Ft. Wayne to E. St. Louis (Wed.)

Forgot a couple things I meant to post yesterday.  On Monday, Lucille, for some reason, did not put her hearing aids in, and while we were sitting out on the porch watching the kids play, Joe told her she needed to go inside and put her hearing aids in.  She immediately responded, "why, I can see them [the kids playing] pretty good."  We didn't quite compute that one!

The restaurant we went to last night had a very nice lake in the back, and two beautiful white swans apparently live there year-round.  You can eat on the patio and watch the swans and ducks, but we didn't do that.  (Joe never wants to eat outside, I think it comes from all his years of eating his lunch in the shade of the truck at work.)  

Our days in Ft. Wayne were full and went very quickly.  Joe intended to get the oil changed in the Explorer and also get it washed, but he didn't get worked in, nor did I get to the grocery store.  Nevertheless, it was time to leave on Wednesday.

I had intended to wake Joe up at 8:00 a.m., but I slept until 8:15 so we were off schedule from the beginning.  But we did get on the road about 9:20, Joe dumped our tanks while I drove over to McDonalds for breakfast sandwiches and sodas.  We watched the price of gas jump dramatically, and Jim had warned us that is what usually happens when their local station drops it suddenly a few cents.  But about an hour of of town, Joe spotted a station that hadn't got their prices raised yet, so he took advantage of that ($3.389).  We were finally, FINALLY, heading toward home.  Our GPS Lucille showed that we were going SOUTHWEST.

We were traveling in style, with Lori's roses and a Vincennes watermelon. I tried a couple of different places for the flowers to ride, but finally decided the sink was the safest.  Life is good.

Joe mentioned that he needed to use the bathroom, so I volunteered to drive for a while.  I was going to switch with him at the next stoplight, but suddenly we heard a strange thump and Joe felt something that wasn't quite right, so we pulled off the road to investigate.  PROBLEM.  The return spring on the front leveling jack had broken again, and the foot of the leveling jack had fallen off when the spring broke.  Joe said we had to have that foot (we actually have spare springs with us), so after debating about unhooking the car, he decided just to turn the motorhome around and backtrack a mile or so (we were on a 4-lane highway at this point).  So that's what we did.  Fortunately, he spotted the foot in the middle of the highway, so he pulled over and I ran out and grabbed it while he crawled underneath the RV and took the second spring off.  After we got that taken care of, he still needed to go to the bathroom, so I took over driving for the next 60+ miles, through road construction, several small towns, misty rain, and the highway changed back to 2-lane (I even passed a car while I drove on the 4-lane).  But I turned the wheel back over to him at just the right time, because we ran into a detour that took us about 21 miles out of the way, and the county roads were much narrower than the highway we had been on.
 

We took U.S. 24 across Indiana to Illinois 54, then at Springfield we picked up I-55 into E. St. Louis.  We know our gas mileage isn't as good because of all the small towns and lower speed limits, and it takes longer, when we use U.S. or state highways rather than the interstates, but we get to see so much more of the countryside and Joe really enjoys looking at all the crops.  We are definitely in the farm belt, and came upon more than one wide load.  It's always interesting to see what is being moved down the highway.  This was a dump bed for the trucks they use in mines.   We saw these in use in the copper mine in Utah a few years ago.

With our little mechanical problem and the detour, it made for a long day.  We arrived in E. St. Louis about 6:30 p.m., which is 5:30 local time now, so we gained an hour.  Joe, and I, together drove 401 miles.  As soon as we got parked, we had to replace that spring, which takes all the strength we have together.  Joe crawled under the RV, and I tried to help apply pressure from the outside.  After several attempts, and a variety of tools, we finally were successful.  Joe exerts 95% of the pressure, and I throw in about 5% to get the foot back on the hydraulic jack.  It only took about 20 minutes, but we were both hot and tired when we got it done.  After a short rest, while he took a shower I fixed dinner, using some of our Indiana produce.  Then we went over to the casino for a couple hours (yes, we are at the Casino Queen in E. St. Louis again).  Just as we were about to leave, on my last pull of the slot machine, and with 21 cents left of my gambling money, I hit a jackpot and won $97.70, so we left there happy.  Winners finally (I think we came out about $20 ahead for the night, but we will take it.)

The weather was a mixture of clouds, misty rain and finally sunshine. but it was in the 70s all day.  It was nice not to have the air conditioner on much as we drove.   Tomorrow we are going to try to make Branson, Missouri!

