August 11, 2015

When we woke up, there were two other RV's staying overnight at the Brady's Leap rest stop. Except for stopping for diesel and to let the dogs out several times, we drove straight through. One of those times while George walked the dogs I ran in and bought Starbucks beverages. Coffee one for me and a vanilla bean frappechino for George. While there I bought two croissants to make tuna fish sandwiches in for lunch. Caught up to the storms and had to deal with wet roads and those horrible cattle chutes. It is totally a white knuckle ride. When we arrived back to Sicklerville, NJ the MDX was dead. Even though George checked my work of hooking up the break assist and running through the ritual of the manufacturer's requirements for towing a vehicle on all fours, I imagine that I must have forgotten to turn off the A/C. George set up the portable jumpstart thingy and plugged it in to the RV with the motor running to charge it up in order to jumpstart the MDX. It worked fine.While we were unpacking the RV, I left the MDX running to charge the batteries. It took us two trips we thought to unload the RV, but we noticed that we need a third one as well, as neither one of us remembered to bring home our clean shirts out of the hanging closet.

August 10 - On the way home!

August 10

Storms were in the forecast for Dearborn, MI, however we only ran into a few drops of rain. Today we went to the Henry Ford Museum to tour the Ford Rouge F-150 Pick-Up Truck Plant. Funny thing is George was given the Senior Discount and I wasn't. The tour cost us $30. and it is was a pretty amazing presentation before the actual plant tour. Previously we had toured the Corvette Assembly Plan in Bowling Green, KY which was more of a hands on assembly whereas this plant has a lot more automation. It was cool to see the robotic arms glue in both the moon roofs and the front and back windshields. All of the pick-up truck built at this plant are aluminum. It might have been my imagination but the colors on the trucks really seemed to pop. Afterward we set the GPS for home. We drove out of the parking lot and headed for home. Funny thing is the first night of our trip we stayed on the Ohio turnpike and it began to storm. Tonight we are staying in the turnpike at mile marker 197 at the Travel Plaza named Brady's Leap. The storms from earlier in a the day caught up to us.

August 9 - Belleville, MI

August 9

Travel day from Mackinaw City, MI to Belleville, MI. On the way we stopped at a rest area and George just happened to go back to the car to get his sunglasses when he noticed the cord that connected the lights on our tow vehicle and RV were mangled since they had been apparently dragging for 200 miles. Needless to say we had no lights on our tow vehicle. Fortunately we had a new one that George had accidentally put through the wrong tow arm and couldn't reach the MDX. Every night on the trip he kept saying he had to take it apart and put through the correct arm. So at the rest stop he was forced to do it do we would have lights. Inadvertently he dropped this teeny weeny little screw and by luck he saw it in a completely different place then he thought he dropped it at. I had chosen a campground near Dearborn in Belleville, MI with an odd name- Wayne County Fairgrounds RV Park, which actually is a 4H fairgrounds. While cooking mushrooms, George looked up local eateries. He said that I looked like I didn't want to cook, when in fact, he didn't want to cook since he was supposed to grill pork chops. So we went to the Twisted Rooster and had fish tacos, fried pickles and he had a pulled pork sandwich. We were too stuffed for dessert.

August 8 -Mackinac Island

(A correction from my last post: Instead of the Mackinaw Bridge, it is actually the Mackinac Bridge over the Straits of Mackinac. Once again the Internet access is poor here. I write all of my posts off-line with the hopes of being able to post at a later date or time.)

Today, instead of taking the campground shuttle over to the passenger ferry we decided to take the MDX. Originally we were going to take the dogs but Abby was in a real snit this morning. We could have taken just Nutmeg, but lately she has been slipping her collar. Plus we wouldn't be able to tour Fort Mackinac or go in any other building. So  we went without them. Arriving at the ferry, we noticed that people were taking their bicycles with them. So George asked the ferry rep if the scooters were allowed on Mackinac Island. She wasn't sure so she asked the manager. The consensus was that it was okay. So with that said, it cost us $18. to ferry the scooters round-trip. The ferries   are all hydro jet propelled which are fast. They also have a rooster tail of water that shoots from the stern of the boat. When we arrived to the island we picked up the scooters and walked them out to the street. As we were getting ready to ride them down the street a guy driving a wagon yelled that the scooters were illegal on the island. So George asked a police officer and he said they were okay. We bought carriage tour tickets and then rode our scooters up to the location to pick up the carriage. Parking the scooters across the street in the designated bike parking area along the curb. The place is CRAZY with hundreds of noodle-heads on bicycles. There are Police Assistants plus Police on Bikes patrolling the streets trying to control the craziness. We got on our carriage which turned out to be a wagon with rubber tires. Every cart, wagon or carriage was horse drawn. No horseless carriages are on the island at all. Everyone depends on horses like in the olden days. We saw bread delivered via a flat bed wagon. They use Belgian Draft horses to pull the wagons in a range of colors from palomino to dappled-grays. The wagon or carriage tours gives a lay of the land. When we got back to downtown, neither of us could remember where we had parked the scooters. After searching for them up and down the street three times, we came to the conclusion that they were missing. We thought we had parked them across the street from where the wagon loaded. So we went and told one of the Police assistants (PA) and she told us that they were impounded and were at the Police station, as they were illegal to have on the island. Actually we were relieved that the police had them. The PA walked us up to talk to the head officer on duty and he explained about the fact that there were no motor driven vehicles on the island and even motor assisted bikes needed a special permit to be allowed. Which in reality wasn't totally true since those handicapped carts that people ride are allowed, and are motorized. The police told us they would keep our scooters until we were ready to leave the island. We then stayed around the Police department area as we knew we needed to go back to get the scooters when we were ready to leave. George had asked where a good place to eat middle of the line was and The Seabisciut was suggested. We had lunch and I looked in several of the shops that didn't sell fudge. The downtown area as something in the realm of 20 fudge shops that specialize in just fudge. Some have 10, 20, 30 or 40 flavors of just fudge. I bought myself a Polartec type jacket with Mackinac Island embroidered on it. Then we went back to the police station where our scooters were locked up. George was escorted out of town on his scooter. I had to walk mine to the pier and when I arrived George and the police escort who also happened to be the officer who told George in the first place that the scooters were okay were waiting for me. We walked our scooters to the ferry location and when the boat arrived, they were placed on board. It was chilly riding back so I was glad that I had purchased the jacket. When we arrived back on the mainland George was able to get his money back for the transportation of the scooters. When we were leaving the dock area on Mackinaw, I counted 10 fudge shops. 

