Day 2

Sikeston, MO

On Monday, Oct. 19th we were awake and mobile by 6:30. Mind you, this gal was in bed before 9:30! 🤭 Bill had one of his (?) Christmas movies on and I wasn't into that! I was asleep in no time.

Good morning!

When we were ready to pull out, he noticed that we lost the small door cover for the hot water heater somewhere. 🤷‍♀️ You hear so many noises on the highway and I-69 was so rough for quite a stretch, nothing surprises us! Easy to replace.

Yay! I got to see the sunrise just
as we left the museum.

It's a lovely day again, only 34F/1C, but clear skies. We fueled up at a Gallup stn. in Kendallville using our Mudflap app. Still paying $6.15/gal. 🫣 after getting .14 off. 

The 3 positions of Gibbs today

We got back on I-69S for the long drive towards Indianapolis. Always a guess what the bypass 465 will be like. It was busy enough but quick too, avoiding downtown chaos.🤭

These lilies (?) were pretty
at a rest stop.

Indianapolis, IN
the bypass but still busy enough.

At 12:05 we crossed the state line into Illinois and immediately gained an hour. A long days drive so psyching ourselves into believing we're arriving at our destination and hour earlier doesn't hurt anyone! 🤣

Someone is getting a new home,
both halves driving alongside us on 
the interstate.
Someone else is taking a trip. They'll probably
arrive before we do!

A fuel stop had us calling Mudflap to verify Bill's identity...again. It didn't work so we paid a whopping $6.64/gallon to fill up. Egads. Another addition to our reasons for stopping. 🤷‍♀️ We got on I-70W out of Indianapolis and now on I-57S.

A stop at a Road Ranger station
and we ate our lunch in the back-40.
Cute little camper for a single man.
Entering Illinois, we gained an hour on our
time clock.

The temperature has risen to a balmy 73F/23C with little to no visible wind. We've had the a/c on low warding off the heat of the afternoon sun. 

In Effingham, IL this is always a
special sight for me.
The Cross at the Crossroads.
198' tall.
They had a crane up to it so I
used my Google app and erased it for
a better picture.

Its quite lovely! We stopped at  Rest Area near Anna called Trail of Tears. It's one of the best.

One of the cleanest, nicest
rest areas we've stopped at over
the years.

We had 45 minutes/49 miles to our destination and we were ready to stop. We arrived at Lambert's Cafe/J.T.'s RV Stop in Sikeston, Missouri at 4:30 pm. Paid the overnight fee, pulled into a site and Bill hooked us up to electricity and water. He added a bit of water to our fresh water tank to tide us over for a few days without carrying too much.

Crossing the Mississippi River
is always a treat.

We knew what we were doing for supper (yay!) so we sat to update our blogs and relax. Bill did try to open his Mudflap app and get a discount fuel code and lo and behold, now it worked! What the?? 

More Gibbs performances.
We went out to go piddle and all he
headed for the truck.
Then, the next time, he became a dead
dog and wouldn't budge. How
can you not laugh?
Yes, he got a tummy rub and I 
tied him to the step when I went inside.
🤭🥴
I understood, he'd been in the truck all day!

So, he hopped in B.B. and drove just a block down to fuel up at a Breaktime station. That was the cheapest price yet at $5.89/gal. 👍(I can't believe we're happy with that!) He did call Mudflap to update his identity again and finally after a couple more tries, had success. Good grief, he has more patience than I!

We walked across the lot at 6:15
for supper.
It was a Monday night.
The place was packed.

This is our 3rd visit here at this location. 3rd time for the rv stop and 3rd time for the 'throwed rolls!' Each time I've come, I tell myself to order small off the menu as they are constantly coming around with food, again and again, not to mention the addition of the free rolls! 😂😂 So far, it hasn't worked but tonight? We'll see.

We walked in to this and
it never stopped.

Before we walked over to the restaurant, I took the time to call the hosts for our stay tomorrow night and book a spot. No problem! It will be a shorter day for us and we're looking forward to that. So, at the restaurant, we were seated and the food started coming. Fried okra and hot rolls.

Large drinks, I just had water.
Hot rolls, all night long.

We had no plates but paper towels are provided on the tables. Bill ordered a cheeseburger and beans, I ordered a chicken caesar salad. Trying to be good, right? The salad came in a huge dinner plate sized bread bowl! 

Yes, a salad would be a good choice.
Ha! Wrong! It was huge!
The fried okra was good and Bill
enjoyed his burger.

It wasn't the best salad, not even close, (you win some, you lose some) but I ate what I could, ate the rolls, a few fried potatoes and onions that were brought to the table - free. We were stuffed so I picked out the chicken for Gibbs, left the rest of the salad (over half), paid our bill and walked home.

