Thirty Miles to Little Boy Lake

Bob and Pam let us spend the night in their driveway.  It rained most of the night and most of the day today, but the sun finally broke through this afternoon.

Bob's second garage.  He let us park the Honda in there and the car hardly knew how to act being under cover.

Bob's view of Norway Lake and the side deck of his home.

We left Bob's house and headed down 84 past the cabins we stayed at for years on Mule/Blackwater lakes. It all looks different now that they have sold off the cabins in Lake View Camp to individual home owners.  There's no longer any beach, just boat docks.

We had a few issues getting parked and level on the wet ground, but once we did that we walked down to see the lake.  It's high, but the water looks clear.

There are lots of fun toys down at the water's edge and even a sand volleyball court.  It was a big puddle earlier today.

We saw these five ducklings and learned their mother has come up missing.  People here have been feeding them corn and bread.

We are parked and can hopefully stay put for the next month.

Craig worked to get the trolling motor, battery and charger all working well and ready for Todd and Jeff to drive in tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow should be a sunny day and around 70 and we will all need to fish hard because the weather report isn't the best for the rest of the weekend.

I hope to be posting pictures of Walleyes that have been caught and or ready to eat by tomorrow at this time.

Blessings,

Kathy

One For the Road

My nephew, Ryan took a photo of his family today and sent it to me since I totally forgot to take one of them yesterday.

Ryan, Heather & Trystan Hoshaw

We got up this morning and started getting ready to drive on to my brother's house when I stepped on the foot toilet level and broke it.  Not a good way to start out the day.... especially when you are going to be parked in a remote area for a month.

Craig took the news well and we started trying to figure out what to do since we had never fixed an RV toilet before.  We watched a couple of YouTube videos on the subject, but really didn't see our old model.  We were told by the RV park owners that there was an RV parts store 12 miles down the road.

Craig figured out how to get the old toilet off and decided just to take the whole thing with us... (He cleaned it all up before putting it in the car).

The parts would have to be ordered and we weren't sure what exactly was wrong.  Next choice was whether to buy a new toilet or a new RV.

Here's the new toilet.

This one has a top hand flush lever instead of a foot flush.

We had a few struggles, but the installation went well.  We hooked up the water line.. which was nearly too short and turned on the water and have no leaks.  Thank you, Lord.  We were actually glad this happened today when we had time to fix it and we were so close to a parts store.

We finished up some laundry we were doing, cleaned everything up and headed up the road another 50 miles to my brother's home in Pine River, MN.

This was taken from his home looking toward Norway Lake.

Pam made Pizza for us and then we watched quite the thunderstorm roll through.

Mom called and gave us a great report after seeing the Orthopedic Surgeon today.  She did break her pubic bone, but he told her she could do whatever her pain level would allow her to.  She will be able to fly back for her family reunion in Aug. His only caution was to not fall again.  I'm sure it's something she isn't planning on doing either!!!

Tomorrow we drive on to our Campground near Longville (20 miles) and we'll get set up and ready for Todd and Jeff to arrive on Friday morning.

Hope your day went well,

Kathy

Minnesota

Yesterday we moved on from our Walmart camping spot.  We crossed the Mississippi.

 Once into MN we went across the southern part of the Twin Cities to a Target parking lot that was close to my nephew's apartment complex in Waconia, MN.  Ryan and his son, Trystan, walked over to visit with us while we had some lunch and then we walked the short distance to his place just in time to see his wife, Heather get home from work. It was good to see them.

We were so busy chatting, that I totally forgot to take any photos.  Bummer.  Ryan is supposed to be sending me something today.

Craig found a little 6 spot RV park that we stopped in last night near Little Falls, MN.  We saw this black squirrel (at the base of the tree) out our front window.

The moon was showing off while the sun was still out and looked beautiful over these two pines.

