Lincoln NE - Visiting Chuck & Carol

Sunday-Wednesday ( Oct 18-21):

We spent three days visiting with our friends, Chuck and Carol Leininger, in Lincoln. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and got The Duchess hooked up to 20 amp electric and water from Chuck's garage/workshop. Connie had worked with Chuck during the construction of the Provident Crossing Senior Living Center in Round Rock Texas in 2011 and we have remained friends since then. Chuck has been very generous with us: allowing us to stay in his house in Missouri and use his time share condo in Branson over the last few years. Chuck is the general manager of the construction company (Cameron General Contractors) that builds these Senior Living Centers around the country for RLC. Connie's mom & dad lived in one of the facilities, Lakeline Oaks, located in Cedar Park for several years after they had sold their home.

With only 20 amp service we had to be careful which electrical appliances were turned on at the same time (at the last few locations we have not had full hookups so we have been dealing with limited services within The Duchess). We were also lucky that the temperatures were mild. On Sunday afternoon we visited with Chuck and Carole before going out to eat that evening. Chuck is recovering from surgery having a growth removed from his pituitary gland while Carol is recovering from having a knee replacement.  After dinner, they took us on a tour of Lincoln: We saw downtown Lincoln, the state capitol and the University of Nebraska (very pretty campus).

On Monday we took it easy and stayed around the motorhome after taking a short visit to Chuck's office. At his office we got a chance to say hello to Tim & Georgia who we had met during the construction project in Round Rock. We had been traveling several days in a row, so it was nice to be able to have a relaxing day. We spent the afternoon setting out beside the motorhome in the sun reading and basking in the Nebraska sun.

On Tuesday we visited several locations around Lincoln. Our first stop was the Sunken Gardens. We didn't know if any of the flowers would still be in bloom and were pleasantly surprised at the colors we saw. The Sunken Garden was started as a depression era project in 1930 and have been added to over the years. Here are a few pictures from the gardens:

 From the Gardens, we drove down to the Nebraska State Capitol building. We arrived inside the building just as a tour was starting. The building is beautiful inside and out. The most amazing thing about the building is that there are no pictures/photos of current politicians anywhere on display. Also the building is completely open to the public: no scanner or security checkpoints to pass through. The artwork inside the capitol is beautiful along with the materials/workmanship used in the construction. This is the third capitol building built on this site: the first two were made of Nebraska limestone and didn't last. The third one is made out of Indiana limestone and should last for several hundred years.

Nebraska State Capitol building

These tiles were laid by Italian craftmen.

Here are a few photos from our tour:

Doors to "Old Senate"

Our tour guide: he was excellent & very
knowledgeable

Supreme Court

Ceiling in the Supreme Court

Notice how small the elevator door is.

The Nebraska capitol is unusual in that it houses all three branches of government: legislature, governor and Supreme/Appeal Courts.

From downtown we traveled to Pioneer Park. We walked around the park for a few minutes and also visited the Nature Center inside the park. At the Nature Center there were several bison along with elk.

The park was originally called Antelope Park.

Columns brought from Washington DC to Lincoln

I've fallen & can't get up.

Bison bench @ Nature Center.

That evening we went out to eat with Chuck and one of his daughters, Jordan (Carol had a friend come into town for a visit). It was a great few days in Lincoln and we got caught up with Chuck & Carol's life over the last couple of years. We forgot to get a photo of Carol but remembered to get one of Chuck before we left. We are grateful to have friends like them and hope their recoveries continue from their surgeries.

Chuck in his shop. He gave us a couple of Honey Bears.

Traveling across Midwest - Illinois & Iowa

Wednesday to Sunday (Oct 14-18):

We continued our travels across the Midwest through the states of Illinois and Iowa. Lots and Lots of farmland in these two states. Some of the crops have already been harvested but there is still a lot of crops left in the fields.

On Wednesday night we stopped for the night at the Galesburg East Campground near Galesburg, Illinois. We only spent one night in the campground so we did not have time to visit Galesburg. Galesburg is the home town of Carl Sandburg, the poet and biographer of Abraham Lincoln. The campground had a nice walking trail that started at the campground and wound through some woods and prairie land nearby.

Our site in the Galesburg East Campground.

