Back into Chicago, Storms here again....

Thursday, we took a ride into Chicago to Navy Pier to hear the Dueling Pianos on the Pier and meet with a former student of Bob's who went to Loyola and has lived in Chicago for a few years.  Was fun catching up.

Not much drama traveling this time, just missed our first stop on the return ride, so a little bit of jogging to make the 9:40p Metra train back to Elburn.  Biggest drama was when we turned on the Garmin Nuvvi we got really bad news.  It must have gotten smacked when we put it away in the glove compartment and the result was a disaster as you can see.  Sent it in Friday to see if there's anything they can do.

Also Friday, we got our new Maxxi tires for the rig.  Hopefully will allieviate the Carlisle Tire blowout problems.  We made an appointment a the local Farm and Fleet to have them put on Monday, so we'll have a mini tear down and roll.

Friday night, Sycamore RV Resort was pretty electric with weekend campers and kids everywhere.  Probably trying to get that last run out before school starts.  Met a great couple (Scott and Leslie) in their new RV (moving in their daughter to NIU) staying here from Detroit.

Saturday, since we're moving on Monday for tires, we chalked off the first big "To Do" by finishing repairing the damage from the Iowa tire blow out.  Was a lot of work getting glue to hold, holes sealed, etc.  That Great Stuff expanding foam is good stuff but really messy.  We both threw away our work clothes at the end of the run.

Later we were going to go to the MooseFest here in town, but the Severe Thunderstorm Warnings came out around 3:00p and sure enough, around 3:30p we had sheets of rain, hard driving wind and lots of lightning and thunder.  Couple of the weekenders learned about their awnings in storms, and will be learning this week how expensive they are.

Scott and Leslie came over after dinner and 'the girls' made them feel right at home.  Night of Olympics watching after they left along with planning for the quasi move on Monday, and the weekend is pretty well over!

Last weekend in Topeka

We said goodbye to our friend Cody, as he, his wife and kids brought the U-hauls up from Dallas to their new home in Topeka.
We remember well what it was like moving with all of our things in pretty much one place.  Only now, all of our things are in one place and they're moving all the time!

When we checked into the Capital City KOA in Topeka, one of the events was fireworks on June 29th and 30th.  Got to the 29th and scratch the "and 30th" part, so we went 'over the hill' and watched the festivities.  It was something.  Basically, the camp had given one of the locals who sold fireworks in town a place to shoot off his wares to a captive audience.  Everyone got a "shoot sheet", and our host introduced each rocket that went off.  "That was Spunky Monkey.  Next, we're going to do some Sparkling Twirlers.  Remember, bring in your shoot sheet for 10% off your order of anything you see here tonight...."  It was kind of similar to waiting for the community's fireworks to go off, and you're looking at the neighborhood's personal fireworks display in the meantime.

Saturday was the longest packing day ever. It was so blazing hot, we set records the last 5 days we were in Topeka for heat.  Awful. But, we got things taken care of and were on the road Sunday (early for us) headed for Iowa.  Enjoyed our time there, can't see us spending a month there again.

OK, We're Baaaaack!

I know, I know.....it's been awhile.  Thanks for being here for us.

Don't know how people blog every day when they're sitting in the same place.  "We got up, we had breakfast, we worked, we had lunch, we (did/didn't) play golf, we had dinner, we watched TV, we went to bed."   There, you're caught up on the last couple of months.  :-)

Get Away Day is coming this Thursday.  Not a long trip, we're heading out to Port Aransas for Texas SandFest 2012 which looks to be a hoot.

Thanks again for being here, check back often as we'll get this summer of travels underway!

Cleaning Out the Truck

So it's the day before Tear Down Day (which is the day before Get Away Day), kind of cloudy and overcast here at the Indianapolis KOA.  Perfect day to clean out the inside of the truck.
Been awhile since we vacuumed, put on the Formula 2001, etc.  We're starting to see that all the people here for the weekend are kind of staring.  Think about it.  People come to these parks to get away from the mundane cleaning, etc. that they do at home.  And here are these idiots (us!) that look like they come out for a weekend and clean the inside of their truck.
Funny.

Tear Down Day

Today is the day before "Get Away Day" which is "Tear Down Day".   Each place we go, we like to have a familiarity of our setup -- two tables outside, solar ground lights, X pen for the dog, raft under the rig, etc.  Just makes us feel more at home.

Whereas we used to tear down the morning of Get Away Day,  now we seem to do things a bit more leisurely.  Of course, another record breaking heat day slowed us a bit, also.

Biggest thing is getting the scooter in the truck, which starts the whole process of loading.  Not sure if everyone has a packing list, but I need one for the order of everything that goes into the truck (to give us that Beverly Hillbillies look as we travel) and to make sure I don't forget anything.

We've never been one to be all hooked up and roll out of the park at the crack of dawn.  Our traditional time to be on the road is 10 a.m. We'll do breakfast, finish packing inside and out, take our showers when we're finished and dump the sewage last thing before we pull out.  Just makes us feel good on the road.

Will be blogging from the road the next two days.  Staying at the Springfield (MO) Elks tomorrow night, a Wal Mart to be determined, then pull into the Indianapolis KOA on Sunday.