August 7

August 7, 2015

Today was what I refer to as a travel day, which is a day when we move from one base camp to another. With that said, George picked up a pamphlet in Munising, MI advertising a cruise through the Soo Locks. Supposed to be famous, although we had never heard of them. Since our travel day was just a short hop, I suggested we take the cruise today on the way to Mackinaw City. George was able to check out the parking situation via Google Earth which loaded one pixel at a time it seemed. There was ample parking at both docks. We arrived at the dock just in the nick of time for the 10:00 cruise. The Soo Lock connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron. One side is Canada and the other is Michigan. This cruise we were able to get seats on the upper deck right near the railing on the Port side. Of course in order to see anything George and I migrated to the bow. It took a lot longer to go North then South. North they had to fill the lock with water, which took about 20 minutes whereas going South the water drained out very fast. It really is an ingenious idea. From there we drove over the famous Mackinaw Bridge. I don't know what I was expecting but it was just painted that industrial green color, nothing fancy. It wasn't as scary as several other bridges we have been on. George claims he saw a giant hotdog on a roof as we were coming off the bridge. When we arrived at the campground and they gave us a map of the site, we got lost in the campground. Their map wasn't very good to say the least. Funny thing is George likes to sit outside and I am fine doing it as long as there are no flying insects buzzing in my ears. The Internet access in the upper peninsula of Michigan has been bad due to limited phone towers. So now that we are under the bridge as the Yoopers say for those south of the Mackinaw Bridge. The Internet access is still poor at the campground. I'm writing this post in the hopes to be able to post it tomorrow while waiting at the terminal for the Mackinaw Island Ferry.

August 5 - Newberry

August 5 - Today we went to Pictured Rock National Lake Shore which if you ask me is a waste of time from the land. I'm glad they made it a National Park to preserve it. The Eastern side of the park has giant sand dunes with a rather fast and steep slide down. It's how the loggers would slide the logs down to the Lake Superior and is called a Log Slide. It has a disclaimer above to keep people with common sense to not try to slide down as getting back up can take an hour or more for those in peak shape. And should you get injured on the way down, rescue will be difficult. We did sand dunes at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore nearly doing George and Acadia in. And of course the super high dunes at Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina. We were able to view the slide from a lookout. We met these two young people with kayaks that wanted to know if we knew where the pictured rocks were and we said based on the map there was access to the lake 35 miles away. So at this point we decided to drive the 35 miles to the town of Munising to see if they had any cruises to the Pictured Rocks and they did, only problem is I had to buy the tickets for tomorrow at 10:00 AM. So instead of going to see waterfalls tomorrow we are going to go see the pictured rocks like they should be seen. The upper peninsula is mostly forests and farm land, at least where we have traveled. The only wildlife we have seen is deer, cranes, sea gulls & chipmunks. There are moose and bear around and frankly I hope they stay off the roads. In Maine every mile there is a lookout for moose sign. 

August 6 - Newberry, MI

This morning we got up at 7:45 AM to drive 1.5 hours to Munising, MI to get our cruise at  the City Dock. We actually went for a buffet breakfast at a restaurant called Dog Patch. From my childhood, I remembered Dog Patch was in a comic strip my Mim & Dad read called "Li'L Abner" by Al Capp. I was right too, as it has the characters as decorations on the walls. I really have no idea what the series of comics were about, but I remember my Dad laughing so hard and passing the newspaper to my Mom so she could read it too! Both laughed out loud! This was the scenario every Sunday morning. After breakfast I was chomping at the bit since we had to be at the dock at 9:45 AM and we were waiting for the check and it was 9:35. When we parked there was already a mile long line on the dock of people. The crew steward said they were loading two boats and by the time we arrived at the boats the top deck was totally full on both boats so I went into the cabin of the first one and we were able to get a open window seat. After riding for 20 minutes out to the Pictured Rocks cliffs George and I were happy we were inside. The temperature outside was 55 and on the water with the wind even colder. We both put our sweatshirt and jacket on. Of course if I had, had a brain cell in action I would have asked if there were tickets available for the sunset cruise. The sun would have been shining on the cliffs making the colors pop more. At first they were darker from their own shadows. However as the sun came up the colored rocks were amazing. After that cruise we went to check out another cruise but the first available cruise was at 4 PM and we didn't want to hang around until then because of the dogs. George wanted to try another Pasty, so we asked Siri where the best Pasty's were and she was totally confused since she is obviously not a Yooper. So I ended up asking Google and it found Muldoon's Pasties & gifts. They looked smaller the my friend Becky's but they were just a different shape. So I bought two lol. Funny thing is I liked Becky's filling better but Muldoon's pastry covering the pasty was better. We ended up only eating one. Then we drove back to the campground and grabbed the dogs.

August 3 - New London, WI

Today was beautiful with hight temp of 77 degrees F. Puffy white clouds contrasting the bright blue sky. We went to Green Bay today to two places that we saw listed in a Fantasy Tour brochure at the FMCA Rally. The first place was The National  Railroad Museum. It included a toy display, advertising medallions, full sized steam and Diesel engines as well as Pullman, box cars, and sleepers that were open to walk through.  The museum had a Union Pacific "Big Boy" (steam) number 4017, one of 25 engines and the Dwight D. Eisenhower (a non-traditional looking steam engine). For an extra $1 there was a train ride too. Funny thing is every time George and I take a train ride, we always sit on the wrong side and this ride was no different. After the museum we needed a pizza fix and decided to go to a place called Old Chicago. I was thinking it might be upside down like other Chicago style pizza we have had, but it wasn't. Don't misunderstand me, the pizza was delicious, just not what I expected. From there we went to the self touted "The Nation's Largest Cooking Store" Cooks Corner in Green Bay, WI. It was big and had a lot of great products. I only bought a 1/2 pound of fudge. We stopped at a Northern something that carries tools as George gets their catalog. Then we stopped and bought 4 ears of sweet corn that was pretty bad. Of course we are spoiled with Stella's Jersey Sweet Corn which might be Silver Queen. The dogs were able to be off lease and played ball. They are also tolerating George trying to hover his drone better but only in my lap for protection from it. George uploaded my photos from the camera to his laptop. Mine is too antiquated and is well on its way to becoming a paper weight. He also uploaded my photos from my iPhone.

