Days 10 & 11 - Thursday & Friday, July 4 & 5 - Parked at Mom's

 Thursday - We didn't leave Mom's all day. It rained some but the temperatures remained in the mid 80's. It was damp enough that we did run the generator/AC for a couple of hours in the late afternoon. Kathy fixed a pork roast for supper and we had a crowd in the RV; David (my brother), Kathy (his wife), Colton (their grandson) & my Mom. There was a 45-60 minute fireworks show somewhere at the lake. We could see flashes of the aerial bursts through the trees.

Friday - Mom, Kathy & I went to Coldwater for grocery shopping and lunch. In the afternoon we drove over to Reading, MI and met Cindy (one of Kathy's sisters), Ed (her husband) & Nancy (Kathy's oldest sister). We explored a Thrift Store and the went to the Lone Ranger for supper. It was an interesting place, but not worth going back. My breaded fish was almost cremated. Kathy said her meal was OK.

Then it was back to Mom's. There was another fireworks display somewhere around the Lake. We couldn't see anything this time but we sure could hear the explosions. The last one actually shook the coach a little. Temps were warm and humid. 

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

Days 7, 8 & 9 - Mon, Tue & Wed, July 1, 2 & 3 - Nothing to Exciting

 Monday - We just hung around the campground and relaxed.

Tuesday - Kathy had tried several times to call one of our neighbors from Lebanon, but Phyllis did not return her calls. Tuesday morning she went to Phyllis's home and found no one home. She went next door, to our old house, and ask the people about Phyllis. They told her Phyllis was in a nursing home. Kathy went there only to learn that she had moved to a different nursing home. Kathy finally tracked her down and had a nice visit with her. In the afternoon we went to Costco in Indy and then met Doug and Anthony for pizza and salads at Puccini's in Indy. It is one of our favorite pizza places. We went there the first time in 1992. On our way home the car just seemed to veer into a Dairy Queen near Thorntown.

Wednesday - Travel day, 185 miles. We left the campground around 11AM. We stopped at a rest area near Auburn, IN and had lunch. After lunch we decided talked about being sleepy so we took naps before heading on to Mom's. It's so nice to travel in a motorhome. We arrived at Mom's around 5PM. David, my brother, and Kathy, his wife, came down and, along with Mom, we sat by the pond and visited until almost 9PM. 

My Mom's physical heal remains good but her mental health is not so good. She thinks she still lives in Ashley, IN, where she lived prior to my grandmother's death, and that she just comes here for visits. She thinks my grandmother must be working or in town. My grandmother died about 30 years ago. Soon after that my Mom retired and moved here. During the evening she must have asked if we knew why my grandmother was not here over a dozen times. Each time we told her that our grandmother had died 30 years ago and that she (Mom) had moved here soon after. She is surprised each time we tell her. She doesn't argue, she seems to accept what we tell her as the truth but she just can't lock it into her memory.  When I walked her up to the house she wanted me to check to see if grandma's car was in the garage.

Weather here is a little warm and sticky. At 10PM the temperature is 77 and the humidity is 68%. There is a single electrical circuit that runs from the barn to the pavilion. It provides electricity to for the pavilion lights and a refrigerator. There isn't much excess capacity for us to use. It keeps our "house batteries" charged, which allows us to use our 2000 watt inverter to power one electrical appliance at a time. If we want to run the AC we must run our 8KW generator. It will be interesting to see how many hours we put on the generator during the next 3 weeks.

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

Day 6 - Sunday, June 30 - The Lord's Day

Chuck and Rhonda, the friends who had lunch with us a couple of days ago, attend Hope Community. We went there for Sunday morning services. Chuck and Rhonda were involved in pre service activities and didn't know we were there until after the service. It was a FRIENDLY place. At least 8 people came up to greet and welcome us, prior to the start of the service. What a great witness for new comers.

I was a friend of Billy Watts who was the Pastor there when we lived here. I had an office a block of the Lebanon town square and Billy and his wife had a health food and supplement store on the town square. I went into their store one day when I was taking a walk and we met. Kathy and I went to several events at the church and a few services. Billy could sure preach and the Watts family were awesome musicians. There were also some good musicians Sunday, man could that lady  hammer out old time hymns on that piano, my kind of music.

We had lunch at the Chinese buffet in Lebanon. The food was mediocre, not as good as we remembered. Back at the campground it was naptime. Doug and Anthony came up and brought supper, some of the fare that was part of his meal service during the week; feta grits, cheesy jalapeno grits (which I love), pork and cabbage, a salmon dish, and a couple of other things. We had another nice visit with them. We sat outside after supper and by the time they left we were cold. It got down into the low 50's last night, great sleeping weather.

