Day 37

Day 37    July 13 – Through Wisconsin to Illinois

By the time we awoke, the storm had passed and the sun was out. We slowly got ourselves up and ready for the day. My family memories graciously allowed us to do a load of laundry – some of us were almost out of underwear and socks! They wanted to take us out for breakfast, so we followed them into town, but quickly realized that the place they wanted to bring us, Sparky’s, was going to be too busy. It was RiverFest weekend. We turned around and went away from the town to Perkins instead. Even though we had breakfast at the Perkins in Sioux Falls the day before, we were happy to go again since we all had enjoyed the meal there. Once again, the boys surprised me with how much food they can eat at one time. My Mediterranean omelet and breakfast potatoes were quite filling. I saved my Wildberry Mammoth Muffin for later.

We drove back to John and Hennie’s home, put the clothes in the dryer, cleaned out the van, packed the cooler and our suitcases, and visited a short while longer. Once the clothes were dried and folded, we said goodbye and off we went. Again we were so surprised how people we really don't know, or just know vaguely, were willing to open up their home (and pool) to us. It confirms my belief that most people are kind. We picked up our popup from their daughter's house and headed east some more.

The weather was sunny and clear all day and the countryside was picturesque for the remainder of Minnesota and throughout Wisconsin. Ed was happy that we had slept safe and sound (and that he had a few cups of good coffee). We saw many dairy farms and agricultural fields throughout our drive. I guess it makes sense that it’s America’s Dairyland here. We should have stopped to buy some cheese, but the GPS had us arriving in the Chicago area around 8:45pm and we didn’t want to be setting up in the dark again. I'm not sure why; we've gotten pretty good at it by now.

Ed ended up driving the entire day. He said he was well rested, enjoyed the scenery, and was pleasantly full. Thank goodness! We just stopped for gas, a couple of rest stops, and Taco Bell for a late lunch. We took it To Go so we wouldn’t lose too much time. The roads were well paved for the most part and we had a nice tailwind pushing us, so we got to the KOA in the outskirts of Chicago, IL, just as the sun set.

We still had plenty of time to get the camper set up in the daylight. I went to the camp store for butter, since the sticks we had, melted into a big puddle when we had left them in the non-cooled refrigerator while it was in the shop. Yuck! Well, at least I had had them stored in a Ziploc bag. That would have been even worse.

Ed cooked the spaghetti on the camp stove outside while I heated up the sauce and Ali prepared the toast. Ali got the carrots passed out and it all came together around the same time. But, I have to say that it was the worst spaghetti we’ve ever had. We had bought the tomato sauce at a Grocery Outlet in Olympia, not realizing that the “No Salt Added” claim meant that it was almost non-edible. Ali said it smelled and tasted like tomato soup. That was better than what I was thinking it tasted like. Our pickiest eater, Cameron, seemed to enjoy his spaghetti, as he never eats his with tomato sauce. This is one time that he benefited from his pickiness.  We only ate half of our meal before tossing it and trying something else. I made some nachos and we finished the extra toast that was made. I decided that I’d better try and redeem myself, so I made S’Mores in the toaster oven. The bugs were out that night and I didn’t want to hassle with building a fire. The treats turned out delicious if I do say so myself. They were huge and I made two for each of us, and we ate every last crumb. We each needed napkins and wet wipes to clean off the residual goo.

It wasn’t long before Ed was in bed snoring and the rest of us were each on our laptops and/or reading our books. I was surprised that Ed could even sleep as the Wild West Town’s Saloon directly next door had a live rock band performing to kick off their Saturday night concert series. Lucky for us to be part of the audience, whether we wanted to be or not. We finally had peace and quiet around 12:30.  The kids and I were happy to stay up a little later since we knew check-out wasn’t’ going to be until noon the next day and we were in no rush to leave in the morning. A sigh of relief for no major issues, if you don't count the spaghetti snafu.

 At John and Hennie's house, near Minneapolis

A quick stop in Wisconsin.