The best store, ever!

 An aside... Menards

From Ohio on we have seen lots of TV commercials for a store called Menards. Larry joked: "The only store I know where someone can find both two-by-fours and hemorrhoid cream!"

Not a joke at all... We finally went to a Menards in Spencer, IL, and it had the above two items and much, much more. I like to think that Home Depot married Publix and they gave birth to Walgreens and Target and Rooms to Go. Go ahead, name an item; you'll find it at Menards.  As one of the clerks told us, "If we don't have it, you don't need it!' This is the only store I know of where a married couple can shop happily in the same space for hours. And I say that as a wife who has trailed around after her husband for hours as he tried to find just the right drill, board, screw, adhesive blah, blah, blah. We did indeed spend a couple of hours there and left satisfied shoppers.

And then Illinois

And then Illinois

On August 13th we once again got an early start and headed west. The first third of the trip was interstate travel that bypassed South Bend, Gary and Joliet before taking us across the heartland once again. We arrived in the late afternoon to a campground set, once again, in the middle of cornfields. I never did see the lakes of Sunset Lakes Campground and Resort but there was a nice pond and the

Acre upon acre of cornfields

campground backed up to Rock River. Meanwhile the site we were assigned had been taken over by a large family which, in addition to their fifth wheel, had a tent and a half dozen bicycles. They started moving things, but as there was another, perhaps more desirable spot nearby, we opted to ask for a change and the office agreed. We got settled...we're getting better, or at least faster... and we were soon enjoying a sundowner and deciding what to have for dinner.

I'd like to say a grateful thank you at this point; we have been blessed with near perfect weather so far and the sundowners have all taken place outside under pink and red and golden skies.

And the other side of the coin, I have suffered badly from insect bites...mosquitoes, gnats and heaven only knows what else. I dislike using products with large percentages of DEET for many reasons, not the least of which is that they cause asthma flare ups. I've tried using "natural" insect repellants of all kinds with little success and the result is I am covered with bites and have spent several miserable days and nights either scratching or trying not to scratch; pharmacy and home remedies have failed to quell the itch. My search continues as I love being outside and although I have been known to escort ants, and even wasps outside rather than kill them, more recently have taken to swatting bugs willy nilly in an effort to avoid the dreaded itch.

Geneseo's "Cheers"

The next day we decided to get  in the car and drive to a nearby town to buy groceries and few other needed items. We ended up in a small, as far as we could see, perfect town called Geneseo. We drove all over and all we saw were lovely houses with beautifully manicured yards. The downtown area was neat with a nice variety of shops and restaurants, pretty street lights and flowers lining the sidewalks. Whether in an obviously wealthy or a middle class area, all was well kept. I'm pretty sure the winters here are fierce and that may be the only thing preventing us from moving here. We ate at Raelyn's Pub and Grill...delicious meal and yes, some good Mexican beer!

We find that Buddi is still our little ambassador. Many RVers travel with one or more dogs, as my sister...a fellow snowbird RVer...once said: "Everybody with an RV seems to have a little white yappy dog." Not us: we have our loveable, sometimes noisy and occasionally cantankerous Sun Conure. We carry an "outside" cage which we set up at camp sites and we often have visitors who checking her out. Sometimes people wander nearby, looking up into trees, trying to find this odd sounding bird. It's a great way to meet people.

Buddi has learned to love riding in the golf cart. We were concerned at first that she might fly off and be injured, but she sits on one of our shoulders and just seems very content to let the wind blow through her feathers. As you can imagine, it can be quite startling to see a bird riding in a golf cart!

Buddi's new beautiful friends

We met one family, a Dad and his young daughters in just that way. Larry and the young man, a native of Illinois who shared a lot of local information, hit it off and his youngest daughter was fascinated with Buddi. In an effort to make friends with our bird the little girl fed her so many almonds I thought Buddi might burst! Now that's how you make friends with a bird! I was totally surprised when I walked into the RV to see her older sister calmly walking around with Buddi on her shoulder. "Did she bite you," I asked? "No, she just jumped on my shoulder," she said. I had to get a picture of this rare moment.

