See???

See? That's what I mean about the rain. Torrential. That's Sarah and Andy last Friday at my Mom and Dad's beautiful cemetery in Rock Island, IL.


But we have now had 4 straight days of sun and today actually got out of the long pants and sweaters and into summer clothes. Finally!

We had a wonderful time with family at my sister Jeri's house for niece Kelsey's high school graduation. We laughed and laughed at goofy stuff. We shopped and shopped the village-wide yard sales and stocked up on things to give Kelsey for an 18th birthday and Bill for a 50th birthday this week. They actually both liked all their gifts! (Note that, Josh...) It was good to have us four siblings, three of the kids and one of the in-laws (Gregg) together.

Gregg & I spent yesterday in West Branch, IA at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. Very interesting man and times, another well-done Presidential Museum. We overnighted in the parking lot for the Fire and Police Depts - they said it was OK as long as we didn't like "move in there". They even had free unsecured wi-fi for us there!!

Today we broke down, for the first time in 2 weeks, to pay for an actual campsite. We are in the Amana Colonies - 7 tiny burgs and no WalMart parking lot for us, of course. Actually I guess it's good for us to pay for this and stimulate the economy a little. Now, nice weather and bike trails here, we'll probably stay a day or two. Can't wait to try the StrudelDoodle coffee I bought here today...

I WISH ...

I WISH ...

... I wish for more hours in a day so I would get more pictures and stories into this blog, for us to remember this trip in the future, and to share with family and friends now.

... I wish I had a camera that would capture smells. I'd get the smell of the lilacs in Illinois. And the flowers in the yard at Dale's house in Charlestown, IN. And the jasmine somewhere along our winding route.

... I wish I could have captured the taste of the root beer that I had in the retro Maid-Rite restaurant in Springfield, IL. OMG, it was good.

... I wish I would have had a recorder going at the memorial service when we had my Mom's urn interred at Rock Island National Cemetery. It rained ALL DAY that day, never let up. The wind blew especially strong while we family, 12 of us, gathered under a shelter. The speakers played a beautiful Taps, accompanied by an extraordinarily long roll of midwest thunder. Mom heard from, I think. We had her wish of one rose on the dais along with her beautiful urn, etched with a hummingbird for her. I think she was applauding.

So much to do, so little time to blog...

In Springfield, IL now after a very relaxing couple of days in southern IL, camped out on a bluff above the Ohio River at a teeny town called Cave-In-Rock, watching the barges go by.

Beautiful way to spend Mother's Day. Only thing missing was my kids but they both called and will both be here with us in IL on Thurs-Monday this weekend. We had a "surrogate son" instead who stopped to talk to us. Matt, from Virginia Beach is riding his bike coast to coast to San Francisco. He was fascinating to talk to - rides an average of 90 miles per day with a bum knee. You meet the greatest people on the road!

Kentucky was exciting! Gregg reported about the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. Next, a great tour at Churchill Downs with lots of Derby history, seeing a couple of races and watching Calvin Borel, the 2009 Derby winning jockey from last weekend, up close and personal. Then, dinner with friends Dale and Betty Jo at a beautiful outdoor restaurant along the Ohio. Then, an Indiana drive through threatening skies and tornado warnings covering a huge area of IN, KY and IL. (Today we drove through the mess of downed trees in S. IL. from Friday's "Inland Hurricane" 106 mph winds). Last stop in KY, dinner and overnight with friends Willis and Mary in Sturgis, KY.

We did not blow away in a tornado today but at times I thought we might...
Not enough time to post pictures or say much tonight but thought I'd just let the world know that we are in Sturgis, KY and headed into IL tomorrow and hoping that this crazy weather will end one of these days. But we are still having a great time, seeing wonderful things and wonderful friends.

National Corvette Museum

We had fun touring the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky yesterday. This amazing museum is a non-profit organization and supported entirely by Corvette enthusiasts--no funding by General Motors! The building is ultra modern and has 68,000 square feet and located on a 120 acre campus just across the street from the Corvette assembly plant. Unfortunately, the plant was at the beginning of a two week shutdown when we were there. I would estimate that there are over a hundred Corvettes on display in the museum along with tons of informative displays and historical information and videos. Since most of the cars are loaned to the museum for a minimum of one year, the displays are constantly changing and updated. This morning we drove to Louisville where we will tour Churchill Downs and have dinner with Dale and Betty Jo Steele in Charlestown, Indiana. Dale and I worked together at Aviall. Tomorrow we're off to Sturgis, Kentucky to see friends Willis and Mary Thornsberry. Mary graduated from high school with me.

Movin' On

What a great time we've had in Nashville! Yesterday we toured downtown visiting among other places, the Ryman Auditorium (home of the Opry from 1943-1974) and checking out the BBQ at Jack's on Broadway. Last night we went to the Grand Ole Opry where we saw rising star Rodney Atkins, Joe Diffie, and Little Jimmy Dickens who is now 84 years old and others. Today we are heading on up the road to Bowling Green, KY and will visit the National Corvette Museum and hopefully tour the Corvette assembly plant. We are loving this roving life.

So much to do and see!

We've been busy...

HUGE Flea Market in Canton, TX - Sally shopping for hours, probably walked 5 miles. Gregg shopped enough to buy a turkey leg and read the afternoon away in the RV. That's how men shop...

Hot Springs, Arkansas. Toured the National Park Visitor Center in one of the old bathhouses. What a great place! Actually the first national park before Yellowstone, called a Federal Reservation at the time in the 1800's. Had it not been raining like the dickens, we would have stayed longer, hiked a lot and partaken of one of the hot mineral water baths.

Little Rock, AR. Again the rain kept us from hikes and biking on what look to be wonderful trails. But we thoroughly enjoyed the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and the free RV overnight in the parking lot there. Click here to see some of the pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/sschin999/ClintonLibrary?feat=directlink

We are on a quest to see all the Presidential libraries and museums we can find. They are fascinating.

Memphis, Tennessee Looked like Arkansas was swampland with so much standing water, and we headed over the Mississippi River to see Graceland. What a fun blast from the past seeing Elvis's home. A mansion to the Presleys in the 50's-70's, very dated and pretty tacky looking to me all these years later. Green shag carpeting on the floor AND the ceiling in his "Jungle Room"!! Very kitschy all over. But the museum exhibits are fascinating, his costumes, personal family video clips, movie clips, TV program clips. One can spend hours there...

Nashville, TN Ahhh...now we have found a place to stay a few days. This is a beautiful city and the rain is finally slowing down a bit. (Forecast for today was "drier" and it has been, just mist). Today we saw The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's (7th President's) home. It has been preserved just as he lived in it with original 170+ year old wallpaper, and personal property, beautiful flower garden that includes their family cemetery, and slave quarters.
Nashville is Music City USA so, yes, we do have our tickets to the Grand Ole Opry for tomorrow night and we'll go see all the Country Music Hall of Fame and Opryland stuff tomorrow.