Day 96: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety, Jig

Day 96, Tuesday: My birthday and it seems fitting and memorable that the Great National Retirement Tour should end on my birthday. This day will be the birth of a totally new phase of my life. I have seen a lot of places, things, and people. I have enjoyed almost all of it. There are some places I have always wanted to see that I have now seen and I am done. There are some places that I have just scratched the surface, and I want to return. There are some friendly old haunts that I loved returning to.

I have met, re-met, and re-connected with so many people; some have been a wonderful surprise and a few (OK just one) have been a disappointment.

This is also a good day to end my trip because my driver’s license expires today.

I woke up this morning, packed up, had breakfast that David made, packed the car, hooked it to the camper with David’s help, said good-bye to LuAnne and David, and left. Well, almost. When I got to the gas station, I realized I had left my money behind. But then I was on the road again. The last leg of my journey. I am sad!

Stopped at an A&W in Windsor, Wisconsin – just west of Madison – for a rootbeer float and fried cheese curds. And some photos!

Then, because Brent had mentioned wanting to go there for a vacation, I stopped in Wisconsin Dells to pick up some brochures to send to him and Autumn. Plus a few last post cards. Where were these tourist items, you ask? Why, at Walgreens. I went to Applebees for lunch (truly horrible), and to write those last few post cards. And where was the mail box, you ask? Why, right outside Walgreens. Soon, they will have 24-hour staffed visitor information centers. Just my joke.

I skipped Norske Nook and drove straight thru to Saint Paul, but vowed to return soon. I arrived home at 6 pm with a grand total of 10,543 miles on my car for the entire trip. I got a grocery bag and filled it up with the mail order catalogs I have received in the past 4 months and then went to sleep at 7 pm. Happy but tired!

Day Two in South Beloit

Monday: LuAnne took the day off work and we went to the Rock River to walk on their promenade with the three dogs, who were extremely excited to be able to get outdoors for a walk. The park itself, where Turtle Creek comes into the Rock River, is just lovely. They have created a back pond with fountains, rock formations, and a lot of benches and trees. Separated by the walking path and some trees in the Rock River just to the west of this pond. The dogs loved the whole experience and Nana didn't even try to bite me. I took lots of photos.

We brought the panting dogs home and then went to Wickus landscaping empire in rural Beloit, Wisconsin to look at some Norway Pines. LuAnne bought two for their yard and I bought a Becky daisy to plant in my garden when I get back to Saint Paul. We took some scenic back country roads on the way home.

Back at the homestead, LuAnne wanted to sit on the back porch and figure out where to plant the Norway Pines. And to place the 4 perennials where she wanted them. This turned into a lovely afternoon of enjoying the sun, the wind, good company, and some cool water. I wrote in my journal, and took another photo of the three of us. I gave them the French macarons from Bennisons and we ate some of them. David put his wood chipper together, after which we took an inspection tour of the rear garden. It is all poking out of the earth, but not quite announcing what it is yet.

After an early dinner of fried chicken, we binge-watched more “Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries.” LuAnne has given me a new obsession!

Stockholm Inn, Gardening, and Murder

Sunday: the first full day at LuAnne and David's house in South Beloit. We decided to go out to Sunday brunch at the Stockholm Inn in Rockford at Leah's suggestion. So we got LuAnne's car out of the garage (quite a feat since it was blocked in) and headed to Rockford.

The StockholmInn is right next to the Swedish American Medical Center and has a large gift shop with a whole bunch of Scandinavian stuff for sale - Dalarna horses, ginger snaps, Ricka, Dicka, Flicka books, etc. There are also 3 different dining rooms, two of which were full. They had a Sunday brunch buffet with some American breakfast stuff, but also Swedish pancakes with lingon berries, Swedish meatballs, and scalloped apples. We ate well. The Swedish pancakes were delightful.
We drove back home, taking a detour to Home Depot to purchase potted violas and daffodils. LuAnne & I planted them in the front yard when we got back, which was almost like real work. When that job was finished, we went inside to rest up and rehydrate.

