Thursday & Friday, September 8th & 9th - Travelling Day

 Thursday - Mom treated Kathy and I to lunch at one of the Mexican restaurants in Coldwater. The food was good, the lunch portions were huge and the prices were great. Kathy looks tired, she probably was.

The water bladder I ordered from Amazon came yesterday. I knew we were getting low on water so I "tested" it. I went down to my brothers, unfolded the bladder on top of the Flex, and filled it up. Back at Mom's I parked by the coach and used a hose to connect the bladder to the coach water tank. Actually I did this prior to our going to Coldwater for lunch. While in Coldwater I bought a small, drill driven pump at Home Depot. When we arrived back at the coach 15-20 gallons had gravity drained into the coach tank. I hooked up the pump and quickly transferred the remainder. Gravity works, if you have all day, but the pump is the way to go. I refolded the bladder and it is back in its 10x13 shipping envelope.

Later in the afternoon Mom and I went back to Coldwater to visit my Uncle Don and his wife Jan. Don was one of my Dad's brothers-in-law. He was married to my Aunt Norma. She died at a young age, late 30's, early 40's, after they had moved to Texas. After he retired he returned to the Coldwater area. He married Jan many years ago.

Friday - We left Mom's around 9:30 this morning. To get to Secor, IL both Google Maps and my Garmin GPS route you down the Indiana Toll Road, through the south side of Chicago. We didn't want to do that. We took I69 down to US24 in Fort Wayne and stayed on US24 all the way to the campground, 274 miles. I remain convinced that pavement surfaces on US highways are FAR, FAR better than the Interstates. It may take a little longer, but it adds interest to drive through some small towns along the way. There are bypasses around the larger towns. We even drove on a small section signed as part of the original Route 66.

We stopped at the parking lot for a "decommissioned" school in Reynolds, IN and ate lunch. The building is now owned, and used, by the town. There is a church in one end of it.

There are lots of windmills in the area. If you look closely you may be able to pick out a blade of one just left of the sign and another just left of the tree in the center of the photo.

Then it was on to Hickory Hill Campground. There are LOTS of park type units here. There was a sign on the outside of the office, "Site 13 For Sale, Asking $22,500". I didn't walk over to see it, it was quite a ways to it. Photos on the flyer indicated that you were buying a site and a camper of some type.

Sites are fairly closely spaced, but I don't think that is a problem for the more permanent campers. As I walked around the campground I ran across several on going "parties" where chairs were even out in the roadway.

A 60ish lady from North Carolina owns the coach on the left side of the above photo. She is on her way back from a month in Alaska. She and her husband signed up for the trip before COVID struck. He died unexpectedly and she decided to go anyway. She picked up a cousin in MN. They joined up with 25 other coaches in Coeur d' Alene, ID and headed north. Coeur d' Alene to Denali Park is 2,400 miles, several hundred miles further than we have driven our coach during this trip.. The 25 coaches didn't necessarily travel together in a caravan but they all stayed in the same campgrounds every night. 

While we were sitting outside tonight the guy across the street was working on a shelter for his 5th wheel unit.

Playground equipment, a pool (closed for the season), a putt putt golf course, shuffle board courts, horse shoe pits, etc available for entertainment.

I'm not sure what there might be to do/see around here. Right now I think the place is great for an overnight stay, $40 for a full hookup. I would stay here again if we needed to overnight in the area.

Kathy is taking full advantage of the full hookup. She has already done 4 loads of laundry and still has one to go.

Weather was a little toasty today, high mid 80's, its still 70 at 9PM. We turned the AC on when we arrived and probably will let it run all night. Sure not looking forward to the mid/high 80's forecast for our return to Centertown. We both have Doctor's appointments on the 20th or we might consider heading north instead of south when we hit the Mississippi.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.