One afternoon...at my request...we decided to have a paddle in the small lake. Canoes and paddleboats were available and I opted for the canoe as a greatly missed my little blue kayak. We got the required life jackets and Larry picked out his paddle while I searched for mine. I turned just in time to see my Captain, the person with whom I had sat out the tail end of a hurricane, the person I trusted more than any other on the water, capsizing our canoe and landing in the lake. He climbed out on the dock all the while reassuring me he was all right... until I noticed blood pouring down his arm, his hand and his leg. In trying to save himself by grabbing the dock, he had managed to scrape large pieces of skin from all over his body. As the lake was home to multitudes of geese and some ducks as well, I doubted its cleanliness and we made a beeline for the RV, a hot soapy shower and lots antiseptic and bandages. He's healing up nicely and other than have a few days of muscle soreness is good as new.

We had enjoyed our stay in Illinois but the time had come to pack up once again.

Ohio Bound

On July 27th we packed up and headed for Ohio. Well, actually, we started the day before. Once settled in a campsite the modern day RVer has surrounding his camper: a tow vehicle, a tow dolly, a golf cart an outdoor mat, several chairs, and a grill...and those are just the basics. In addition we have an outdoor bird cage (our Buddi bird is 11 years old and continues to be our faithful companion), a grill, table cover and decorative plant, collapsible garbage can, solar lights, etc, etc, etc. To ready for departure one must flush the holding tanks which carry "black" and "gray" water, make sure there is an anti-stinky pouch in the holding tank, coil up a monstrous electric cable and water hoses, lower the RV from whatever balanced position it was in and press the buttons which retract the slide outs. Inside it is imperative to see that all doors to cabinets and drawers are securely fastened and those cute breakable items you had displayed are safely put away. Cruising friends are sagely nodding their heads as they are familiar with many of these procedures.

Next the tow dolly is hooked up to the RV. We drive the car up onto the tow dolly, securing it with straps. Ditto for the golf cart. Now folks, our 40 foot motor home has grown by 30 feet. As we pull out onto the highway we are fully 70 feet in length and at this point the captain is indeed in charge and at the wheel as I have not yet developed the courage to drive our big rig.

We knew we had a long day ahead of us, but circumstances made it longer than expected. Larry checked the air pressures in tires on dolly and RV and found them to be a bit low. When he tried to pump them up he discovered the onboard compressor was not working properly. Although it seems unlikely, it took FOUR attempts at FOUR different truck stops (often including long waits in lines) to find a compressor that was working. Each stop added 30-45 minutes to our trip which meant we didn't pull into Rocky Fork Ranch RV Park until nearly dark.

On leaving the interstate we were immediately faced with a number of winding, hilly and sometimes gravel roads and rather confusing directions. Needless to say it was a rather tense trip to the park and when we finally arrived and c checked in, the camp host were led up a steep gravel road with one particularly hair raising hairpin turn.  Pulling up to the space we'd been assigned, it was obvious to all that our RV would not fit in that particular spot. The host and Larry looked around awhile and found a better site, a pull- through that was available, and we finally parked. By now it is fully dark and we are stumbling about trying to get settled for the night. Unlike stopping at a motel where one can fall into bed if exhausted, we now had to lower the jacks, level the camper, put out the slides, and hook up the water, sewer and electric and we are hungry..

Again, cruisers can relate to the parking process, itself, not unlike docking a boat. Other campers casually gather around, some offering good advice, others silently hoping you'll scrape something or take five tries. In any case, those with helpful advice are welcome, but I wish the  others would take a hike...literally. Seriously, most of the campers we met are delightful people and make the  travel experience all the better, but I for one could do without the audience when getting onto our site. I doesn't bother Larry in the least.

