Sweltering Infamous

August 1 – September 19, 2019

The last 7 weeks we’ve been sweltering away here in central IL. Our days have been spent volunteering, seeing my folks along with a visit from my brother, enjoying visits from friends and trying to stay cool. Not an easy thing to do in the heat and humidity.

In an effort to try and stay a little cooler, we moved to Lone Point, a local COE campground and under some trees. Lone Point Recreation area is a small campground on Lake Shelbyville that had some renovations done earlier this summer, they still had one volunteer site open so we moved there. It certainly was nice to get some shade on the RV but soon after Labor Day, when the campground closed we moved back to the volunteer sites at the Dam West Recreation Area, a day-use area. Unfortunately, with the planned budget cuts for the Lake Shelbyville Project, this campground won’t be open next summer.

Lone Point COE campground

Volunteer site at Dam West Recreation Area

We’ve spent our volunteer time doing a variety of jobs, our main goal for August was rescuing a very large garden that hadn’t been tended to in 5 years. Wish I had taken a picture before we started, we took tonnage, massive quantities of weeds out the garden. It looks quite barren and stark by the time we were done but next year it’ll look much nicer. We did a few rotations at the visitor center and the month of September we trained for our positions next summer. Next year we will be doing checks, on the loaner life jackets, at all of the beaches and boat ramps and also checking the bulletin boards around the complex for their required information. On our other day, we’ll be delivering supplies and fuel to the campgrounds. We also plan to put some time in making sure the gardens are not lost again.

In early August my brother Andy, his wife and one of their daughters were in town to visit with our parents. They were in the process of relocating to TX and decided to make a trip out of it. We had a good time catching up and look forward to seeing them when we get back to Port Aransas where our RV lot is located and where they will now reside in what was once their once vacation rental.

Awhile back in one of the girls’ only Facebook RV groups I belong to one of the members was looking for folks from the Hudson Valley, I commented we weren’t currently but had grown up there. She was looking for RV’ers because she was doing an article for the local paper. By the time I saw the post it was the day she was finishing the article but a few emails back and forth and she had the information she needed to include us in the article. Our friends' comments on FB were laughable, did we make ourselves famous or infamous? 

Our friends Alex and Paul visited us twice these past 7 weeks, we enjoyed doing some of the local tourist stuff, playing lots of cards…Dave’s game, and numerous visits to the local Mexican Restaurant.

 A visit to Casey IL-"Small Town, Big Things"

Two-story outhouse in Gays IL, sure wouldn't want to be the bottom person

One of our many meals at Mi Veracruz in Shelbyville IL, think we jump-started their new business. 

One hot September day Dave was enjoying a beer from Triptych, that he purchased when we were with our friends Curt and Glenda. I went to check him in on Untapped and saw that Curt was enjoying a beer that day from the same brewery, what a coincidence.

We did get to take a visit a place my dad had wanted to check out for a few years. The former Sangamon Ordnance Plant was in Illiopolis IL and was one of the largest producers of artillery ammunition. All that remains are bunkers in crop fields. Being the WWII buffs Dave and my dad are they enjoyed driving around seeing what was left. Who would have thought a place like this existed in central Illinois.

My parents are the reason for us coming to IL during the hot and humid summer months. They no longer have handyman and are needing more help as the years go by. We spent our summer working around their house, getting their to-do list done, and helping them get to doctors and outpatient surgery appointments. We got to enjoy a number of meals at our favorite local restaurants and just spending time together.

Until next time...

Jiggled to IL

June 21-July 31, 2019

By the time we were ready to leave VT, we had lined up a volunteer position at Lake Shelbyville USACE. So reservations in Canada were canceled and we headed west a good pace. Our first overnight was a place we’d been to a few times when we used to head back to VT after playing for the winter.

The Village at Turning Stone Casino in Verona NY is just off of I90 and made for a good overnight once again. While we traveled 290 miles but it took almost 7 hours. Getting out of VT the way went entails driving back roads and 2 lane highways till we got to Lake George NY where we finally hit a 4 lane road.

In the morning we were up and on the road by 9am, we had 230 miles to go before we arrived at Lake Erie State Park in Brocton NY, a new park for us, where we spent 2 nights there. Our one day there we took a walk and checked out the paths in Brocton.

Monday morning we were up and on the road about 8:30am, we had 344 miles, about 6.5 hours before we arrived at Lake Loramie State Park in Minster OH, another new park for us. The park just recently reopened as it had been flooded due to all the rains in the area. We spent 2 nights and enjoyed walking around the park a few times.

Wednesday we drove 345 miles, about 7 hours, and reached our destination at Lake Shelbyville IL. We are not in a campground but are in a volunteer area in the day-use area near the dam.

Monicals Pizza-a must as soon as we can

The next morning we met with Ashley, the volunteer lead and received our assignment. There are 3 couples working at the visitor center, each one has a spouse with a medical issue. Our job this summer is to be back up to the visitor center when we’re not doing that we will be taking care of the gardens around the Visitor Center and some of the campgrounds.

Highs of the last month:

We’ve been busy helping my folks out at their house; painting, changing out lights and various other projects for them. By the time we leave in September, we should have their current worklist taken care of. So thankful we can help them out. 

While working the VC on one of the occasional days we’ve covered, Dave was talking with a gentleman while I was on the phone. When I got off I started listening to the conversation, the voice sure sounded familiar, the face looked familiar but I couldn’t place it. As the gentleman was about to walk out the door I told Dave “I think that’s one of my cousins”. So I asked him if he was an Overmyer, he turned around and said yes, it was one of my cousins I hadn’t seen since 1985. I’ve seen some of his brothers and his parents often over the years. What are the odds of meeting like that again so many years later? We talked, exchanged contact info and talked about meeting up again soon. The next week, while we were at home, Mark comes knocking on our door. He had his mom and brother Don with him. We spent an hour visiting and catching up. 

1985, our grandfathers 100th birthday party, some of the 1st cousins. Mark is 3rd from left in the back row, Don is 2nd from left middle row.

Don, Aunt Ruth (95) Faye & Mark

We went to a local Walleye Fest, but they didn’t serve Walleye, it was Alaskan Pollock. There was a great car show going on there so we spent a few hours looking at classic cars. But the funniest thing was my cousin Mark had a car in the show. I haven’t seen him since 1985 and now three times in just a few weeks.

Mark's Dodge Super Bee

 The thinks you see driving IL backroads

Our good friends Curt and Glenda stopped in for a visit, they had been up in the Chicago area visiting family and before the headed west they stopped in to see us. As is always the case when we’re with them, there was lots of laughter and fun, some beer drinking for the boys and lots of card games since the weather was so hot. They had never been to Casey IL-small town big things. Of course, there's always a geocache to find especially when it's named "Say Hi to Dave".

There's a geocache in there somewhere

We did manage to get a brewery visit in and some trip planning done for our winter/spring travels with them next year. 

Thanks so much for stopping by Curt & Glenda!! See you at the end of the year. 

On July 4th we had a front-row seat to the fireworks that are sent up from the day-use area here where we are camped. Some of our volunteer friends came for a visit and enjoyed the show. 

Lows of the last month:

One day we came home to an awful smell, we finally traced it to our batteries. Our 2 6volt AGM batteries were bulging so we quickly took them out. If we hadn’t come home when we did we might have come home to a fire.

By far the worst thing this last month was learning of the passing of our dear friend Rena. In late January just before leaving TX she was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer. Words cannot express how sad we are at the loss of this dear friend. RIP sweet friend, we'll see you on the other side.

Until next time...