Paul And Louise Return, A Birthday and Continuing To Make Travel Plans

Rantoul, IL.

52 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Sunny, high 78F. Winds light and variable.


Not a whole lot to report, but I thought I'd bring you up to date on what's been happening around here.

Paul and Louise rolled in about 10:00 Saturday night after going down to Florida for Paul's son's funeral services. It was rough for both of them down there, and it seemed like they were glad to be back "home". In fact, Louise said that they drove 12 hours on Saturday because they didn't want to stay another night in a motel.

Linda's eye is recovering nicely from the treatment on Friday. She's really glad that she won't have to go back to an eye doctor until sometime in December. Nothing much happened over the weekend except most of the "kids" called to wish Jim a Happy Birthday. His birthday was on Friday and since Linda's eye was sore and the weather wasn't too nice, he and Linda have decided to go out to have a belated "birthday dinner" sometime this week.

Over the weekend, Jim has been busy working on a trip plan for our return to Florida for the winter. As of now, the plan is to head out to Virginia Beach to see Joe and his family, then to Apex, NC to see Mike and his family, then wander down to Florida, arriving sometime during the middle of November. He still has quite a few details to work out, so no definite dates have been set yet.

That'll come as he refines the plan and he and Linda make decisions on where they'll be stopping along the way.

Jim and Linda would like to thank all of you who commented, e-mailed or called, expressing your thoughts and prayers for Paul and Louise during their trying time this past week. Both of them seem to be doing pretty well, and we're hoping that time will help heal the pain they must be feeling.

Thank You!!!!

Here's a quote I found on the internet;  “The rainbows of life follow the storms.”  author unknown.

Woof!!!

Getting Ready To Travel and A Response To A Comment

Rantoul, IL

63 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.

Forecast = Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High near 80F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.


We're almost ready to leave here tomorrow morning. Jim and Linda have been working on getting everything put in it's proper place for travel and checking everything out. The weather guessers are forecasting rain off and on for today, so yesterday, Jim dumped the tanks, re-organized the basement compartment, re-organized the back of Big RED and stored all unnecessary hoses and outdoor items.

Inside, Linda worked on getting all cabinets, drawers and closets organized for travel and put away all the things that she and Jim have gotten out during our 2 month +  stay here.

The plan is to leave here around 9:30 tomorrow morning, head up to Ashkum, IL to get that tire on Nora replaced and then head up to Utica, IL were there's an RV Park that we'll stay at for the night. Then on Tuesday, we'll head up into Wisconsin and probably stay at a park in the Wisconsin Dells area for a couple nights before heading further North for the reunion on Thursday.

Oh, while I happen to think of it, I received a comment the other day from Dione. She was wanting information on the CG where Nora was parked this last winter. She and her husband  stay in that area at times during the winter and said that she was having problems finding any info on the CG and wasn't sure just where it was. So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  I did some research and even though the CG doesn't have a web site of it's own, I did find this Link to a web site that tells about the Paradise Lakes Travel Trailer Park. It also includes their phone number, directions, a map and the address, so hopefully it'll help.

Paradise lakes is an old park. Many of the RVs are permanent but we found the folks staying in the park very friendly and the prices were about the best in the area for a monthly rate. The roads are sand and not real smooth but this keeps the speed down. The electric was good as were the water and sewer. There's no pool and they don't have a lot of amenities, but they do have holiday meals and potlucks in the pavilion.  It is a gated park and you have to have a code to get in, so there aren't strangers just driving around in the park.

Basically, we like the park and will probably end up there again this winter. Hopefully we'll be able to spend more time "camping" this winter, than we did last winter. Maybe we'll even get to meet Dione and her husband!!  :-)

Did you know that Milk chocolate was invented by Daniel Peter, who sold the concept to his neighbor Henri Nestlé?

Woof!!!

An Answer To A Comment and A Long But Very Good Day

Rantoul, IL.

67 deg. mostly cloudy, NE wind @ 7 mph.
Forecast = Mostly cloudy with scattered storms. Highs around 81°F. Heat index around 85°F. East/ northeast wind to 5 MPH. Chance of precipitation near 30%.

First of all, I'd like to answer a question to a comment I received yesterday.

Selene & Hank asked how long we would be staying here at Prairie Pines CG because they may be coming to this area?  Our plans are to be here until at least the 1st of October to take care of Linda's cataracts and some other personal things. Then, sometime in October, (I don't know just when), we'll head out to the East Coast to see our 2 sons and then head down to FL, getting down there sometime, mid-November.

We'd love to see both of you, so come on by if you can. There'll be plenty of room anytime except the Labor Day weekend and possibly a site aviable even then.

Friday morning, Jim and Linda took Big RED and headed North to Wilmington, IL. The route they took was US 136 from Rantoul to IL-47 West of Fisher. Then they took 47 all the way up to Dwight, IL and then  "Historic Route 66" from Dwight to Wilmington.

It was about 90 miles up there, and it took almost 2 hours.

After the meeting with their Financial Adviser, (which lasted almost 2 hours and was very productive), they went across the street to the Chick A Dee Restaurant for a bite to eat. When they finished, they found out that their Financial Adviser had called and told the restaurant that he was picking up the tab!!!

Nice!!!! :-)  Thank You, Dean!

From Wilmington, they headed to Manteno, IL and to Jim's cousin's house. It's only abut 25 miles over there, but because of a detour and the town of Manteno to go through, it took about 45 minutes to get to Adeline's house.

Adeline was very happy to see Jim and Linda and they had a great visit with her, catching up on her life and that of her 2 adult sons and grand kids.  She hadn't even heard about Linda's medical problems, so they discussed that too.

