We’ve Arrived in Iowa

Yesterday we had an uneventful drive from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin to Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was another beautiful day with highs in the 80s. I love uneventful driving days!

We’re staying at Black Hawk Park. It’s a county campground, and is very nice. We have a full-hook up site with 50 amp service for $22 a night. They also have electric only sites for $17. 

We’ve heard that Iowa has lots of bike trails. That’s the case at this park. There are miles of bike trails that go through this park. You can ride to many of the surrounding cities. Yesterday we rode for about an hour. The trails are paved, and it was a great ride. We went to Big Woods Lake Park. There is another county campground there.

I’m loving these bike trails. Today, we’ll ride in the opposite direction we went yesterday and see what we can find.

The main reason we stopped in Iowa on our way to Kansas was to visit Kevin’s brother, Joe, and his family. Last night Joe and his youngest son, Robert, came for a visit. Joe’s wife, Julie, was at a meeting, so we’ll see her today. We cooked hot dogs and smores at the campfire and had a nice visit. Today, we’re driving up to there house in Waverly.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Fabulous Weather and an Interview

The past seven days have been some of the most beautiful weather ever. Sunny, highs near 80* every day, and no humidity. The sky is that gorgeous crisp blue color you only get in fall.  The great weather brought many campers to our park. We only had one vacant site by the time Saturday evening rolled around. The fantastic weather has caused the trees to explode with color.

Unfortunately, the unit camped right next to us this weekend were the most annoying people we’ve encountered during the entire season. We don’t have a problem being friendly, but the woman talked non-stop. As soon as she saw us, she was over here. Then she acted like she was our helper, telling other campers the rules. Their dog was a yappy little barker. Her grandchildren came Saturday afternoon and ran wild through the park without any supervision. They were running around behind our camper. I was afraid they’d knock our satellite dish over. One of them had an accident in the bathroom. They were just a real pain!

Thank goodness we’re leaving tomorrow. We’ve had enough of “customers” for a while. Don’t get me wrong, we loved our summer here. But, after almost six months, it’s time to move on for a while. We’ve agreed to come back next year, and are happy to do so. Kevin will be the caretaker again, and we’ll be camphosting, too. Just need a break :)

On Thursday I went to Eric’s one more time before we leave. He had to replace a few boards while siding his garage. So, I gave them a coat of paint for the winter. I also did our laundry. Now it’ll be back to laundromats for a while.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Shane who hosts a website called NationalRVParks.com. He’s been reading my blog, and wanted to know if we’d be willing to be interviewed for his website. I said sure. So, he sent me some questions, I responded, and here is the result. Isn’t the internet amazing.

Tomorrow we leave for Iowa for a few days to visit Kevin’s brother and family. We’ll make our way to Coffeyville, Kansas where we begin our job at Amazon on October 16th. So, the next adventure begins.

I’ll leave you with a picture from our “yard”. If you haven’t guessed by now, we’re Wisconsin sports fans. Our Milwaukee Brewers won the first round of the play-offs in dramatic fashion in the tenth inning of game five. They begin round two against the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon. Go Brewers!!! So far this season, the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers are undefeated. How exciting!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Another Bike Ride

Prior to yesterday we had seven days in a row with rain. We did manage to take some walks during that time, but not much else. Highs last week were in the 50s. Time to be heading south.

Yesterday the sun finally reappeared. Temperatures were still in the high 50s and we had frost the last two nights. However, the forecast for all of the upcoming week is highs in the mid 70s. That’s more like it. With the frosty conditions this morning, the lake was steaming.

Since it was sunny yesterday, we decided to take another bike ride on the Wild Goose State Trail. I thought the leaves would be full of color.  We had a nice ten mile ride, but there was very little color. Quite a few brown leaves were on the ground, but the trees were still full of green. I’m thinking the trees along the trail aren’t the colorful type. There was some beautiful red sumac.

The fuzz is coming out of the Milkweed pods, and there’s lots of Goldenrod around. Not good for allergy sufferers. You can see the dry cornstalks in the background of the picture. I’m amazed how many corn fields have not been harvested. I ‘m not positive, but I think they grind up the entire dry cornstalk and use it as silage to feed the cows during the winter.

We got home in time to watch the Milwaukee Brewers win their first playoff game. After that, the Wisconsin Badgers handily beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Today the Brewers play game two, and the Green Bay Packers have a game. Kevin is in sports heaven right now!

Our park has several Shaggy Bark Hickory trees. The last two weeks, there have been a number of people coming by and collecting the nuts. I asked one couple what they do with them. They told me they are very tasty, and they also sell them. After a little online searching, I found out people are selling them for $9 to $12 a pound. I had no idea. I’ve been collecting a pocketful on my walks. So far, I have collected this many.

I understand they are difficult to crack and get out of the shells. I’m letting them dry out for a few weeks, and then I’ll see how it goes. I did crack open a few of them, and they are very tasty; reminded me of pecans.

On Thursday we went back to the dentist. Kevin had his root canal and I had a cavity filled. About $1,100 later, we’re in good dental shape again. Hopefully, other than cleanings, that’s it for several years.

We leave a week from tomorrow. Lots to accomplish this last week!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Comments Problem

Last week I changed the comments feature on my blog to try and make leaving comments easier. Since then, I haven’t received any comments. Merikay was kind enough to send me an email telling me it wasn’t working. I asked Rick to help, and he responded right away.

For some reason, the post options settings for my 3 most recent posts had the comments settings turned off. I’m not sure why this happened, but at least now I know to check it.

So, I’ve reposted the two most recent entries today with the comments feature enabled. Hopefully, you can now tell me what you think. I love computers and the internet when everything is working great. But, when it’s not, GRRRR!!!

