9-11 and Another Great Day With Friends

Rantoul, IL.

64 deg. haze, NW wind @ .6 mph.

Forecast = Patchy dense fog early in the morning. Partly sunny with a slight chance of showers. An isolated thunderstorm possible in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 70s. Light west winds. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.


Please take some time to remember all those people who died in those terrorism attacks 10 years ago today. I was only a year old at the time, but I can remember what it was like watching the horror on TV, just like it was yesterday.

Looking back on some old files on the computer, for back at that time, I see that Jim and Linda had just started Full-timing in June of that year and in fact were right here in this Campground on that day. In one of the files, Jim states that he believed that life in the United States would be forever changed and was worried about how it would affect all peoples lives.

9-11 did change every one's life. Because of the attacks we have lost some of the freedom we had. The people now have to go through all kinds of security checks, you can no longer cross into Canada and come back with just your drivers license and a copy of your birth certificate. People are being watched by cameras almost everywhere they go in public places, and security in general has increased greatly.

But, you know what? We still live in the greatest country in the world. We can still travel from one end of the country to the next, and pretty much come and go as we please. We still have more freedom than many others in this world have.

We must never forget 9-11 or let down our guard, or it could happen again.

Yesterday was another great day and Jim and Linda spent a good part of it visiting with the "Illinois Bunch". For dinner, Jim and Linda went with Dorthy and Gordy to a Chinese Restaurant here in Rantoul. The others, (for one reason or another), decided not to go, but instead put something together here.

The evening was spent sitting around a campfire over by Denny and Bev's RV and talking.

Today, the "Illinois Bunch" will be leaving here and heading back to their homes. It's been a good 4 days and I know Jim and Linda have really enjoyed them being here. I've enjoyed meeting their RVs and have gotten to know them a little.

Hopefully we can get together again in the near future. : )

Today, instead of a "Did you know" or "Point to Ponder", take a few minutes to watch this Video of the beautiful places in our country.

Be proud and enjoy, but never forget!!

Reunion Days 4 and 5 and Finally Some Photos

Lake Delton, WI.

55 Deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.


Didn't post yesterday, so now I have to catch up a little.

Jim took this photo of Laura, Anna, Linda and Ashley at the lodge so I wanted to get it on here so you could see the proud Grandma with her Daughter and 2 Granddaughters. ; ) 

Monday, Laura and the girls helped Linda with the dinner for everyone. They made a chicken casserole, corn and a peach desert. It must have been pretty good because most of it disappeared.

Tuesday, Glenn and Jeanette stopped by to see me. Glenn is Linda's brother and Jeanette his wife. They live in River Falls, Wisconsin, which is not too far from the Minneapolis / St Paul area of Minnesota. By their comments, I think they liked me. They stayed for about 1/2 hour and sat and visited with Jim and Linda.

Since Jim finally transferred the pictures that he had taken to the computer, I'll post a few more here today.

The picture below is of Glenn and Jeanette's son, Ed, his wife Michelle and their son Thomas. They also live up in River Falls.

This next picture is of Jeff, Addison, Beckett and Mary, (who is Glenn and Jeanette's daughter). As you can see, Mary is about to bring an addition into the family. ; )  

They also live in River Falls, so Glenn and Jeanette have all of their immediate family close by.

Yesterday was kind of sad for Linda. Laura and the girls had to head back down to Illinois so that they can catch their flight back to Florida today. They were only here for a few days and of course Linda was wishing that they could have stayed longer.

We should be seeing all of them  this fall though, so it won't be too long till she sees them again.

I've got some more pictures to post but I'll save them for tomorrow.

Did you know that the Wisconsin Dells area has an estimated five million annual visitors?

Rantoul To Utica and Proud Of Myself

Utica, IL.

65 Deg. partly cloudy, NE wind @ 6 mph.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 80s. Light and variable winds in the morning becoming east around 10 mph in the afternoon.


After what seemed like forever, we finally left Rantoul at about 20 minutes to 11:00. I had been waiting and waiting to get on the road but we didn't want to get to our destination before the 1:00 check-in time, so I had to be patient.

From Rantoul, we headed West on US 136 until we came to I-74. 74 took us up to Bloomington where we pick up I-55. 55 took us up and around to the North side of Normal where we tuned North on I-39. Once on 39 we followed it all the way up to I-80, (near LaSalle). After turning East on I-80, we took the first exit and after crossing over to the North side of the expressway, we followed a frontage road here to the Hickory Hollow Campground . 

Since we took our time and drove slow, it was 10 minutes after 1:00 when we pulled up in front of the office, so we traveled 118 miles in about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

How's that for a nice leisurely drive? ; )

But, you want to know what was the best part of all???? Well, after Jim pulled me into my site and had me positioned just where we wanted me, he shut off my engine and restarted it again. Twice!!!!  And, you know what? it started up perfectly both times!!!! Hot engine and all!!!!  ; ))

Phew!!! I was so relieved that I can't even describe how it felt. I was pretty sure that my starter problem was repaired, but you just never know until you get out on the road and test it under real conditions!

Oh, and one other thing. (and I'm going to pat myself on my roof here). Jim also said that he was very pleased with how I performed on our way here. He said that I never felt like I was straining or having problems merging onto the freeways. He also said that I was much easier to drive than any other Motorhome that he had driven and is looking forward to driving me many, many miles.

Wow!! What a nice complement!! ; )

After getting me settled onto my site, Jim took the camera and took a few pictures of the CG. He and Linda had been here many times in the past, so he didn't take a lot of them.

This first one is of the Office / Store,  viewed from near my site. (D-3)

This next one is of me in my site. Because Jim told them that he and Linda don't watch TV on satellite, they gave me a nice shady site.

This is a nice CG and if you come here during the week and you belong to Passport America, you can get a nice level full hook-up site with free wi-fi and 50 amp electric for only $17. (Cash only).

This morning, we'll be leaving here to head up to the Wisconsin Dells. Jim says we'll probably leave sometime between 10:00 and 10:30. If my calculations are correct, it should be about 180 miles up there.

Did you know that more than ten people a year are killed by vending machines?