Elkhart, IN to Baraboo, WI 5/29/2014

Thursday, Day 27 of our summer trip.

This morning, we got up early so that the mechanic could start work on our trailer as soon as he arrived at the shop at 7:00 AM.  We went out to breakfast hoping that the work that we wanted to have done would be completed by noon.  They did fix the siding and adjusted the slide, but there were a couple other things that they needed to get parts for.  Although what they needed could be gotten locally, it would have been late in the afternoon before they would arrive to be installed.  We felt that we could live with those problems until we got home, plus we have reservations at a couple places down the road and need to get back on schedule, so we canceled the other jobs and proceeded to resume our travel plans.

We left Elkhart and took the turnpike through Ohio and Indiana.  To try to avoid the potholes that we experienced on I-80 south of Chicago when we were coming east, we decided to take US-30 in the westerly direction until we got to the point where we planned to go north on the far western side of Chicago.  Well, that worked out pretty good until we realized we had lost track of where the highway was.  We must have missed a turn that it made.  Fortunately, the diversion was caught before we were too far off course and we were on our way again.  This is where we crossed the Wisconsin River.

There is lots of farm land in Wisconsin.  We didn't see many Wisconsin cows, but the fields have been planted and are beginning to sprout.  This green strip must be an area that either is planned to separate crops or is not conducive to planting, for some reason.

This is our campsite at the Red Oak Campground in Baraboo, WI.  It is a nice campground, but it is obvious that camping in this part of the U. S. is just getting started and the clean up from winter is still a work in progress.

 

Tomorrow, we will be on the road again.



 

Goshen, IN to Elkhart, IN 5/28/14

Wednesday, Day 26 of our summer trip.

We don’t have far to drive today.  We had made arrangements, while we were at the Escapade earlier this month, to have some work done on our trailer.  You see, a piece of the siding had come loose and we needed it to be repaired before there was any damage to the inside where we could not see.  We took it to Charger RV Repair for service.  When they looked to see what they would need to do, they discovered that that section of siding had not been caught with the screw and aluminum strip that was supposed to hold it in place.  There is a trim piece over that connection that hid that fact from us until it came loose, probably from all of the jostling and twisting that happened as we navigated through all of the potholes as we crossed country. This is what it looked like.  We were worried that rain would run down into the gap and cause something to get damaged and we would never know until it was too late.

 

 

The folks at Charger Enterprises, Inc. RV Repair services in Elkhart, IN said that they will be able to repair the siding and a couple other minor things tomorrow.  In the mean time, they have been very accommodating and have let us connect to their  30 amp. electrical outlet and park in their lot for the night.  Here we are, in our campsite for the night.

We toured around Elkhart for a short time and discovered that there is a railroad museum there.  They have many things to see.  The passenger car and the locomotive are among those items.

 

We went out to dinner then back to the trailer for the night.  We don’t know how long the repairs will take, so we don’t know if we will get to continue our travels tomorrow or not.  We’ll see.

Medina, OH to Goshen, IN 5/27/14

Tuesday, Day 25 of Our Summer Trip

We got up early this morning to call the Montrose Ford service department to see if the replacement sensor in our DEF tank had come in.  It had, so we got ready and took our truck to the repair shop.  Mom and one of my sisters met us at the shop and we all went to breakfast while the truck was being fixed.  That was a much more pleasant way to spend the time waiting, rather than sitting in the waiting room.  It was a great breakfast  and we were glad to be able to spend a little more time with family.  Bumble enjoyed it, too.


When we got back to Montrose Ford, the job had been finished.  It was so nice of them to work us into their busy schedule so that we could get back on the road at the time we had planned.  We took the truck back to the campground, finished packing and prepared to leave for the next leg of our trip.  We plan to be in Canada by June 4th.  Here we are, all hooked up and ready to roll.


Bumble, the bee, is very excited to go with us on our adventure.  See, there she is, in the window, checking to see where we will go next.


Mom and my sister came to the campground to give us a proper send off.  We will miss everyone.  We don’t get to see the family often, but hopefully this blog will help us stay in touch with our family and friends while we are gone.

So, we are on our way.  We made reservations to stay at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN tonight, when we were at Escapade earlier this month, so we could take the trailer for service tomorrow.  This is our campsite tonight.  We are in a different area of the fairgrounds  from where we were during Escapade a little over a week ago.  It is still wet, but it seems to be much more solid ground than the infield of the racetrack.


These are some of the buildings near where we are camped.

Tomorrow, we find out what needs to be done to fix the trailer.

Memorial Day, 5/26/14

Monday  Day 24 of our summer trip.
Memorial day is full of family tradition in Medina, OH.  I can remember taking part in the events while I  was growing up.  First, when I was in grade school, our classes marched in the parade and took bouquets of flowers to decorate the graves, in the cemetery, that didn’t have any.  When I was older, I marched as a Brownie Girl Scout and Girl Scout, representing those organizations.  After I got into the Jr. High and High Schools, I marched in the bands.  This year, Earl and I are visiting family in town and are able to participate in the tradition again, after many years of living in other parts of the country.  The scheduled events remains much the same, but different, as times have changed over the years and now there are new generations who are taking the rolls that I once did.   Now, my immediate family and I are participating in the place of those who were of the older generations back when we were kids.  This is how our family celebrates Memorial Day.  My Mom and all of my sisters, Earl and I and some of my nieces and nephews were in attendance for each activity that I will describe.

The morning begins with a ceremony at the Medina County Courthouse memorial to those, from the community, who lost their lives in wars.  Four different groups lay wreaths at the monument.


Right after that, the Memorial Day Parade begins.  Families and friends gather along the parade route from the Courthouse to the Spring Grove Cemetery in support of and to cheer on the parade participants.  There are several bands in the parade.  Here, Great-grandma and Bumble, the bee, are watching the Sr. High band get ready. 


