Our stinky water....

Since we arrived here at the Sycamore RV Resort, we started thinking their water just plain stunk, but we went through the channels.

First, we changed our filter.  Still smelled.

Then, we noticed it was the HOT water that stunk.  Hmm.  Friend behind us suggested maybe the anode had gone through.  Pulled it out and was amazed at the lime that had attached to it.  Usually these are pitted, but this was just covered with lime.  And it smelled just like the water had smelled.

Flushed that thing out and the lime that came out of there in chunks was amazing.  Ran another tank through it and now we'll see if we fixed our problem.

Things you don't think about.......

Mini Vacation with Family

We didn't waste much time after getting set up in Sycamore, IL.  After arriving on July 5, we took the dogs to the Bed and Biscuit for their vacation the next day.  Then, it was time for us to start packing for our quick weekend trip to our hometown - Wilmington, OH.

It was Connie's Mom's 80th birthday and we had planned a surprise party for her complete with a surprise visit from us and our daughter and son-in-law.  Since the dogs could not make the trip, Dad decided to have them put on the cake.

She was surprised and it was great to visit with family and friends.  Quick trip, but was fun.

The next day, we headed to the airport for our flight back to Chicago.  Bonus was that our daughter took some time off to join us for a couple of days.  She doesn't do the flying thing very well.  And, since we were only flying from Columbus to Chicago, we were on a very small plane.  She wasn't too crazy about that.  As you can see, we got a chuckle out of it.

Her time with us was also going to be short.  Once we landed (after an hour plus delay), we made our way right to Millennium Park.  There is so much to do in Chicago.  This area is a must see!  We only hit a tip of the park.  We had to get pictures of the Bean.

Of course, all that traveling made us hungry.  We went in search of a Chicago style pizza.  Just around the corner from the park, we found Giordano's Chicago Famous Stuffed Pizza.  The pizzas look just like the photos on the website.  They are delicious and very filling.

It was getting late, so we boarded the CTA Blue Line back to our truck to head home.

Tuesday was spent just relaxing and watching the All-Star Game.

Bethany had a late flight on Wednesday, so we headed back to town for some more sightseeing.  The Navy Pier was on our agenda this time.  The weather was perfect.  We wandered around a bit before having an early dinner at  Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Bar & Grill.

 Then, it was off to the airport to send her back to Ohio.  Again, time was short, but was so enjoyable.

"My kind of town, ...Chicago is..."

Looking forward to the next couple of months here.

From Topeka to Illinois via Iowa....

Before we arrived a couple of days early at the Capital City KOA in Topeka, we had planned on one stop over in Des Moines, IA at their Elks Lodge for a couple of nights.

Once we shifted our stay in Topeka back a couple of days, we decided to stop two different places on the way to our 3 month summer home in Sycamore, IL.

The first was Terrible's Lakeside Casino in Osceola, IA.  Only $20/night for full hook ups, we decided to stay two nights.  We're not gamblers by any stretch, but we do enjoy a Casino's buffet.  The park was only 12 years old, but looks like it was built for rigs of the 60's.  There was no support for the big Class A's it needed to hold and many of the pads had either been re poured, or in real need of help.  Nevertheless, it was perfect for us until we found out storms had knocked out data towers and our Verizon Mi-Fi wouldn't work.

Terrible's had a Nifty Fifty day on Monday where the lunch buffet was two for one (we were pigs) and every hour on the hour they would give away $1,000 in slot play for anyone who was registered and there.  Was only a 5 minute walk to the casino, so about 10 till every hour, Bob walked down, waited for the name to be called, walked back. During the 6 o'clock drawing we both went, Connie using her free play for signing up for their card.  "Attention, Lakeside Casino Customers.  The winner of this hours Nifty Fifty drawing is Robert" <long pause> "Anderson".  We could have died.  During that long pause, we both were ready to jump up and scream.  Nope.  Might as well have said "Robert NotYou".  Funny story, but both of our hearts skipped a beat.

It was still hot as we travelled the on the 3rd to Buffalo Shores, Iowa.  We had been there before, it's really a great place for those with boats to pull up along the shore and stay in their trailers.  Water of the Mississippi was great as it was still well into the 100's both days we were there.  They had changed their alcohol policy to where you could have beer in the water, you could have beer at your trailer -- you just couldn't have beer on the sand.  Really bizarre.  Was exactly what we wanted, a place to stop, get in the water, cool down, and it was only $18/night.

The 5th, we took off early to avoid the heat and made it to our new home for 3 months, Sycamore RV Resort.

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.

Two weeks of stories....

Going to break down our blog posts into a few.  We've done so much in the last two weeks, that I'll break those down.

There was the last weekend in Topeka.
There was the trip to Sycamore, Illinois through Iowa
There was the mini vacay to Ohio and bonus bring back the daughter for a couple of days.

So hot.....

We chose Topeka, KS because last year we spent this same time frame in Oklahoma City, OK and we needed to get further north.
We're not there yet!  Time here started OK, with temps in the 80's and nights in the 50's.  This past week has turned brutally HOT!  Heat advisories everyday, temps in the 100+ degree mark.  Air conditioning can't keep up.  Been tough.

Only a week left? Really?

Hard to believe we leave the Capital City KOA here in Topeka a week from tomorrow to keep heading North towards Chicagoland.

Been busy here this weekend with the park over 75% full.  A big group of FMCA Covered Wagons is here this weekend, I think they said 21 rigs in all.  Kind of neat how they get out on a specified weekend and enjoy each other's company in different places.

Speaking of enjoying company, our first weekend here Connie hopped on the hayride and met our 'across the street' neighbor, Cody.  We've really enjoyed his company, as he's versed in sports, a college and pro football fan and a cigar aficionado.  He's been here for six months while his kids finished school in Dallas (about 15 minutes from where we stayed at Shady Creek RV Park) and he started his new job.  Weeknights watching TV outside and talking sports and life (and a few beers) has been fun.

Sadly, his time here is coming to an end.  He's closing on his house in Dallas this weekend, and his new one here in Topeka on Monday, so he'll be rolling out of here Tuesday or Wednesday.  Just another example of how people of like interests tend to gravitate towards each other.

Loving the lifestyle, looking forward to moving along when the time comes.