Oh My! Omaha! Day 12

We left camp this morning at 0830 and pulled into our driveway at 1500. All is well with the house, but the grass hasn't been cut in two weeks. It looks like a hay field!
This was a quick trip, we did 2611 miles. It was almost all interstate driving.
It was great to see our friend Gina and we look forward to seeing her again. Ramona and Brian are a great couple and we will visit them anytime we are in the area.
Next trip is to Coles Creek on 29 Jul 19 with Brian and family. We can't wait to see the Kiddos!

Oh My! Omaha! Day 11

Here's our site at Geneva State Park in Ohio. Site 36 is now our go to site at this park. Easy back-in and shade trees toward the back. And #1 is it's the last site to flood in this park!

We drove into Geneva to get gas, wine, and I was getting low on JD (God forbid). Afterward we drove over to Geneva-on-the-Lake (GOTL). This is a 50s or 60s "on the lake" resort with mini golf, bad food joints, and plenty of beer. We had lunch at a Gyro place where all the people there were speaking Greek and drinking beer by 1200. The Gyros were the best we've had since Germany!
Played a lot of cribbage under the shade trees in the afternoon, Cath kicked my butt!
Cleaned up camp and got ready to go tomorrow.
Crab cakes and french fries in the air fryer tonight. We will see how they turn out.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 10

Perfect weather today for our longest drive of the trip, clear skies and almost no wind. Traffic was very light even around Chicago and Gary, IN, Cath snapped these pics of the Cleveland skyline.

Arrived at Geneva State Park around 1530 EDT after the time change. 450 miles is way over my limit and the toddy tasted great once we got set up. Two nights here then we will be back home.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 9

We had a lazy day.
Had breakfast around 0930 after sleeping-in!
Took a trip to the Ottawa, IL Walmart and picked up a few things. One of the things is a new Air Fryer. We had been looking at a small one for the camper and after seeing Brian and Ramona's we decided to get one. This one is only 2 quarts, but should be perfect for the camper. We are doing fish fillets in it this evening. I can't wait to try some fresh cut french fries and chicken wings. Time will tell. I'll post a pic of tonight's meal tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a travel day and a long one at that. Early for dinner tonight and early to bed.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 8

We had a brief rain storm this morning and then we hit the road around 0900. It was an uneventful drive and that is good..LOL
Here is a pic of a rest area on I-80, that tall thing is a propeller from a wind turbine. There are lots of wind farms in Iowa and Illinois.

We stopped at the Herbert Hoover National Historic SIte in West Branch, IA. Nice site and yep, we got our stamp! Here's Cath at the Visitor Center.

We saw this truck on I-80 and snapped this pic before I passed him. It reminded us of Wesley's t-shirt ("Eat Pizza like a Boss").

20 miles before our campground we hit a big rain storm. It POURED! But I was OK with that as we had accumulated lots of mud on the truck and camper from our previous campsite. It rained so hard that all of that mud is now gone. Downside is our new campsite is now a LAKE!  We got all set up in the mud, it will be dry by tomorrow. Camping is soooooo fun!

Oh My! Omaha! Day 7

Ramona and Brian have a beautiful home and we thank them for sharing it with us for the weekend. They are wonderful parents and we look forward to seeing them again.

Gina came back over to the house mid morning and we spent the day yakking as usual. Here's a pic of Oma and Nora, they are so cute together. I think they have their own language! 

We headed back to the campground where we left the camper around 1500. Kaylee was glad to get home again, she has been keeping and eye on Nora the whole weekend.
A quiet evening for us and then back on the road tomorrow. Illini State Park here we come!

Oh My! Omaha! Day 6

Ramona and Brian's daughter was the hit of the weekend. She is a real cutie and at 2 yrs+ is a ball of fire!

Here's Mom and her little girl reading some books .

Gina came over in the late morning and stayed until mid afternoon. Brian and I watched some soccer and the girls went over to Gina's.
We did some Chinese takeout from a really good place and yakked until 2300 again. We can't take these late nights much more.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 5

We left camp early this morning around 0700. The drive on I-80 was uneventful until we hit this line of thunderstorms around Iowa City, IA. We drove in a downpour until we reached Des Moines, IA. This is the beginning of the line of thunderstorms. We are not used to seeing this!

We reached our campground in Shelby, IA around 1500, set up the camper and headed to Ramona's for the weekend. The campground is little more than a parking lot, but it's a safe place to leave the camper. All the nice campgrounds around Omaha are closed due to flooding.
Gina was looking good on Friday and it was great to see her. It's been a few years which was too long. Here's a pic of her and Ramona who we haven't seen since Brian and Nicole's wedding.

Ramona's husband Brian is a super guy! We burned some burgers for dinner and yakked until midnight! Catching up was fun.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 4

Here's our site! The Oak tree reminds us of some of the giant Oaks we've seen in the South.

We had a nice relaxing day after the long drive yesterday. We've been watching a few other campers arrive today. It is always fun to watch other folks set up their campsites. I think we are getting to be pros and to watch others is always entertaining.
One of the new campers had a four year old Viszla with them. The dog's name is RU, like "are you" OK. We got a kick out of that.
Another drive tomorrow, so off to bed fairly early.
We can't wait to see Gina, Ramona and Nora tomorrow.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 3

Long drive today. The highlight was when we crossed into Illinois and Cath asked Google what the State Tree and Bird was. She usually asks this when we cross state lines. So I asked her what the state animal was. She asked Google and just as Goggle answered "whitetail deer", one ran across the highway in front of us! No kidding. I almost lost it as the camper swayed bad as I braked hard!
Through South Chicago and Gary the traffic sucked!
Arrived at Illini State Park (we've been here before) and got all set up before the rain started.
We will sleep good tonight as it was a long drive for us today.
All is well in the Boss Camp!😀

Oh My! Omaha! Day 2

Drinking coffee this morning on the picnic table I had a friend join me. He was so friendly I thought he was going to sit on my shoulder

It was a beautiful morning and the day turned out the same. Low 70s and no humidity.

We took a walk down the lake trail. There has been lots of erosion due to the high lake levels. We would not be surprised if this walkway is gone next year.

DId a few errands in town. Took Kaylee to the beach and we had a nice walk.
Long drive tomorrow so early to bed.

Oh My! Omaha! Day 1

This is an unplanned trip, but we been wanting to visit our friend Gina, and June is as good a time as any!
We left the house this morning at 0630 and drove I-90 all the way to Geneva State Park in Ohio. The drive was uneventful and the highway was in good shape with only a few construction zones. We've been to this park many times, it's one of our favorites. They've had a lot of rain here and the place is flooded. Many of the sites are closed. Ours is OK, but muddy. We pulled in the same time as our neighbors and we all had a laugh as we both have Rockwood Ultra-Lites. You can see the standing water in the lower right of the pic. We are going to put up a ROCKWOOD PARKING ONLY sign.

We will stay here for two nights and then head west to Illini State Park in Illinois. Tomorrow is "go check out the local area again and buy all the stuff we forgot day". Actually we are getting so good at this I don't think there is anything we've forgotten.
It's good to be on the road again!