Home Again!

We left Chesterton and drove all the way to Elkhart, IN (a long 70 mile drive) where we parked in MasterTech RV’s parking lot Sunday afternoon and evening.  They are going to do some upgrades in our RV over the next three weeks — new tile, new carpet and new Corian countertops and sinks.  Since we have no where to stay we loaded up the Jeep and headed home to the first blistering heat wave of the summer!  John is NOT happy!  But I am.  Can’t wait to see the grandkids and my friends.  Thanks for following our adventures.  

Until next time we head out, in late September, - Live well, Love much and Laugh Often!

Chesterton to Michigan City

The small town of Chesterton hosts a European Market every Saturday so I convinced John that we HAD to go!  I love farmer’s markets, art fairs, craft shows, food tastings, etc. and this was a little bit of all four.  Local produce and baked goods, clothing and jewelry, painting arts and crafting arts and lots of food vendors.   We stopped at one booth with these decorative gourds hanging around the edge.  Each gourde had a spring dangling from the bottom.  When you jiggled and spun the spring the gourde reverberated in your hand and made a sound like thunder!  A food truck, a Studebaker truck no less, that we had seen near our campground was at the market.  They make wood fired flatbread pizza and came highly recommended by YELP so we got the ‘purple pig' and even though we didn’t eat it right away, it was delicious!  I also got some very good fresh peaches and John found some really good cookies.

We then drove up to Michigan City where they were having a huge art fair!  But I just could not convince John to pay $7 to park and visit the fair.  We took the scenic route home along the lake coast.  Some really big and pretty houses along the road.  After lunch we rode our bike on another scenic road along the lake and saw more homes overlooking the water.  We also took a short walk along the water’s edge but it was such soft sand & many stones that we soon gave that up — too much work! There were a lot of people on the beach but not very many swimming and it was quite warm out.  I guess the water is just too cold to enjoy splashing around unless you are a kid.

Dunes - The Beginning and the End

We left Forestville State Park yesterday and drove 6 hours through Iowa into Illinois and stopped at a nice commercial campground in Utica (not a prison) so that I could do laundry as we had gone our 10 day limit and had nothing to wear otherwise.  The roads were not good!  We stayed mostly on two lane roads and they were so bumpy that two cabinet doors fell off and we thought something horrible had happened!  They were not hinged doors so were easy to snap back in.

Towards the beginning of this trip we visited the Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan and now after a three hour drive through the south side of Chicago, we have landed at the Indiana Dunes State Park - where they turned us away.  But no problem, we went to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore campground and the ranger helped us pick out our site.  All campgrounds are now full for the weekend.

This afternoon we rode our bikes 15 miles on the Calumet Trail which paralleled the railroad tracks and visited the park’s visitor’s center.  On the ride back we rode along the lakeshore and enjoyed the cool breeze while watching the sailboats and yachts on Lake Michigan. We could also see the Chicago skyline across the lake through the haze.

Forestville Township

John went fishing and I went exploring.  The Minnesota Historical Society has recreated the town of Forestville which was platted in 1855 and grew to 150 residents until the railroad moved away from Forestville toward Spring Valley.  People stayed for awhile raising crops and cattle, brickworks and forestry but by 1910 the store closed and everyone had moved away.

Today there are a few building left that have been restored but mostly the sites that can be seen are just the foundations. There used to be two hotels, a general store, blacksmith shop, school, distillery, saw mill and grist mill.  At the top of the hill overlooking the town site is the cemetery where 30 graves have been found but they only have the names for 20 of them.

The historic site is about a mile walk from our campsite and the cemetery is another mile from the town so I got a lot of exercise today as I walked to the town twice!  The first time I wondered around and disturbed the site manager who was delighted to give me all the history of the place and then I got a private tour of the store and the store owners home.  The store had the best selection and the most items I have ever seen in a late 1800’s store!  On weekends they have costumed interpreters who cook, sew, tend the garden and sometimes even blacksmiths working.

John worked hard to catch one fish in the morning but was a frustrated fisherman this afternoon so I let him watch television tonight.

Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park

Yesterday we packed up and moved a long 25 miles to the Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park. John found out a few days ago that this is supposed to be a great place to go trout fishing.  Since I’ve had about enough of John in the RV, I agreed that we should come here so I can have some time to myself while he fishes.

