Family Reunion Trip, Day 87

Nice drive today, did all the back roads. Got out of camp around 0800. Arrived at home at 1330. Got the house started again, lights and water, but will spend tonight in the camper.
Here's a pic or two of the camper and house.

So here is the nitty-gritty!
We had a wonderful time on this trip.
We will not do the southwest again in the summer, it's too damn hot!
Here's a map and some stats of that we did:

The trip was 87 days.
We drove 12,226 miles. At 9.1 average MPG! That means we burned 1344 gallons of gas! At $3.00 a gallon for an average gas price we spent around $4000 for gas! Gas in the northwest was pricey, we saw as high as $5.00 per gallon,but as low as $2.50 in other places.
We now have 27,368 miles on the truck and 11,351 on the camper. Neither one is a year old yet!
All in all we had a great time. Our time with Jacob was priceless.
Back home we have two months to get ready for our next adventure.
Next blog post will be on 1 Nov 18.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 86

We did a short drive today to Hamlin Beach State Park. It's only a few miles from the park we are in. Nice place, but really big! There must be 7 camping loops and miles of beach to explore. If we come back through this area we will probably stay there as the beach is more accessible than the park we are in now.

We went back to that great farmers market we mentioned yesterday. They also have a good lunch. We had one of the best hamburgers we've had on this trip. Hand-made, delicious beef, and cooked just right.
Spent the afternoon back at camp, got most everything packed up, and had a few toddies!
We leave tomorrow for home, about a four hour drive. Will do one last entry on this blog when we get home. It's been a good trip, but we are looking forward to this winter.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 85

Had a nice breakfast and hung around camp for a little while. Then we went exploring.
First stop was Albion, NY. This town is on the Erie Canal. The canal is not used for transport anymore, only pleasure boats go up and down the canal. The towns along the way have docks with power hookups for the boats to overnight at. It's like camping on the water!
Here's the boat docks in Albion.

The bridge in the pic is a lift bridge. When the bots want to pass the bridge lifts up for them. I'm not sure, but I think the bridges are on a schedule. There are lift bridges in most of the canal towns.

Here's a mural in Albion.

Next stop was Medina, NY. Same as Albion, a canal town.

Some of downtown Medina.

Another view. These towns are really old and the buildings are really interesting.

A few more pics.

We stopped at a really nice farmers market near our campground. Picked up some peaches, a few munchies, and a pie for desert tonight. And of course the sweet corn is in season, so we could not pass that up.
One more day at this park, then we are headed home. Only two more entries on this blog!

Family Reunion Trip, Day 84

We left this morning for our last campground for this trip. Had a short drive, (200 miles) so we took all the backroads through Erie, PA, into the east outskirts of Buffalo, NY, and then to Lakeside State Park on Lake Ontario, northeast of Buffalo.
Here's a few pics of the site. It's really nice and the weather is perfect, high 70s and low humidity.

Ran into town, Albion, NY and picked up a few supplies. Back at camp we sat by the fire then hit the sack. We will do a little exploring tomorrow.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 83

Woke this morning to the sound of the lake waves crashing on the shoreline. We are 500 yards away, but you can hear them loud and clear.

We took the hiking trails down to the beach.

Kaylee didn't know what to make of the waves, but she still got her feet wet. No swimming for her today.

It reminded us of the ocean.

Back at camp we enjoyed a no rain day! We had a nice campfire, dinner, then off to bed. Tomorrow is a travel day.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 82

Rained most of the night and into the morning. It finally cleared for awhile around 1000. We took a short drive to Geneva-on-the-Lake, a little resort town about 2 miles from camp. This little town reminds me of the Jersey Shore. All it needs is a boardwalk. This has been a favorite resort in Ohio for 130 years and some of the joints look like it! We picked up some salt water taffy and stopped for ice cream. On the way back to camp we stopped at the beach and Kaylee got a swim. Pebble hunting at this beach is addicting.
Back at camp watched some TV, played cribbage, had a nice dinner, and watched a movie.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 81

Left camp this morning at 0700. We had a long drive and passed through our last time zone. The drive was 450 miles (broke the rule again), but was almost all interstate. Nothing much to report on the drive except there was a bad accident on I80/90 just east of Toledo. Three tractor trailer trucks somehow got mixed up. One of them burned and the other two had cargo and debris spread all over the highway. The backup was over ten miles long. We lost about 45 minutes. Hope no one was hurt, but it was a bad one.
Arrived at Geneva State Park around 1630. I think we have been to this park three or four other times. We like the park and the area is really nice. Here's some pics of the site. The park is fairly full.

Weather report is for rain starting tonight and all day tomorrow. Looks like we will be camper bound once more. We have a few days here, then a few more at Lakeside Beach State Park in New York, just northeast of Buffalo. From there it will be home. Backroads for us the rest of the way, interstate driving is boring!

Family Reunion Trip, Day 80

Laundry Day! We went back to Ottawa. IL and found a nice. clean laundromat. Did a little Wally World shopping on the way back to camp.
Wanted to share these pics of some of the Oak trees we are camped under. In this area they call them Ancient Oaks. It reminds us of the Live Oaks on the South Carolina coast region.

One last blast from our time on RT 66, couldn't resist doing this pic.

Off to Ohio in the morning, almost home. We are looking forward to our winter trip again this year.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 79

We relaxed a little this morning, then traveled through Marseilles, IL and on to Ottawa, IL. From Ottawa we went up to Starving Rock State Park.
Here's a few murals in Marseilles.

This is downtown Ottawa. We stopped at the farmers market and picked up some sweet corn and then to a bakery for some apricot strudel.

Back in Marseilles we found one more mural. It depicts all the famous people and happenings from around here.

Also in town is a war memorial dedicated to all the Soldiers who lost their lives in the mid-east conflicts.

Back at camp the neighbors were packing up to go home. Anna checked my leg one last time, all is well.

John sent me a pic of the culprit. His name is Pedro. He is a rescue they found in Belize of all places. The story of how they got him back to the states is interesting.

A nice steak dinner with corn on the cob, a few toddies and a campfire. Then off to bed.

Family Reunion Trip, Day 78

Last night we had one of the heaviest rain storms I've ever seen. It started around 0300 and lasted until 0700. The radr in our area showed only dark red, no green or yellow. The lightning was so frequent that it basically looked like daylight outside! Luckily it cleared up and we were on the road by 0800.

First stop was Springfield, IL at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site Visitor Center. Here's a pic of his house. This Historic Site is right in the middle of the city. Yes, we got another stamp!

A wagon that was used for his presidential campaign. 

We snapped this pic from the truck. It's hard to see, but there is a giant Abe Lincoln driving the wagon.

Next stop was Atlanta, IL. Here's the water tower.

The small town has lots of murals in really good shape.

And this giant at the local hotdog stand.

A small park on the corner.

This is the library and the town clock tower. The clock gets wound by hand every eight days.

 I loved this mechanic's sign.

One last pic of Atlanta.

From there we left RT 66 for the last time and headed to our campground. 

Here's the site. It's right on the Illinois River across from Marseilles, IL. We had no way to know that we booked the nicest site in the campground, as we've never been here before. Some of the other campers are jealous.

This next pic is a little gross. We got here and were all set up. The neighbor came over to say Hi and gave us some fresh veggies from their garden. To thank them I dug out one of our little bottles of maple syrup we use for gifts. As I walked over to their site their Doberman attacked and bit me! This is my upper thigh. It's not real bad and I think it will heal up in a few days. Camping can get exciting!

We have had a great time traveling RT 66. It is an experience we will not forget.