Completed Projects

I’ve finally finished some of my quilting projects that I purchased last year at Quilt Expo in Madison.  I loved these flower panels, and made this lap quilt for myself.  The colors are even more vibrant than the picture shows. I love how it turned out. It has found a home hanging over the back of my recliner, ready to keep me warm.

I used some techniques I learned at the free-motion quilting class I attended in June. I used a stencil I had purchased on clearance a few months ago. I drew lines using the stencil for the quilting along the borders. I used a quilt marker where the lines disappear when you iron over them. It worked great. Even though I had lines to follow, I used the free-motion foot on my machine. I wasn’t always able to follow the lines exactly, but I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt.

The other project I completed are some placemats my mom will be getting for Christmas. She doesn’t use a computer, so my showing you won’t ruin the surprise.  I’m very pleased with how they turned out. The pictures are of my mom and her friend, Richard; my brother and his wife; our two boys which are her only grandchildren; and Kevin and myself in the Rocky Mountains.
I used my printer to copy the pictures onto photo fabric. It was a fun project! The sample pictures on the pattern show buttons sewn along some of the edges. I think buttons would not work well for placemats; your plate wouldn’t be flat. So, I’m going to try to find some other trim to embellish the mats. Maybe some ribbon or bric-a-brac kinds of trim.

Our area was pretty dry this summer, and we were about 5 inches below average for rainfall. Well, we’ve been catching up. It has been raining off and on for three days. Last night and this morning it rained very hard, so I think we’re definitely getting caught up.  It really feels like fall.
I sure wish the weathermen would get their forecasts right more often. Eric was planning on residing his garage this fall. We had offered to help take off the old siding and then Eric and his roommate would put up the new stuff over the weekend.  After watching the weather early last week, the forecast was for sunny days all the way through the weekend.
So, on Thursday Kevin and I went to Eric’s house and took off all the old siding. Kevin did most of the work, I was the helper removing lots of nails from the old pieces. Unfortunately, an unexpected front came up from the south, and suddenly the forecast was for rain all weekend. Gosh darn it! They did get most of the siding done on Saturday in between some rain showers. It’ll all be okay, but I wish those forecasters would get it right!
On Thursday on our way to Eric’s, Kevin and I stopped at a lab to get drug tested for our job at Amazon. They sure do a very thorough check on their temporary workers. They require a high school transcript, a background check, and a drug test. It makes me kind of sad that employers have to be so careful when hiring workers. Not a very positive reflection on our society. The good news is we hopefully won’t have to worry about what kind of co-workers we’ll be dealing with.
Two weeks from today we head south!
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Comments

Last Saturday we spent the day at Green Lake Campground with our camping club. Kevin played golf with some of the guys in the morning, and I went shopping with the ladies. We went to the Rippin’ Good cookie outlet store and a craft shop we like in Ripon. The campground has a little 9 hole, par 3 golf course so a bunch of us played a round of golf in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day chatting, stayed for the pot luck supper, sat around the campfire for a little while, and headed back home.
Due to our camphosting duties, we haven’t actually camped with the club this year, other than in June when they camped at our campground. But, we are very glad we were able to do some “day camping” with them, and spend time with everyone. When they asked for suggestions for next year’s schedule, I lobbied for them to come and camp at our campground again so we can participate in a full weekend with them.  Maybe, they should just camp here every month. We’ll see what happens.
While chatting with some of my friends, I was surprised at how many of them told me they were reading my blog regularly. None of them have ever left comments, so I didn’t know most of them read it. Some didn’t know about the comment feature, and others said they had tried leaving comments, but it was too confusing. 
Coincidentally, last Sunday Rick, who writes the blog Rick and Paulette’s RV Travels, posted a blog about comments. He made a good point about people wanting to leave a comment without putting in codes or waiting for the blog writer to approve the comment.
So, I have changed the moderation of comments on my blog. All you have to do to leave me a comment is click at the bottom of a post where it says comments. A little window will pop up where you type your comment. If you don’t have a Google account, you can leave it as an anonymous comment. Just tell me who you are in the message, unless you want to remain anonymous :) 
I think most blog writers will agree that we really do like to hear from you. Sometimes, it feels like no one is paying attention, so leave me some comments so I know you’re out there in cyberspace! If you have any problems with it, send me an email and let me know what happened. Maybe, it’s something I can fix from my end.
The weather this week has been cool, cloudy and windy. Yesterday was my last day volunteering at the daycare for this year. Other than that, I cleaned our large area rug on Monday and am doing some quilting. Pretty soon I’ll have some projects to show you.
We’re leaving in a little over two weeks and still have a bunch of stuff to get done including another visit to the dentist, haircuts, family visits, and getting the truck in for an oil change. The time sure has gone by quickly! I’m getting excited to be on the move again, but am also a tiny bit nervous about the adventure that lies ahead at Amazon.
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

*Arcadia Park*

The following is a Guest Blogger Post:

The article written by Victor Flowers

We have a small vacation cabin near Arcadia Park, Maine. The area is absolutely beautiful. I feel lucky to be able to have a vacation home in such a natural area of the country. We are looking forward to our grandkids coming to visit this summer. They tend to get bored pretty quickly, so I decided to get direc4U Maine so that they could take a break from playing cards with me in the evening and watch a little television. I always thought that I we should not get television at the cabin. I wanted it to have a rustic feel. Over the last few years without it or the internet, I realized just how disconnected I felt. I had gotten used to watching the news and staying in touch with my friends. I say that I made the technological upgrades to make the children’s stay more comfortable, but I actually really enjoy then myself. I am guessing that the kids will probably want to stay longer this summer than they have before. They always complained about having to play gin rummy in the evenings. They are in for a nice surprise!