About 3:30 after many hugs, Jim and Linda left and headed back down here to the CG. They took all 2 lane roads, county roads and US-45, (rather that I-57), so it took them about 1 hour and 45 minutes to travel the 77 miles from Manteno to here at Prairie Pines.

It ended up being a long day, but a very good and rewarding one. As I said, the meeting in Wilmington went very well and Adeline is doing OK, but she is thinking about moving to an "Assisted Living" facility because at 80 years old, she is starting to have trouble taking care of her house. It was good to see her again and hopefully, Jim and Linda will be able to go and visit her again next year.

Not much happened yesterday. Jim went to the County Market Grocery Store here in Rantoul and picked up some much needed groceries. Then, in the afternoon, he took a nap before cooking a part of a ham steak out on the grill while Linda cooked sweet corn-on-the-cob inside. The evening was spent watching British Comedies on TV.

Today, there are plans to go up to Gilman, IL to meet up with Joe and his family for lunch. Gilman is about 1/2 way between here and Momence, IL where they have been since they stopped by here very early  Thursday morning. It'll be just a short visit but at least Linda and Jim will be able to see them again before they head back to Virginia Beach tomorrow. :-)

Did you know that on this date in 1846 - The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress? The "Nation's Attic" was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson.

Woof!!!

OK! I Got The Message!!!

DeBary, FL.

55 deg. overcast, W. wind @ 25 mph.
Forecast = A mix of clouds and sun. High 58F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph.

OK!!! I get the message!!!

I've received a couple e-mails and a comment about Mr. L's name and I guess it's time for me to reconsider. The comment came from Dave, (One of the Illinois Bunch and the one who had the fish fry this past Sunday), and the e-mails were from friends and relatives, all who said that the name just doesn't fit the new truck.

Dave's comment was the most compelling and he was the only one that had a suggestion as to a new name. In case you didn't read the comment, here it is.

"Ok Mr. Blaine I'm going to disagree with you. Let me tell everyone, the pic's that are posted of Jim's new truck do not do it justice. Not that it's much prettier or anything like that but this truck is RED and I mean RED with a capital R-E-D red, not reddish, not red hue, not red tint, but RED! I've seen it up close and personal, it is not red but RED. If you hate red you would hate this truck, if you love red this this truck would give you an orgasm! It is RED! Sorry Mr. Blaine but this truck's name should be Big RED!"

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  after much thought, and a conversation with Mr. L, I have decided to change his name to "Big RED". The name really does "fit" him better and he seems happy with it. In fact when I told him what I had decided to name him, I think I saw a little smile in his grill. ;-)

Yesterday morning, Jim and Linda took Big RED and headed over to DeLand and to a place that Jim found on the Internet called Truck Stuff. They have all kinds of accessories for trucks and if they don't have it in stock, they'll be glad to order it for you and in most cases have it the next day. When they came back, I learned that Jim had bought custom fit splash guards for both the front and rear fenders and a set of 4 window visors for the side windows.

The splash guards will stop the crud from the roads from getting up on the fenders and the window visors will allow Jim and Linda to leave the windows open slightly without the chance of rain entering the cab, both while driving and while stopped.

After Jim and Linda returned, Jim went out and installed the splash guards and window visors. Then, because there was a weather front coming across the state, they headed to Gram's Kitchen for an early dinner.

The front came through about 5:30 and it brought quite a bit of wind and about an inch of rain in just a couple hours. There was some wind damage in the area and a tornado reported in the Western part of the state, but no severe damage reported right here in DeBary.

Tomorrow, Linda has an appointment with the Radiation doctor. They're going to do some tests and exams, (I think I heard MRI at one time), and then I'm pretty sure that her radiation treatments will start next week. I expect today to be kind of hard for Linda as again, there's the unknown. :-(

Did you know that in the middle Ages, people believed that the first unmarried person of the opposite sex you met on the morning of St. Valentine's Day would become your spouse?

Woof!!!!

A Great Dinner and Happy St. Patrick's Day

DeBary, FL.

50 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Today: Partly cloudy with patchy fog. Highs around 77°F. South southwest wind to 9 MPH.
Tonight: Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Lows around 61°F. South southeast wind to 6 MPH. Chance of precipitation near 25%.

Yesterday was spent doing things that were planned for Friday but never happened. Jim and Linda went over to the house where Linda did a couple loads of laundry while Jim headed to ACE Hardware to buy those sale items that he wanted.

When he got back, he found Linda going through desk stuff, sorting papers and filing things away.  She told Jim that the file cabinet wasn't handy where they had it and asked if he thought he could move it to a different location which was under the  far side of the desk. It wasn't hard to do and in a few minutes things were re-arranged for more convenience. ; )

Since the laundry wasn't done yet, Jim went out to the shed, re-arranged some stuff out there, and found a few items that he wanted to bring back here to put in Bobbie T's outside compartments.

For dinner, Jim and Linda headed over to the Clubhouse because they were serving a St. Patrick's dinner. Beverages and a desert were included and you had your choice of corned beef and cabbage or ham and scalloped potatoes, all for the whopping price of $4 per person!!!  Linda had the corned beef and cabbage and Jim had the ham and scalloped potatoes and they both were still talking about how good everything was when they got back here. : )

Don't think there is going to be too much happening here today. Jim would like to watch the NASCAR race on TV. It's in Bristol TN. today, and the races there are usually pretty good.

Oh, I'd like to take this time to thank all of you that have left the very nice comments since I've taken over this blog. I'm so glad you like my posts. : )


Did you know that it is said the St. Patrick Died on March 17th? Hence we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on this date. St. Patrick’s real name was Maewyn Succat and he was born in Scotland (not Ireland!) around 385 A.D.