Today we are going to find a laundromat and then head into Pine River where my brother, Bob and his wife Pam live.  We'll park in their driveway until tomorrow when we head on to Little Boy Resort to our spot for a month.  We have SO looked forward to this time to fish and relax.  Minnesota is so pretty this time of the year.  They had a very cold and hard winter, so I imagine the lakes will all be very cold.

This is the area that I spent vacations as a kid and then our whole family went to MN to swim and boat for several years during their growing up years.  Todd and Jeff will drive up overnight on Thurs and spend Friday through Monday with us.  There will be lots of fishing during that time.

Blessings to you all,

Kathy

Cheese Heads

We pulled out of our beautiful place by the river this morning and headed to a Flying J on the way to I39/90. 

We filled the RV with gas that is 30 cents less a gallon than it was in Indiana.  We also filled our propane tank and then my cousins, Marty and Debbie got a quick tour of the Whale and then joined us for breakfast before we got out on the Highway.  It was so great to see them!

Craig, Kathy, Marty and Debbie.

Wisconsin is really a beautiful state and it's so green after all of the rain.  It was a near perfect day and we enjoyed the rolling hills.

It was so tempting to take a day at the Wisconsin Dells.  I haven't really stopped there since I was a kid going on fishing trips to Minnesota, but instead, we pulled into a nice quiet parking lot and took a nap before driving on in to Minomonie, WI.

We came through this way last year and spent one of our first nights in a Walmart parking lot.  We have a directory that tells us which ones allow you to spend the night and there is a whole set of etiquette to follow.  It's going to be cool tonight and good for sleeping.

Our view after I got a haircut and did some shopping.  We put together a salad and a pre-made BBQ Cranberry Chicken to have in the freezer until I crock pot it.  I'm starting to think ahead to have meals ready so we can fish and enjoy the weekend with our two sons that will be driving up to our campground on Friday.  I hope we will just catch enough Walleye to get our fill of them.

Tomorrow we will see my brother's son, Ryan and his family near Minneapolis, MN.  It's just a couple hours away from where we are tonight.

See you down the road.
Kathy

Rockford Files

We packed up and headed out from our spot in Cedar Lake at about 8:30am today and traveled just a couple of hours to a campground in Rockford, IL.  It's a very pretty park on the Kishwaukee River.

We were invited for great food at my cousin, Marty Hoffman and his wife, Debbie's home.  We had a great visit and also got to meet family members that I had not known before.

Here's some of the new family members.  Andrew is Laura's boyfriend.  Arlene is Debbie's Mom.  Debbie is holding her grandson, Algernon.  Laura is Debbie's daughter and Algernon's Mom and then there's Craig.

It was overcast and a bit cool, but we were able to sit out on their lovely back deck and enjoy the gorgeous flowers.

Algernon was a bit leary of these new cousins that he was meeting, but he cautiously warmed up to us and even posed for a nice photo.

He completely opened up while he was showing us how he can get around in his computer game.
Thanks so much to Debbie and Arlene for cooking the wonderful Mexican food!!!!!  We so appreciate your kindnesses towards us.

There's some rain heading this way, so we will probably press on northward in the morning.  We'll drive down the road and stop when we get tired or if we need to avoid any bad weather.

Blessings,
Kathy

And Then it Was June

The month has gone by quickly. We have been parked near our home town of Crown Point, Indiana.  It's been so wonderful having time with friends and family.  It's gotten harder to be away from Mom.  She had a fall outside last weekend while trying to help a boy get his bike down the stairs.  A neighbor took her to urgent care the next morning and she had a couple of staples put into the cut on the right side of her head.  The neighbor bandaged up her right elbow and they seemed satisfied that she didn't break anything.  Last night Urgent Care notified us after the Orthopedic Surgeon looked at her Xrays and she does have a small fracture in her lower pelvic bone.  She won't need surgery or a cast or even to be bedridden, thankfully.  But, she has been told to not overdo in any way.  She has already been confined to the house accept when a friend took her back to get the staples out.  That's when they did an Xray of her hip since it was very bruised.  Now she waits for a call for a follow up visit to an Orthopedic Surgeon this next week just so they can keep an eye on her progress.

