Madison to LeRoy

Tony decided to try the public shower at the campground so he could have a long hot shower which you really can't get in an RV.  The showers are in a cement block house and rather depressing.  Tony said he felt like he was in the TV show "Orange is the New Black" which is a show about a women's prison.  Depressing cell block stuff.

We found out a wonderful benefit that Lake Farm Park Campground had.  It was kitty-korner from a dog park.  We took Miko over there and she ran and chased balls and had a wonderful time.  She is a little strange at dog parks.  When she first gets there, she is very well behaved and extremely social with the other dogs.  After about a half hour, she starts to become rather a bully.  She sees another dog in the distance and crouches down to stalk them.  She then rushes them and won't let them alone.  She does not play nice and it ends up with me giving her a time out.  I hate to have that happen but I can't let her bully the other dogs. 

After the dog park, we headed on down the road.  Today was just going to be a travel day.  It got warmer as we went and just about the end of the day, we actually saw sun.  We ended up at Moraine View State Park right outside of Leroy Illinois.  Educational Note:  A moraine is a ridge that was created by glaciers.  We showed up at the registration desk and there were two guys there to check us in.  Really sweet goofy older guys.  They had a big basket of Buckeyes which are also called Horse Chestnuts.

From Wikipedia:
All parts of the buckeye or horse chestnut tree are extremely toxic, including the nut-like seeds.^{[7] [8]} The toxin affects the nervous system, causing paralysis and death. The USDA notes that the toxicity is due to saponin aescin and glyside aesculin, with alkaloids possibly contributing.^[9] Native Americans used to crush the seeds and the resulting mash was thrown into still or sluggish waterbodies to stun or kill fish. ^[10][11] They would then boil and drain (leach) the fish at least three times in order to dilute the toxin's effects. New shoots from the seeds also have been known to kill grazing cattle.

I had never seen these before - they are really beautiful nuts.  Very shiny and dark brown, they just feel good to hold.  These camp hosts told me that the buckeye is considered good luck if you carry it around in your pocket.  I now have a pocketful of them.

We really lucked out in our campsite.  We got a pull thru campsite so we did not have to unhook the car.  It looks over the lake and was peaceful and very soothing.  It was another glorious cocktail hour, watching the sun set over the lake.  Just what I needed and what I was looking for. 

Moraine View State Park Illinois

On The Road Again

It has been a busy busy summer, early fall.  My parents are in the process of moving from their lake residence of sixty some years to a senior apartment in the Twin Cities.  I am thrilled.  They will be closer to me and my brothers and we will get to see them more often.  They will still keep the cabin and spend their summers up there, but winters are in the cities.  My time has been consumed with packing and all the little details that need to happen with a move.  The move date was September 20 and all went extremely well.  Now that the basic move is done, I get to move on down the road.  I cannot wait.  To top it off, Tony has decided that he will accompany me again, this time for two weeks.

We decided that we would head down south - northern Kentucky, southern Indiana and Ohio.  No special reason, it just seemed like a good place to go.  I spent may hours planning the trip (which I love to do) and getting ready to go. 

The big day arrived, overcast skies, but the weather people said that there was only a chance of scattered showers.  That is ok, overcast skies are great for driving  No sun to get into your eyes.  Well, let me tell you - never, ever believe the weather people.  They just make up random stories to keep themselves amused. 

We got to the barn and started hooking up the car behind the RV.  It started to rain, not just rain, but pour.  Ok, that's ok - they said scattered showers, we can deal with it.

Well, there was a thin, thin strip of clouds showing up on the radar.  As we drove southeast, what happens but this thin, thin line of clouds decided that they will follow us all the way to Madison .  Blue skies ahead of us, blue skies behind us - but right above us, nothing but dark clouds and rain, rain, rain.  Lots of fun driving.....Not.

We ended up at a campground called Lake Farm Park within the city limits of Madison..  We got one of the last sites available that had electricity.  This is one of those parks where you feel like you are just out in an open field - not much charm.  We were only staying for one night, so that was ok.