Visit from Vincennes Nieces (Mon.-Tues.)

Monday we were blessed with a visit from some of our Vincennes relatives.  Rachelle drove up with Jaclyn and their 4 kids, to see us and to see Grandma whom they have all missed since she has been staying with Dixie.  Lucky for us, they brought Knox County produce with them -- tomatoes (none better), corn on the cob, cantaloupes, watermelons and fresh peaches.  Dixie had fixed a great lunch of ham and beans for her brother Joe, and when the produce arrived, she whipped up a great dinner with all this produce.  We brought in chicken, but the rest was Dixie's doing (she retired from cooking when she retired from nursing, so this was above and beyond).  She even bought a birthday cake for Clayton so Grandma and Uncle Joe could share in his birthday since we missed his party on Saturday (he said, "Grandma never misses a party.")  Angie brought Sonia over to play with the girls and she stayed for dinner, but had to leave immediately after so she could get some sleep before her nursing shift started at 3:00 a.m. on Monday.  Lori also stopped by a couple times, and joined us for dinner.  She even brought me and Joe a beautiful bouquet of a dozen roses to travel with.

So we got to spend some more front-porch time with all of them, while Jaclyn and Adalyn helped Dixie shuck the corn.

It was a nice day, a little cloudy, but Joe and I wore our jeans all day.  The kids played outside, burning up some energy after their 4 1/2 hour ride.

 A little jump rope.

 Jayden, a bit unhappy.  He got hit by a ball shortly before this.

 Sonia, one busy gal.

Mallory, the fashion princess.














Eventually, the girls took the kids back to the motel for swimming.  It was not very warm today, and the water was freezing (apparently not a heated pool), but they braved the water for a little while, until they came out shivering.

Adalyn tried out some goggles for a while, but she never did get her hair wet.  Mallory and Adalyn were the heartiest, they stayed in the water longer than the other kids.

When the kids started turning blue, Lori mercifully offered to take them to her house to play ping pong, and give Rachelle and Jaclyn a tour of her house, so Joe and I headed back to the RV for the night.

Tuesday morning we got to Dixie's to find Lucille already on the front porch, waiting for her fans to show up.  She thought the girls would have to check out of the motel by 8:00 a.m., so she got up early.  However, they didn't get over there until almost 11:00, just after Joe and I showed up.  It was another lovely day (Joe and I didn't wear our jeans today), so we spent more quality time on the porch.  Rachelle introduced us to another time-waster on the SmartPhone -- "Dice Buddies" (same as yahtzee), which is just what we needed.  Dixie fed us lunch again, and Lucille mentioned a couple of times that maybe she should ride back to Vincennes with the girls, but Dixie managed to convince her to stay for another few days.  Goodbyes were said, and they headed south about 3:30.

I promised Dixie that we would eat out Tuesday night for dinner, after her marathon cooking this week, so we eventually made our dinner plans.  Dixie thought Lucille might enjoy stopping by the RV to see the campground, so we went on over and they followed shortly thereafter.  We showed Lucille the baby pictures and videos on the computer screen (thought it might be easier to see than the smartphones or the Notebook), and we even showed her the video of Andrew rolling over, with sound effects.  We had a nice dinner at Triangle Park, one of their local favorites, and then said our goodbyes.  We intend to pull out first thing in the morning (before Dixie and Lucille even are out of bed, hopefully), so this was our last visit for a while.  We really enjoyed our time here in Ft. Wayne, and especially appreciate Rachelle and Jaclyn driving up so we got to see them again.  They arrived back in Vincennes around 10:00 p.m. (after stopping in Indianapolis for a short visit with Rachelle's grandfather), so it was a quick trip and lots of miles for them. 

It was great visiting with everyone and seeing first-hand that Lucille is on the mend from her bronchitis.  Even though we had to chase her down clear to Ft. Wayne, it is always a blessing to get to spend time with her.  But it is time for us to head west, and when we leave here tomorrow, we will finally be heading toward home.  And would you believe -- gas prices jumped almost 40 cents today in Ft. Wayne, from $3.36 to $3.75.  How do they know when we are ready to hit the road???????

At the Croxtons (Sat.-Sun.)

Saturday was a lovely day, and we spent several hours on the front porch just enjoying the weather.  It was probably the nicest day we have had all summer.

