Quick Trip Home

Monday, June 24 -  Thursday, June 27, 2019

Fun and games are over.  Now we need to get back to Silver Spring.  We drove as far as Terre Haute, IN. the first night and stayed at Terre Haute Campground.

 A nice little restaurant on site.

The next day we drove to South Charleston, OH, and stayed at the Tomorrow's Stars Campground.  This is where we stayed last year.  In fact, we were only three sites further down from where we were last year.

Our final stop was just was in Washington, PA at the Washington/Pittsburgh SW KOA.  Almost home.

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One More Day of Vacation

Sunday, June 23, 2019

We really were not done with Illinois.  Having to go home is very discouraging but we did decide to get in one more day.  We went back to Springfield to visit the Springfield Union Station.

Model of horse-drawn hearse used with Lincoln's Funeral Train.

Just a chat with Mr. Lincoln.

Race Riot Memorial (1908(

We then crossed the street to the Lincoln Museum.  We didn't have time on our first visit to see this exhibit.

Image of Lincoln lying in state.

These are just a few of the exhibits.  This is a wonderful Museum.

After the morning at the Lincoln Museum, we took in a few more Route 66 and other Lincoln sights.

Old Franks Garage

Route 66 Signpost

Phonebooth on top of City Hall used by weather spotters until the 1980s.

More sights along Route 66 aera. 

Letterbox cemetery site.

Springfield Has A Nice Hospital

Tuesday, June 18 - 22, 2019

Tuesday was a get things done day.  We went out in search of a breakaway cable for the truck hitch.  It was malfunctioning on our drive to Illinois.  After going to several places with no luck we decided to order from Amazon and have it sent to the campground.  Did some general stuff around the RV and settled down for some of Bruce's grilled candied bacon and a cocktail.  We were relaxing and watching Youtube on our respective computers and both fell asleep.  I had been having a lot of pressure in my ears for a few days.  Like going up a mountain waiting for them to pop. I woke up with the most intense dizzy feeling.  I attempted to get up to go lay down on the bed and it was all I could do to make it the 20 feet to the bedroom.  Laying down did not make me feel any better so a called Bruce to wake him up.  He helped me to the bathroom and back to the bedroom and then I lost my bacon.  We decided to visit the local ER.  This is about 15 miles away in downtown Springfield.   The dizziness was declared to be vertigo and I was already starting to feel somewhat better.  The Doctors were very thorough.  They didn't want to send me home if there was something going on so I had an MRI.  Well, they found a mass in my petrous apex.  This is the area in the very center of your head under the brain.  Needless to say, this was a bit of a scare.  I ended up spending three days in the hospital and had a total of two MRIs two CT scans, an ECG, a chest x-ray, and a multitude of doctors checking anything they could think of.  The end result was to cut our trip short, go home, and follow-up with my own doctors.  So as I was lying in my hospital bed Bruce and I plotted our way home.  They released me Friday afternoon.  Off to CVS for prescriptions then back to the coach to take it easy.  Saturday we got busy canceling all of our reservations and making new ones for the drive home.  The cable came and Bruce was able to replace it successfully.  I was even able to be his assistant.  After initial vertigo, I felt like myself except for a lot of pressure in my ears, which was playing with my ability to hear well.

Letter Boxing

Monday, June 17, 2019

We decided to do a little letterboxing today.  We started out at the Greenwood Cemetery, in Decatur.  Some of the literature we read called this "one of the most haunted sites in the midwest."  I actually thought it was very peaceful and we had no unusual visitors.  It was quite a large cemetery.  Our first quest was "Frankie Unibrow."  After finding a Celtic Cross we were on the trail.

There was a second box hidden here, "It's a Munster."  Once we got back into the groove, the clues were easier to follow.

Our third attempt was in Fairview Park, also in Decatur.  It was starting to rain but we are tough and didn't let that stop us.  I wasn't too hopeful for this one because it hadn't been found for some time.  The clue sites let you know the last date someone found a box, but we thought we would give it a try anyway.

"Who's That Stomping Over My Bridge" was nowhere to be found, but it had a great sign.

Our next quest was in the Fairview Cemetary.  We are still in Decatur.  This was a clever group of three boxes called "Macon Breakfast."  Macon County style.

The object of letterboxing is to collect stamps in a journal and leave your stamp it the boxes journal.  These stamps are usually hand-carved.  This was a really cute egg and bacon in a skillet.

Bruce carved our stamp to look like our RV.  One of our goals is to leave this stamp all over the country.

We finished up the day looking for a few quicky roadside attractions.