August 2 - New London

August 2

At first the plan was to just relax today as there was no real push to get everyone to leave. Check out time was a noon. But when drinking my coffee I saw a brochure of The Dells Boat Tours with had really cool looking sandstone formations. So we drove back up to the Wisconsin Dells with the RV and MDX. George looked on Google Earth to see how big the parking lot was. Went on 2-hour cruise which also included two land excursions with a snack bar at the end of the hike which I thought was funny. The second hike was up to an amphitheater where a German Shepard jumped from one sandstone tower to another. It was scary until George saw the dog had a net. This feat was all brought about because someone wanted to do motion photography back in the late 1800's with a still camera. He had some other guy jump the gap which is 5' wide, 65' off the ground 14 times until the photographer achieved the effect he wanted. Nowadays they use a dog for the feat. At the other landing there was a boardwalk through a narrow water eroded through the limestone channel. I was shocked as I didn't hear the narrator on the boat say that there was a concession stand at the end. George got an ice cream cone and he bought me a root beer float. After that we debated as to whether we wanted to get a campsite in Wisconsin Dells and see a magic show or go do the original plan. George said it was up to me so I chose to go to New London as I was too tired to go to a magic show. Of course if we had stayed at Wisconsin Dells we wouldn't have been hit by the 70 mph winds and hail storm on our way. When we arrived to the campground it was sunny with black skies to the East. We had been to this campground before the EAA AirVenture, so we knew that after 4 PM everyone was at the bar on site. So when I walked in they all knew me! They asked about how we liked the EAA show? They told me that the storm missed them but after we arrived we did have a two thunderstorms. George had bought a drone at the FMCA rally and Abby does not approve of him learning to fly it in the RV. 

August 1 - FMCA Rally

Laurie & Bob left a day early to go back to Jersey. I told George at around 6 AM that Laurie had been bitten the night before. He got up, took the dogs out and went over to see them off. I however snoozed for another hour. George went to a seminar after they left. I spent the morning planning the rest of the trip and getting reservations. When George came back we drove to Middleton, WI to the National Mustard Museum. Funny thing is today was National Mustard Day and the town was celebrating. They had funny parlor games such as Ring the Mustard Container; Mustard Container Bowling; Paint with Mustard; Feed the Curator; spin the mustard wheel. They had mustard judging; Miss Mustard; Honey Mustard Ice Cream, lots of mustard to taste. Well George tasted too much mustard and became ill. He tried to cut the acid from the mustard with Gelato and it worked for a while. We went into the National Mustard Museum and were amazed by all of the different mustards made not only in the USA but around the world. Found out the #1 producer of mustard seeds in Canada and the United States is the #1 importer. So after feeling better, he tried more mustard. I bought two kinds and a T-Shirt. So then we headed to Swisstown in New Glarus, WI, but when he became ill again, we aborted. He ate some TUMS and felt better. So then once again we were headed to Swisstown. However, we decided not to go. We got back to the Rally. George went to the vendor area and I went and play 3 games of Pickle Ball. After dinner which we ate late, I took the dogs for a long walk. I could see the Wisconsin Capitol building all lit up again and was kicking myself that I didn't take my camera. George and I got in the car and drove to the top of a hill but we couldn't see the Capitol building. Funny thing is we could see it from our parking lot better. George brought a tri-pod but it was too light to hold the camera with the telephoto lens. The photos came out half way decent. Tomorrow we are headed to either Reedstown or New London, WI. 

July 31 - FMCA Rally

Today I slept in today, and woke up to what sounded like George talking on the phone. However it was one of a couple of salesmen that George asked to measure our windows to get replacement shades. Laurie & Bob stopped over to pick us up to go sightseeing. We drove around the Capitol of Wisconsin but ended up going to a local distillery called Yahadda Bay. The owner gave us a free tour and then there was a free tasting. Laurie & Bob bought Piña Colada Vodka, Cocoa Liqueur, and a Cranberry Vodka. We bought a Chai Vodka and Gin for our Son-in-law for his birthday. We stopped for lunch and then went back to the Rally. We invited them for dinner at our coach. Laurie and I went to the FMCA Ladies Social. George grilled chicken wings & French fries. I made beer bread with Yengling beer that Bob donated, in the convection oven. After dinner we all went to the FMCA entertainment which was a band from Chicago, IL. The band was New Odyssey and it was great! Then we came back and went back to our own RV's. Laurie back at her RV was bitten by a black lab puppy good enough that it bled a lot. Never A Dull Moment. 

July 30 - FMCA Rally

Today was opening day of the vendor exhibits. George and I both had different seminars that we were interested in. Laurie & I went to "Insider: Tips on Cleaning" and it was interesting. She graduated from being my mother to being my sister. Years ago, we went to a Good Sam Rally down in Kentucky. Laurie and I were looking at the various vendors when she stopped to get a massage. There was a lady next to her too. Since Laurie was talking to someone else I told the lady next to her to tell her I was going down to another booth. The lady next to her said, "Your daughter is leaving!" Well that got Laurie's attention right away! Laurie replied to the woman, "Do you have cataracts?" We all had a good laugh, especially me. After the seminar we made silver & turquoise necklaces upstairs. Then Laurie went back to her RV and I went to play two games of Pickle Ball. I took a cold shower and then went to Laurie & Bob's coach for dinner. She made a delicious chicken recipe in her crock pot. Laurie & Bob went off location to an Entegra Coach get together. We went back and George walked the dogs and then we went in search of a supermarket. We had a lovely tour of downtown Madison. 

