Indian Trails Resort, Colona IL 8/27/2012 - 9/3/2012

 We have found the state of Illinois to be another very green state, but not as "trimmed" as Wisconsin and Minnesota were.  They still grow a lot of corn and soy beans, and there are more trees and rolling hills.  We are having a hard time with the humidity in some of these areas.  Even our sheets feel damp as we get in them at night.  I had a hard time getting my printer to print on the "damp" paper.  Hopefully, as we travel further and into the fall and winter, the humidity will get better!

 

 Indian Trails Resort is one of our ROD parks.  It is a little run down, but still a pretty nice park.

 There is a really nice clubhouse.  The bottom floor has a little cafe in it that they opened on the weekends, an arcade room, and a really nice indoor/outdoor pool and hot tub.  The middle floor is very nice.  There is a full kitchen and a large open room they rent out for weddings and things.  There was a wedding the weekend we were there.  The very top loft was "for adults only" and was locked the whole time we were there.

 The pool is really nice, but the weather was so hot and humid that it made the pool even more so.  We didn't use it while we stayed there, but it was sure full of kids over Labor Day weekend.

There is a little horseshoe-shaped lake that is mostly moss-covered. There were some nice sites around it and there were ducks and frogs in it.  I saw one boy with a frog about 12 inches long.  Glad he didn't get too close!  I admired his frog from about 10 feet away.

We got a nice, roomy spot--right on a corner.  When we got there, the park seemed pretty full, but not very many people were there.  We found out that the members could come and stay for three weeks, leave for a week (or buy out the week and stay) and then come back for another three weeks.  That way, they could stay all summer.  A lot of them lived quite close and would only come on weekends.  A couple we met lives only 40 miles away, so they come during the week and then leave for the weekends when it is more busy!

 

There were many, many golf carts in the park and that was the entertainment for everyone--riding their golf cards all around the park, morning, noon & night.

 

I was talking to the Ranger and she told me that the American Pickers (a TV show that Terry loves) have their original shop, and the one they always show on TV, just across the Mississippi in LaClaire, Iowa, about 15 miles away.  So, I surprised Terry and we went there, without him knowing where we were going.  I just knew we would walk in the door and find Frank, Mike, and Danielle standing there--it didn't happen.  Danielle has her own store where she sells homemade jewelry, clothing, and other craft things.  She wasn't there either, but they said she may be "here this afternoon."

 

Terry is standing at the Pickers shop--Antique Archaeology--next to Danielle's little car and Mikes VW.

Inside their store we saw a lot of things that we have seen Mike and Frank buy on their show on TV--the Abbot and Costello heads and old  bikes and motorcycles.

 

 This was just a little truck they had displayed, with their pictures in it.

Mike and Frank have a book to teach people how to be a "picker."  I thought Terry would want to buy it because he is a "wannabe picker," but he didn't get it.

These were some rare toy police cars that they bought on a recent show.

Everyone who watches American Pickers will recognise this old car out in front of their store.

When we asked when Frank and Mike were expected, they said, "Oh, possibly this afternoon."  That seemed to be a common phrase.  We waited around for a while, but they never showed up.  It sure would have been fun to have seen them in person.  Mike actually lives in LaClair and Frank lives the town next to it, so I guess they really are there sometimes.

LeClaire is right on the Mississippi River, so we walked down and hung out for a while (waiting for Frank and Mike to show up.)  I sat on a dock with my feet in the water, day dreaming of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn on their raft floating down the "Ole Mississippi."

We hung out long enough to see a tugboat pushing a barge down the river.

There was a nice bike trail along the Hennepin Canal just a couple of miles from our campground.  The canal was made in the late 1800's to be used as an alternate route for barges to travel from Illinois River to the Mississippi River, which saved over 400 miles of river travel.  But, by the time it was finished, the locks on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers were widened twenty and forty times wider than the canal locks, so it made the canal pretty obsolete.  It was used for a time for recreational travel.  It was made with some first-time construction techniques that were later used in making the Panama Canal.  This is one of the locks used to get the boats and barges over roads and other bodies of water.

There were lots of turtles along the canal.  Terry found one that he rescued from getting chewed up by a big lawn mower.  He wouldn't venture out of his shell.  We thought about taking him home with us, but all of these turtles live in the water and we didn't think he would be too happy living in an RV!

Here is a whole family lined up along a log.

In some places, the slow-moving canal was filled with lillypads.

The flowers on them were a lot different than the ones in Idaho.

One day we went into Molina and saw the John Deere Commons and Pavilion.  This is the area where John Deere's first plow factory was located.  It was amazing to see the some of the first tractors built and then see the machinery they have today.

This machine actually "walks" in the woods, cuts down trees, limbs them, sizes them, and loads them onto the logging trucks!  It has sensors that senses the terrain and distance as it "walks."  It almost looks alive!  This is what my Dad and Terry needed when they were logging back in 1971! 

This is one of John Deere's first tractors.

This little "tractor" is run with a kind of remote control system, but neither of us remember what it does exactly--it was just pretty cool!

That same day we went to a local casino for a "buy-one-get-one-free" buffet.  There was a sky walk to get over to an indoor parking lot.  Terry (being a little scared of heights) even went up in it and walked out onto the over-hang--for about 5 seconds!  It was a little spooky standing out there.

I stayed to take a few pictures, but Terry said, "I will meet you at the car!"  This picture is taken, zoomed in, from the sky walk.

This is a really unique dam, in that it has big "rollers" that have to be manually opened and closed to adjust the water level.  It has a big lock on one side to let the boats through.

I really liked this picture of a touring paddle boat going down the Mississippi!