We left the next morning headed towards Des Moines, Iowa. We stopped for diesel along the interstate and our credit card was denied. When Connie called Citibank about the card, they told her that there was a "fraud alert" on the card and they were going to cancel it. We later found out that the "fraud alert" was the attempt by us to purchase fuel rather than an actual "fraud attempt". So Citibank is issuing us a new card that we are having sent to Nebraska so that we can pick it up next week when we are there. Very frustrating day for Connie since she was the one on the phone for a long time with Citibank.

We stopped at a rest stop in Iowa to have lunch and walk around a bit. The rest stops in Iowa are some of the nicest we have run across in our travels.

Artwork in an Iowa rest stop on I-80.

As we entered Des Moines we stopped by a state park that was near town to see if there were any drive-up sites available (there were not). So we ended up driving to the Cherry Glen Campground which is a COE facility located on Lake Saylorville a few miles from town.

Nice site with a view of the lake.

We are spending three nights here at the campground. On Friday we took it easy since we had been doing a lot of driving earlier in the week.

The boat launch near the campground has a life jacket loaner program.

Mike reading information about the lake.

On Saturday we took the Jeep into Des Moines to do some shopping (COSTCO and Trader Joe's). In the afternoon we took a 1.5 hour hike along one of the trails near the campground. It was a nice paved hiking/biking trail that winds through some prairie land near the lake.

Signs along the trail. You can get information on your cellphone
about the area.

Connie with Lake Saylorville behind her.

This campground is closing on Sunday, so we will pack up early and head out towards Lincoln, Nebraska today to visit our friends there.

Traveling across the Midwest - Michigan & Indiana

Monday-Tuesday (Oct 12-13):

On Monday morning we packed up The Duchess and headed south from Lake Leelanau. As we drove along the highways for the first couple of hours we were able to see lots of colors in the trees: reds, oranges, yellows and combinations of the three. It was beautiful to see out the large windows in the motorhome as we drove along. We took this picture at a rest area in northern Michigan.

After driving about 225 miles (which is a long day for us), Connie called and found us a spot for the night in the Klines Resort near Three Rivers, Michigan. This is a 55+ community with about 200 lots. Most of the lots have park models or manufactured housing on them, but they have a few sites for RV's with full hook-ups. The resort is located on a small lake and the housing is well maintained. We set up The Duchess for our one night stay, walked around the area and then settled in for the night.

Duchess under the colorful tree.

Resort green space on lake.

Connie enjoying a moment on the Klines Resort bench.

Clubhouse at Klines Resort.

The next morning we left early to continue south into Indiana. The weather has turned much cooler and we are wanting to get someplace warmer. The further south we traveled the leaves are not as colorful. As we drove along Highway 15 in Indiana we came across an 18 wheeler that had just overturned at a sharp turn in the road. Other truckers had stopped and were handling the situation so we continued on down the road.

We saw EMS & Highway Patrol heading to the crash. The sign said it
was a 15 mph curve.

We stopped at the Walmart in Warsaw, Indiana to buy some groceries for the next few days as we passed through the city. Connie called and found us a spot for the night at a county park (France Park) near Logansport, Indiana. We only traveled 130 miles today so we were able to do some hiking at the park once we got set up for the night. This park has two small lakes, a wetlands area with birding and 7 miles of hiking/biking trails. The big down side to the park is that the water is terrible (they are suppose to put in a new treatment system this winter), so we used our on board fresh water instead of hooking up to the park's tap.

Nice open site in the middle of the camping area.

Creek that runs through the park.

Originally a quarry. In 1943 they hit a spring and the quarry filled up overnight.
There is still equipment at the bottom on the lake.

Connie at the top of a small waterfall.

Mike at the bottom of the waterfall.

The park hosts Halloween activities during the last two weekend of October. They had just finished setting up some of the areas where you can take hayrides in the evening during these activities.

Connie and one of the "locals"

The Mad Scientist.

Mike trying to get warm.

Connie helping out.

After finishing our hiking, we took the Jeep into Logansport to see the town. The town is much larger than we expected and there are a number of large nice houses in the town. We made a quick stop at the local Walmart to pick up a couple of items and then stopped in at Taco Bell for dinner. Tomorrow morning we will continue our trip west through Illinois and Iowa.

RV-Dreams Fall Educational Rally

Sunday (Oct 4) to Sunday (Oct 11):

On Sunday we took it easy after our trip to Mackinac Island. We watched football games and did some laundry.