She's had a bad weak and then found out yesterday that one of her Crown Point best friends passed away yesterday.  Please keep Mom and the family of Wilma S. in your prayers.

Mom has convinced me that I don't need to come down since she is able to get around the house with a lot of care, but it's going to be hard to go farther north to Minnesota knowing that she is hurting.  There are many friends and neighbors who have promised to look after her, but I don't like that she is alone.

We took the week off from doing much work and started to get ourselves and the Whale ready to head on down the road on Sunday morning.  We will take several days to make the trip and stop along the way for some visits.  We will just go to Rockford, IL tomorrow and see my cousin, Marty and his family.

We visited with Jim and Marie V and they fed us some wonderful goodies while we sat outside and enjoyed the gorgeous day and the many types of birds that visit their feeders.

Jeff and Rachel put together a wonderful meal to celebrate a "Happy Everything Everybody" Party.  Katie joined us and she wasn't too happy about being in a photo.  I didn't catch anyone at their best.  I'm sure Rachel will love the pic of her eating.  Sorry to you all!  Todd leaned right out of the shot, too.

Todd leaning left, Katie and Craig enjoying his cake.

Jeff, his daughter, Kristen and wife, Rachel.  Kara and Ty had friends over and were off doing other things already. You can see part of the new deck in the background. Before we put the finishing touches on the deck, their were 5 boys jumping into the pool already!  

We'll take our time going up to MN.  My older brother and his wife live up there and one of their sons lives in Minneapolis and we hope to be able to see him, too.

I have made up some homemade Mosquito spray and we have tested it and it seems to work.  So, we are ready to do some fishing!!!  Our two sons will drive up and spend next weekend with us and then our daughter and family will be up for the last week in June.  I imagine this next month will go by quickly, also.

Hope you're having a happy summer!!!

Blessings,

Kathy

Deck the House

Craig helped Jeff on some side job projects on Saturday.  I ran some errands and had a very nice visit with Marlene and Arllyn J.  What a gorgeous home and yard they have and they were so gracious to just take a break and chat with me.

We started Sunday out taking showers and then with some fishing with our boys and we had planned on church, but we had a few things come up that needed our attention.  So, since it was too late to church, we decided to work on the deck addition that Jeff and Rachel started.  Yesterday the post holes were dug and Jeff set the posts last night, so it was all set for putting it together.

I think this had to be the hottest Indiana day since we have been here.  It was in the 90's and the same for the humidity.  There wasn't much shade up by the house.

Craig was hard at work putting up the last of the joists.

......while Jeff and I were taking a break in the shade.  It was just for a few minutes.  Honest, we didn't just make Craig work while we took a break.  Well, maybe for awhile.

We were hot and sweaty and we all decided to take a break.  We drove back to the RV and Todd joined us for a couple of steaks on the grill.  It felt so good to take a shower (the second of the day)and enjoy the air conditioning.

The steaks were good and so was the time with Todd.  The weather said that storms were coming in, so we headed back to Jeff's to see what we could get done on the deck.

It poured rain as we were driving over, but it didn't hit Jeff's until right after we got there.  So we had to wait a few minutes to let it pass.

The sun returned and so did the humidy and sweat and we worked to put down the decking.  It started to cloud up again, and we decided to call it a day.  We were a few boards short of getting it done.

We came back to the RV and just had our third shower of the day.  It's cooled off outside and we were able to open the windows and enjoy the cool breeze.  I'm not sure if the showers are done for the day, but we are.

We have been praying for the Kingdollar family as they say a final good-bye to Deborah at the Memorial service tonight.

Tomorrow starts our last few days here before we head north to Minnesota.  We are looking forward to seeing my older brother, Bob and his wife, Pam and catching some Walleye.

Blessings,

Kathy