We discovered that this park is in a dead hole - no cell service, no internet!  So once we got settled in, we got in the Jeep and drove the 10 miles to Wykoff where we got at least a few bars of service and conducted some business like letting our families know we were incommunicado.  It rained lightly off and on during the evening but we have so much forest coverage that not much hit the ground so we were able to enjoy a nice time around the fire.

 

Today, John got going fairly early to fish and I hiked a couple of trails in the park logging about 5 miles.  One trail took me along the Canfield Creek which feeds into the South Branch of the Root River.  I found information that there used to be a beaver dam on this creek. Sure enough, there used to be a dam but even though it is mostly gone, the beavers are still there!  I saw two small ones swimming in the stream.  I also found a trout hole, so full of trout that it looked like a hatchery! Too bad John didn’t fish here, he might have caught more.  He caught two in the morning and two in the afternoon and lost at least 4 more.

To Rushford and Back

We have been working up to this bike ride all week, each day taking a longer and longer ride.  It is a 36 mile round trip plus whatever side trips we take to Rushford and back.  We put 39 miles on the bikes today!  This trail is paved the whole way with parts of it obviously older and rougher, but the scenery is beautiful.  This part of Minnesota is highly agricultural.  We rode past fields of corn, soy beans and clover and the milk cows were having a mooing conversation as we rode by.  We spotted several deer, chipmunks and squirrels scooted across our path and John saw an eagle soaring overhead.  As we paralleled the Root River most of the way I enjoyed the many varieties of wild flowers in full bloom.  This is a favorite river to canoe, kayak or tube.

We sped through Whalan without stopping for pie but we did stop in Peterson to visit their museum housed in the old railroad station. The docent was bored so she followed us all the way through the two buildings.  They had a nice collection of ‘stuff’.  Rushford also used their old railroad station for a visitor’s center and museum but their museum was closed. They did have a nice picnic area where we had lunch.  The ride back wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be although we did stop several times to give our bottoms a rest from the small bike seats!  We may not be able to walk very well tomorrow!

After dinner at the Old Village Hall we stopped at the Parkway Bar because they had this great sign hanging over the bar and I wanted a picture of John sitting under it.  

Fountain, MN

The Saturday Farmer’s Market was a small affair but they had some nice looking vegetables and the Amish baskets were pretty and sturdy.  Unfortunately I don’t have room in the RV to buy any to bring home!  We walked downtown and shopped some then had a leisurely lunch by the river before tackling the Root River Bike trail once again.  

This time we rode the almost 24 miles round trip to the village of Fountain.  With a populations of 374 we were lucky to find a place to get a glass of ice tea and a cookie!  The really bad part of this trip, though, was the uphill ride.  My RunKeeper App recorded an elevation change of 1260 feet and it was all up the last 6 miles into Fountain.  I was pooped!  The good part is that is was all downhill going back.  John loves going fast and I tried not to burn out my brakes.

Best Pie in the USA

After visiting with some of the other campers and scouting another campground we moved to the river view campground (a whole 4 blocks) on the Root River just above a small damn.  There are only about 12 spacious sites along the river and the city park where we were previously camped had about 50 very small sites and the other campers indicated that all of them would be full by Friday night.

After the move we rode our bikes around the small town of Lanesboro and up Church Hill to take in the view from the two largest buildings on the hill - a Catholic church and a Lutheran church.  The view was worth the uphill ride.

If you squint you can see our Jeep & RV on the right.

A short bike ride (5 miles) from Lanesboro is the small town of Whalan, home to the Best Pie in the USA (according to a framed magazine article on their wall).  This town is geared towards the tourism trade with B&B’s and a walking tour of the buildings in the town from as far back as the late1800’s.  We had been advised to stop at the old gas station, built in 1923.  He has a neat collection of garage memorabilia such as can and oil cans, signs, gas pumps, tools and clocks.  

But the Aroma Pie Shop is the biggest draw so, of course, we had some pie.  I had a Raspberry cream pie and John had the cashew, chocolate chip pie.  I’m afraid the 10 mile round trip bike ride didn’t burn off all those calories!

Lanesboro and the Root River

We pulled out of Rochester today and drove a whopping 45 miles to this quaint town on the Root River.  The thing that drew us here is the Root River State Biking Trail.  It is one of the original Rails to Trails in the nation.  At 60 miles in length it may not be the longest but it is paved and level and scenic.