At this point, LuAnne came up with the brilliantly inspired idea to binge watch "Miss Fletcher's Murder Mysteries" series. Which we did until almost midnight. The series is set in the 1920s in Australia and I just loved the costumes and the manners of the people of that time. Everyone was just so civilized, and I want half of her costumes. Plus Miss Fisher's role as detective allowed the producers to set the action in a wide variety of places with all strata of society. And, as LuAnne said, Miss Fisher herself was totally fearless - a wonderful trait in a post-Victorian woman. A very well-done television series! In the midst of our binge, we ordered an excellent pizza with the works for dinner. I forgot to ask where it was from.

We both worked a little on our computers. I finished my blog posts up thru arriving in South Beloit. I can't believe I have gotten this far. A week ago I was very seriously behind.

South Beloit - Last Stop on the Great National Retirement Tour

I promised Peggy's daughter Leah that I would teach her how to drive a stick shift. She and her sister Marissa are going to vacation in Ireland where they have rented a manual transmission car. So, after another breakfast of Peggy's famous omelettes and home-made strawberry scones, we took a spin around Rock Falls with Leah driving the trusty Subaru. She did better than I did the first time I drove stick shift, but there was a little hopping. We also stopped at the car wash so I could wash the pollen off the car.

I packed up the car, got directions (both Peggy and Ralph suggested the more scenic Hwy 2 route), and hit the road - Highway 2. I had a little trouble in Sterling and ended up on Hwy 38 headed south. But I ran into Sink Hollow Road, which I had commented on to Peggy about the name yesterday, so I took it north and picked up Hwy 2 again. Thank goodness for the tiny compass taped to my rear view mirror. Stopped for gas along the way once. The drive was beautiful - mostly hugging the Rock River for the majority of the way.

I arrived in South Beloit around 1 pm (Saturday) - which was about 3 hours early. It's not that far from Rock Falls to Rockford, and it turns out that South Beloit is kind of a suburb of Rockford (don't tell LuAnne I said that). I missed my exit and went all the way to Beloit, Wisconsin. Took a nap at a highway rest stop until LuAnne got back to me with new directions.

David and LuAnne cooked ribeye steak, baked potatoes, and mixed veggies for dinner. Then LuAnn and I made a run to the store for some white chocolate, raspberry truffle ice cream. Nummmm! We had a rousing evening of all three of us playing on our computers in the living room - with dog escorts of course.

We all played on our computers and watched some TV before bed. Mileage on the trusty Subaru so far on this trip = 10,225 miles.

My Day in Rock Falls with Peggy

Woke up before 7 am on Friday, took a shower, and discovered that Peggy was already awake. I joined Peggy and Ralph at their kitchen table. Ralph organized a petition to have one of Peggy’s famous omelettes for breakfast, so she made us three and we had the cinnamon pecan rolls from Bennisons. They have some great contraptions for making tea.

After breakfast I caught up in my journal 4 days and 7 pages. Then Peggy and I got on the road for our adventures of the day.

First stop was the Rock Falls/Sterling dam and the aborted Hennepin Canal. The entire 66 mile length of the canal is on the National Historic Register. The idea to build it surfaced in 1834; Congress appropriated the first funds in 1890 and completed in 1907, just in time for river shipping to be on the decline and railroad shipping to be on the ascent. It was the first canal built of concrete and not stone. The water was spilling over a little less than half the dam with immense force and power. It was impressive to stand so close to it. We took some photos and then walked across on the walk-way trail to a brick path going up to the Dillon House; an historic house that mixes up Victorian, Federalist, and Moorish styles.

Next we drove to the Indian Mounds at Sinnissipi. We read the interpretive materials about the three different tribes over three different time periods back to 1500 BC who all buried their dead in these mounds. Their remains have been removed to a different burial ground. We walked on the trail along the Rock River down below the mounds. The whole area (another bend in the river) is now a city park.

Then we drove to the City of Dixon and went to Castle Rock. It’s a state park now, but was once a sacred site for the Sauk and Fox Native American tribes. They now have a staircase that takes one up to the castle rock to prevent people from damaging the site. It is a lovely view of the whole river valley from there. Peggy and I climbed to the top, took some photos, and admired the view. She told me that many Europeans came to this site on their Grand Tour of America in the mid 1800s until too many White settlers came to the area and changed the face of the landscape. Then the Europeans stopped coming.

