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.

Driehaus Museum and Chicago's Gold Coast

Kerri wasn't feeling well today, so she stayed home. We still didn't get going to the Gold Coast for the Driehaus Museum until after 1 pm. I parked on Ohio and the Museum is one block away on Erie. It is a gorgeous old mansion built of stone. It might be Victorian or Edwardian, but it has some rococo mixed in. And it is huge! It's owned by a guy whose own biography describes his occupation as "art collector." He has spent a fortune on renovating the house - the stained glass rotunda, and the painted cloth ceilings. I would love to see the whole interior some time.

They were hosting a "Costumes of Downtown Abbey" show so you had to have tickets for the show, which was sold out, in order to see the house.

Bue we did have tickets for high tea in the ballroom on the second floor. What a grand space with its own church-sized stained glass window. Kerri and I bought 1930s style Downton Abbey felt hats for tea and took photos in front of a Downton Abbey backdrop. I also bought some regular cards of 1920s and 1930s flapper dresses.

We were seated for tea. The tea was very good - some Imperial blend. But then the costumed "staff" came around with a sparkling Moscato. A 3-tiered plate of: (1) scones and lemon bread with clotted cream and raspberry preserves, (2) tiny finger sandwiches, specifically roast beef, cucumber and cream cheese, egg salad, and smoked salmon, and (3) dessert - tiny servings of chocolate-covered walnuts, brownies, and a cream tart with strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry.

It was all delicious and all too small to really fill us up, but enough that we weren't hungry after. They had a card with a story on the back assigning credit to a Duchess in Queen Victoria's time who would get peckish at 4 pm, and started the habit of having tiny portions of a meal with tea for her women friends - who were also able to catch up on gossip at the occasions. Queen Victoria picked up on high tea and shortly thereafter the whole country was having high tea with gossip.

So Kerri and I caught up on gossip, enjoyed the meal, the wine and the tea, the ambience, and our fellow diners.

Kerri drove my car back to her apartment so I could slip into the Gold Coast Walgreens and purchase some more postcards. This Walgreens was all set up for Chicago Land tourists, so I bought a shot glass for Brent and 2 Chicago yellow taxi cabs for DJ and Nasir.

We stayed home for the rest of the night and I worked on the blog and Facebook. I added photos from my evening painting (Merlot & a Masterpiece) with Jane in Bloomington. Kerri still wasn't feeling well and went to sleep early.

Day 1 in Chicago: Exploring Evanston

I was so tired yesterday and today (Monday) that my eyes hurt. Woke up at 9 am. Wrote in my journal, downloaded photos, wrote in my blog, and posted on Facebook. Also did Kerri’s dishes from last night.

There is a 2 hour parking limit here without a permit on Kerri’s street in Evanston. I moved the car to a side street at 11 am, and then drove the car to downtown Evanston so I could go to Bennison bakery, and to see if they are an internet café.

The answer is no, but Delbe’s one block away is. Never connected to the internet there, but was able to do a lot of writing in my journal. I had a pastrami bagel and latte and stayed there until they closed at 3 pm. Because I still had 45 minutes left on the parking meter and shouldn't be back at Kerri's until 4 pm (2 hour parking limit), I stuck another quarter in the parking meter and took a 45 minute nap.

When Kerri got home, we took our laundry in, and went to dinner at Farm House farm to table restaurant. My trout was excellent. Kerri wasn't really happy with her hamburger - they forgot the bacon. We also split a black dale salad. The lace was decorated with old barn wood walls, which was clever, but it was very loud (the ceiling is hard).

We caught up on news. She showed me photos of the engagement ring and wedding dress she wants. Her fiance lives in Kansas, but is looking for a new professor job somewhere else. At home again, I worked on my blog and photos some more.

Day 87: Chicago Land

Woke up at 4 am to heavy rain and howling winds on Sunday. Also, Kerri was texting me that Paul & Diem are fighting over me parking the camper in their driveway. My travel karma had run out. I wrote to Peggy asking if I could come to Rock Falls earlier. She said her husband just had surgery, so that would not work. But I could park the camper at her daughter’s home in Glenview – which is really close to Kerri’s.

So, I was on the road by 1:30 pm – when the winds died down a little. Took I-55 to I-294 practically the whole way. Had the wind mostly to my back and drove slower. Even slower than normal. Cold, rainy, and windy the whole trip. Got to Bryony’s around 5 pm. Bryony gave me excellent directions. Met her husband and cute-as-a-button daughter Grace, had some tea, then got on the road to Kerri’s.

Arrived at Kerri's apartment in Evanston about 7ish. She was making soup – just what I was hoping for. We had soup and talked – then hit the sack.

Mileage on Day 87 = 9,950