When we walked out,
the empty dining room waiting for
more customers caught my eye.
Also, the old stove and decor
was very eye catching.
Good night!

It was a lot of food for the price we paid but it is mostly the ambience and experience we love best. Gibbs loved some chicken bits with his food. No need for sandwiches tomorrow, great! We'll watch Survivor from last Wednesday and I'll be off to bed soon after.

It was a great day! We reached a lovely high of 73F/24C today. Shorts weather again.

Thank you all for your support and comments regarding our decision for the future. We appreciate hearing from you! Check out Bill's blog from yesterday here.

Thank you for your comments too. A picture of our spot here will be in tomorrow's post, if I remember!

Sentimental Journey

 The Ridge

It was 6:15 when we all stirred on Sunday, Oct. 18th. Today was not the day to be dangling. There was excitement and the normal nervous anxiety we always feel when leaving a long term location. 

Good morning!

Looks like a lovely send off!

All went perfectly and we were hooked up and pulling out at 8 am. 

It was a beautiful sunny sky yet a bitter wind had me tucking my chin in my coat while checking lights and taking last pictures. Brr.

And then we roll!

We took a bit of a different route, through Listowel, Atwood and Mitchell. It was nice for a change. Gibbs was a pretty good traveler but each turn was cause for concern. 🤷‍♀️ Does Daddy know where he's going?

Yes, we put up with a bit of
whimpering and panting
but he's a pretty good traveler.

We made a brief nature stop at South Huron, following Hwy 23 to #7. Elginfield and Ailsa Craig were on our route. Seeing signs for Lucan, Granton, Denfield and Clandeboye brings back good memories of my teenage years. 🥰

We don't come this way 
all the time but today,
it was the route we chose.

From Hwy 7 we caught the 402 to Sarnia and soon came upon the slow moving lanes at the Blue Water Bridge. We got in line at 11:30 and after waiting 45 min. got up to the border guard. Very pleasant but asked us over to secondary for our I-94 documentation. 

The Blue Water bridge and view is always
picture worthy.

Easy from there. Picture, fingerprints and since their computer was acting up, we didn't have to pay the $35/each fee. Bill got teased that I was his daughter and that made up for the long delay. 🤭 (for me anyway!)We actually only spent 15 personal minutes with them before wished a great winter.

Some views along the way.
Little at that cute water tower.

We ate our sandwiches on the road, it was 12:45, and we stopped at a rest stop for a nature call. At Imlay City, MI we fueled up at $6.14/gal, saving $8.74 with Mudflap. The I-69w was pretty good so far. We knew we'd be late getting to our HH destination so messaged for approval to still go. 🤷‍♀️

What a nice place!
Too bad we arrived after hours but I 
could still tour the grounds with the
windmills.

Of course! was the reply so we carried on to the Mid-America Windmill Museum, arriving at 5:05, the only overnighters. That's nice! 

Gibbs and I walked the grounds

Bill was obviously very tired, as were Gibbs and I, but after setting up, Gibbs and I walked to peruse the old windmills on the property. Some running quite well. In case you're interested, here are some 

of them.

For supper, we just had weenies and mack & cheese with the last 2 pieces of carrot cake. Finally it's gone! Melodie, your muffins were wonderful for our lunch! 

So, now on to a bit of an explanation for the title of our blog. Bill and I made the decision during the summer that this is our last year of traveling to the United States for our winter. With his diagnosis of a heart murmur 2 1/2 years ago, his travel/health insurance rises each year. Age is only a small increase.

Supper was a no-brainer.
A switch up tomorrow though.

This year, we each took $5000 deductible just to bring it to a reachable cost. We figure, as sad as it is, 10 years living in an rv fulltime, traveling south for 9 of those years, it's time to stop while we are both still in good health and in full control of our future. What will we do?

Well, Robin, our bnb friend, has offered us the Carriage House to be our permanent 'full time' sticks and bricks home. That really helped to make the decision easier. It will be a bnb until August 1st when we will take possession. 

Don't worry! The Suite will still be on The Ridge and our summer 'cottage'. We're very settled with it all, after running through various scenarios. Living right in town will be nice and we have a number of friends there already. 

This winter will also be different. In the theme of saving some funds, we canceled our reservation in Park Place RV Park with Sue and will be boondocking at Roadrunner blm with Ken and Kim for as long as they are there. It's how we started out in 2016 and it's how we'll finish.

It was a long day but a good one. Tomorrow will be much the same, Bill just checked, so come back and see where we end up! We had sunny skies all day and evening, with around 64F/17.78C for a high. Here and at home.

Here's where we are.
Good night!

Thank you for coming along with us.