Bumble is watching the band pass by with Grandma and Great-grandma.


There were a miniature horse and dogs.


Some old cars and motorcycles.


Some Scouts were riding in a military vehicle while other Scouts were marching.


It all wrapped up with emergency vehicles, the old and the new, modern, latest  equipment. 


That is just a sampling of all of the entries that made up the total parade.  The parade was followed by the ceremony and tribute at the cemetery.  More wreaths were laid at the monument in the cemetery.


The afternoon was spent at a family picnic at a city park in Medina.  It is a great family park with a play area and water splash park for all ages.  There are also baseball fields where some of the family members enjoyed playing catch and doing batting practice or just rooted on those who were playing.   Of course, we were not the only family enjoying the park activities on such a nice day.


We had a yummy potluck late lunch/early dinner in the pavilion.  Earl cooked burgers and dogs.


Everyone brought something to share.  Bumble just had to see what was on the smorgasbord.


My sister baked cakes for the kids and adults.  Notice Bumble is checking out the kids’ caterpillar cake.  Very festive, don’t you think?


Well, there was more than enough for everyone.  We all have full tummies and there is no need for dinner tonight.  We enjoyed the day of family activities and visiting.  It was a perfect day with sunshine and warm weather so that the kids could play in the water.

We went back to camp to pack some of our stuff.  Tomorrow we hope the part that we need to have replaced on the truck will have reached the service dept. at the Ford Dealership so that it can be installed and we can leave for the rest of our trip.

Medina, OH 5/24 and 25/14

Saturday and Sunday Days 22 and 23 of our summer trip.

Saturday was a very busy day.  Earl and I are visiting family here.  It is Memorial Day weekend and there has been a family tradition that has been going on for decades.  Now that my Dad passed away 13 years ago, the rest of the family, in this area, are carrying on that tradition There is a lot of history that is uncovered in the process as well.

The morning begins with as many of my sisters as can and my Mom, as well as some of the grand-children, decorating the graves of my Dad and brother-in-law at the cemetery in town.  It is a group effort with Mom in charge of the process.  Cemeteries in this county allow grave sites to be decorated with live plants, unlike some places where only artificial or cut flowers are allowed and the cut flowers are removed by the grounds keepers after a short time.  We prepare the area around the headstone then plant the plants.


It takes awhile, but the end result always looks very nice.
.

After we finish in town, we go to other cemeteries in the area where relatives(Great-grandparents, Grandparents, Great-Aunts & Great- Uncles, an Aunt and cousins) are buried and plant a flower at each of their graves.  There are several at one the cemetery in Lodi.  It is a beautiful place.   When we were there, the wind was blowing all of the flags, that had been placed on veterans’ graves, so that you could see the whole flag.  It was very impressive to see so many flags flying over those who gave their service to keep us free.


My Dad’s Grandparents are buried in a very old cemetery beside a church.  There are some head stones from  the 1800’s there.  This one with a lamb on it appears to say that the child was 3 months and 8days old at the time of death, in possibly 1867?  It I very hard to read because it is very weathered.  Unfortunately, this cemetery is deteriorating.  Some headstones are crumbling , have fallen off their base and are leaning on other ones nearby where people have tried to upright them.


After the decorating was done, one of my sisters, Earl and I went shopping for food for the family picnic on Memorial Day.   While we were gone, Mom and another of my sisters let me know that they had found a stuffed animal that I had been looking for.  We got home (back to the trailer, our home away from home) and put everything away , then I went over to Mom’s apartment to see what they had found.  MEET BUMBLE, THE BEE!  Mom presented her to me like a new baby. 


Bumble will travel with us during our summer trip.  She will be visiting all of the places that we visit and I will keep a log of her travels to give to our granddaughter after we get home.

Sunday was a day spent helping do some yard work for Mom at her house.  Although she now lives at her apartment, she still has her house and goes there on occasion.  Because we live so far away, we were glad to be able to help her with some chores, which we can not ordinarily do.  There was a great backyard grilled dinner at the end of the day. 

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and will be a very active day.

Cincinnati, Ohio and Northern KY 5/19/14

Day 17 of our summer trip

We stayed at Winton Woods campground in Cincinnati.  It is a very nice county park with many activities available.  This is the site we were in.  You can see the lake behind our trailer.  It is the light brown spot near the center at the base of the trees in the photo on the right.








We spent the day checking out our old haunts in the Ludlow and Covington, KY area.  Flowers were placed on the grave of Earl’s parents as Memorial Day is coming.  The Forest Lawn Cemetery is beautiful and peaceful.  His parents’ grave is located on a hill overlooking a pond that was inhabited by some ducks.  Spring is just beginning in this area.



While we were driving on the back roads, we passed a bridge, part of someone’s driveway, that crosses over a stream.  When we were dating, years ago, we passed this bridge often.  It is more overgrown than then, but still interesting.  We had the opportunity to purchase a painting of this bridge, back then, but it was too expensive for our college budget.  Our loss.

 
Covington is a diverse city.  There are many restored historic homes in the Licking Riverside Historic District.  This one, on the left, is currently a lawyer’s office.  Then there is the ultra modern Ascent Condominiums located near the Convention Center. 



We both graduated from the University of Cincinnati.  We did not go over to the University on this trip, but here is a photo of the Ohio River with Cincinnati, OH on the left and Covington, KY on the right and foreground.

There is a park along the river, on the KY side, where we took some pictures of the Cincinnati skyline, including the river front stadium.



The other thing that we did today was to go to dinner at one of our favorite places from college days, Frisch's Big Boy.  It brought back some good memories.