July 29 - FMCA Rally -Opening Day

Got up at 6:00 AM since Laurie and I wanted to see what crafts they were offering. The first day of the rally one needs to be at the sign-up table early to get the best selection. Last summer at the FMCA Goshen Glamarama when Laurie and I didn't get to the sign-up table until 8:00 AM, she missed being able to make a butterfly necklace which she had wanted to make. We signed up to make a silver and turquoise necklace at $35. each. Laurie & I learned to play Pickle Ball today. Which is a game that is a combo of ping pong, tennis and badminton played with a whiffle ball. We played two games with different partners and I was in the losing team both times. I came back to the RV while George, Bob & Laurie all want to a seminar. I walked the dogs and then went back to sleep. I had set my alarm as I wanted to go to a different seminar. I met the others at the ice cream stand. Laurie and I went to the seminar Shoulda Coulda Woulda which was about tips having to do with RVing. One interesting tip was to carry hornet spray as a safety self defense weapon to spray a potential bad guy in the face & eyes, and it is not against the law to have it in your possession and it will stop someone instantly! Also and we are guilty of doing the next tip: Get rid of any sign with your name on it, as criminals could potentially use the name on the sign to knock & yell, "Hey Debby, I need your help!!!" Of course, I would think I knew the person, when in fact they would only be interested in doing me harm. So the sign is going to get altered. We went back to the RV and I took the dogs for walk. I opted not to go look at the new RV's when the others did. Instead I made "Home Fries" as a side for our dinner. George was pleasantly surprised when he came back. After dinner George went with me to walk the dogs. While out and about we walked over to where Laurie & Bob's RV was parked. Right in front of their rig was a cop car, 5 security golf carts and a dozen people standing around. So we walked down to find out what was going on? Just as we got there Laurie & Bob popped out of their RV and we all found out that propane odor was coming from one of the RV's three down from their RV. Of course everyone like noodle heads including us were all standing around so if it blew, we would all been blown to the moon. The skeeters started to feed on George so we headed back. When camping at these rallies or massive gatherings of RVs, the mass quantities of people using their smart phones in one small location taxes the phone service. So once again, that makes for the iffy possibility that I might be able to post this blog tonight. 

July 28 - Alliant Energy Center FMCA Rally - Madison, WI

This morning we left the campground around 7 AM with the idea we would get to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. We weren't far off from that estimate even with stopping at a TA Travel Center for diesel. When we arrived they put us in the Holding Area but in no time we were moving to our permanent location in Lot B, 2nd Street & Row 49. Our travel buddies Laurie & Bob had arrived the night before and were already set up in their spot. Both of us had prepaid for electric except we were able to get 50 amps and they only could get 30 amps since they signed up late. The funny thing is we texted them our location but they had no idea where lot B was nor did the driver of the golf cart they were riding. So he drive them all over the complex looking for Lot B and it was right next to the lot they were in. After we all turned in our locator cards and received our rally bags full of goodies we decided to go sight seeing. But before that we went to Cracker Barrel for food. George always gets the Sunrise Skillet with sawmill gravy. Bob got French toast & eggs. Laurie got a well done egg and bacon and I got pecan pancakes which I had never had but would certainly get them again. From there we went back to the RV's to put the awnings down since I looked at Weather Bug App and it looked like a big storm front was coming. We then drove to the Wisconsin Dells to take a horse drawn wagon through a narrow gorge. From a peep interested in geology, the rock formations were cool but... In reality it is what we refer to as a TT. From there we decided to ride the Original Wisconsin Dell Ducks which we all were convinced was going to break down any minute by the noise of the amphibian vehicle. There is no way the military could perform a sneak attack in these things unless the opposing army was all wearing ear plugs. We had fun on the Ducks tour and the scenery was gorgeous. On the way back we got gas and stopped at another cheese manufacturer. I bought bacon jerky, cheese fudge, Hawaiian Bratwurst, Gouda, hot & sweet mustard. Then we came back and went to our own RVs. After dinner I took the dogs for a nice long walk and ran into Laurie & Bob riding their bikes. Then George came up to us on his scooter and I told him Laurie & Bob were out and about so he went to look for them. Of course when I went back it was the one time I didn't have my keys and it was locked so I sat down in the chair George had set out. George loves to sit outside and read his magazines. I prefer to be inside with no flying insects buzzing in my ears. He will like walking the dogs here as he is a social butterfly and there are plenty of RV enthusiasts to chat with. Eventually he came back with Laurie & Bob. We sat and chatted and then the mosquitoes started biting and we dispersed. George had several large welts. They normally don't bite me and since George has been on oxygen, the Jersey skeeters haven't found him tasty. So it was a bit of a shock to him to be bitten by the Wisconsin State Bird which is what the locals refer to the mosquito as. 

July 27, 2015 - Portage, Wisconsin

 This morning we got up and had our coffee & chai as per usual. We could hear some of the military jets leaving. A group of 8 motorhomes surrounded us which I thought was odd. George took the dogs out to play fetch while I took the trash to the dumpster. The last time he threw the doughnut toy, both dogs basically said they were done by not fetching it. So I went to get it when this guy came towards me from one of the motorhome RVs and asked me if the dogs were mine. He and his wife were interested in Nutmeg because they had a Sheltie in their RV. Their Sheltie was male and mostly black with a white blaze. They were retired Air Force officers and the Sheltie was about 18 mos. old and was very skittish. Funny thing is Nutmeg wouldn't do any of the tricks we know she can do. The guy had wanted to see the F-35 perform but it only did a fly by. Then he was talking about missing the F-22, P-51 & P-38 flying together. He wished he had seen that. I told him if he gave me his email, I would send him a photo of them that I took last Wednesday, when they were actually practicing the maneuver. He did give me his email. I told him I needed to upload my photos from my camera to the computer before I could send them. Soon they left as their caravan was headed to the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally, which we are headed to tomorrow. After a week of dry camping which means no water, sewer or electric. You arrive to your destination with an empty black water tank, empty gray water tank both sewer related, full fuel tank to run generator to produce electric and full tank of fresh water. Then the rationing begins. This time we made it from Monday to Saturday without emptying the tanks. The very first time we went to a rally, we saw a truck called the Honey Wagon. Naturally, I thought they sold honey (Chuckle), but a honey wagon actually is a holding tank pump out truck for those who don't want to have to pack up their camp to go dump their tanks. Our travel buddies Laurie & Bob made it to Madison, Wisconsin about an hour ago. We will meet up with them tomorrow. As we were driving to Portage to Sky High Campground every road it seemed was closed so it took us longer to get here. The campground is really nice sitting up on a mountain overlooking the valley. Has a brand new heated pool with crystal clear water. Has a great arcade and I whooped George this time at air hockey. The funny thing is I now have a bruise on my pinky since it got smacked by the puck because I was holding the paddle wrong. We played while we were doing our laundry. We do have a washer dryer combo on board our RV, but it can only handle two shirts and two pairs of jeans at a time or a similar combo. We only use it when we are at a campground hooked up to a sewer line. So we both had 11 days worth of dirty clothes. We also had ice cream from the camp store ice cream parlor. I had Mackinaw Island & Butter pecan and George had 2 scoops of cookie dough. It was very good. We had leftovers for dinner so we didn't have to drag out the grill for one night. The campground has a 9 hole course of something called Chuckle Ball which is similar to golf except a softball sized ball is used. 

