Disclaimer - this blog is written primarily so I can journal our vacation as it happens, in order to remember it when I scrap it. You are welcome to come along on our vacation, just know I am writing for me, not for you :)
Friday, July 2
We began our vacation as we have many times, by heading to OFCO (Other Family Camp Out). This year it was again held at Lickdale Campground in Jonestown, PA. Camping were us (Rick and Deb), Rick's parents, and my brother's family - Pete, Regi, Danny (until Sunday morning) and Ryan.
We arrived about 6:00, set up, and were surprised when Danny and Ryan drove up to our site. Pete and Regi were expecting to be there about 8:00, Danny was a surprise addition, arriving in advance of his parents. They waited at the campsite while the rest of us (Rick's parents and us) went out for dinner. We had hoped the Smokehouse BBQ place had re-opened after their fire, but instead a new restaurant, The Woods Creek Grill, had taken their place. The menu was quite - unusual - with elk chili, rattlesnake, bison burgers, and other 'interesting' meat choices. I found a lovely trail salad - nice and safe. Rick went nuts over the elk chili and the full rack of ribs - that he could not finish!
We enjoyed the campfire - even had to put on jeans and sweatshirts, the weather was beautiful, the skies clear and starry. Ryan had ginormous marshmallows that he was toasting. Because they were so big, the middle did not toast, so he toasted them in layers. At one point, he toasted one for me - I peeled off the toasted layer, and he toasted it again. Pete ate that layer, then he toasted it one last time and Regi ate that. 3 of us ate the same toasted marshmallow and had plenty!
Saturday, July 3 - Happy Birthday Heidi!!
This was designated 'Family Day' - the day when those not camping with us could join us for the day at the campground. Abbie; Patti, Paul, Heidi and her friend Haeden; Mom and Dad Mohr; Jim, Lisa, Courtney, Corissa, Caiti and Laurie's 4 kids all came for the day.
The 'kids' enjoyed stream stomping (kids included Pete and Danny), checking out crayfish and watching the fish. They also had fun at the playground, and the teenagers hung out talking and taking pictures of themselves :)
We had a covered dish meal, followed by birthday cake, as has been tradition to celebrate summer birthdays. Ryan, Heidi, Caiti and Abbie's birthdays are all within a few weeks either side of 4th of July.
About 5:00, a tractor pulling a hayride wagon drove by our campsite, and Lisa jumped up asking if there was a hayride. She kept encouraging us to get on - and we followed, trusting her completely. I heard the man say it was not on the weekend schedule. We drove down to the playground and picked up the rest of the kids (Lisa, Regi, Abbie and I had boarded with a few of the kids at the campsite, as well as a family from a site near ours), then we headed out on our ride. Typically, hayrides take a short tour of the campground. But we went beyond the campground into the woods, talking, laughing and singing. About 20 minutes into the ride, though, we began to realize that we had hopped onto the wagon without knowing who the driver was, or where we were going! Some had recently seen a movie which had a simliar scenario. (Theme froms Jaws begins to play here). We were relieved when, somehow, we ended up back at the campground about 30 minutes after we hopped on the wagon.
We again enjoyed the campfire, with clear skies and cool temps in the evening, and warm, not hot, temps for the daytime.
Sunday, July 4 - Happy Birthday America!!
Pete and I started the day going kayaking at Memorial Lake State Park. We kayaked for over an hour, skirting the shore for the shade and to look for wildlife. We saw a bird - possibly a kingfisher - on a bush very close to us over the water. Pete floated by, and as I approached, the bird spooked and tried to fly, which is when we realized its foot was caught on fishing line. Pete circled back and tried to get it loose with his paddle. When that didn't work and the bird was hanging upside down trying to keep its head above water, Pete grabbed the line and broke it. The bird flew into the brush on shore - line still wrapped on its foot, but free. We saw turtles and a snake, also. We kayaked the perimiter of the lake, and were ready to be done. The heat was building!
We hung around the campsite talking for a while, and Regi introduced me to tomato sandwiches. Pete, Regi, Mother and Dad Koelsch and I enjoyed them - slices of garden fresh tomatoes, onions and lettuce with mayo on bread. Yum! By now, the heat was getting serious, so we retreated to our campers for some R&R. I caught up on e-mail and downloading photos, then enjoyed a nap. By late afternoon, Regi got out her computer and we checked out niece Jennifer's wedding pictures. We had a pot-luck dinner, then enjoyed the campfire again - it cooled off nicely for the fire, at least!
Monday, July 5
We were up, packed up, and heading out before 9:00 am. The temps were already climbing. This is usually the worst travel day -through all the stuff we have seen a zillion times. We drove 322 to 80 (which at least was some different scenery), then followed 80 to Middlebury, Indiana, near Elkhard, Indiana. Hot through the day, but when we pulled into the Middlebury KOA the temps had cooled and there was a nice breeze. The staff was very friendly and helpful.
We set up, then called out for pizza - not wanting to unhook for the overnight to drive somewhere, and too hot to cook. It was also 7:00 when we pulled into camp, a bit late to start cooking.
Middlebury is right in the middle of RV country as well as Amish country. Shipshewana, the second largest Amish settlement in America, was just a few miles away. (Lancaster is the 4th largest in the US).
Tuesday, July 6 - Happy Birthday Caiti!
We got up, intending to head to the CrossRoads factory to check it out and hopefully get a tour. (CrossRoads made our Cruiser in 2006) Rick called, to find out they were on shutdown and there were no tours, and no activity making it worth going. As we were looking at the directions to get there, however, I realized that we were right in the middle of the Quilt Garden tour, which I had recently read about in a quilt magazine. The Quilt Garden Tour consists of a garden planted to look like a quilt square at different businesses. We decided to take a bit of a drive to see some - and found 4 Quilt Gardens. Haley thoroughly enjoyed greeting all the horses pulling buggies that we passed. We ended up at the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum, or original destination and purpose for stopping in this area.
The RV/MH HOF and Museum was built in 2007, totally funded by donations. All but 4 employees are volunteer. We walked through the Go RVing room, with a representation of current RVs - tent trailer, 'green' trailer, 5th wheel, and motorhomes.
We then walked through RV history, with tent trailers, motorhomes and trailers of all sizes and shapes, from the beginning of the 1900s to the 1970s. We were able to walk into most of them, and at least see in the door to others. Unique features, such as the toiled which swung into the bathroom when in use, and then swung into the wall (under the seat in the living area) when not in use; various forms of bunk beds; interesting amenities in the trailers...sure made us appreciate our luxury trailer! We were awed by the creativity of the people when designing the trailers of long ago. There was also a narrated display of the 16 steps of manufacturing trailers, which was a good alternative to our factory tour.
We ate lunch in the trailer, since it was cooled for Haley, then headed west again, following Rt. 90. We went through Chicago - oh, my! We are definitely avoiding that on the way home! We had a sprinkle in Chicago - about 33 small raindrops on the windshield from one cloud overhead that dripped a bit. Once we squirted out the other side of Chicago, we had a 2-minute sun shower. Otherwise, it was HOT, with clouds building up over the Great Lake.
We arrived in De Forest, WI about 5:30 local time (1 hour behind). We camped in the Madison KOA, very close to Madison, WI. It was HOT, HOT, HOT and the mosquitoes were biting that early. We decided to unhook and go find a restaurant. There were several fast food places in walking distance - but we don't do fast food, and we were not walking in this heat!
Spent the evening relaxing, catching up on e-mails, downloading photos and blogging.
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