We walked around Lanesboro after arriving and decided to eat lunch at a restored 1926 diner built in Wellington OH. It’s the only remaining wooden wheel diner in use today. Lanesboro is near the middle of the trail so we rode about 12 miles one way to Preston this afternoon.  Preston is another small quaint town but did not have as many shops and attractions as Lanesboro.  Another small town we could have ridden to is Harmony, an Amish village.  Many tourists take a tour of the Amish community around Harmony but we probably won’t do that.

On our way back I stopped along the river to rest and to check out some pretty purple flowers.  As John pulled up next to me, we heard a splash and looked up to find a Bald Eagle flying nearby.  He landed on a tree branch directly across the river from us.  It would have been the perfect picture of the magnificent bird except that I took too long trying to get the perfect picture and he flew away!!  He watched us from a couple of other perches but none where we could get a good shot.

We Are Healthy!

We completed all of our tests on Tuesday and Wednesday and then visited with our doctors on Wednesday and we are both healthy.  I have a slightly elevated cholesterol  which can be handled with a diet (ugh!) but John came away with almost no changes in his lifestyle.  It’s just not fair that he can eat bacon and I can’t!

Tuesday afternoon we spent four hours looking at, measuring and comparing water faucets for the kitchen and bath in the RV.  I think we made the right choice.

Wednesday evening was a fun time at the Swiss Fest in Bern, MN.  My Aunt Shirley, Uncle Harold, John and I left Rochester at 4 PM to drive the 30 minutes to Bern and we still were not the earliest arrivals for oven fired pizza.  This little church, Swingli, in Bern started this Wednesday night event a 58 years ago and it has grown tremendously over the years.  They have two wood burning outdoor ovens that can cook only 4-6 pizza’s at a time.  People come to sit on the hill side surrounding the church, bringing their own tables and chairs, drinks and snacks.  The entertainment starts at 6 pm with a Swiss band, followed by yodelers and an Alpine horn concert and then flag throwing.  It was perfect weather and we enjoyed people watching and wondering how much longer we would have to wait for our pizza.  Our second pizza was 1-1/2 hours in the making.

Rochester's Mayo Clinic

We left Oshkosh on Saturday morning and plodded through the mud to get out of the field we were camped in.  It took us almost six hours to drive to Rochester, Minnesota where we will get physicals at the Mayo Clinic and visit my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Harold.  We are camped in a full hook-up campground for a change and I am loving the long showers I can take here.

We had a great dinner and visit with Shirley and Harold on Saturday then they came to the RV for a grand tour of our modest home on wheels and another nice visit.  They have found several things we can do in this area if we have time after seeing all the doctors.  We also got a nice tour of the city and they showed us the best route to take to Mayo Clinic and the best parking spots and the best places to eat down town.  

Today was our first day at the clinic.  I had a couple of tests and a visit with a doctor and dermatologist while John had about 4 tests and visits with 3 doctors.  We will be here until Wednesday to finish up all our exams, tests and doctor consultations.  

USAF Thunderbirds

We spent part of our morning watching people get stuck in the muddy roads.  One guy pulling a 5th-wheel seemed to think that all he had to do was back up and take a run at the same spot to get through, then he would get stuck, spin his wheels, back up and do it again.  Two other RV’s  got stuck in other spots, one figured a way out with help from a jeep and the other had to have a tow truck and a huge green tractor pull him out.  We’re hoping that it will not rain today and dry out before we are ready to leave.

We braved the mud holes and rode our bikes to the AirVenture Museum and looked at all kinds of airplanes from Wright Brothers and Lindberg to Rutan and Gee Bees Stunt team. As we were leaving we noted that a lot of people were streaming onto the grounds. We think it is because of the USAF Thunderbirds show this afternoon.  I noted that I have put over 20 miles on my bike just riding inside the campgrounds for the past 5 days.

The daily air show starts at 2:30 so we pick our spot and wait for the show to start, then it rains!  It is a short rain and the show goes on.  The War Birds show off their stuff, a couple of aerobatics, the stunt copter, a comedy show, more threatening clouds and then what we have been waiting for all afternoon!

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds are a fast, loud and precise team of six F-16 Fighter Jets.  By fast I’m talking 500 mph fly-by.  By loud I’m talking cover your ears loud.  And precision in every grouping or solo flight.  It was awesome!!