As expected, we were up early & on our way a few minutes before 6 a.m. Grabbed a tank of gas just up the road from Cracker Barrel. Apparently I had myself a little misplaced Saturday night to where we actually were. Said in my post we were in Gary Indiana but Gary was behind us. We were in a place called Tiny Park which I figure is somewhere between Gary & Chicago. Knew the traffic would be light on a Sunday morning so we breezed right along with no problem. Chicago was somewhere north of us. Wouldn’t want to be in this area on a week day morning or after 3 in the afternoon. Would not be good!!
HEADING WEST ACROSS ILLINOIS THIS MORNING I WATCHED THE MOON GO DOWN & IF YOU LOOK HARD YOU CAN SEE IT TOO
ILLINOIS & IOWA CORN FIELDS
PHEEBS GETS A LITTLE ANXIOUS ABOUT WHAT’S TAKING MOM SO LONG TO GET BREAKFAST THIS MORNING
Nice sunrise behind us lit up countless acres of Illinois cornfields. Could see we were approaching a large cloud bank & before long our sun was gone & it remained cloudy for the rest of the day. No winds, no rain, bonus.
BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
MISSISSIPPI SOUTH & MISSISSIPPI NORTH
Had to put an extra pillow on my driver’s seat because of a tender rear end from kicking myself in the assparagus for leaving my Toshiba laptop power cord at home. Right there beside my recliner!! Without a power cord my laptop was useless because I had drained what was left of the battery Sunday night publishing my post. Kelly figured we might have a chance of buying another power cord at Best Buy or Walmart. Coming into the east end of Des Moines Iowa on I-80 Kelly used her ‘Next Exit’ book to determine there was a Walmart at interchange whatever. There was, but they did not have a power cord. The book showed a ‘Best Buy’ about another 20 miles up the road so up & off I-80 we went. Headed south on something-or-other road but did not see a Best Buy. Spotted an Office Depot so swung in there to have a looky see & maybe they could tell us where Best Buy was. But ‘Bingo,’ Office Supply came through. They had a cord with multiple adaptors & sure enough I’ll be darned if one of them didn’t up & work just fine. My blog was back in the running:)))))))
KELLY UNPACKS MY NEW POWER CORD FROM OFFICE SUPPLY
WHEN PHEEBS GETS BORED WITH ALL THE DRIVING SHE GETS OUT HER FUNKY CHICKEN TO PLAY WITH….photos by Kelly:))
Carrying on half a dozen more exits we decided to call it an early day around 2 p.m. Well Kelly decided anyway. She had determined there was a fair size mall complex with a Lowes & Home Depot. They are good for spending the night in plus we wanted to have a look for some gravity chairs to take to Congress. But we sure got ourselves frazzelated in trying to find the interchange that led to the mall. I don’t do well when I get frasselated!! At one point we were headed for Kansas City & at another point we were headed back the way we had just come. It was somewhere between those 2 stress points I was wishing I was at home stretched out relaxing in my big comfy stress free recliner.
MUST BE ONE OF THOSE CRAZY RV’ERS HEADING WEST
Toughest part of the trip so far has been the !!!%&*# technical stuff. Hasn’t been good reception for our Sirius satellite radio, only thing our CB radio has picked up so far is dust, & our cigarette adaptor Ipod has been a challenge. And then there’s the television. Kelly poured a huge amount of time into trying to get it programmed to receive channels with our aerial. No problem in our previous 2 rigs but with all the cables for the roof satellite dish plus DVD home theater system & three remotes to run everything Kelly had a hard time figuring out the correct confliguration conblomeration. Finally a yellow cable was spotted not plugged in. ‘Walla’ that was it. Happy Campers again:))
<<< WORKING ON SOME SNACKS IN OUR TRAVELING GALLEY
To run our TV we have to have the generator on for the time being. Will be so glad when we are once again solar equipped. Do not like having to run that generator but it only had slightly more than 9 hours on it so guess I shouldn’t complain. We sure have a lot of tweaking to do to get ourselves back to the comfortable state we had in the Damon. But I remember oh to well all the diskaboobalarations we head in getting things figured out & configured correctly in the Damon too. All part of RVing. All part of exchanging our routine little sacks of problems in for different little sacks of routine problems……10-4:))
EVERY TIME KELLY GETS OUT OF HER SEAT IT IS QUICKLY FILLED
And for supper tonight we had the same thing we had the night before at Cracker Barrel. We always manage to salvage enough of our Cracker Barrel endeavors to re-heat & have the next day for breakfast, lunch, or supper.