On the drive back from Dixon I made Peggy stop at the John Deere farm and blacksmith shop for photos. The historic site was closed for the season until May 1st, but we could still take photos. Vermonter John Deere moved to Grand Detour, Illinois in 1836 and started working as a blacksmith. He struggled with busting the prairie soil with New England plows, so in 1837 he invented a self-scouring steel plow using a broken saw blade. By 1850, he was producing 1600 plows annually. In 1912, John’s son Charles’ son-in-law William Butterworth started the company’s expansion into the tractor business by buying the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company that already manufactured a successful tractor. In 2014 John Deer Company was ranked 80th in the Fortune 500.

The blacksmith shop still operates for tourists in the summer months.

I took Peggy and Ralph out to dinner at Art's Garden Deli. The owners of Art's are local Rock Falls residents and they have an interesting dining model. They serve sandwiches with fresh, healthy ingredients made to order, baked potatoes also made to order stuffed with your choice of meat and cheese, soups, and desserts - including frozen yogurt. You order and pick up just like at a deli counter. We sat outside on the patio. Peggy said she has always wanted a piazza like this at her house. It was great seeing Peggy in person again after all these years.

Day 91: Rock Falls, Illinois

Thursday: I got directions to Bryony’s and Peggy’s figured out, written down, and taped to my radio. Got the car packed up, dishes done, cooler cleaned out and repacked, bed put away, and one last photo taken. Then I headed out to Bryony’s apartment to pick up the camper.

Ooops. It wasn’t there. I called and left a message for Bryony. I called Red’s Towing and yes, it had been towed. The apartment management had called them for a tow despite the fact that I had a parking permit taped to the camper. So I drove over to Red’s and picked up the camper. It still had the parking permit attached, and they were not admitting any wrong-doing. This whole thing took 2 hours.

By the time I got on I-294 it was 3:30 pm and the middle of Chicago rush hour. I was traveling between 1st and 2nd gear until I hit I-88 (having gotten on near Willette). I’m sure I missed some tolls on I-294, but their signage is horrible. It gives you a lane to stay in to pay cash, but then right at the spot to pay, you need to move over 2 lanes to the right on what is labelled as an exit. They need help with their signage. Spent about $20 on tolls even with the missed ones.

Got to Peggy and Ralph’s house in Rock Falls about 6:30 pm. They had plans to go to dinner at the Candle Light Inn. So, I took my suitcase and bag in and we headed there. Our dining companions were Skip and his wife – he is the Mayor of Sterling. So we talked about snow plowing, crazy constituents, and staff for elected officials. We also talked about the Smoky Mountains since he is from there and still has a cabin in the Smokies. He is an amusing and affable guy – easy to see how he got elected.

I had Chicken George – the Candle Light’s specialty dish – with baked sweet potato and a green salad. What makes Chicken George is the sauce – sort of a lemony mayonnaise with mustard and some other spices. Very good!

Peggy is my cousin - her Dad Sherman and my Dad Carmen were brothers. I remember going over to her house to play when they lived in Willmar many years ago. And I remember her toys being way better than my toys. We had a good time talking about our grandparents and uncles.

Mileage on Day 91 = 10,110 miles on car to date.

A Day of Rest in Chicago

I had good intentions of going out to explore the neighborhood in Evanston (especially Noyes and maybe try to find that microbrewery again). But instead I called in to check on the status of my credit cards. One of my cards had been hacked and used to pay for 5 hotel rooms in Half Moon Bay, California all on one day. Dealing with this catastrophe took all morning. I cancelled my card. The only good news is that none of those charges have actually posted yet, which may or may not be good for me. I have to call back next week and find out.

After dealing with that, I occupied myself by taking a nap today (Wednesday). I did, however, first make myself a Smithfield bologna sandwich for breakfast. Still delicious.

Kerri wasn't up for cooking and I did want to get out into the fresh air (temperatures were in the 40s the last few days) at least for a little while. So, I walked up to Noyes Street and had some Korean BBQ and hot & sour soup at Mandarin House.

When I got back to Kerri's, I called Autumn and we talked about the possibility of taking the train to Minnesota when they move there next year. I am excited about having them move to Minnesota and see DJ having a chance to go to kindergarten in Minnesota. She liked the idea of the train, since it would be extremely difficult for her to fly alone with 3 babies.

I finished all the blog posts up thru Springfield, posted a couple more posts to Facebook (now in the Smokies), and mashed up more photos before going to bed. This is my last night in Chicago. I had pictured the Blues, but didn't want to go alone.