Joe spent some time trying to convince Dixie that she needed to become somewhat computer literate, but I'm not sure how much progress he made.  Jim is in the market for a new laptop, so maybe that will be the trigger, but he probably won't buy that until after we leave.

Joe has been bringing his Notebook over to show his mother the pictures of Andrew that we have downloaded, so John and Bridgette -- keep those pictures coming.

Rick and Lori graciously invited us all over to their house for dinner, and she made her famous turkey burgers (delicious).  We sat out on their screened-in back porch for a while until it got too cool.  They have a beautiful back yard, but it doesn't get much sunshine.

Dan and Zach happened to be home, and Zach played a song he had recorded at music camp.  Both boys work as lifeguards at the Y and are in college now, so their summer is about over.

Sunday morning we met Jim at church, but Lucille wasn't feeling up to attending so Dixie stayed home with her.  We had lunch with some of their church friends (their normal weekly outing), then spent the afternoon at their house.  Joe got to watch the race.  Angie and Tim stopped by with Olivia, Xavier, and Sonia, so we had a nice visit with them.  The kids were playing ball out in the front yard, and it brought back memories of when John and Angie were playing out there and he broke his arm (his second arm, his other arm was already in a cast from a break 3 weeks early).  That would have been November 1987, if anyone wonders.  Fortunately, no bones were broken today.

Rick and Lori wanted to stop by the RV and get a tour -- they (especially Rick) hope to do some RVing in a few years.  We met them at our campground and spent some time educating them on the things to look for.  Our campground is located on H.W. Baals Drive (pronounced "balls").  Jim told us that Harry Baals was mayor when he was growing up, and was jokingly referred to as "fuzzy nuts."

That was a cruel set of parents who named that kid!

We had intended to go back over to the house but it got late so we decided to call it a night.  We are hoping everyone gets a good night's sleep tonight. It was cool all day, we got the jeans back out.   It was 66 degrees when we went to bed, and we had to kick the furnace on.  It got down in the 50s Sunday night and I did hear the furnace run a few times.  Nice.  Very nice.

Heading North (Thurs.-Fri.)

Thursday:  We pulled out of our very nice Nashville campground about 10:15  after doing a few chores.  Joe had a large bird deposit on his windshield, so he got the ladder down and cleaned windows.  I vacuumed while he was outside complaining, then we pulled in our slides and headed to Ft. Wayne.  We traveled interstate highways today, thinking maybe we would stop for the night around Columbus, Indiana (that seemed about halfway), but Joe just kept driving, and we ended up in Ft. Wayne about 6:30 p.m.  Traffic around Louisville and Indianapolis slowed him down a bit, and there were lots and lots of semis on the road, but he tried to keep it around 70 mph and we rolled.  He found a White Castle a little south of Louisville, so that was our lunch.  We fueled in Whiteland, Indiana for $3.529, and the price got worse after that.   The Indiana highways could use a little Obama money, they are pretty rough.  Joe had the CB on, and even the truckers were complaining to each other about these roads.

After we got set up, we went out for dinner but then we called it a night.  We are at the Johnny Appleseed campground in Ft. Wayne, a nice woodsy place right on the St. Joseph river, and only about 10 miles or so from Jim and Dixie's. They have electric and water at the sites, but apparently it took some engineering to provide the water hookups.  But we give them credit, they got'er done.

Friday:   It was really nice when we got here last night, in the 70s and low humidity.  When I got up Friday morning, it was 66, expecting a high of 80.  That sounds good to us. I walked over to the river, waiting for Joe to get up.  The river seemed pretty low, but it is a nice setting here.

We stopped for a breakfast sandwich, then got over to the Croxtons.  Dixie had just finished helping Lucille with her bath, so Mom was all cleaned up for Baby Joe.  Lucille did mention that Dixie scrubbed pretty hard, and also that she had taken a shower by herself the other day, just so we knew.  She immediately wanted to know all about the baby, so Joe sat her down at the table and got out his Notebook so he could bring up the pictures that have been posted online.

Even as poor as her eyesight is, she still sees some Froeschke in Andrew.  Joe pointed out his hairline, so we know that is a family tradition being passed on down.

Dixie has developed a passion for gardening, and her yard really shows it.  When I walked out the front door, I was engulfed with the wonderful smells of her flowers.  She has really done a beautiful job of landscaping, and the flowers go all around the house and even into the flower bed that used to be a vegetable garden in back.

