Monday May 26 - Sunday June 1
Family and Friends

Well, we got here; week one goal achieved!

For the next two weeks, we are visiting family and friends with very little sightseeing.  For the week, we got settled into Bloomington (actually Carlock), Illinois before meeting up with Bill and Diane Fahrenkrug.  Later in the week, we headed to Racine, Wisconsin to spend time with Andrew, Erin, Micah, Noah, Silas, and Harmony.  Boy, I need a way to steal some of that energy!

Next week, we will be spending three days enjoying Indiana Dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan before heading to Matthew and family in Fishers, Indiana (suburbs of Indianapolis).  So, once again, I will use some “B-Roll” filler and regale you with our wonderful fix-it life, I mean trailer life.

Snapshot of week's route

Monday, May 26:

We arrived!  Time to catch our breath. 

It is Memorial Day and Bill and Diane are driving back to their empty house after taking their son, John to Dallas where he is converting from a State Farm contract employee (in Bloomington) to a fulltime State Farm employee in Dallas.  John must being doing well as the job market is still tight.

Becky and I are taking care of overdue stuff and using the evening to relax.  Oh, and watching “24” on TV to stay caught up with the new season.

This is the Midwest!  At 3:00 PM it poured for 45 minutes and then cleared up.  BBQ hot links for dinner.  I got the grill out and then another cloud burst came through. So I improvised.

Fix-it life: for those of you concerned about our oven malfunction, I started to research it more and there is a safety valve that must be heated from the pilot before the burner will light.  This isn’t working.  I am searching for where to get the part.

Tuesday, May 27:

We met up with Bill Fahrenkrug and started to get caught up.  However, he needed to mow his lawn in the morning first.  It takes me almost 45 minutes to mow and edge my yard.  Bill is getting rather slow these days.  It took him 3-4 hours to mow and edge and he even sat and rode his mower.

Seeing Bill at his house, there seems to be something missing.  I can’t quite place it??? No snow in the driveway and yard?  Maybe that is it.

We grabbed Bill and drove to downtown Bloomington for Dinner at Olive Garden.  THAT IS WHAT WAS MISSING, Diane!  Diane joined us from work and we had a great time at dinner.  I did feel like the waitress was ready to kick us out.

Bill and Diane Fahrenkrug at Olive Garden

Wednesday, May 28:

Today was work day.  In the morning, we found a small Laundromat nearby and spent $14 in quarters to do laundry.  Then went shopping at Wally-Mart in the afternoon.

Fix-it life: I can’t find a place to get the safety valve for the oven.  I have searched some forums and found that it is no longer made because the switch uses Mercury for the sensor and the laws have changed and Mercury in the switch is no longer allowed.  A call to Camping World confirms that the part is no longer available and there is not a retrofit replacement; you have to replace the oven.

As I always say, “when at first you don’t succeed, use a bigger torch!”  Some people on the forums said they had success by heating the sensor and this started it working again.  Walley-Mart, $15 propane torch.  This got the switch to open and gas to flow to the burner.  I will have to try it over the next few days to see if it will continue to work before we commit a dinner to it.

Thursday, May 29:

Today is a travel day from Bloomington, Illinois to Racine, Wisconsin (230 miles).  I wanted to get on the road about 10:00 AM, but …

Fix-it life: I thought I had lowered the TV antenna but I checked before we left and it was still up.  I cranked its crank in the roof and checked and it still wasn’t down; tried again and the crank came apart in my hand.  I had to dig the tools out of the bottom of the truck tool box, find a way to grab the post sticking down from the ceiling and through many trials to figure out how to first align the antenna and then crank it down with a wrench.  There, it’s down.  We got on the road shortly after 11:00 AM.

This...

belongs up here!

We arrive at a basic but nice public RV park in Cliffside Racine County Park.  We headed to Andrew, Erin, and family where we got to windup the grandkids, Micah, Noah, Silas, and Harmony before leaving them with their parents to deal with.  This was my first time to meet Harmony (almost 2 years old) in person; a pretty and sweet granddaughter.

Friday, May 30:

We enjoyed the day with Andrew, Erin, and grandkids.  Grandparents get to wind the grandkids up and hand them back to their parents.  Ah, the life of a grandparent.

Becky with our Wisconsin Grandkids: Micah, Noah, Silas, and Harmony

Micah, the goat

Harmony on her jungle gym

Saturday, May 31:

More time spoiling the grandkids. 

The Wisconsin Burgoynes

Becky with Harmony

The Wisconsin Grandsons

Sunday, June 1: 

We went to church with Andrew, Erin, et.al. and you guessed it, we spoiled the grandkids.

Next week:

We are off to spend three days at Indiana Dunes before heading to Fishers, Indiana to visit with Matthew, Tasha, Asher, and Timothy.