a better weather day today than yesterday, and they did get all the games in today.  They had 5 diamonds going all weekend, and it was fun to watch, as we don't get the chance very often.  We all went to Milford to Crawfish Junction for lunch afterwards, and then we wanted to get back to pack up and hook up, in case we have rain in the morning.  We had severe storm warnings out for Jefferson County when we got back to the motor home, and we had some turbulent winds for a bit, and after the front moved in, it cleared up and we just had a little rain.  The local policeman even came by to check on us.  It could have been nasty!  Tomorrow we will arrive back in Wittenberg at our 'homey shed' and get situated after being gone since last October.  We always wonder what we'll find when we get back there, and it's always been fine. 

 Mike, Greg, Barb, and Lori after the game is over.

 Lunch at Crawfish Junction in Milford....Mike, Greg, Barb, Marlene, Jim and Lori.

We had a rainbow over the motor home after the storm had passed.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

The weather looked iffy today, for the baseball tournament in Watertown, WI but we went with rain gear and an umbrella and none of it helped!  We got wet but dried off and stayed for the duration!  We had a lull before the evening game Greg had to play in, so we went back to Delafield to their place and Mike cooked us a delicious meal of haddock, asparagus and tomatoes, all cooked on the grill.  Mike is a very good cook!  We walked through St. John's Northwestern Military Academy, as they have nice landscaping and it was on the way to the ice cream shop.  We returned to the ball field only to be in a game that ended in the bottom of the 2nd inning, due to lightening.  It will be finished on Sunday after their regularly scheduled game.

Greg is our youngest grandchild, and he's 12.  He plays for the Kettle Moraine Lasers.

 School wasn't in session any more, so it was quiet to walk through the grounds here. 

Sam, the dog, Mike, Lori, Greg, Jim and Marlene on a footbridge to the ice cream shop.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Welcome to Wisconsin!  We left our nice campground in Thomson Corps of Engineer Park in northwestern Illinois this morning, and had a good travel day.  Traffic was heavier than we've seen for a long time, but we are back in familiar territory since leaving in October, 2015.  We settled in at the fairgrounds in Jefferson, WI and will be going to a baseball tournament this weekend of our grandson, Greg.  They are predicting rain tomorrow, so we will see what happens.  The tournament is in Watertown, and this was the best place for us to camp for the weekend.  We met up with some great friends from Milwaukee, that have an RV in a campground near here in Hebron, where they spend their summer weekends.

 This was a 'welcome' sign for us entering Wisconsin.  It's good to be back on familiar soil.

We met Jim and Vivian Uhler's at the golf course where they just finished playing.  We visited and had a couple of drinks, and then we went to Ft. Atkinson for a good old Wisconsin fish fry!  We met Jim and Vivian when we spent 10 years in another park in Apache Junction.  They had a house right behind our RV site, and we had many great happy hours with them.  Vivian also hikes with us.  It was wonderful to reconnect with our dear friends!

Thursday, June 2, 2016

We made plans to meet some 'long time dancing friends' in Freeport, IL for lunch.  It was delightful!  We haven't seen Ellen Shoup for many years, and it's been three years since we had seen Don and Lois Tyler.  We contacted them as soon as we arrived in Thomson and asked what day would work to get together, and they picked the most beautiful day of all.  We are so glad we made the trip up there, to enjoy the company of some very dear friends!  Ellen invited us to her home just east of Freeport, and we reminisced and laughed at some old photos.  We will be leaving tomorrow for Wisconsin, and staying in Jefferson for the weekend.  We will be seeing our grandson, Greg's baseball games, as he's in a tournament this weekend.

 This is what happiness looks like!  Ellen, Jim, Don, Marlene and Lois.  What a treat to spend the day with very dear friends!

Don is such a funny guy.  I told them in an e-mail that we might not recognize them as it's been so long since we've seen them.  They arrive with 'name tags' so we know who they are! 

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The rains have finally ceased, so we jumped on our bikes and rode all around the campground, and then out into the prairie, where they have a wonderful bike trail.  The spring wildflowers are in bloom out there now, so it was very pretty and enjoyable.  Early afternoon, our very good friends from Davenport, IA came to visit us.  We met Nick and Jeanie DeBolt in our previous RV/mobile home park in Apache Junction, AZ and have shared many wonderful hikes, and eateries and we couldn't pass up this opportunity to see them on our way back to Wisconsin.  Jeanie recommended going to the Candlelight Inn, which is located in Clinton, IA and not far from where we are camping, and it is on the Mississippi River .  We ate outside as it was just a gorgeous evening.  It was great to connect with them, and we'll see them again when they come to our 'homey shed' in Wisconsin in September. 

 I caught this Great Blue Heron in the lagoon by the campground, and framed it in a bench on the shore.  Notice the pink flag to the left.  That is placed there by the students of Iowa State, who are in the park and marking turtle egg layings, so they can monitor them.  The box turtle was near extinction by 2009 and they have been aggressively working to improve their future.

 Our friends, Jeanie and Nick at the 'non-working' lighthouse by the restaurant.

 This barge and large load went upriver as we ate dinner.

We four after dinner.  It was a beautiful evening and wonderful meal.

I was quick to snap a picture of the working windmill in Fulton, IL as we crossed the bridge to come back into Illinois after dinner.