Loving Racine!

First things first, Happy Birthday Carlie Dee!  Such a beautiful granddaughter who is now 13!  You’re growing up too fast, little girl, but we love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday.  Here she is with her equally beautiful mother.

And a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY Snookie Quinn!  For your birthday, I wish for a break in the heat there in Delaware and a great day at the beach for you!  Have a good one, my friend!

We left Lincoln, IL and that cozy and beautiful little RV park Friday morning for the last stretch of road between us and Racine, Wisconsin.  Our routine of “breaking camp” is getting better all the time and we’re about to get it down to a fine art, so we had the RV hooked up and ready to roll in pretty good time.  Check out time was 11:00, so we made it just fine and headed north.

We had been surrounded in Lincoln by corn and soy bean fields and nothing changed as we traveled toward Wisconsin.  Field after field of beautiful crops.  I especially liked the soy bean fields because they looked like a soft green  carpet.




The terrain was somewhat flat with a few rolling hills here and there, so we had a good view of the countryside for most of the remainder of Illinois. 

We left the interstate long enough to find a grocery store to find DeWayne a tomato and orange for his lunch and I opted for a less healthy choice of two fried chicken legs and a few potato logs, then we set about trying to find our way back out of this little town that WE were in and were instructed by a local jogger to just make a right at the next street, follow the little highway for a few miles and it would run right into the interstate.  Okay, sounded good to us, so off we went barreling down the road…….for a mile or two.  Til we drove up behind this:


The truck in the picture was the last of about four highway vehicles following the “painting” machine which was crawling along about five miles an hour.  Between the oncoming traffic, the hills and the length of this maintenance “motorcade”, it was impossible to get around, so we literally crawled for miles.  Oh well, it’s just part of it, right?  Might as well just suck it up and tolerate the occasional delays that I’m sure we will experience many more times in our travels. 


Besides, we had gorgeous weather and beautiful blue skies filled with the occasional puffy clouds that I love so much.




We had been told by MANY to avoid Chicago and it’s traffic at all costs, so we had already planned a route around that added a few miles to our trip, but well worth it.  We passed into Wisconsin around 4:30 in the afternoon and I had the camera ready, but didn’t see a single sign until we were a few miles into the state and pulled into a rest area.



We still had around a hundred miles to go at this point, so we sat back and enjoyed the view of ever present corn and soybean fields along with all the red barns scattered everywhere on the oh so picturesque farms. 







I kept watching the clouds in the direction of Chicago and decided they must have been getting one heck of a storm, but was thankful that the storm clouds appeared to be moving away from our destination.  Racine had gotten lots of rain the night before, so we were concerned about wet ground where we would be setting up the RV in Sheila and Basil’s yard.



More great scenery along our route:




We skirted the southern part of Milwaukee and turned south toward Racine for a few miles before exiting the interstate toward our destination.  I immediately fell in love with the homes and scenery along this little road that took us straight to Sheila’s house. 










Finally, we found ourselves in Sheila and Basil’s driveway and received a warm welcome from two of my favorite people!




We had traveled some pretty rough roads all day and were so ready to get out of the truck, get set up and rest a while.  Sheila is a WONDERFUL cook and she was ready for us with fried potatoes, black-eyed peas and hot cornbread, all cooked to perfection!

We were introduced to their little dog “Sweetie Pie” who is a precious little thing, but I was in such a hurry to get out of the truck that I left the camera behind and didn’t get a picture of Sweetie.  I have plenty of time, so I’ll be sure and get a good picture of her while we are here. 

We visited for a while after getting the RV set up and supper eaten, then promptly went off to bed.  I hadn’t slept much the night before and I’ve been trying to ignore an obvious sinus infection in the hopes that it would just go away, so I was tired with a capitol T!

We got up yesterday and settled in to our morning routine, as usual.  DeWayne went for a walk after he cooked his breakfast and after I got up, I took my shower, morning medication, made the bed, made my breakfast, washed dishes and took a shower, then the four of us piled into their truck and made our way to Sam’s to buy a few groceries, and a new GPS for us.  They bought steaks to cook on the grill later for us and another couple that were coming over for the evening.

We no sooner got back and everything put away when I found myself so sleepy that I could barely concentrate, so off I went for a short nap.  When I woke up and ventured back over to the house, half of the couple had arrived, but not the other half.  I met Tina, who I liked immediately and learned that husband Barry was not feeling well and wouldn’t be coming over after all, which was unfortunate, but we all had a great time anyway.  Basil and DeWayne did the grilling outside while Sheila already had most everything else ready to go and staying warm in the oven. 

When I say that Sheila is a wonderful cook, it certainly isn’t an exaggeration.  She was busy making real bacon bits and cooking real croutons to go with the salad and baked potatoes.  And Basil did one heck of a job on those huge ribeyes, so needless to say….WE FEASTED!!!!  What a great meal to go with the great company. 

It’s been many years since I was able to have a really good visit with Sheila since they have lived away for a long time, so she and Tina and I just had a blast!  Then Basil went off to bed and DeWayne went off to the RV and us girls just kept chattering like magpies.  It’s a rare occasion that I drink a beer, but I ended up consuming three before the night was over and was so busy laughing and talking that I felt little effect.  It was great beer too! 

Tina finally gave it up and decided to drive on home before it got too late, but Sheila and I still visited until around midnight and I finally excused myself, knowing she and Basil were supposed to go fishing this morning and I didn’t want to keep her up any later.  I could have visited with her all night, but we have plenty of time to pick up where we left off. 

I slept until 9:30 this morning and woke up with a very sore throat to go along with the sinus problems, so I decided it’s time to give it up and get some antibiotics for this crud.  Of course I decided this on a Sunday, so nothing can get done about it til tomorrow.  I’ll be calling good ole Dr. Freeman and get him to call me in a prescription that I can pick up here in Wisconsin.  I dread the pills but I’m sooooo ready to feel better.  I’m retired and traveling the country with a good lookin man that I adore.  I have Sheila and Basil to visit with while we have the time, places to go, things to see and more of Sheila’s good cookin to eat, so I don’t have time to be sick, doggone it!  Time to do something about it.

But right now, it’s just time to get this finished and head for bed.  Besides, I’ve run out of anything to say.  So, I’ll sign off for now.  I’ll try to post again in a couple of days, but in the meantime…….

HAPPY TRAILS!