Wilmington, Ohio

We arrived at Wilmington Thousand Trails Campground  on Thursday. This will be the first chance we have had at staying at Thousand Trails since we joined a few months ago. This park has 124 camp sites, some with 30 amp hookups with water some 30 am, water and sewer. When we arrived here there were 3 sites with sewer available and we are on one of them. The most of the sites are nice and large. There are a lot of trees on most sites so rvs with roof satellite may have trouble finding a site they like. 

 Our site

 One of three fishing lakes. One of the lakes has canoes that anyone can use.

 Tennis/pickle ball court. The court needs a lot of work. It has cracks with grass growing up in it. We are still able to use it for practice at least.

 Hot tub

This is one of the nicest pools we have seen in are travels. It is an enclosed pool and is very large for a rv park. 

We have found this park to be a very nice park. The one thing we don't like is that most of the sites with sewer are taken by monthly or yearly renters. It will be a little hard for travelers like us to get a sewer site. This past weekend, there were a lot kids running around but seemed to be pretty well behaved and not to loud. Things are really quite here today. 

On Friday we took the bike out for a little ride to Roberts Arena. This is a large horse show complex that Jr. and I had shown horses at years ago. They were having a ranch horse competition going on. We watched a little bit of the show  but it  was running so slow we decided to head on.

We headed over to a truck show about 10 miles away. When we got there the show was closed for the day.

Another giant to add to our collection

Saturday we took off on the bike for Cincinnati to visit with daughter Stacy and her partner Ruth Ann. We went out to eat at Longhorn then went for a two 2 mile walk which ended at Graeters Ice Cream shop. We stayed at Stacy's house for the night because we had an appointment for a Segway tour of the Cincinnati river front at 8 am Sunday morning. Stacy and Ruth Ann paid for mine as an early birthday gift. Thank you 2 very much, I loved it.

There are a lot of murals on downtown buildings. I am not a city person but they are really doing a great job of cleaning up the downtown area. 

The first thing we had to do when we got to the Segway store was to get a lesson on how to ride them. Louise looks pretty good on there. TheSegway is very easy to master, 10 minutes of practice and off we went. No one wrecked so I guess they did a pretty good job with the lessons...lol

Stacy and Ruth Ann

There were seven of us including the guide.

Flying pig statue 

Our guide in the green shirt was very knowledgable about Cincinnati history

The ride took us down to the  river front where they have a very nice bike/running path.

Then we headed across the pedestrian bridge that goes over to Newport, Ky.

Stacy and Ruth Ann

The group
The ride was little over 2 hours. We had a great time and learned a little Cincy history.

After the tour we headed to a park. 

The flowers were in bloom 

The views were beautiful.  There were a lot of overlooks. From here we drove down to the area below.  This recreational area includes a dog park and two interconnecting walk/bike paths.  The outer is 5 miles.  We walked the inner 1.9 mile loop (pictured below) before we quit for the day.  Later the girls made a simple but delicious supper from fresh corn and tomatoes we got earlier from the farmers' market. 

 We left Cincy about 7 pm heading back to the campground. The ride back was great. Very little traffic and cool weather. We will see Stacy again tomorrow. Today was rest up day.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

A short stay in Indiana

On Monday the 23rd we left Bloomington, IL and headed to Elkhart, IN. Our plan was to buy a new hide-a-bed for the rv. When we got there and put out the slides, there was a clunk and the living room slide didn't extend all the way on one end. So I called and made an appointment to have the slide looked at when we get to Troy, Ohio. We decide to put the sofa on hold till we find out what it is going to cost to repair the slide. We still went to around to the stores in town and checked out the sofas. We didn't find any we like anyway, so no harm in putting it off. On our way to the rv stores we found a Harley shop to stop at.

 On Wednesday we headed out on the bike for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The weather was mid 70s, a great day for a ride. We passed this smoke stack in Michigan City. This thing is hugh.

We stopped at the first beach access we came to and walked down to the beach. I have no idea what the temperature of the water was but there was no way I was getting in the water. 

We took a few pictures of the beach and then the battery in the camera went dead. We really need check that before we leave on a ride. We didn't get any good pics of the dunes.

After we left the beach, we headed for the visitors center so Louise could her Passport Book stamped. The book has a place to stamp for every National Park, Monument and Wildlife refuse. We try to go to everyone we can so she can get the book stamped. The ranger told us about a lake shore drive. We took that on the way back. The views were really nice and some of the houses along the route were REALLY nice. Sorry, no pics, it's a battery thing. 

Thursday was moving day. We hooked up and headed south to Wilmington Thousand Trails Campground. It was a 260 mile drive that went smoothly. This is our first stay at a Thousand Trails park since we acquired the membership earlier this year.  We will be here for about week visiting with daughter Stacy and Ruth Ann. The appointment to get the slide fixed is on Aug.6 so we may stay here till then . 

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Back in the corn belt

On Monday the 15th we said good-by to our last big hill and headed north on I55  for the flat lands of the American corn belt.  We started our tour in the land of Lincoln, Illinois.  

On the way we just had to stop here

and here.  We didn't actually tour the gift shop which was directly to the right of the candy factory, but we did go in here and get some good dark chocolate bark.

St. Louis skyline

Flat and straight to the McLean Co. fairgrounds, which is about 15 miles from my big brother and his wife.

Big bro Ed, Sis-in law Paula getting a computer lesson from Duane.

 We did our stuff in the mornings and visited in the afternoons and evenings.  

One evening we joined my niece Michelle and her family for supper at a sports bar.  We ate outside while we chatted and watched Michelle's husband Pete play league volleyball.  There were two sand courts next to the patio dining area.

Pete is far left in gray on the back court

The weather was muggy air, hot sun, cool breezes and lovely soft clover grass--all just begging for shorts and bare feet.

Loved this 

Cookout at Michelle and Pete's.  That's Pete on the left, then Duane, Ed, and nephew Brian.  The other two boys live out of state so we didn't get to see them.

Nephew Tommy

Nephew Brian and wife Alice, sisters Heather and Michelle

Mom and daughters

Nieces--Michelle's two and Brian's two, plus Grandma

 One of the things we did on two mornings was tour along and alongside parts of old Rt 66.  The parts that are closed to motor vehicles are part of a hike bike path with occasional benched and picnic areas.  Other parts were too deteriorated for any use. 

One of the sites

We rode past miles and miles of corn fields.  Its not called the corn belt for nothing!

Old railroad depot and old store at Funks's Grove.  The town consisted of these two buildings and about 6 homes.

Atlanta's octagonal library and museum also the 40 foot clock tower which is hand wound every 8 days

The Bunyon Giant (formerly from Cicero, IL and brother to the Gemini Giant) and the Giant Hot Dog and the little Louise

 Giant smiley face

Train mural in Lincoln, IL

Giant Abe on the biggest Conestoga wagon in the world

On Sunday we paid one last visit to Ed and Paula. After a nice chat and pizza we had one last game of Mexican Train dominoes before we had to say good-by.  

We enjoyed our visit with relatives in IL and are now on our way to Ohio for more visits with family and friends.  

Louise and Duane