Not an exciting ride, but fun nevertheless.

Rocky Fork Ranch is a wonderful campsite, really huge with multiple levels for campers and many cabins throughout. There is a stable, tennis courts, mini golf, a large recreation center with TV, video games pool tables and other rooms for gathering. There is a lake for fishing and kayaking and areas for archery and shooting (skeet, I hope). Our golf cart was really useful and tackled the mountain roads with ease. Larry found a group and played guitar with them one day while I went on a trail ride.

We met and became friendly with a family from Pennsylvania. Dad was a native of Chile and his wife from Bolivia and they had two engaging teenage sons. We spent some time with them including a night around the campfire and enjoyed every minute.

We traveled to Cambridge which seemed to be the nearest city, shopping at the local Wal-Mart and enjoying a lovely dinner out. Our stay seemed entirely too short and before we knew it we were on our way.
(Sadly, I hit "cut" instead of "copy" and lost all camera photos from our Rocky Fork Ranch stay. Let me just say that both the campground and the surrounding area were beautiful and worthy of another stay.)

The leap of faith

Although we had known the day was coming, it was still a giant leap of faith to once again release, in a figurative sense, the dock lines and become nomads with no permanent "home." The only thing we had decided was that we would head west, with a general destination of South Dakota. We had paid our fees and become members of Travel Resorts of America and Coast to Coast and, because of the privileges afforded to us with those memberships, would plan our trip based on where member sites

were located.

By July 13th we had nearly completed the move of personal belongings and furniture to storage areas and motor home, and we moved the camper to our home campground near Pinehurst NC. We did some decompressing, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. The last month of our stay in Cary was extremely rigorous. We both put in 10 to 12 hour days of really physical labor and were often too tired to eat...a great plan if you are looking to lose a few pounds. During this time Larry was having numerous medical tests in order to find out why he continued to be quite anemic despite B12 injections and prescription iron supplementation. The anemia caused him to suffer extreme fatigue;  at times he would find it nearly impossible to get out of bed!  I was just plain tired, as might be expected of somebody my age. We are both active and energetic ordinarily, but we had really pushed past normal limits. The move to Pinehurst lessened certain pressures; still there more jobs to complete  before we were truly retired once more.  Larry still had two days of work at the house and we still had to reorganize the motor home (which had be covered and winterized),  find a way to fit our belongings into our new home, and drive the 7 to 8 hours round trip to the western part of the state -twice- to deliver two vehicles for storage. The two weeks at Sycamore Lodge went by rapidly. We did manage a few  golf cart forays to explore the campground and spent  some time visiting with fellow campers. We continued a practice begun in La Paz; at sundown each day we stopped what we were doing to take a deep breath and toast the ending of another day...our sundowners. Often the sundowner ritual took place sitting on the front steps, watching the sprinkler shower the grass in Cary, or at Sycamore Lodge, relaxed in our camp chairs  rather than sitting on the Milgro's white deck, but the feelings were just the same.

One of the things we enjoyed about the Cary house was the friendliness of the neighborhood. As we sat out front neighbors strolled by, some walking dogs, others just out for a bit of exercise. They followed our progress and encouraged us with compliments. We grew particularly fond of the residents of a large house across the street. One young man owned the house and rented out space to four other professional  guys. We were quite surprised when they wanted to get together for a meal  with stories and  videos of our adventures and we did so a couple of times, both at our house and at theirs. Just a great group of nice young men.

Other favorite neighbors were the Egyptian Muslim couple down the street. Larry first met their adult sons  during the summer I was away, and later on the husband, end even later his wife who was quite shy. But while shy and quiet at first they began to be more outgoing and we often had religious discussions, in no way argumentative, but a sharing of information. The husband in particular wanted us to understand him as a human being first and went to great pains to share information with us. I learned a lot and in a strange way felt we four were taking a tiny step towards peace in the world.