This campground is nice. The weekly rate is $276, including taxes. Below are some photos:

We are in site 291. I think the 4 rows of pull thru sites around us are for people staying less than a month. There are quite a few "permanent" campers, with nice decks and landscaping. I doubt than many live here, especially during the winter, but I suspect that many spend a LOT of time here from April-October. Most of the sites at the bottom of the picture are shaded by full size trees.

There is a lot of green space.

The mini golf area looks nice, especially at night when the structures are lighted. it does cost $2/hr to play.

The heated pool is small but even with all the campers we never saw it crowded. The playground is one of five.

One of the fishing ponds. You are allowed a maximum of 6 fish per day. 

The petting zoo.

Sugar Creek loops around the campground. A brush covered dike separates it from the campground. 

The only negative is that the campground charges guests $5 each to enter, even if they are just visiting campers. For us that seems excessive. It cost us $10 for Chuck and Rhonda to come in for lunch and another $10 for Doug and Anthony to bring us supper last night. I could understand charging for wristbands for people who wanted to use the pool, etc. 

Thank you Lord for another good day. May the Lord bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 4 & 5 - Friday & Saturday, June 28 & 29 - Visiting

 Friday - Chuck & Rhonda Winkles came to visit. They are some of the first friends we made when we moved to Lebanon in 1999. It was so good to be able to spend several hours with  them. In the evening Kathy met another friend and they attended a church service in Brownsburg. 

Saturday - It rained Friday night and Saturday morning, sometimes hard. The photo is the camper across the street from us. Rain must have ponded on their awning to the point it collapsed one of the awning supports.

We drove up to Lafayette to have breakfast with Tony and Tracy Holt. I met Tony in the early 1980's. We both worked for A. E. Staley Mfg, me in Decatur, IL and he is Lafayette, IN. After I left the Staley company in 1992 I still did some consulting work for them and got to work with Tony on a relatively regular basis until I retired in 2011.

It is great to know that one day Kathy & I will have all eternity to spend enjoying the company of these two couples.

Then it was back to the campground to for the rest of the warm, muggy, rainy day.

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

Day 3 - Thursday, June 27 - Slow Day

 The overnight low was 61 degrees. We had the windows open and enjoyed the cool up until close to bedtime. We did shut the windows and turn the AC on then because of the high humidity. Today's high was a mostly sunny 77 degrees. Right now, 10PM the temperature had dropped to 68. The overnight low is forecast to be 63.

We just sat around and enjoyed the place this morning. Kathy did do a little walk about. In the afternoon we drove in to Lebanon (12 miles, 20 minutes with the traffic/construction near Lebanon). We went to Walmart, for a replacement sewer hose (The CAMCO Rhino FLEX that was leaking was a disappointment. My previous Rhino FLEX lasted several years. I purchased the current one in the spring and was surprised that it was already leaking. I purchased another Rhino FLEX because I think the are a good product. Hopefully the leaky one was just a lemon.). We also made a grocery buying stop at Aldi's.

I did have an interesting experience at Walmart. I knew their RV accessories were in the automotive section but couldn't find them. I saw a Walmart employee who looked like she was stocking a shelf so I walked up to ask for information. She was playing with a flashlight that was still in its packaging. It looked like she had turned it on and couldn't figure out how to turn it off. She ignored me while I stood there waiting to be acknowledged. Finally she looked up at me and I said, "Where are the RV accessories located." Her mind boggling response was, "I don't speak English well.", and she went back to ignoring me and playing with the flashlight. She was not Hispanic, maybe Haitian or from some middle Eastern hellhole. A couple of aisles over I found another employee who walked me to the aisle with the RV stuff. I was so shocked by the "I don't speak English well." comment that I didn't think to mention the situation to the store manager. 

Back at the campground Kathy put the groceries away and then took a nap. I visited a little with the lady next door. I learned that they are full timers with a home base between Gainesville and Orlando Florida. We talked about some of the places we enjoyed. She mentioned how much she likes South Dakota, which brought back memories of our stay at the Cedar Pass campground in the Badlands National Park in May of 2012. If you are interested check out:

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/  May 30th, 2012

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-31st-in-badlands.html

When they leave here they will head back to Florida for awhile. They plan on a weeks stay at a campground right on the Gulf (near Gulf Shores) on their way back. They considering going heading west on their next trip, though Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. I suggested that if they stop in Phoenix be sure to visit Biosphere 2. I sure enjoyed visits there in 2012 and 2022.

