Eastern IOWA is a Surprise

I have a lot of pictures to sort through and label

before I will be able to post about our time in Chicago,

so I thought. . .

well, I don’t want to get behind on blog postings,

so I will skip ahead to our next stop,

and catch you up on all our goings on

in Chicago when I get it all organized. . .

Friday morning Jordan got all packed up. . .

and we headed off on our 45 mile trek (2 hours in traffic. . .ugh) to the airport,

where we went as far as we could with him (security) and left him

about twenty minutes before his assigned boarding time of 12:30. . .

all is well (we had no idea there had been massive flooding in Houston)

the Houston Chronicle called it rain of Biblical Proportions,

4 to 5 inches in an hour, with parking garages downtown

looking like swamp areas. . .

so, when we got the first notice that his flight had been delayed 45 minutes. . .

it was like, okay, no big deal. . .then the 2nd and then 3rd delay. . .

but always with a departure time about 45 minutes away. ..

until about 4:15 when he called to say the flight had been cancelled.
This is his first solo flight, so he has no clue what he needs to do.  . .

I tell him. . .get in line. . .see what they say. . .we are on our way!
OFF WE GO. . .45 miles (you get it!) raining and Chicago traffic yaaa. . .

when he calls back to say they’ve rescheduled him for a 9:15 flight,

and they are sure he will get on it. . .okay. . .

what do you want to do, because we are on our way to get you,

we can just get you a flight for in the morning. . .but no. . .

he wants to get home. . .his girlfriend is picking him up,

and he needs to be at work Saturday night. . .so okay,

we turn around. . .go back to the motorhome. . .

on pins and needles until he lets us know he’s on the plane. . .

and then another text at 1:15 AM (13 hours after we left him at the airport)

to say he has arrived in Houston. . .thank the Lord!


I know he’s a full grown 19 years old. . .but oh my goodness. . .

he will always be my baby. . .my only grandson. . .

whom I really, really needed to rescue. 


I surely hope he has any good memories left of his time in Chicago. . .

wow. . .what a day!

hopefully the horrible flight memories will fade,

and he’ll reminder the fun Gangster Tour

the “Bean” Cloudscape Sculpture

our wonderful Chicago Style Pizza. . .

and a fabulous time at Wrigley Field. . .all good stuff. . .lots more stories to follow later. . .

Anyway. . .knowing our boy was safely home in Houston. . .

Saturday morning we headed out to our next destination. ..

Pike’s Peak State Park in Iowa, north of Dubuque,

500 feet above the Mississippi River,

right where the Wisconsin River empties into it,

and about 4 hours from Chicago. . .

what a lovely place to spend a couple of days and RECUPERATE. . .

we are exhausted. . .we pull in. . .hook up the electric. . .

go back in the motor home. . .(I’ve read stories about those kinds of campers)

do nothing for about four hours. . .

go to bed at 7:30 and stay there for twelve hours. . .LOL!

as is usual for Sunday in a State Park. . .by noon eveyone’s packed up,

and we practically have the place to ourselves. . .

time for a little hike. . .

we can’t see the river from our campsite. . .

but it’s only 2/10 of a mile to the overlook. . .

from which we can see the State of Wisconsin

and the mouth of the Wisconsin River where it flows into the Mississippi. . .

the same river we took our Wisconsin Dells Boat Tour on last month. . .

small world right here. . .

saw some wildlife. . .

got us an ice cream bar at the park store

as our reward for taking a hike. . .ha ha!

Watched the hummingbirds at the feeder. . .

and was serenaded by this beautiful Indigo Bunting. . .

I’m feeling better already!

See you next time,

Janice and Dave