Movin’ and musin’
August 30, 2009

A longer driving day than we prefer: we are traversing from west to east most of Illinois and Indiana, but then will light for another week or so. We were a bit concerned about space availability around the Labor Day weekend, so opted to sit it out. Rowdy will be happy, no doubt. He may have thought we were going live in Cahokia after being there for nine nights, probably a record stay for us, so hid under the covers this morning when he noticed the signs of departure.

Despite being an Illinois native, Chris has not seen the part of the state we’re crossing nor any of the southern region we’ve been exploring. He has spotted a section way down in the southern tip around Rend Lake that he wants to set up camp next time we are here. Because of our longish day today, we are again utilizing Interstate 70 to make our dash. Have just crossed Highland Silver Lake, which looked like a nice place to kayak as it wound through tree-lined banks. The only problem with places like that is finding cleared spots to get out of the boats and stretch cramped legs. There have been times when we’ve slipped and slid on slimy muddy banks trying to get a foothold without kicking the boat away. The possibility of landing belly-down in the mud whilst my boat drifts out to sea has crossed my mind.

The blog has felt somewhat burdensome this past week partly because of the internet connection shutting down in the midst of things. It has made me think about ceasing the endeavor. It has been very enjoyable, but the glitches have made it take much more time than I want to spend on it. I was up until midnight last night trying to get it posted and the travelogue emailed, and still was not successful until this morning. This will require some thought about the advisability of continuing. I know I shall miss it if I do discontinue. As my mother always said, “We’ll see”. In her case, it meant “No way in the world” thus providing no fodder for argument.

How could I not have realized that I could be answering old email correspondence whilst zooming down the road is beyond me, just thought it wasn’t possible because of no internet while driving, but my partner has informed me that I can reply to emails already received, will just have to wait for wifi to send them. Of course there is the small matter of power; that battery lasts only so long.

Note to self: thunk base of hand on forehead to indicate feeling foolish.

On our long sojourn last year, we set an intention to produce Chris’ third music cd. The most hectic itinerary imaginable made it impossible to accomplish. And then we were scooping up new ancestors by the bucketful. Soooo, this year we (I really) duplicated the intention, but am having little success in convincing the musician.

By direct questioning, I did manage to get him to say what genre of cd he would do next if he were doing it. He came up with two alternatives - folk and Celtic - and we formulated a tune list for each. So now we have two possibilities complete with tune lists. I even have some ideas for the cover designs. All that is required is to record them . . . oh, is that all.

It was 60 degrees when we left home this morning. A couple of hot days in the past week, but otherwise, the weather has been surprisingly pleasant.

Midway across Illinois, we are surprised to see oil wells, had no idea there was such here. Other than that, it has been pretty much large tree-lined farms, soybeans and corn without change.

As we advance eastward, the monotonous flat farmland gives way to slightly hillier topography and signs of some peach orchards and vineyards. It has scarcely warmed up - 65 at 11 a.m. with unforecast rain threatening. As we proceed across Indiana, the rolling ground rearranges itself back into tabletop mode.

We have set up in our new home, a new KOA plopped into the middle of miles of corn fields, totally peaceful and quiet. It was clearly a not-long-ago woodlot that has been opened up by removal of bunches of trees; this fact seems obvious because the trees (lots of ‘em) that remain are very tall and spindly with no low branches.

The workkampers, Glen and Marlena, who checked us in are very friendly snowbirds - here in summer, warmer climes in winter. The temps went a bit higher than forecast: all the way up to 70. I have to keep pinching myself to be sure it’s real. We have no neighbors a’tall but I suspect Labor Day will change that.

I shot this photo of Rowdy leading us into the park. Somehow he always knows when it’s time and props himself up on the dashboard watching to be sure we get it right. In about six months on the road with him, we’ve yet to pull into an RV park without his assistance.

Chris has run off to town ostensibly to purchase something to grill, perhaps also to get a span of time away from his family. These constant very close quarters are a maker-or-breaker. From one minute to the next, we’re not sure which way it’s going, but one thing is sure: you can’t leave it to fester, a good lesson.

I was very unhappy with myself this morning when I discovered that those few unguarded minutes yesterday wading into unmowed grass to read a sign about Lewis & Clark netted us chiggers. We have been so careful up until now, but yesterday, I guess a false sense of security sent us off into chigger land. It’s kinda like unprotected sex; it only takes once.