July 26 -EAA AirVenture - Day 7

Today is the last day of AirVenture 2015. Yesterday I forgot to mention that in the afternoon when everyone was at the air show, George took the RV over to the dump station to dump the black & gray holding tanks and to replenish the potable water, so this morning when we got up, there was easy 50 RVs in line to dump their tanks. 

We rode our scooters down to the Ultralight barn, and the first thing we noticed on the way was all of the planes were mostly gone. Yesterday all the fields were covered with parked planes. The numerous acreage of fields that were once filled with wall to wall RVs also were beginning to thin out. Well the plan was to see the ultralights and then take a connecting bus down to Lake Winnebago to see the sea planes moored. That plan was dismissed when most of the ultralights were gone and the bus service to the seaplanes were discontinued. George bought orange cheddar deep fried cheese curds which we ate while waiting for the tram to pick up. At first we were going to ride the tram to the shopping area but George said he was worried that we would be miles away from our scooters if they should discontinue the trams. It was hotter than hades. And the humidity was 56%!!! There was no breeze at all hardly, and a tent in the shade with a fan was a blessing. The very first day we were at the EAA AirVenture Convention, we didn't have our chairs and we didn't want to repeat that. So the plan was to go back to the RV eat lunch and grab the folding chairs and go back to the Air Show. What I want to know is what happened to the 78 degree temps? Anyways, we decided not to go to the air show since it was a repeat of Friday's show. I wrote checks to pay bills so we went to the post office by SUV and then to Target to find a bike lock with less tension in the cable. Ended up going to a bike shop for the lock. Then we went to the Pick & Save grocery store. While we were there the F-22 flew over as it turned around to perform at the air show! I love that jet, and part of the love affair is the sound it makes! George asked me which plane was my favorite? I said the F-22 and his favorite was the Screaming Sasquatch which was part jet & part propeller driven plane by Jack Links jerky. Earlier in the day I marinated pork chops with crushed pineapple, Worcestershire sauce, teriyaki sauce and soy sauce. George grilled them along with bell peppers for dinner. George put away the outside stuff and I put away the inside stuff in preparation for our departure tomorrow. I had tried to get reservations in Madison, Wisconsin for the day before the FMCA Rally but all were booked so I had to get one an hour away in Portage, Wisconsin. 

July 25 - EAA AirVenture - Day 6

Today once again, I got up early and took the dogs out on their morning walk. However, this time I went back to sleep. George fed the dogs this morning. And yesterday, I forgot to mention in my blog that George appeared to be suffering from a weird ailment to his hands where they were a yellow orange color. With the Internet spotty here we texted our one daughter Jenn to ask her to look up fatigue and yellow orange hands. She couldn't find anything, although, when we were on I-41 in certain areas I was able to get my phone to work, and I found out it might be an allergic reaction to the sun.   But that was ruled out when I saw images of the ailment on Google. We decided to watch it and if it got any worse we would go to an urgent care. This morning George's hands were considerably lighter. It was really odd because I had the same weird thing on my right palm. Well today when George fed the dogs he found out what the weird yellow orange color was...food coloring from the dog food. Since he is scooped the food out with his hands that is how his hands became stained. I don't understand if dogs are color blind, why food manufacturers feel the need to put food coloring in the food. My biggest pet peeve is the red food coloring in dog or cat food. Anyway, I'm glad we didn't go to the urgent care. (That would have been a riot!). Today we went to the EAA museum. At first we thought we needed to buy tickets but then George noticed it was free for those who had the orange wrist bands, which we had. The museum was very nice and had a lot of hands on exhibits.  Didn't bring my camera to the museum so we had to use our phones. In the parking lot near where we boarded the museum bus there were a lot full of motorcycles and one of them was a trike that reminded me of a motorcycle version of "Herman Munster's" car only in yellow. At first we were going to go back to the RV but then decided we would get lunch in the AirVenture cafe and then take the tram down to the Ultralight barn. We had pulled pork sandwiches which were very tasty, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. Funny thing is we ended up just taking the tram for a ride and never got off until we reached the gate we had parked our scooters at. After dinner we went out in the nearby field to see the night air show but it just wasn't the same as being down on the Tarmac with the loud engine noises of the planes, jets, explosions & fireworks. Around 10pm we heard the fireworks going off and Abby barked at the distant noise. Tonight was the first night when the Mosquitos were thick, probably due to the fact that there was no wind at all. 

July 24 - EAA AirVenture 2015 - Day 5

Well today was a switch, George slept in and I got up at 6:00 and took the dogs for a long walk. We came back and he was still snoozing so instead of putting Abby in the bathroom to eat, I put Nutmeg. Abby wolfed down her wet food and then went in her cubby hole under a chair. When I let Nutmeg out, I also picked up her empty dish. Abby went to check it out and the door was closed. While I brewed coffee for myself I played with the dogs. George got up at 8:00 and I brewed him his chai. I took the dogs out again at 9:00, and then we decided to go to a cheese shop that makes the cheese there. It's Widmer's Cheese Cellars. On the way we bought our first fast food of the trip and got Sausage Mc Griddles meals. Then we headed to the cheese shop which was about 39 miles South of Oshkosh. When we arrived there was a tour bus with all the people crammed into this tiny shop. The shop sent them outside to taste cheese on crackers. We bought a baby Swiss, Gouda, horseradish cheese spread, Gorgonzola, spreadable aged Asiago. When we got back to Oshkosh, I did some food shopping while George washed the MDX which was dirty from being towed in the rain storm. We had lunch, and then rode the scooters to the convention grounds for the air show at 2:30. We sat under a plane wing in the shade. Today's show included 112 parachutists; precision flying vintage propeller planes; Good Year blimp, acrobatic biplanes; a biplane which also was fitted with a jet engine; acrobatic jet; clown type act; F-100 Super Saber Jets; F-4 Phantom II precision flying demo; F-22 Raptor and the highlight a USMC AV-AB Harrier 2. The noise was deafening but wonderful at the same time. I got a lot of great photos that are once in a lifetime shots. At the end the F-22 Raptor, a P-38 & a P-51 flew together in precision flying. We actually had seen them practicing that maneuver the day before while at our RV. I bought myself a T-Shirt commemorating the EAA Oshkosh AirVenture 2015 convention and George a baseball cap of the same. When we got back to the RV we met our neighbors. Funny thing is they are building a Buttercup Kit Plane. They bought an old Chevy Corvair and had the engine removed and refitted for the plane's engine. They already have a plane but this is something they always wanted to do, or let me refrain, it's something the husband always wanted to do lol. 

