Leaving Illinois and heading to Alabama

It was a little warmer when we got up yesterday morning - 57° with a high of 68°. We spent yesterday at Frances and Jack's house and just relaxed. We did go to WalMart to get a couple of things we needed for the trip home and got gas in the Outback ($1.839 a gallon).

We got up early this morning and had coffee with Frances and Jack before loading the car. They offered to fix breakfast before we left, but we declined and said we'd stop somewhere on the road and get something. It was hard to pass up one of Jack's homemade breakfasts, especially since this morning's temp was 48° with a wind chill of 39°. 

We left their house at 8:00 and took IL-34 south to connect with IL-142 at Eldorado and then down to IL-1 to Cave-in-Rock. We stopped at Hardee's in Harrisburg on IL-34 about 9:00 for a quick breakfast. We arrived at Cave-in-Rock about 10:00 just as the ferry was leaving.

While we waited for the ferry to return, we walked Tinker down to the river and he watched the ferry leaving and crossing the Ohio River.

The ferry was back by 10:20 and we were the first vehicle on board. 

We arrived on the Kentucky side at 10:30 and took KY-91 south to Marion, KY and then south on US-641 to Eddyville, KY and stopped at McDonald's for lunch before heading down to I-24 and over to Nashville. 

Looking at Old Family Photos at Jimmy & Sally's

Jack fixed us another great breakfast this morning - biscuits and sausage gravy. Yummy! Breakfast was especially good this morning because the temperature was 34° with a wind chill of 28° when we got up this morning.

We all just lazed around the house this morning and caught up on email and I entered our trip expenses in Quicken. 

This afternoon we drove over to Jimmy and Sally's house in separate cars in case Mike and I wanted to stay longer and visit more. Frances and Jimmy's sister Eva drove over this morning from Troy, IL to be there when we visit. 

Sally had fixed lunch for all of us and as usual everything was great. We had barbecue pork sandwiches with all the fixings, potato salad, baked beans and of course, dessert. Shortly after lunch, Jimmy brought out several photo albums for us to look through - I think there must have been about a dozen albums. The four of us (Frances, Eva, Jimmy and myself) sat on the sofa with the albums in front of us. Mike took a photo of us and he said something funny and snapped a picture as all four of us were laughing. I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but can't.

We started looking through the albums and some of the photos were taken before any of us had been born. I saw photos of my parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen before and didn't have copies of. Thank goodness for smart phones - I took photos of the pictures (and the names on back) with my iPhone.

After a few hours, Mike and Jack decided to go back to Frances & Jack's house for some

Visiting with Frances & Jack

We spent today visiting with Frances and Jack. As usual Jack fixed one of his great breakfasts - bacon and waffles - always a special treat. It was nice and cool this morning 59°.

I mentioned how I would like to have time to go down to the Johnson County Courthouse in Vienna to do a little genealogical research and Jack said he and Frances would take us down there. So this afternoon we drove down to Vienna where Frances & my Jones grandparents and great grandparents had lived. Jack and Mike said they would stay in the car while Frances and I went into the court clerk's office. A nice young lady showed us where the birth, death and marriage record books were and left us to do our research. I had hoped to get copies made, but the cost per page was too much and I just wrote down on a pad the information I was looking for. I did find some information that I hadn't had before, so it was a good trip even it it was a short one. 

On the way back to their house, the subject of supper came up and we said we would buy dinner, but Frances and Jack had to pick the restaurant. After some discussion they settled on O'Charley's in Marion. We ordered the Potato Skins for an appetizer, I had the grilled Atlantic salmon and everyone else order steaks. The food was really good and the restaurant was a great choice.

Afterwards we came back to Frances and Jack's house and are now watching TV. We're going over to visit with my other cousin Jimmy and his wife Sally tomorrow.

It's supposed to much colder tomorrow morning - I think in the mid-30's. Today was nice and cool and it warmed up to 64° - a nice change from southern Florida.

Acworth, GA to Benton, IL

We didn't have as many miles to drive today, so we slept in a little this morning and ate breakfast at the motel. After packing the car and checking out (the room cost $96.64), we were on the road at 9:20 and heading north on I-75. 

About 30 minutes after leaving Acworth, we saw that the southbound traffic on I-75 was backed up for miles

I remember thinking how lucky we were that it was on the other side since we had been stuck yesterday with traffic backed up for miles.

Traffic was flowing along nicely on I-75 today until we were about 7 south of Dalton, GA. We had just passed the southern exit to Dalton when traffic came

Heading up to Illinois

We got up this morning at 6:00 and after loading the last minute items in the car, we left the house at 7:45 and headed north on I-95. We took I-95 up to Jacksonville and then I-10 west and got onto I-75 north. We stopped at Camping World at Lake Park, GA and bought a Next Exit book to give to my cousin Frances and a small utility leaf blower for us. We stopped at a Flash Foods in Byron, GA to get gas and paid $1.879 a gallon. 

About 45 minutes after leaving the gas station, the northbound traffic on I-75 came to a halt. We decided to exit I-75 south of McDonough, GA and try to go around the traffic. We took exit 216 and headed north on US-23 into McDonough. We did have traffic backed up in

Preparations for Trip to Illinois

I had made Tinker an appointment with the groomer for this morning and he was clipped and bathed and is ready for the trip.

We spent today running last minute errands in preparation for our trip to Illinois. We stopped at Hale Groves here to buy a couple of bags of oranges to take with us to give to my cousins Jimmy and his sister Frances and we filled the tank in the Outback at Speedway and paid $1.879 a gallon. 

By the time we finished with our errands, we were hungry and decided to stop at Ay Jalisco in Sebastian for dinner before going home and packing the car for our trip. 

We've been watching the weather forecast for Benton, IL and it looks like a cold front will be moving in there about the time we arrive, so we are packing some long sleeve shirts and a jacket for each of us and we should be OK. If it gets too cold for the clothes we packed, there is always Walmart.

A Little More Gardening and Sue's Fall

We didn't do as much gardening this month. We did plant 4 Tibouchina Bushes and more Ti Plants in front of the house. 

Our Spanish Bayonet in the back yard is starting to bloom - not really crazy about the plants and we have to watch Tinker so he doesn't walk into the sharp ends of the leaves.

Last month our raspberry bougainvillea was looking really bad (I'm told its because of too much rain or water, OR not enough rain or water - go figure!)

and now take a look at it!

A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday, we had a really nice rain. On my way back into the garage after checking the mail, I slipped and fell and really hurt my ankle. At first I thought I had broken it, it hurt so BAD. I had planned on taking my cell phone with me, but I didn't since I was only going out to the mailbox. I crawled from the garage door to the door that