Chicago IL 8/24/2012 - 8/27/12

 We didn't know for sure if we wanted to take the Journey down toward Chicago and stay at our nephew's house or not.  But after looking at the map, we decided to go for it.  We plugged in the GPS to avoid all toll roads and took off!

 

The GPS took us right there.  Mike and Aimee have a really cute home.  It sits on a corner and they have a double lot.  Aimee grows lots of flowers and they have some fun grow-box gardens. 

 

We fit just right in their driveway and our door opened up onto their nice lawn.  It was just perfect!  We had them over for dinner the first night and Mike cooked us German pancakes the next morning.  They were great!  The only thing bad was that I didn't think about taking a picture of them.  He will have to make them again, take a picture, and send it to me! 

After breakfast, we hopped on the train and headed for downtown Chicago.  They live about 40 miles from there.  It was great riding the train and not having to worry about traffic.  You feel like you are walking in a tunnel downtown because of all of the tall buildings.  This picture even has the tracks for the El train, so it looks even more enclosed. 

All of the skyscrapers were amazing.  I can't remember the names of all of them, but Mike and Aimee were great tour guides.

 

This is the front of the Sears Tower (it actually has a different name, but everyone knows it by the Sears Tower).  It used to have the claim to fame as being the tallest building in the US, but I am not sure it still does.  It has a really fast elevator that takes you up over a hundred floors to almost the top of the building (it takes over a minute to get to the top) where they have clear enclosures you can walk out onto and take pictures.  Mike and Aimee have been up there before, and Terry was not about to go (the big scardy-cat), so we didn't go up

 

I am thinking that this was in front of the World Trade Building, but I am not sure.  The statues are cool, anyway.  Mike, Aimee, and Terry are standing in front.

The Chicago River runs right down through downtown Chicago.  They have river tours, which, this picture is one, and they have river taxies.  Some of the apartment buildings right on the River actually have boat garages under them for people to park their private boats in.  The Chicago  River eventually runs into Lake Michigan 

There are a lot of people who ride bikes in downtown Chicago (I wouldn't ever be one of them!) and they chain them up to the bike racks.  This individual only put the chain through the frame of the bike.  Apparently, it is smarter to put the chain through the tires, also.  As I was taking this picture, a man passing by said, "Hey, don't take a picture of that--this is Chicago!"  I am not sure what he meant by that, but it was pretty funny.

Only people living in Chicago can appreciate this kind of art--just big pieces of metal put together.  We Idahoans just don't get it!  Mike and Aimee are walking by it.

These Segway tours seem to be popular in the area.  I don't think I would do it, though, because apparently, it you break it, you pay for it.  Anyway, I heard that my Brother Mike and his wife Janet found that out when they tried it!  There are quite a few people who ride their own Segways around.  It does look like a fun way to get around the streets of Chicago.

We were down by Lake Michigan and this was a skyscape of Chicago.  I just couldn't quit taking pictures of all of the tall buildings!

They do have very different art in Chicago.  I cant' remember the real name of this fascinating structure, but it is called the "Bean" by most everyone, mostly because it looks like a big jelly bean.  If you look hard in this reflection, you can see us taking a picture of ourselves, with Mike and Aimee on the right of us.

 

 On this side of the Bean you can walk underneath of it and the reflection shows the whole skyscape of Chicago.  It was fascinating!  Terry is on the right, pointing, and Mike is a little on his left, looking down at his camera.

When you go underneath, it shows your reflection.  What a fun sculpture! 

 

 

 This picture is looking up one of the streets from the area where the Bean is--more tall buildings!

 

I am thinking this was one of the newspaper buildings, but anyway, they had special cement bricks all over it--some for other states and some for other countries.  Terry and I are standing in front of the one for "Craters of the Moon--Idaho."

We walked down to the Navy Pier (which has nothing to do with the Navy, except they have a USO building on it where active and retired military people can go into and rest and get drinks and snacks--for free.)  The Navy Pier is in the location where the Worlds Fair was held years ago and now is made into a fun place where there are a few carnival rides, souvenir shops, places to eat, and live entertainment going on.  It is a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan.  Terry couldn't believe he found a place that sold real Bubba Gump shrimp!  (He loves the Forrest Gump movie!)

 

This is one of the Chicago River boat taxis.

Our feet were pretty tired of walking around for about four hours, so we were very glad to take a boat taxi back to catch the train home!  I am sure that Mike and Aimee were not as tired as we were, but they were good sports and came along with us!

Some more pictures of the tall buildings along the River route.  This building in front is one of the older buildings in Chicago and is called the Clock Tower.  Aimee said the clock didn't work for a long time until enough people complained and they finally fixed it.

This is a more modern building along the riverfront.  The bottom 12 or so floors is parking and the apartments are above it.  There are thousands of people who live in apartments in downtown Chicago.  I couldn't imagine it!

 

On Sunday, after Terry and I got home from Church, it started raining.  Mike and Aimee had planned a great lunch of BLTs, and grilled vegetables from their garden.  Aimee is trying to keep herself and the barbecue dry while she is grilling the veggies!

Mike is pretty handy in the kitchen, cooking up the bacon.  It was a great meal!

This is Lucy.  Aimee has had her since she was a puppy, almost 11 years ago.  She gets a little upset during rainstorms. 

Mike is into woodworking.  He has made some really fun things.  He made this trivet for us with our names on it.  We really like it.  In fact, Terry was so impressed with the things Mike has done that he is considering getting a scroll saw and starting a "woody hobby!"

 

We had such a great time with Mike and Aimee.  Aimee shared some of her projects with me.  She knits and crochets--makes hats, socks, bags, blankets, and lots of other things--quilts, bakes, gardens, and they both bicycle a lot.  So, we had lots of things to visit, talk about and share.  Thanks, again, Mike and Aimee, for a fun weekend!