Mini-Family Reunion Time

August 1-4 two of Dee's cousins and their wives traveled to Timber Lake Resort for a few days to visit us. We had the best time, mainly just being silly along with consuming a few bottles of homemade wine that Skip and Walt brought with them. We went over to Savanna, IL to the infamous "Poopy's Restaurant & Bar" (biker hangout)for breakfast. Food is really very good and we had some laughs shopping in the Harley Davidson gift shop (even though we didn't see the leather thongs we'd heard about!!). You could get tattoos and body piercings if you desired, but none of us were game - wonder why that was?? Needless to say, the menu items are all geared towards the name "Poopy's". Just let your imagination run wild and you'll come up with some of the names. We also went to one of the Timber Lake Playhouse stage productions one night and then another night we grilled Iowa chops and managed to consume some home-grown sweet corn. Sure brought back a lot of memories having the greatest tasting sweetcorn ever.

Another cousin, Nannie Deal, came over to TLR and we spent the afternoon catching up on family. It seems we like we only see each other every couple of years so it's also nice to see her. She usually gets the Deal family reunion put together every year but it seems our family members are dwindling more each year. Nannie lives in Clinton, IA and volunteers a lot at the hospital and historical society in Clinton.






The photo above is of a working Windmill that is located in Fulton, IL along the Mississippi River. Grains ae ground by the wind power that generate the grinding stones to make wheat flour and other grain flour. It's pretty fascinating to actually go inside the windmill and see the mechanics of how one of these operate. We also went through the Museum in Fulton and several made to scale working windmills were on display. Each windmill has a function, about 160 different operations such as grinding spices, sawing wood, etc. We also learned that the top section of each windmill can be rotated so that it faces directly into the wind and the blades can be covered with various types of cloth to pick up the wind better. Of course the only way to cover the blades is by actually climbing up each of the blades and then tie the fabric attached to the blades in place. We were tole that the blades are so sturdy that 3 or 4 men can be on each blade at one time. No one can say those Dutchmen didn't know about harnessing wind power centuries ago. We can probably take a lesson in wind energy from them.

Countryside in Illinois

We just couldn't resist (actually Dee couldn't!) taking some photos of the Queen Anne's Lace plants along the barrow ditches. These delicate blossoms reminds her of the hand crocheted tablecloth Queen Anne's Lace pattern her grandmother Deal made for her graduation present way back in 1959. The tablecloth has been placed in the care of our daughter Susan out in Oregon.

Aren't the blossoms gorgeous? The ditches and roadsides are covered with the blooming plants. Don't know if they are classified as flowers or weeds, but Dee sure likes them.

The photo below is easily recognized (we think of it as Iowa CORN) but picture was snapped in Illinois. When we arrived at Timber Lake Resort, the corn was only about 4" tall and just getting started. Now as they've said in one of the old songs "the corn is as high as an elephant's eye". People in the southwest laugh at us when we say we can hear corn grow, but you really can!!!

Fresh grown sweetcorn is being sold all over the area and it tastes great. We've been able to get organically home grown vegetables and fruits just about any time we're out and about.

The weather has been unbearably hot his week, extremely high humidity along with it. Luckily we've been off work Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday so that helps. Hate to think about tomorrow when we are back on duty. We did have high winds, 70 mph, last week but no damage to our motorhome or car this time around. Many farmers had acres of corn that was twisted and lying flat on the ground. It made a very strange sight.

On the 1st of August two of Dee's cousins and their wives are coming to Timberlake to visit for a few days. We've taken the week off so we can spend time with them while they are here. It's been about 2 years since we've seen them so we are really looking forward to being with them.

June Adventures

Monday, June 13th (our anniversary, incidentally) we decided to drive over to LeClaire, IA which is the home of the History Channel's American Pickers, Mike and Frank. These 2 guys travel all over the USA looking for unusual and varied antiques that they resell. Their roots began in this small Iowa town along the Mississippi River in a garage - photos of the Picker's van and the Garage are below.

We did not get to meet either of the TV Picker's but Larry did sell six of his Big-Little Comic books to Mike's brother. Not a real big profit for Larry (he's had these comics for about 50 years now!!!) but at least they were interested enough to buy them from him.

The photo to the right shows Mike's brother purchasing the comic books from Larry.

Both Larry and I have been ill this week with summer colds and sore throats, probably due to rain, rain and more rain along with cooler temperatures. Since we spend most of our time in the southwest, we're just not used to rainy weather. Wish we could send some of this moisture to our friends in Texas, NM and AZ since these 3 states are in a severe drought. No moisture in west TX for over 1 year and wildfires continue to plague them.

The RV Resort continues to be full every weekend and also stays very busy during the week with seasonal families. We're still learning many phases of work that we do. One of the fun things Dee assists with every Friday night is Marguerita night Trivia. There are 6-10 teams that compete against each other and some of the answers are quite humerous. Everyone has a good time.

Summertime Has Arrived

We are still training on various jobs here at the Resort in Illinois. Neither one of us has reached that "Now I Know That Job" yet but we're working on it. Before the Memorial Day weekend, everyone was in crunch mode to get the Resort ready for the holiday weekend because every available camp site was full.