Monday we decided to "climb the bear". The bear is the nickname given to the sand dunes located in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore which is located about 30 minutes away from our campground.

Our first stop was the Visitor Center located in Empire, Michigan. We used Connie's America the Beautiful Senior Pass to get into the park (waiving the $10 per vehicle fee). There was a 15 minute video that explained the history of this area. The name Sleeping Bear comes from a Native American story of a mother bear that was swimming across Lake Michigan with two cubs. The mother bear swam ahead and fell asleep while waiting on the shore for her two cubs. They did not make it and in her sorrow she turned into the dunes and the two cubs turned into the two islands (North Manitou and South Manitou) that are a few miles away from the dunes in Lake Michigan. The real story is that the dunes and islands are a result of glaciers from thousands of years ago, but the "bear" story is what everyone remembers.

Vistor Center

We picked up a couple of maps that would help us navigate our way around the Lakeshore. We also reviewed Howard & Linda Payne's trip from last week to get some tips about the park. We started a the south end of the park where the Platte River flows into Lake Michigan.

Platte River flowing into Lake Michigan

We walked along the shore of Lake Michigan and viewed the dunes you can see in the distance. From there we traveled a short distance north to the Empire Bluff Overlook. We hiked up the trail to the overlook.

Half-way along the trail.

Boardwalk along the upper part of the trail.

Connie enjoying the view of Lake Michigan.

"Steps" on the trail.

We then made our way to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. This a large deposit of sand that is between Lake Michigan & a smaller inland lake. We looked at the height of dunes, took our shoes off and headed off to "climb the bear".

Doing a couple of poses to warm up for the climb.

Up to the top.

We made it to the top.

Coming down. Looks like Connie is skiing.

After climbing the bear, we continued our trip north to the "Historic" town of Glen Haven, Michigan. This abandoned town was at one time home to a cannery, lumberyard and shipping port. Today is vacant but has been restored by the park service.

Boarding house in Glen Haven.

General Store in Glen Haven.

Old Gas Pump in front of General Store.

There was a small boat museum located in Glen Haven that we took a tour of. The museum housed a number of the boats used by the Coast Guard on Lake Michigan to rescue people from boats and ships in trouble or going under on the lake.

Rescue boats.

From there we proceeded to the Maritime Museum to see what was located there. There were a few more rescue boats and a "bunkhouse" where members of the Coast Guard were housed when they were on duty. There was a replica of a pilot house inside the museum that we had some fun with.

Mike at the wheel.

Connie takes the wheel.

Tracks used to pull boats into the repair shop.

Our last stop was to one more overlook, Pyramid Point. Connie decided to pass on the trail and take it easy while I took the trip up the trail. It was about a mile straight up a hill to the point and it had already been a long day for us. I made the walk to the top of the point, visited with a couple from Michigan about the RV full time life for a few minutes, took a couple of photos and then hiked back down to Connie and the Jeep.

Strait between Pyramid Point & Manitou Island.

View of Lake Michigan.

On Tuesday we started the RV-Dreams Fall Educational Rally here at the campground. Connie and I both helped with the check-in process for the attendees on Tuesday afternoon. Everyone at the Rally got together for a catered meal on Tuesday night and then started our educational classes on Wednesday

On classes continued until Saturday with a break on Friday afternoon. Connie and I joined another couple (Dave & Cindy) Friday afternoon on a visit to three of the local wineries (there are about a dozen located in this area of Michigan). We did tastings at each of the wineries but did not find anything that we liked enough to buy. Friday evening we joined a number of the Rally attendees at a camp fire and shared "stories". Saturday afternoon 14 of the attendees opened up their RV's for everyone to tour and ask questions about. Connie and I opened up The Duchess and everyone was impressed that she looked so good for being 7 years old. Saturday there was nice dinner for everyone and we had a "good-bye" breakfast on Sunday morning.

Aurora Winery.

Friday night campfire. Can you find us?

Playing RV Family Feud on Saturday night.

Sunday after breakfast we came back to the RV's to start the process of getting ready to leave tomorrow. We heard from Austin that a good friend of our, Frank Mays, had passed away yesterday. Frank had been diagnosed with cancer and was in a lot of pain the last few months. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Connie, Frank's wife, in this time of loss. It makes us appreciate the health we have that allows us to live this lifestyle.

Sunday morning sunrise at Lake Leelanau.