Southbound

Had a great day of travel.  Found a very cool rest stop in Illinois (I think) that had a bridge that would be perfect in Blanco over the creek to the East side.

 

 If I were covered in money, I would definitely get this bid! 

There is something amazing about the Mississippi River that I enjoy every time we cross it. 

This is between Illinois and Missouri

We made it to West Memphis, Arkansas.  We stayed here in about 2007 and the Mississippi had just flooded the park out.  We loved it.  And what could be better than staying at the Tom Sawyer RV park on the Mississippi? Watching the boats push barges along the river is so amazing.   

It is considerably warmer than Michigan.  This will probably be the last night we can sleep without the AC.

Finished the Chicken needlepoint while we were traveling, and started the Butterfly needlepoint.  They are both small, 5X5.  Not sure what I will do with them, but then, that is nothing new for my projects!

 

And also making progress on the Magical Unicorn that is one of my projects in progress.

 

I am a little worried about this project.  The colors are a little strange, and I am not sure there is enough thread.  Also, it has LOTS of color changes.  I was going to try parking techniques on this one, but so far I have not found it to be convenient.  I do not get the weirdness of the photo.  Those are not markings on the bottom half, just some odd photo thing. 

 

Onward and Westward tomorrow.

 

On the Road Again

I have to say that if you travel in Illinois, you are working pretty hard.  The roads are terrible.  Bumpy, narrow, under various stages of construction and/or repair but very little progress seems to be made.  Awful.  It make doing anything except riding and checking out the scenery impossible.  But, whew, we are finally stopped.

On the way there was this giant quarry on both sides of the road.  South of Chicago I think.  Pretty incredible.

Here we are in Effingham, Illinois for the night.  It is a very nice park called Camp Lakewood with a thousand trees, a lake (lake Pauline) and plenty of large spaces.  It is like staying in the forest.  Just beautiful.

 

And here we are all set for the evening.

 

 

We have had a wonderful time here in Western Michigan.  I can see why people come here for the summer.  It is green and lush like Hawaii (flowers are everywhere and are in full bloom) everyone is incredibly nice and although you hear sea gulls, the air is not salty and sticky like it is at the coast of the ocean.  As they say, No Salt, No Sharks, No Problem.  Love it.

We are headed South tomorrow morning.  So, since the posts have been a little slim, I will finish the packing info.


Remember the fridge being a residential refrigerator as opposed to an RV fridge.  Well, there are many nice things about it, like ice and water in the door which is really handy.  However, I must warn you, that we have to tether the doors closed.  They do not latch closed like an RV fridge does and have a tendency to open while we are traveling and that is not so good.  Also, because the shelves are glass, I put these rubber liner things on them, and just to be safe, I put the tension rod things to hold things in place.  We had a fridge incident the first time we filled it up and it was not pretty!

I also use baskets to hold things so that I don't have to unload the entire shelf to get to the sandwich stuff.  Easy peasy.

Same in the freezer as that stuff tends to shift also.

Another thing in the kitchen is this cute little shelf above the stove that fits spices perfectly.  The only problem is that the spices flew all over the place and I found them all over the floor once we stopped moving.   So little drawer organizer basket things work like a charm.  Gotta love it.  Also makes it easy to take the spices out when we are at home.  And, they don't go anywhere.

And remember I talked about the command hook things.  I have them everywhere and use them for everything.  Caps, pot holders, jackets and over shirts, dog leashes, fly swatter, and just about anything else I can hang on a hook. 

This is the bottom bunk.  This is where the dogs sleep.  They stay there most of the night, but want to snuggle in bed with us once it is daylight.  They seem really comfortable here, although I don't know how they would react to their window being open and they have not had a use for the pull down DVD player.  Not yet anyway

I use the drawers underneath for trash bags and first aid supplies as well as extra bathroom things.  On the far left under that blanket is a huge tote with extra needlework projects and supplies.  They are contained, but handy!

 

This is the top bunk.  I covered the mattress with a vinyl tablecloth and got those cube things for storage.  They  hold cleaning supplies (on the far right) and I use the ones in the middle as linen storage since it is directly across from the bathroom.  Works beautifully I must say.  Also, on the right is the dog food and dog treats.  The striped hanging thing on the far left is where I put those deadly and dangerous plastic bags that will soon be outlawed all over the country, but are great for trash can liners, extra poop bags, we clothes and whatever. 

The two little totes on the right are my personal toiletries, one for AM and one for PM.  It is where the vitamins and such live.  It works for me to have a separate tote for morning and evening. 

This is the pantry I told you about.  It is perfect.  I learned to write the names of canned good on the top of the can from a pintrest post.  What a great idea that is.