Eventually we all gravitated to the front porch and just enjoyed visiting and soaking up the beautiful day.  We went down to a coney island hotdog place for lunch, and after a trip to the grocery store, we had a delicious ham dinner that Dixie had prepared.  We ended the evening playing some Mexican train, then finally headed back to the campground.

Lucille is still coughing quite a bit, although it is probably not as hard a cough as it was earlier.  She has been on medication for bronchitis for a couple weeks, so we are all hoping she is on the mend.

Ryman, Downtown Nashville (Wed.)

Today is our last day to explore Nashville, and we have a pretty busy agenda.  We headed back downtown to the Country Music Hall of Fame to get our tickets to Studio B, which John highly recommended that we see.  When we toured the Hall of Fame on Monday, it was too late to go to Studio B, but the tours left from the Museum, so that was our first stop.  We had to wait an hour for our tour bus, but it was well worth it.  Studio B, in its day, was one of only 2 recording studios in Nashville, and it was the one used by Elvis as well as many other big names.  It is still used today, although Nashville is inundated with recording studios now.  But the original tape recorders, and many of the instruments used back then, are still in place.

The black, grand piano that Elvis used is still there.  I have seen this in some of the videos of his taping sessions.  It was also used by lots of other famous singers.

There were several other pieces of original equipment still in place.  Our tour guide played several short pieces of hit records recorded here, and the sound was amazing.

There are colored lights in the ceiling, which Elvis had added, for ambience when he sang.  He like blue for love songs, red for the rockin' songs, and white for his religious recordings.  When he recorded "Are You Lonesome Tonight," they couldn't get the blue lights to work, and he tried the others but didn't like them, so he recorded that one totally in the dark, and in one take.

One of the funny stories they tell is than when Dolly Parton came for her very first recording session, she was running late and accidentally hit the side of the building.  They call that her "first hit" in Studio B.  You can still see where the concrete on the outside wall is a little different.

We concluded this tour and walked back downtown on Broadway for some lunch.  We could here live music coming from some of the restaurants, so we picked one out and sat down for a while.  We only got to hear this gal sing one song, but (at our request) it was Patsy Cline's "Walkin After Midnight."  She did a pretty good job, but nothing like Terri Clark last night.  There was a great wall-size picture of the Clydesdales on the wall here.

From there, it was a short walk to the Ryman Auditorium, the famous home of the Grand Ole Opry until 1974.  This building was originally a church, and the seats are still church pews. There are stained glass windows in the building, but they were not there originally.

We watched a short video and looked at the exhibits here.  Then we walked down to the stage.  Interestingly, the Monkees are performing here tonight.

Joe took some pictures from the balcony.  Looks like all the seats have pretty good views.  This building has wonderful acoustics, second only to the Mormon Tabernacle, even better than Carnegie Hall.

We had been on our feet for a long time by now, but we headed back down Broadway and walked into a few of the shops (mostly the boot stores).  You would think we were in Texas  from the size of some things, though.

I was glad to see that Elvis had gotten rid of the riff-raff from yesterday and was now mine alone.

We limped our way back to the car, but we had one more stop on our agenda -- the American Picker's store here, called Antique Archeology.  We found this in a big warehouse area, not the best neighborhood.

This place redefines "Junk."  I didn't see anything of any value here, although Joe was one miniature car that he thought he had watched the show where they "picked" it.  They had books about picking, and some new t-shirts, including ones that said "In Rust We Trust."  We didn't find anything here we needed.

This was an Indian motorcycle.

I thought this was probably in the best shape of anything in here.

Joe thought he remembered when they found this treasure on TV.

 Lots of stuff hanging from the ceiling.











Finally, we headed back to the RV and rested for a few hours.  We had decided to go to a restaurant with live music for dinner (I had a coupon), so we went to John A's, which was only about a mile down the road.  Our entertainer was singer/songwriter Dan Schafer, who has played backup for lots of big names including Shania Twain, George Jones, and Barbara Mandrell.  We weren't too impressed with him, and were happy to call it a day.

We enjoyed our time here in Nashville and would definitely recommend it as a vacation destination.   I really enjoyed the tour of Studio B and all the Elvis history.  Cowboy hats and boots are very popular here, with shorts or summer dresses for the gals.  There's lots to see and do here, and we hope to stop here again when we come back through this part of the country.  We would like to go to the Opry on a weekend to see if they have the old standard performances (comedians, short skits, etc.) that they didn't have on Tuesday night.

All in all, Nashville was an Excellent Adventure.