July 23 - EAA AirVenture 2015 - Day 4

We both slept in today. So we got a late start. Since Abby was her old sweet and love able self last night (not), I locked her out of the bedroom. So this morning she was so happy to see us for real, wagging her tail and such, that is until I deviated from the norm and gave the dogs dry food instead of wet. She had a hissy fit and we finally had to lure her away from her empty food dish in the bathroom with jerky. Once she was out, George was too slow to shut the door and she ate the jerky and ran back in. So we had to do it again and this time it worked. I suggested through the door for him to pick up the bowl which he did and as soon as he came out she went back in but was no longer interested in staying there. Nutmeg ate her meal in the living area without a peep. So now Queen Abby was happy again and we headed off to the EAA Convention on our scooters. First thing we did was get on a tram headed North to the War Birds area. The camp reenactment that I thought just looking at it was just World War II and not Desert Storm or Korean War. The British tents were and orangish yellow in color which through me off yesterday. Then we looked at all of the planes from the various wars. They had Zeroes too which they used in their reenactment of Tora Tora Tora, but it wasn't an authentic Zero as all of them were destroyed as a result of Japan's surrender. So other planes of the time frame were modified to the Zero specifications. George wanted to see the Lincoln and the Miller Welding exhibits so while we were there we walked past a food concession and they had the deep fried white cheddar cheese curds famous in Wisconsin which he had want to try. They are similar to mozzarella sticks except they are round and taste like cheddar and they don't seem to dip them in anything. We then headed back to the RV and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. George thought he heard that there was a plane crash at the EAA today since Internet goes in an out frequently, I texted our daughter Jenn to have her look it up. Actually it happened yesterday. May have happened yesterday during the afternoon air show at one of the other runways because in the middle of the air show there were what sounded like tornado sirens that lasted for 15 minutes. I thought the peep who was operating the siren was out of sync with the show as later they blasted it again only this time it was for the reenactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A lady next to us at the air show told me one or two small planes crash every year there. Which actually is a small percentage considering how many planes are here. Tomorrow the game plan is to go to the ultra-lite section of the convention and then go to the 2:30 pm air show. I need to go to the EAA booth to get a show T-Shirt before we leave. 

July 22 - EAA - Day 3

Started morning off good with no hitches. It nice to have a fully charged scooter battery. We went to Gate 27 which had all of the gift shop type exhibits. They had a lot of cool things including drones. However, when the demonstrator said the drone controls were like that of a model helicopter I told George to forget it since many years ago, I bought him a radio controlled helicopter. We at the time lived in the development Kings Grant. Our area was made up of numerous dead end streets. And the houses were very close together. I told him when I gave it to him, to fly on the acreage that he and his partner owned in Berlin. First thing I know, he is flying it sort of on our street directly at our neighbor across the street's front window. This helicopter was about 3 feet long by 7" wide. So in order to keep it from going through the window he crashed it. The bill hadn't even come in for it and we were buying replacement parts. From that time on he had trouble getting it off the ground more then a few feet. So since I was a graphic artist I created a rub on decal like label called an INT. The decal was the name I gave it which was "Ground Wolf" based off a TV show from the 80's with Jan Michael Vincent called Air Wolf. Speaking of him, I'm going to have look him up to see what ever became of him. The cell service here is only good at 1 AM and even then it is spotty as there are like 5000 people all here trying to use it at once. Facebook doesn't load 1/2 the time and I wind up giving up on it after 5 minutes of the little spinning thing spinning endlessly. We checked out a precision  welding nozzle that was even impressive to me. We decided to take the tram in the beginning to go see the ultralights. But we ended up not getting off at the stop. Instead we took the whole loop of the red tram, and in doing so we saw a reenactment of military life from the 2nd World War; Korean War; Desert Storm. That is our destination tomorrow. We went back to the RV, had lunch and came back for the 2:30 air show. Some nut had too much time on his hands and put a jet engine in a school bus. There was a wing walker, acrobat planes, precision flying, reenactment of Tora Tora Tora and 112 sky divers. I took a lot of cool photos. We had steak and corn for dinner. After dinner George was washing the pot which is one of those pots with an insert for steaming. I had put about an inch of water in the pot and steamed the corn. So George said the corn water was a really odd color. It was bright green. I said that is odd. Anyways, when he took the insert out there was a green Christmas hand towel in the bottom of the pot the insert fitted in. How it got in the pot, I do not know? After dinner we went to the night air show which featured 4 precision flying in formation, 113 sky divers, planes with fireworks spouting out of their wings like  fountains and an amazing fireworks display and finale. It was crazy getting back to the RV, and this time George's scooter battery croaked. I went ahead and mine quit about a 1/4 mile from the RV and MDX. I drove the MDX back looking for George and after spotting him I had to turn around. 

July 21 -2015 - EAA - Day 2

This morning was one of those mornings when I kept forgetting where I put things or forgetting things in general. George cooked eggs for breakfast, chai for him and coffee for me. When we were getting ready to leave for the convention grounds I couldn't find my little green purse. It has my credit cards, drivers license, some cash, insurance card, AAA card, FMCA card among other things. Of course I was convinced I left it at a concession stand yesterday at the air show. Of course panic was setting in since I am in Wisconsin. After searching the whole RV George found it in my computer bag which sort of makes sense as I was revising the Today's Shopper Ad for Peddlers Warehouse. I probably thought it was a nice safe place. So now we are ready to go??? I changed everything in my black wallet has if fit in my pocket better. That's when I realized the credit card was missing and it wasn't in my wallet nor my green purse. Apparently I had just placed it loose in my flower pocketbook. Then we left or should I say, George was waiting for me outside. I put my camera on and had my wallet and realized cell phone was still on counter. Then I went out and licked the door and looked at George realizing my hat was still inside. So unlocked door and said I'm back to the dogs. Grabbed hat and went to lock the door and the keys were still inside!!!