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/dec-31st-biosphere-2.html

 https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/thursday-december-15th-biosphere-2.html

Then I took a nap. We didn't eat supper until nearly 8PM. It's now 11:30PM and Kathy is sitting outside reading while I finish up this post.

Another good day. God is good. I pray His blessings on you and yours. He had blessed me. Last Sunday we sang a song with lyrics that includes "I don't know what He is doing but I know what He has done." PTL for what He has done, especially in my life.

Day 2 - Wednesday, June 26 - Travel, Springfield, IL to Thorntown, IN

 Today was another travel day, from the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, IL to Old Mill Run Campground in Thorntown, IN. We have put 398 miles on the coach since leaving home yesterday morning.

About 10AM Kathy left in the car and drove to Niantic, IL, about 35 miles east, to visit a friend from when we lived in Niantic. I stayed at the campground until 11AM and then drove east to a I72 rest area near Argenta, IL, about 55 miles. She arrived at the rest area at 1PM. We ate lunch, hooked the car up and headed to Thorntown.

The trip wasn't totally trouble free. About 40 miles short of our destination a check engine light came on. All the gages looked good. We got off at the next exit, parked at a truck stop and shut the engine off. After about 5 minutes we started the engine again and the check engine light did not come back on, nor did it come back on during the remainder of the trip. If it comes on again we will need to find some place that can read the "code" so that we know what is causing the problem.

We checked into the Old Mill Run campground around 5:20PM (eastern time) and got set up.

The campground has a lot of nice amenities. The weekly rate is $267. There appears to be a lot to do. I chatted briefly with the folks next to us. They have been here for nearly a month and have a favorable impression of the place. They are from Florida and are here visiting relatives in the area.

We met Doug and Anthony (our son and his husband who live in Indianapolis) at the Salty Cowboy Tequileria in Zionsville (a 45 minute drive from the campground) for supper. The area around Zionsville is a zoo compared to what it was when we moved away 13 years ago. Traffic/parking in Zionsville is a pain. The restaurant was busy but they arrived before us and were able to get a table. Kathy and I thought the food was mediocre, but getting to spend time with Doug & Anthony was great.

We had heard that the Ice Cream Paradise in Lebanon, IN had closed. During the 12 years we lived here we enjoyed many summer evenings sitting at one of their picnic tables eating an ice cream cone. On our way back to the campground we decided to drive by it to see if it was closed. It wasn't and the ice cream was as good as ever.

On the way home the car thermometer said the temperature was 68. It is supposed to get in the low 60's this evening. With the rain it is humid, but it still feels great after the string of 90+ degree days in Centertown. (Folks here say they also had several 90+ degree days recently). It's nice to have the windows open for awhile. We may still turn the AC on before morning, just to get rid of some of the humidity.

It was another good day. God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

PS. To the person who left the comment about "stopping by" on yesterdays post, your post shows up as "anonymous" so I have no idea who made the comment.

Day 1 - Tuesday, June 25 - Heading out for Summer Fun

 We started our summer trip today, 212 miles from our house in Centertown, MO to the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, IL. We are 29 miles from where we used to live in Niantic, IL (1980-92). We stopped here because it is an inexpensive place to stay, and so that tomorrow morning Kathy can spend some time with a friend from Niantic. 

In Illinois we saw quite a few fields where the corn was already tasseling. That was a surprise.

It was hot most of the way here, but the dash AC worked well enough that we didn’t have to run the generator and use the rooftop AC units.  We pulled off US54 just south of Atlas, IL, about 6 miles east of the Mississippi River. We did fire up the generator and run both AC units while we were eating lunch.

I think I read that there are about 300 “camping sites” here. About half only have 30 amp electrical service and the remainder have both 30 & 50 amp service. All of them have water but only a few have sewer connections. There is a dump station. For $20/night it works fine for us. 

The place is surprisingly busy. I just watched a guy back a big 5^th wheel camper/horse trailer into the spot across the aisle from us. I didn’t think he had a chance of getting into the site but he managed it with no problem. IMPRESSIVE! OK, I have to take a photo through of it. He backed into the space and had the trailer unhooked and leveled in 10 minutes.

It looks like it would have been relatively east to back in from the right side but he chose to back in from the left; around the light pole and beside the Class A the drove into his site, rather than back in. The parking lot aisle isn't all that wide.

From Jacksonville to the Fairgrounds, 35 miles, we were on the edge of the storm. The wind was gusty and it rained most of that distance. We arrived here at 3:45, it has sprinkled on and off since arrival. The latest storm cell went west and south of us, lots of thunder. The temperatures dropped from the mid 90’s to the mid 70’s. It’s supposed to be in the mid 70’s when we leave in the morning.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours, He has certainly blessed me.