OUR OVERNIGHTER SPOT IN A HOME DEPOT PARKING LOT
Looks like Iowa’s weather is going to hold together just long enough for us to squeak through to Nebraska. Weather & temperatures will determine where we go from there.
A SLEEPY ENDING TO ANOTHER LONG DAY
GROANER’S CORNER:(( Did you know an Archeologist could be described as a man whose career lies in ruins & an Atheist as a person with no invisible means of support. But, not to worry because middle age is a time in everyone's life when actions creak louder than words.
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
I was thrilled to see a new post. Hooray for the power cord. I did enjoy that pic of a mid west RV. Also happy you had some Cracker Barrel left over, their serving are on the huge size, but good.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering what you're doing in IOWA? That would not be the short route south, would it? We went that way last fall (to Walcott/Davenport) when we purchased our trailer, but it sure was a detour on our way south.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the awful winds will have abated by the time you reach Nebraska. They had me stopped dead in my tracks in South Dakota today. :(
ReplyDeleteAnother great day on the road! Those bumps are a lil' pain but soon forgotten once dealt with, I find. Looking forward to seeing your solar solution, I expect there are great improvements in just a couple of years.
ReplyDeleteKeep up your forward momentum - you'll be in Arizona in no time!
ReplyDeleteSince you've purchased the new RV that front seat had been Pheebs when you went to drive around. I am sure she isn't happy that there is someone else in her spot.
ReplyDeleteTravel safely!
You guys are making record time you will be in Arizona before we even leave!.
ReplyDeleteGreat you got the power cord and enjoy the Cracker barrel, we ate there once 13 years ago, prefer to cook our own meals on the road usually.
I drove through Congress today and grabbed quick looks to each side of 89 as I went though to see if anything looked familiar from reading your blog. I had driven through Prescott and Yarnel to get an idea of what is where. I didn't see any obvious signs of the forest fire. That drive south out of Yarnel is a doozy!
ReplyDeleteOnce you get west it will all be worth it! By the way, I think we had our rig for a few years thinking the TV would only work with the generator or shore power. Discovered that if we turn the inverter on, the TV and a few more plugs work in the rig. I think we just discovered that last year and bought the rig in 2007. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still have to refer to a checklist I have in the rig to remember how to program channels and make sure the sound system is set properly. As previously stated...that is after six years or so. Good luck with all that.
ReplyDeleteAl, your in West Des Moines and about three blocks from the office building I worked in for years and years..
ReplyDeleteWe enjoyed going thru the Santa Fe area before Albuquerque.. Not too sure of Southern Colorado this time of year....
Almost three years in this RV and I still don't know how everything works. Never have opened the awning. Maybe I should read those manuals that came with it.
ReplyDeleteI recognize that forever cornfield scenery from my youth.
You are making good time. Hope the weather allows you to play a little along the way.
ReplyDeleteWe still have never got our tv to work on the antenna, maybe now our shaw doesn't work we will figure it out. You are making good time,you 'll be comfortable in your Congress House
soon, I am anxious to hear how your garden survived.
Hooray for a power cord! Does your radio have one of those little auxiliary plug-ins like you would plug a set of ear plug type head phones into? My Cadillac does, then I bought a little cord at Wal Mart which plugs into the radio and then into the iPod--works wonderfully!! As new as your rig is, I would think it would have that kind of plug-in.
ReplyDeleteYes, it isn't IF something will go wrong, it's WHEN...The beauty of this RVing thing is that you have no rush to be anywhere..Just keep on keepin' on and sooner or later, there'll you be!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you on your way again Kelly and Al.
ReplyDeleteCaron and I are jealous, jealous, jealous.
We are stuck here waiting for a last minute Drs. appts, and with snow in the forecast, we ain't too happy about it. But we will be heading south by the 30th.
Meanwhile we'll bask in your adventure. Keep on truckin'
Al, I believe you spent Saturday night in Tinley Park, IL. It's on I 80, south of Chicago.
ReplyDelete