Finally I had everything and went down to the bus stop. We sat on the bench to wait like 20 others. Three buses went by and did not stop as they were full. So George suggested taking the scooters to the main gate. However my scooter was dead so he plugged it in to charge, so we had to go by bus after all. When we arrived at the convention grounds we toured the A350 Tour Bus which is one extra extra jumbo sized plane with all the bells & whistles. We also went to the Garmin tent which consisted of mostly GPS for planes but they did have ones for the ground. We were eyeing one that we could set the size of our vehicle since our Rand NcNally one for RVs croaked. We also looked at some other planes as well as exhibits. We decided to go to this Brat store which had 15 different varieties. We chose 4 different ones: Blue cheese & ?; onion & garlic; bacon; & Wisconsin. George grilled up the blue cheese one for himself and the bacon one for me for lunch. After lunch we went back to the convention on our scooters. Half way my scooter had lost its charge and I was moving extra slow. Half way there my scooter quit working, so George started back on his to get the MDX. I called him on the phone to tell him it was working again. So he came back to where I was on his scooter. We made it all the way to the gate and we locked the scooters to each other. We had our fold up chairs too and walked over where the air show was. Today we were in a different location along the runway. Yesterday's location was better. The highlight for me was F22's (two of them) climbing and the swooping down so loud but so cool! Years ago before we were married we went to McGuire AFB's air show. We were there all day touring the different planes and watching the show. George decided he wanted to beat the traffic and we left before the Thunderbirds performed. That is why I wanted to go in the first place! To say the least, I have been lamenting about it ever since. On the way back my scooter started to slow down to the point that I had to use my legs to propel myself. Since I knew the way back to the RV I took George's scooter back to the RV to get the MDX so I could go pick up George and my scooter. Crazy is what crazy does! It was a MAD HOUSE with people, bikes, motorcycles, scooters all sizes, cars, trucks and RV's cutting in and out, plus the school bus trams. One father and son darted out in front of me and a lady coming the opposite direction. The father made it across but the kid came within an inch of his life getting hit by the golf cart! When we finally got back to the RV we both had wine coolers and watched several planes & jets doing acrobatic maneuvers. We also saw a Goodyear Blimp. 

July 20 - EAA AirAdventure 2015

We got up this morning around 8 even though we had planned to get on the road at that time. Since our site only had water and electric George needed to stop at the dump station first before we could leave for our next destination. We didn't have an actual address, just a street name, so I made up a number. Well I have to say, Wisconsin has traffic circles that rival New Jersey circles. There was three right in a row, on every road. Instead of traffic lights there are circles. At first we were going to go to a grocery store before we went to the EAA convention. But then we decided to go later in the MDX. EAA Stands for Experimental Aircraft Association, and we were amazed at how many campers are on location. We are in the full generator pet area. Tents are mostly in one area, then the sections are divided in to pets without generator, no pets & no generator, full generator no pets, day generator only no pets, pets & electric and electric only. There must be in the neighbor hood of at least 5,000 campers. The air convention began today, and most of the campers arrived before today. When I made reservations for the drive in dry camping I had no idea how enormous the area was going to be, and I didn't even think about coming a day earlier. Well the good thing about arriving late is if all of the vehicles, trailers & rigs it surely would be a mad house. The place is so big that they have school bus shuttles. Inside the convention they have trams pulled by tractors. We strolled around the corporate jet area including HondaJet where George and I tried out some crotch rockets as well as other motorcycles. We saw these super light weight folding chairs made out of materials they make planes from. What stopped us from buying them was the cost of $109 a chair. Went to the Ford exhibit and checked out the new Mustang and Edge. Then we went to the helicopter area. Also toured a all terrain vehicle monster truck camping thing that cost $500,000. Crazy!

Eventually 2:30 rolled around and the air show began. I took some really cool shots of the planes with my new zoom lens. We headed back to the RV before George ran out of oxygen. George sat out and watched various air planes fly over while I was tweaking a Peddlers Warehouse ad to go into Today's Shopper. Once The ad was finished, it took almost 20 minutes to connect to the Internet but it was moving so slow I gave up trying to send in to the publisher. So later tonight I will try again. Abby was in one of her nasty crazy moods, until We decided to go outside to watch the plans fly over. When we came in I played with Abby and Nutmeg with the sock monkey. Then they began to Wrestle which is very amusing as Nutmeg does her best to make Abby submit. They can wrestle for 20 minutes at a time. Tomorrow we are going to go in early and come back to the RV for lunch and then go back to the air show with our folding chairs that are still light weight, but not as light weight as the ones we saw today.

July 19, 2015 - New London

This morning, I got up at 3 AM to find out one of the dogs had an accident fortunately on the tile floor. We have a throw rug but we normally don't put it out unless we are in the same location more than one night. After cleaning it up it took me a while to figure out why the water wasn't working. It was due to the fact that the pump wasn't on. For some reason when I travel I go to sleep at 11:30 PM and when home I'm up to at least 2 AM. Anyway went back to bed and got up at 9:00 AM. The destination was only a two hour drive so we didn't need to rush. Since we had hooked up the car last night when we came back from dinner I walked over to the Walmart which was a hike to get some Beyond dog food in cans and some other things including a sock monkey dog toy. I also called several campgrounds near where we are going tomorrow until best Monday. Didn't think about it ahead of time and of course all of the ones in and near Lake Winnebago were totally booked. So I chose one 25 minutes North of Oshkosh and they had a site big enough. As we were driving we decided to stop at Cabellas. We wanted a mini back pack with plenty of shoulder padding for George's oxygen bottle. After searching through the bags with a bladder, I finally found one that worked. Cabellas had two interesting things in the parking lot. One was stalls for three horses and the other was a kennel to put your dogs in, but you would need a padlock to keep people from stealing them. Then we needed to find a diesel station we could get into. The first grouping were impossible but we did get Starbucks instead. We finally found one catering to trucks which was perfect. We got to the campground later than I said by 2.5 hours and the office was closed. A note on the door said to come to the bar which we did and all was well. The site was gorgeous overlooking a lake. A room with a view. We met a guy with a year old golden lab pup who only wanted to play with our dogs. We let them off their leashes and they got to romp and play like nuts. Abby our Cavapoo was intimidated by the lab and kept running and hiding behind George. Both dogs had to get their feet washed off as they got too close to the lake. We played air hockey after dinner and I scored 4 of the goals against myself by accident. George always did cream me at that game lol. Funny thing is George had this weird electrical problem in his car where the lights inside would blink on and off and the door locks would lock and unlock while we were  riding down the road. So now the RV lights inside are blinking on and off. I told George he is the common denominator in the equation.