 

Since the drawers for clothing in the bedroom are so small, I use this cabinet that I think was supposed to be used for linen, for clothes.  Again, these basket tote things are perfect.

 

 

So far, everything has worked out well.  We still have plenty of room, and it is not too difficult to stay organized.  I would not be afraid to take a longer trip.  I cannot tell you how comfortable we have been in this RV.  What a difference from our previous lemon.

 

There is one more thing I have to mention.  This RV came with a washer and dryer.  I thought it would be something I used only rarely and in some kind of dirt emergency.  Well, was I ever wrong.  I have used it twice now, and it is SO great to get to clean the kitchen and bath towels, the dog blankets, etc.  It feels so far from camping!  I would do the sheets, but I cannot get Jasmine out of the bed this afternoon.

 

 

Oh, you have to be prepared for the shaking of the RV during the spin cycle.  It was a little frightening at first, but what a small price to pay for clean towels!

 

How spoiled am I! 

 

Back on the road tomorrow ready for more adventure. 

 

We will be skirting the rainstorms that are hitting the middle of the country, but are looking forward to it.

 





Hanging in Michigan

Just spending time hanging around in Western Michigan.  Have been lost more times than I can count.  Thank goodness for the GPS thing in the car.  Of course learning to work it has been far more challenging that I need!

Wild turkeys and deer abound in the woods and so they are everywhere. 

Here are some photos taken while we were at the cottage with Linda and Doug.

That is Linda on the beach with Jasmine.  Jasmine loves running on the beach, but is not crazy about being cold. 

 Not sure what they are looking at?

And here is a sunset over Lake Michigan.  Cloudy but pretty anyway.

Linda has talked about Whippi Dip for years now and I always thought it was just one of those things she made up.  Well, here it is, in the flesh.  We were going to try it out, to no avail.  It was closed.

 

 

We are on the road again on Wednesday headed back.  One more short road trip today to some town..........

Just Tooling Around

It has been very relaxing, although the sun has been avoiding us lately. 

The boys played golf and we visited a few little small towns on the Michigan coastline.  We did not have any of the weather I just saw on the news, whew.  The boys are golfing again today so we are off to visit an antique mall in Muskegon.  Who knows what we will find.


I did complete one project and have started another.

 

I actually  now have two WIP going, one is birds and one is a  unicorn.  I can't figure out which one I like working on better.  I guess time will tell.

 

Muskegon, Michigan

A relaxing day.  Got my tooth fixed so my IQ is back to normal. 

We are staying at Duck Creek RV Resort.

And this, I think, is Duck Creek

This is the view from our spot.  There is an unusual amount of green space

Here is my set up to do some stitching.  It is so pleasant here.

And the dogs are lovin' it.

 

 

Day 7

We are in Muskegon, Michigan.  Or outside of it anyway.  It is cool and sunny and breezy.  The park man said we are about 6 miles from lake Superior as the crow flies.  All I know is that the place is beautiful. 

 

Lake Michigan is on the other side of these trees somewhere.  Or at least that is what the GPS says. 

 

It was a nice drive, we finally saw farm stands.  The park is really, really nice. Concrete pads, picnic tables, lots of green space, huge sights. I forgot to take photos of the park today, so I will have to post them tomorrow.   

Doug and his sister and  BIL came by.  They brought wood, which was a good thing.  Now I "get" the fire pit thing.  It is freezing here.

The dogs are up in our bed trying to stay warm.

 

 

We are going to be here for a week, so blog posts may slow down a bit.  Linda gets in tomorrow evening.

 

Not much else to report.

 

 

 

Day 6

We are successfully in Indiana.  Well, just barely.  In Remington, Indiana. 

I was surprised to see cat tails at a rest stop in Illinois.  It has been years since I have seen them.

And Jasmine enjoyed lunch.

Finally off a major highway and onto a state road.  This is some little town that takes beautification seriously!

 

Still, no farm stands.  Nothing but corn and soybeans. 

Not a bad park at the corner of two highways.  But it does have a "lake" and a nice breeze created by the highway. 

Every park has had these truck tires at every site for fire pits.  I guess since it does snow here they have to have something to draw visitors.  They also sell firewood at all the parks.  A nice cash flow option.  But it is not cold at night at all.  I don't get the fire thing. 


I had a front tooth cap fall off (it always happens when we are traveling for some reason).   I got an appointment on Thursday afternoon to get it glued back on.  So, tomorrow we are going on in to Muskegon rather than taking another day to get there.  We are only about 5 hours away.  I am a little nervous about going to a dentist out of town, but how hard can it be to glue a cap back on so it will last a couple of weeks.  I guess I will find out!  Perhaps they will have nitrous!  woohoo

I am working feverishly (well, sort of) to finish this project and I just have a little to go.  Then I can start on a new one.