Back in Michigan and Going Back in Time

We are Back in Michigan!

We went by this sign around 2:50 PM on Wednesday.

Going back in time to explain how we traveled from a rest area just west of Lebanon, MO. to here.

Thursday, April 14, 2022

This rest area was our planned stop for Wednesday, April 13th, then when the predicted weather for here and ahead turned bad it became our home for another night. On the road this morning under blue skies but with some wind. 

Upper left travel trailer stayed two nights, also.

We are headed east.
Lebanon has a lovely water tower with a bee on it.
Unfortunately, a spot on our windshield is covering it. 

Patsy, Chillin' with Patsy, takes pictures of special water towers
I think she has got me hooked...😉

There he is again! 
We have stopped for diesel and there in front of us is the Hurricane
truck. He has passed us everyday this past week.
Maybe there is more then one...😃

Bourbon, MO could not pass this water tower without a picture.

Passing by St. Clair, MO
Just off of I-44, behind the Von Weise Gear Company and the
St. Clair Die Cast Factory, are two water towers.
One has "HOT" painted in red letters,
and the other has "COLD" in blue lettering.

Eastern Red Bud and White Fringetree

I see a face. Do you? 
Hint: center of picture.

The Gateway Arch in the distance.

One last picture.

Then we went across the Mississippi and are 
officially back in the East.

We have left I-44 and are now on I-70.

We are definitely in the Midwest.

The cross was in Illinois and the flag was in Missouri somehow
they just seemed to go together. I did not see the semi with the
flag on it's trailer until I was going through the pictures.
What a nice surprise.

We ended today's ride in Effingham, IL at the Walmart in the truck parking area. I had called ahead and was told as long as it was for one night we could park there. The sign said different when Tom checked they said two hours. So I called the Flying J just down the road where we had dumped and topped off the diesel and she said no problem. So that is were we spent a quiet night on the opposite side of where the semi's park.

Friday, April 15, 2022

Leaving the Flying J in Effingham, IL we continue our trek East.

I was waiting for the Indiana Welcome sign; had already taken
the Welcome Center sign because by this point I though I had
missed it. Then there it was and by the time I focused what 
I got is in the upper right. 

Dogwoods in Indiana

Bottom left a perfect patch of green surrounding the home.

The one constant as we travel this country are these wonderful trucks delivering what we all need to survive. Today, I decided to take some pictures of some of them doing just that.

Second from the right on the bottom, there is the Hurricane
guy going West. I guessed we would not see him anymore 
and we did not..😞.

It is amazing just how many trucks there are moving goods of all kinds in this country. I also spotted Canadian ones and trucks that mentioned Mexico.  We are grateful for each and everyone of the drivers that drive these trucks to keep us supplied. Thank You!

After going around Indianapolis our route continued north on US-31. We ended our night in a parking lot of what used to be a Kmart in Plymouth, Indiana.

Saturday, April 16, 2022 

Today's ride would be a short one only about 20 miles to the Pla-Mor Campground in Bremen, IN. Today is their opening day of the season and we will spend Easter Weekend here.

We are now on US-6 heading East.

Somedays as the saying goes, are just like that. Today was not one of our best. We started by going down the wrong road for our site. Then the only way to turn back was to go through another site.  As you can see in the pictures below, making the turn out of that site to the road the back tires of the Stinger "B" ended up in soft grass and sunk into the mud. What is not in the picture is the Jeep still attached to the motorhome at a 90 degree angle. There was no way to back up or straighten the Jeep. Yes, it was a "fun" time for Tom but he managed to get the Jeep unhooked using a vice grip, then a hammer and screw driver, plus the help of  the owner of the campground. After that was accomplished the owner was able to tow the Stinger "B" back on solid ground and that is were we stayed for our two nights...lol. All is well that ends well as the saying goes. Plus, amazingly our locking bolts still worked after this "fun".  

Tom talking with the gentleman from
the motorhome a couple sites down from us. 

Middle picture the Stinger "B" is back on solid ground.
The owner filling in the mess we made.

After this I went and picked up a few groceries and lunch, while I was shopping I questioned why I was so hungry. It then dawned on me we had planned on eating when we got to the campground and it was now 3 o'clock and that had not happened. While I did this Tom got us set up for our stay. Just a small bump in the road and meeting people willing to help for just a thank you.

Easter Sunday,  April 17, 2022

Today started for us with Mass at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Bremen, Indiana.

Top picture: the altar is all decorated for Easter.
Bottom left: the Paschal Candle a new one is lit every year
at the Easter Vigil and then used during the Easter Season.
It is then used throughout the year for special occasions
such as baptisms and funeral.
Bottom right:  what is right of the altar.
Bottom middle: sign in front of church.

Bottom picture is the Historic Bremen Depot.