July 18, 2015 - Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

George got up and walked the dogs before he woke me. I slept like a log in a meat locker as he had the A/C cranked down. The dogs slept in the middle between us. Last night he asked me to write an order for Starbucks but we ended up bringing out Baby Brother our one-cup-Keurig which we finally have figured out how to use it. It has only taken a year. Anyways, George told me the travel plaza had a fenced in dog park but the dogs just stood looking in one place. I pulled the MDX to the back of the RV while George got the tow bar ready. Part of the ritual of hooking it up is I put it in park while he was hooking up the tow bar. Then he signals me to put it in reverse and I slowly go backwards until I hear the tow bar lock. I then put the gear shifter through all of the gears ending with neutral. Then I turn off the engine with the keys in the ignition. Normally I would put the break assist on the brake pedal.i give the wheel some turns to make sure the wheel isn't locked. I also normally turn off the built in navigation, A/C and radio so it doesn't suck the life out of the batteries. As we were driving we figured out we would be near a Gino's East Chicago Deep Dish Pizza which we decided would be our dinner. Our RV GPS Rand McNally crapped out so I was using my phone plus George resurrected his Garmin to hel navigate us. At one point when we were south of Chicago the Garmin and my iPhone had conflicting ways.so at first we were following the Garmin before it took us in an area that didn't look to good. All I could think of was the song Leroy Brown.."In the South side of Chicago in the baddest part of town..." So since our Garmin was old and not updated we decided to use my phone with Google Maps. Since we didn't have any propane, none of our propane appliances were working including the refrigerator. It was kick started by being plugged in while we were in Portage, Ohio. For two years I have had a $200. Credit on my Pilot/Flying J credit card since every time we went to buy fuel the darn thing wouldn't work for one reason or another. So when we went to buy propane I was surprised that the darn thing worked finally. Of course our ice cream cones were like soup but since we had ice in the freezer too the rest of the stuff was still okay. As we were driving my friend Laurie posted to my Facebbok page that we were headed toward powerful storms. The batch that hit us while in Indiana weren't that impressive, however the ones in the Chicago area were severe with a tornado watch. The rain was slamming the RV however this motor home is heavier than our last one so we didn't feel the wind as much. What was more concerning was my weather app was telling me there were tornados on the ground right where we were headed. We had been to Gino's East Deep Dish Chicago pizza twice before on two other trips to the area so I noticed they had a location in Wisconsin at Lake Geneva so we plotted a course to it. We passed a Super Walmart in Lake Geneva but George insisted on driving the 42 foot RV with MDX attached through the center of town giving me the Heebeegeebees! So when we saw where it was located we made our way back to the Walmart. We parked rig and unhooked the MDX. Took the dogs out and a Walmart employee came to see if we were spending the night and U said yes. She said it was fine and not to bother the truckers parked there. So we had our face fixed for pizza so we got in the MDX and it wouldn't start. So we had a portable jumper and George jumped it while I went to get some things from Walmart. He picked me up in the MDX and went to Gino's East which overlooked Lake Geneva but they put us at a table at the bar away from the view. The pizza was great and then we drive back to the RV to watch TV.

July 17, 2015 - Portage, Ohio

Trip to Wisconsin and back again. Why does one make a list of things to pack when they don't remember to look at the list? George and I got up at 6:30 planning on being on the road by 8:00 am. However, as we were driving over to the RV I suddenly remembered we forgot the items on the list. As we were driving up our street, George's Mom called me to say we left food home and I replied that we were on our way back. We stopped at the Wawa and George topped off the tank while I went in the store for diet 44 ounce sodas and breakfast sandwiches. I filled the cups with ice and only then did I find out the machine was totally empty. Some lady was screaming at everyone who worked there about not having any 32 ounce cups. I ended up leaving before they could figure out what was wrong with the machine. Since we were going away so long, I revised the panels on the electronic sign for Peddlers Warehouse & Flea Market. George programmed my designs with days & times and uploaded it to the sign. So after packing the scooters in the MDX our tow car and the rest of the stuff George pulled in the slides. I got out as I had to manually close the bay door of the shop garage. Almost 10 minutes went by and the RV did not move out, so I opened the door to find out what the hold up was? Well it seems that we have no keys! So George says to me, do you have a set? Well I know darn right that he gave me a set last July when we went to Virginia. Of course I know I have the clicker to open the door, but what I did with the second set of keys, I have no idea? So once again we are driving back home to get the keys when I realize I have the other set of keys around my neck. George decided to go get the keys anyway. The dogs looked at us like we were nuts. George's Mom didn't even know we came home the second time. The one good thing about coming home the second time, we were able to stop and get Jersey sweet corn to take with us. George pulled the RV out and I closed the door. The breaking assist mechanism on our towed vehicle unfortunately was in a compartment under the scooters. Finally we were able to get it out, but as luck would have it, the cable was damaged so it didn't work. We not only are taking our Cavapoo Abby with us, but our grand-dog Nutmeg as well mainly because our daughter is traveling while we are going to be away and we told her we would mind her dog. Our dog rode on the floor and Nutmeg rode in the seat with me both next to me and on me. Cavapoos don't shed however Shelties do and I looked just like an angora goat by the time I got to Ohio. We decided to camp at the Travel Plaza on the Ohio Turnpike which has electric hookups for RVs. It costs $20. For overnight camping. Went to cook corn on cob and I couldn't light the stove and I said to George do we have propane? He said of course we do but as it turned out, we didn't so no hot showers. A thunderstorm came through and the power went out but fortunately came back on.