SHHHH! SATURDAY

[blessedw2]

I have been thinking about d helia - has she been around.. I haven't been on the site regularly so I may have missed her.

so far I needed to take before and after pics of areas I am working on because I got used to the view of the clutter dining room/kitchen done/papers have been building - done

[blessedw2]

be safe in traffic d kathryn - happy traveling!

hi d lady awesome walk d lady!!! do you have pictures

hi d nancy

hi d dee - happy closet cleaning!!!

d harriet - hope tobias is good today - wishing your sweet dd a wonderful experience at school. did you say she does have air? I also like when the kiddos are next to the RA yes I am an evil mother

family room/dining room/kitchen/living room straightened and put away

[Harmony]

Harriet, I hope you are recovered from yesterday's move. That actually sounded awful to me. How is Tobias?

I haven't heard from DGSon and didn't call or text because I know they are super busy... and I for sure know this is very hard for his DMom. Their apt. is small and there were lots of people there. Roommate and his family were there for the move-in too. They were bringing all the kitchen things and all the rest of the furniture was being delivered by a furniture store. They are on the 3rd floor and I'm not sure there is an elevator. He is just a few blocks from campus.

Kathryn, I hope you do ok in all that traffic. Too bad about your camera. I thought taking pictures of the sun / eclipse would damage electronics?

Speaking of break-downs... the part our friend ordered for our SUV simply wouldn't fit. He got something to make it fit and that didn't work either. Last I heard he had another part ordered and that must have worked because he moved on to other things. The part we got off E Bay worked ok. But last night he says we have a small crack on the end of the radiator. Our records indicated we last changed it in 2006, so 11 years is good to get out of a radiator. DH drove in a rush to the parts store and picked up another and drove it out to him.

This seems never ending. When we get the vehicle back, we still have to change an EGR valve and a set of brakes. It's still less $ than a new car or a couple car payments, but this better be the last of it for a while or it'll be in the scrap heap.

I worked on my address book today. I have an 8 x 5 indexed 3-ring one that I've had for a long long time. Much changes and stapled things and cross-outs, etc. So I got all that redone and it's great now, only half as full. Been wanting to do that for a long while. People move around a lot and change their phone numbers often too!

My nutty neighbor used up too much of my time on the phone. She got herself in trouble with her nuttiness and now wants us to help finish her job as her workers quit. I really can't blame them. We must be very careful getting entwined in her messes.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Sorry I haven't updated, we're focusing on being on the road so no time to surf or even cuop.

It is a long drive. As the border guard said, "Why Lincoln, Nebraska?!" Well, it was supposed to offer much better than average chance of clear skies. Doesn't look good right now.

Here's my update so far:

The trip started well. We headed off at the planned time, a virtually unheard of for me. Got questions at the border but not too many. We're only in the US for the eclipse so entering on the 17th, exiting on 23rd. We'll be home on the 27th.

First stop, aside from gas and snack food for the trip, was Selkirk Shores State Park. It is on Lake Ontario. While looking for the park we stopped for ice cream at a handmade ice cream shop. Excellent!

The beach appeared to be a man-made one. With the high water levels and the frequent storms, it also appeared to be under repair. There was a base of gravelly stone down and a front end loader was dumping piles of sand. Large, smooth rocks were under the water, very pretty.

We took our 'feet in the water' shot, a selfie and were on our way. It is a long drive to Nebraska, not a lot of time for fun along the way.

Our stop for the night was in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie (I guess that's obvious!)

We switched drivers around Rochester and I took the wheel through Buffalo during early rush hour (not too bad) and then on to Erie. It rained lightly on and off during my shift and when we arrived at Erie it was getting heavier.

We checked in and went for dinner. Ds caught up us mid-meal. By then the rain was very heavy.

Leaving the restaurant, he paused and stared at his car. I looked over and asked, "flat tires?" It looked like he had two flats but then we realized it was that the depth of the flooding in the parking lot. Thankfully he had cheap flip-flops on because the water was well over his ankles.

We stayed in for the rest of the night, foregoing the planned hike in Presqu'isle State Park. Both dh and ds had done enough feet dipping just getting to their cars (I was picked up at the door!) We were all soaked getting into the hotel and the heat went on in our rooms in order to take off the chills.

Yesterday and today, so far:


After a night's rain, the day dawned with sunshine. Ds was up early, off on a big day hiking, touring a museum, and possibly kayaking as he went towards Springfield Illinois to attend the state fair there on Saturday. He'll catch up with us on Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to see my 'baby' off so we were up and at it early as well, instead of our usual slow moving selves.

We still had to dip our feet in Lake Erie so we headed off at 8 to Presqu'isle State Park. It is absolutely beautiful. Well worth being a destination for a holiday in the future.

There was a lovely breeze and waves so we enjoyed our moments letting the water swirl around our feet.

Then it was back into the car and onto the road for the day. Another long day of driving, about 8 hours according to Google but we knew it would be longer since we were to hit the outskirts of Chicago over Friday rush hour.

But before that, we had another Great Lake to visit.

Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake wholly in the US. And this was the only point on our route when we had a chance to visit it. Our drive took us out of Pennsylvania, across Ohio and then across Indiana. Our destination was Indiana Dunes State Park, which is within the Indiana Dunes National Park.