Where we decided to go for an Easter Buffet. They do not take
reservations. All I will say is they should. We waited two hours,
after a certain amount of time it does not make sense to leave.
In the end the the food was okay but not in anyway worth
the wait. Plus, they could not keep up suppling the buffet.  

The upper left is the restaurant. It looks like they have a couple
of shops and buildings to tour. Nothing was open today.
Plus, they do put on plays here.

After the buffet we took a short ride around Nappanee.

These out door sculptures are called "Love is in the Air".

They are done by various artist and can be found at the 
corner of Main Street and Market Street.

Other art displays we saw today.
I just really liked the sign for their parking areas.

Our home for Easter Weekend.
If we would have taken the right road,
top picture, would have been our view.
This campground is mostly seasonal and they do have a pool.

Monday, April 18, 2022

This is what we opened the curtains to this lovely Monday morning. Nothing funny about this at all. Now granted we only had to go about 6 miles down the road to Wood Design RV Interiors, they will be installing new valances in our front living area tomorrow, and yes it did melt still not funny. 

I am going to end here for now. Enough pictures for one blog. I will finish our ride to Michigan in the next blog. 

Still feeling blessed to be Living our Retirement Dream.

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Green River to Draper Plus Two More Days

Thursday, October 24, 2019

After spending four nights in Green River, visiting two National Parks, and taking a ride up Sego Canyon it was time to move down the road.

We merged on to I-70 , drove over the Green River once again
and caught a last glance of  Monument Hill. 

After just a couple of miles we left I-70 and turned onto
US-6 West and US-191 North. 

The following pictures are of the drive to Draper, Utah. Just before Provo we merged onto I-15. I am pretty sure they are all in the right order. For most of the ride we were on two lanes but with passing lanes no more than 5 miles apart it is a pleasant drive. Even those vehicles stuck behind us never had to wait long to pass us by.

There were a lot of ups and downs today but nothing
really steep. Though a few times the Stinger "B"
picked up some pretty good speed going downhill.

For several miles I was looking down at this river
flowing next to the road.

Watching someone's home go by in the
opposite direction.

We had several peeks of this snow covered peak

then there it was right in front of us.

We have found the traffic.

Chick-fil-A has the cutest billboards.
We have seen several Amazon semis this the first time we
have seen their vans.

The picture below is the RV Park we were headed for, Mountain Shadows RV and Mobile Home Park. Neither one of us remembers seeing the Mobile Home Park when we were looking for a place to stay. This is mostly long term residents. When Tom called the gentleman he talked to said, they were full but he did have some overflow parking with water and electricity. We talked about it and decided this would work just fine. This was not a destination park for us it was a stopover to re-stock the fridge and do some other shopping. What he did not mention was this overflow parking is on the road coming into the park. They do put out safety cones, as you can see in the picture, and we even have a cute little guy telling drivers to go slow. We are not alone; there is another motorhome parked with us and they have all their slides out. We opted not to push our living room further into the road. We are next to the dog walking area so as George, Our Awesome Travels, would say we are getting our doggy fix. Plus, we are poolside unfortunately it is closed for the season. Not to mention we have a mountain view out our front window. The best part we are right across from the office and the WiFi is wonderful. All and all not a bad parking space.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Today we went shopping. Before we left I took a couple more pictures of our parking space. The top picture is the dog area they even have a waterfall. Below the pool area and then a closeup of our traffic guy.

This picture is for our daughter who sells Younique.
This is their corporate offices and  distribution center.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Saturday we stayed pretty close to home most of the day. We went to 5 o'clock mass and did a little shopping before and after. We went out to eat at a restaurant called Cultivate a small restaurant that our server told us had just opened this week. In the same building is a restaurant, Cliff Dining Pub, owned by the same people which was our destination. As we were walking by towards the other restaurant looking in we decided to turn around and go in here instead. We shared three menu items and all three were delicious.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

This is their Baptismal Font.
The two stained glass windows beautifully depict
St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.

Top picture the sky as we walked out of Mass.
Bottom picture was the sky from the parking lot
when we came out of TJ Maxx.

We enjoyed our time here in Draper. This RV Park is within 5 miles of everything we needed. We were able to re-stock our refrigerator, plus, pick up a few other things on my shopping list. Checking the weather before we went to bed last night we could see there was a possibility of  snow this morning. Our goal today is to get past Salt Lake City and merge onto I-80 heading west. It is still early and we can see the traffic moving on I-15. Fingers crossed by the time we are ready to leave the snow will have stopped coming down.

Looking out our door this morning.

P.S. It really has not been that bad being parked on the street.

Every morning Tom makes the coffee. It is so nice to
start the day being handed a hot mug of coffee.
May the start of all your days be just as nice.

We are glad you stopped by for a visit.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.