Amid all of the training and getting our feel of the area, a tornado watch loomed one weekend. No tornado, thank goodness, but sustained high winds caused a tree branch to fall on the front portion of our motor home causing damage enough for an adjuster to come out and assess the damage. During the storm, water was leaking into the unit above the dashboard area so we spent an hour or so catching water and emptying containers. There was also water damage around the kitchen area Fantastic Fan - water stains on an upholstered ceiling is not very attractive. Anyway, Larry was up on the roof several times getting a repair patch put on the 2" x 8" wide rip in the fiberglass. We've had one rain since and no water leaked in. As soon as we locate an rv center that can do fiberglass repairs, we'll make arrangements to take our unit in for repairs.

The Summer Playhouse just completed it's first production of the season "Sunset Boulevard". We both worked on the weekends so weren't able to go see the show. However we were able to go see the Beatles and Elvis impersonators that performed at a fundraiser for the Playhouse. The Elvis performer spray painted a 4'x6' white canvas of Elvis's image that was auctioned off for $1,400. He painted the mural while he was singing. Quite a remarkable likeness using a spray can of black paint. Impressed the heck out of everyone.

Weather has been very hot and of course humidity is high but we are slowly getting conditioned to it some. Only wish the tiny little bugs would go away as they especially like to be around your eyes and mouth. We've met a lot of nice people already and enjoy being around their families. Many of the rv'ers are seasonal so they are here every weekend during the summer months.

That's all for now. Will try and update quicker the next time.

Summer in Illinois

We arrived at Timber Lake RV Park early Thursday am. Beautiful day, nice and sunny. The Park is absolutely beautiful - tranquil, lush green grass and beautiful tall oak trees. The park owner wanted to add some gravel to our site pad so we waited for delivery of gravel and then Ron went to work adding gravel and then leveling it. The photos below show The work being done.

Ron is like a magician running this front end loader and leveling the surface. It was really a kick watching him work the gravel around. Next photo is leveling out gravel by hand.


We are all settled in now and love it. This morning about 3:30 am a storm hit and dumped about 2" of rain. We had windows open on the motor home so had to get up to close up everything.

Last evening we went to a welcome hamburger/hot dog cookout and met other Workampers and some of the seasonal guests here at the park. Really nice to be welcomed the first day here. Next Monday we'll have orientation and work assignments and then things will settle down some. Friday nights are Marguerita socials so we will go over and have a drink and meet some more people.

We've driven into Mount Carroll a couple of times, population is about 1,900, very quaint, brick streets in the downtown area and beautiful, old 3-4 story Victorian homes. When we get a chance we'll take some photos of a couple of them and post them.

On our trip here we stayed in Altoona, IA, outside of Des Moines, and had a nice visit with a Workamper couple that we worked with in Mesa, AZ last winter. We had a fun visit and hope they get a weekend to come over to Illinois to visit.

Texas Wildfires

We are just devastated by the damage that the wildfires have been doing in southwest Texas. The hardest hit area has been around the Fort Davis area north of Alpine, TX where we were last summer. Over 200,000 acres have burned (25 homes and 2businesses) plus many horses and cattle. Our friend's son Brent, who lives at Marathon, TX, has been out helping with the firefighting and the rescue of animals. When Cherokee and Jim talked to him this morning, he had had only about 2 hours sleep in the last few days. The winds are blowing 60 mph sustained today so no breaks to help contain the fires.

Today we were supposed to drive on over to Childress but the high winds kept us off the road. Maybe we will be able to get on the road. Just hope the weather cooperates and that the wind dimishes a whole bunch.

While we have been visiting Jim & Cherokee we have been watching the Decorah, IA bald eagles. A livestream 24/7 camera has been set up to view the male and female and 3 fledglings. Over 32 million viewers have been viewing the growth of the babies. If you want to see the live stream, just type in Decorah Eagles and it will take you to the feed.

Update before AZ Departure

We are about 5 days until our departure from Mesa Regal Resort in Mesa, AZ. Things are getting packed away, the gazebo has been sold to our neighbors, and I think we are just about ready to hit the road.

This afternoon our Block had a farewell gathering and this evening our neighbors had a farewell soiree for about 8 couples. Lots of food at both. It's interesting because when you arrive everyone wants to know where you are from and when the season winds down the question is when are you leaving for back home.

We've made several new friends this year and will stay in contact with them as we will probably all be back next year. The last hooray for the Workampers is tomorrow afternoon. Our Workamper Coordinator prepares all the food himself for the party - 42 Workamper couples and some management people are on hand also.

It's been a very busy season here and I think we're ready to be on the road again.

Family news has not been the best during March. Since my sister's death we have received notice that one of my deceased first cousin's wife(Dee's paternal side of family), age 90, passed away and another cousin's wife (maternal side of family)passed away. Hopefully April will not bring any more news like this.

We'll post more news as we wend our way into New Mexico and Texas over the next few weeks.