Dayton Ohio has the most beautiful overpasses. Well one section of them anyway. The overpasses are very white and clean looking with neatly trimmed grass areas. On each of the cement columns is a black inlay of a jet with jet streams. It reminded of me the Snowbird jets, so that made me wonder if Dayton was the hometown of the Blue Angels. It is not the home of the Blue Angels. As it turns out, Wilbur and Orville Wright were born in Dayton Ohio in 1867 and 1871 and the town has an Aviation Museum celebrating their trials and tribulations. The overpasses are in celebration of the Wright Brothers and what they did for aviation.
Yesterday, September 30th we spent the night in a great campground called Camp Lakewood which is in a somewhat small town called Effingham Illinois. The town is probably half the size of Mission and is considered the "Crossroads of Opportunity" because of its location to two major highways. Highway I-71 would take you directly up to Chicago and Highway I-70 would take you to Ohio to the east or to Utah in the West. Effingham is about 3 hours from Springfield IL, which is the capital of Illinois. Springfield is also where President Lincoln lived for 24 years. I can only imagine the museums that town would have to offer!
Yesterday I had a particularly rough day for some unknown reason. It is not like I was doing the driving or anything like that, but I was fidgeting and just could not seem to get comfortable. I think it had something to do with so many long days of sitting on my fanny doing nothing but reading maps and GPS's...... Ray seemed to be quite fine. So when we were all checked in and set up, I told Ray I was going to do the laundry. I put our things in the washing machine, said hello to a nice lady who was sitting waiting for her laundry and doing something on her iPad. I came back about half an hour later to find the wash finished. One of my washing machines was sitting a bit crooked, so I said to the lady who was still there "I guess my machine was doing a little dance". She said that she was going to try to rearrange my clothes but thought that if I came and and saw her, I would think she was some kind of weirdo! Yeah she was probably right!
Anyway, we got talking and ended up just sitting chatting while our clothes dried. We even offered help to a fellow who kept coming in waiting for a dryer. Her name is Barb and we totally hit it off immediately! She and her husband are from the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. They were travelling in a 28 foot class B-Plus, motorhome and she told me that it had white leather furniture and very light cupboards and carpeting. People came and went in the laundry room (including Ray who came looking for me), we called ourselves the "laundry ladies". We talked like we had known each other for decades! I told her that Ray and I would come by later and take a look at her "white" motorhome.
About an hour later after Ray and I had gone for our walk, we stopped by to look at the "white" motorhome. The outside was a very nice steely green colour (hard to describe) and inside it was definitely "bright". It was a beautiful unit! We invited them over to take a look at our 5th wheel as they are interested in possibly trading in for something they do not have to tow a vehicle with.
Barb's wonderful husband, Don and Ray hit it off pretty good.... not sure if it was as well as Barb and I,,, but the evening was great and was just what I needed to do after our few days of driving! Barb's heritage is Irish/Scottish and French Canadian, which is the same as my heritage. So being the good hostess that I am, I asked her and Don if they would like to try a good Canadian Caesar. Not a Bloody Mary, but a Caesar. Don passed, but Barb said yes because she was after all part French Canadian (too bad I did not have some poutine kicking about to give her!!). After the initial numbing effect of the Tabasco sauce that I put in the drink, she did like it. Barb called me her new "Irish" friend and insist that I look Irish,,,, must be my freckles! She kept saying, while she drank her Canadian Caesar,,,, "I am really French Canadian" you know! Here is my new friend after we finished our Caesars!
We left our new friends behind this morning and do hope that someday we will see them together, but will definately stay in touch via email.
We drove through the rest of Illinois and through Missouri and into Oklahoma, where we are camped for the night. This campground that we are in is close to a Casino (no Marline,,,I am not going to the Casino!) in a small town called Miami. The RV portion of the campsite, has sixteen spots to rent and the rest of the "park" is a permanant mobile home park. The camping spots are well maintained, but I will miss my new friends' company tonight!.
Oklahoma has an average of 64 tornados a season. I am really hoping that the season is over for this year! This campsite has a "storm shelter", which I assume that you run to in the event of a tornado. The shelter is not really what I expected to see. I thought it would be a wooden door leading down in the ground to some underground dark spidery place. Similar to the storm shelter that Dorothy was supposed to go to in the Wizard of Oz instead of chasing after her dog. I am sorry, but if a store hits here,,,, I am going to grab my ruby slippers and make a run for the shelter and my dog will have to fend for himself! Oh,,,, I forgot,,,, I don't have a dog, nor do I have ruby slippers!!! Darn,,,, I did see a big shoe store back on the highway,,,,, Oh yeah, I get so easily distracted sometimes when the thought of a new pair of shoes comes into my brain! I was telling you about this storm shelter. The storm shelter at this campsite is a free standing garage. Now if I was a tornado blowing through this little town, I think that I would go over and consume that little garage! Does not look very safe to me!
Kansas gets an average of 96 tornados. So we are thanking our lucky starts that we are not staying in Kansas tonight!! Nor are we going through that State! I will tell you something for sure,,,, if I hear the wind tonight I will likely have a heart attack. I may not even sleep!!!!
"Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it. Why my little party's just beginning.".....ha ha ha....cackle cackle (oh sorry, my other personality was coming out just thinking of the Wizard of Oz).......
This really is a Bogus Adventure!!!
Lori and Ray
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