This is definitely another destination park. It was just beautiful.

The waves were are large as they usually are at White Point Beach on the Atlantic. The shore slopes down quickly so we didn't go far in at all because we weren't in our bathing suits. But we enjoyed the beach vibe, the sound of the waves, the smell of the sunscreen, and the squeals of the children playing.

We took the time to hike here, hiking up onto the Dunes and then along them. There are three Dunes and we did only one of them because I was exhausted. Thankfully, when we realized how much sand was involved, dh went back for our walking poles from the car. Most dunes we've been to are protected so I had been expecting well groomed paths that protected the dunes from humans damaging the delicate ecosystem. Nope, not here. There were almost no trail markings either so people had cut through the grasses all over the place and we were never quite sure we were where we thought we were when looking on the map.

We got to the top of Mt. Tom with was supposed to be 192 feet up. At least half of the up was on straight sand, the rest was better mixed with tree roots. Once at the top, we found a staircase back down and ended up in the campground before eventually finding our way back to the beach parking lot. The views from the top were quite worth the exertion!

Stairs down

After such a walk, I felt I deserved ice cream and we had spotted a place called Culvers up by the Interstate Highway so we went back up there. It wasn't ice cream but frozen custard. They also had a large menu so I had grilled chicken sandwich, salad and fries, and Ken had burger, onion rings and a milkshake which was apparently excellent. I enjoyed my dinner was well but was too full after for frozen custard so missed dessert.

By this time, the rush hour traffic had cleared and we arrived in Ottawa, Illinois (chosen solely due to the name!), our stop for the night. We went to bed as quickly as we could in order to have as early a start as possible.

As we are traveling west, we had a 25 hour day on Friday, driving into the central time zone when we drove into Indiana. That meant it felt like 11:30 when the lights were finally turned off and we woke up at 6 a.m. thinking it was 7.

Looking out our hotel window we got a taste of the view for the rest of the day. Corn. Looking from out from the second floor window we didn't have far to look down on it. It was as high as an elephant's eye, as the old song goes.

Today we finish driving through Illinois, then all of Iowa and will arrive in Lincoln, Nebraska in the late afternoon.

We were off before 9 a.m. but ended up taking a break much earlier than intended because Ken saw a sign for The World's Largest Truck Stop. It piqued my interest so we stopped. It did not disappoint. There were multiple trucks inside the truck stop. Showers and a lounge for truck drivers to relax in are common but this had a theatre, laundry facilities, dentist, barber and chiropractor. And a library for truckers (which makes sense since I'm sure they are through here all the time as they criss-cross the country.) For anyone with a life of the road, this was a great place to stop. I kept thinking of MT and her dh criss-crossing the country.

We stopped again just before a rest stop. Some clever town put up a billboard tooting all their stores and we decided to pull off there. Good choice. Ended up at Walmart picking up to ready-made salads and an SD card for the GPS (the new card I put in before leaving home is degrading according to the system.)

I looked at cameras to buy. Will look some more tomorrow. We took a photo in the truck stop and looked at it. But it is not on the disc so I have no idea where it is.

[blessedw2]

d harmony it sounds like my relative -
wishing your d grandson a wonderful school year and may he and his room mate is a good fit.
I am praying your car troubles get fixed without too much frustration.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

BTW: we learned the Culvers is a chain and have the next one marked as our next stop. Dh really wants another shake and I haven't tried their custard yet.

We are pushing through as fast as we can, but won't arrive until at least 6 p.m. Dh is doing all the driving today and I've been writing.

Yesterday we had power issues since the hotel light switch turned off all the outlets so nothing charged overnight. We've fixed that issue for today by hooking up our extra power inverter.

[blessedw2]

I love reading your adventures d kathryn. I felt like I was at the beach with you hearing all the children squealing. very cool.

I think culver's is originally from Wisconsin

I hope if your ds is in illinois for the eclipse he is able to see it... they are talking clouds now

[Nancy]

Kids ate & are napping now that lunch is over. Have a new layer not sure which one. Another hen is a bit under the weather. I need to do a few 6 min, rounds in the kitchen.

So the dad had changed his tune about the kids having a bed time here bc it is working doing the get ready for back to school routine.

Okay enough stalling I need to get moving and do a roubd on the kitchen. Update on mom in j & c.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Blessed: ds will join us tomorrow but wanted to attend a concert at the Fair since he was practically driving by anyway. He just checked in there.

We are at Culver's, still in Iowa but just at the border. I've never had frozen custard before. It is amazing!

We'll gas up and then do the last leg to Lincoln. Only another hour to go. Traffic cleared after Des Moines so either people are heading south to view the Eclipse in Missouri or the claims of mass traffic chaos all weekend is over blown. The lineups in Oregon were partly caused by the festival site searching each car at the campground entrance so, yeah, that causes traffic messes.

Harmony, this is like College Football hype. If you care, and can get to totality or live in it, then it is worthwhile. Otherwise go about your life but aware of the dangers of looking at the sun for certain hours on Monday.

[blessedw2]

their custard ice cream is really good -

so happy your ds will meet you! have so much fun d Kathryn!