July 13 - July 29

Have not updated the blog because we were out of touch with wi-fi for a while and some of our photos are too large to upload through the iPad. Here we are relaxing (again?) over the weekend in Verona NY. How fortuitous that this town has an RV Resort AND a Casino! What luck…well actually haven’t been very lucky here…but that’s another story for another day.

We spent a long weekend at Joliet, IL with our friends Carl and Jane from Kentucky. They drove up in their BIG rig to spend the weekend. Coincidentally their son and his wife live in this area so we also had a chance to meet them and spend a fun weekend eating, playing games, and eating yet again. The park was also located adjacent to the Hollywood Casino (sensing a theme here?) so Jane and I couldn’t resist. Although I wasn’t too skilled Jane did manage to eek out some winnings…oh who am I kidding, she won big!



Carl, Jane, Pat, Les



Our Florida friends, Marsha and Goldie flew into Chicago for their planned vacation. Since we knew this before we left we planned to be in Chicago to hang out with them! First off you cannot believe how the other half lives LOL…they stayed at Trump and it was glorious. I‘m pretty sure that their respective spouses Vito and Bob would have been proud of them for splurging, but happy they didn‘t stay too long! I think the “room” may have been larger than our house! Full kitchen (island, large refrigerator cook top dishwasher), living room, eating area, 2 bathrooms, huge bedroom, closets galore, large flat screens and topped off by fantastic views all around of Chicago. Anyway we had a terrific time, took the boat tour featuring the architectural sights of the town, lunched at Gino’s East, toured the Willis Tower, fka Sears Tower. Goldie had not been in a skyscraper before so I am posting a photo of her standing on the Plexiglas box that juts out from the building and that you look down through. Notice I am NOT in the photo nor did I venture any closer than zoom lens length to catch this photo. She was the bravest of the 4 of us!



Marsha, Les, Goldie at Navy Pier Chicago

  

Goldie atop Willis Tower (note the platform is clear!





The "girls" on the Boat Tour







Thursday we headed to Chicagoland Speedway where we camped infield for the ARCA, NASCAR Truck and Nationwide Races held Saturday night and Sunday. We had a great time and now that we have our scanner and headphones the experience is enhanced and quite a bit quieter! The cats did terrific as we were worried because at Rockingham in April they were quite frightened, but apparently they like racing too since they lounged in the front area of the RV instead of under the bed!

After the race we headed back to Elkhart, Indiana to have some work done on the RV before the warranty expires! We needed two new replacement jacks for the rear (no comments here people!) and 2 new skylights, toilet repair, something welded under the hood and a part for the city water valve. Anyway we had over $3000 of work done that was covered with a $100 deductible so we were happy about that. While we were waiting for repairs we took a couple of day trips, one to Hudson Museum and one through the Middlebury IN Amish community. Very interesting and more progressive than I had thought. Apparently different sects have different rules, e.g., when we toured the Entegra factory there were many Amish working there with power tools…they ride their bike or take the buggy to and from work but while there they use electricity.



1952 Marshall Teague Race Car (Hudson Hornet)



1957 Railton BWW600 with Hudson Chassis





So here we are up to date now in New York. Haven’t decided the next stop but we are headed back to New Hampshire for another visit with our grand-niece Lyla…then …who knows but stay tuned!