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Day 143: Saturday, August 24 We were sad to leave our friend, Arlene, having had such a great time visiting with herin Owatonna, WI. She was a gracious hostess, along with her companion, Sophie the wonder dog (see photo at right).Driving away we wished Arlene stilled lived in Ocala. Our trip eastward toward La Crosse, Wisconsin was uneventful.Boredom of interstate driving was broken by the chatter of Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, the syndicated autorepair experts spouting repair ideas over NPR: National Public Radio. This is one of Chris favorite Saturday morning

traditions. After their broadcast ended, Sally read more of our latest Anna Pigeon murder mystery novel. Were gettingcloser to the end, so the plot thickens!

Arriving in La Crosse, we set up our trailer in Pettibones RVResort, which sits at waters edge on the broad Mississippi River.Within five minutes we were back onto the highway and scootingto a rivers edge park near downtown. We hoped to catch the 1:30PM sailing of a MississippiRiver scenic boat tour. Finding a convenient parking space we rushed down to the dock andfound about a dozen folks waiting to board. As we paid the boarding began and we were firstaboard, giving Sally a good spot so shed be less likely to get seasick. The cruise was verynice with a college instructor of environmental studies providing the expert narration was we

sailed about for over two hours. Once back at the dock sailing Sally remarked that the cruiseseemed longer than 90 minutes advertised. I responded that wed been out over two hours andwe suddenly surmised we had boarded the wrong ship; it was not the ship Sally had expectedto sail this afternoon. In fact, we overheard a fellow passenger remark that this cruise wasmuch better than the other one (the one we had planned to sail) plus we had raced to boardthe 1:30 sailing though there was another sailing scheduled for 3:30PM so we could havetaken that run that was until we found that the 1:30 sailing was the last forthis boat (the one

we sailed). Wow, we were doubly blessed better cruise, and the only sailing we could make.Prior to showering we took a walk around the campground and saw a most interesting camperwhose owner also enjoyed painting his/her camper in an original design.

Day 144: Sunday, August 25 This morningwe folded up Snoopy Twoo and shot over theLa Crosse, WI, just over the bridge from ourcampground. We attended worship atNeighborhood City Church, the church ofChris & Roxy Crye, parents of our nephew

Jons wife, Kim. We enjoyed the emphasis ofworship in this neighborhood church in aninner city setting. The church building is over100 years old and truly beautiful inside. Afterworship we treated Chris, Roxy and theirson, David (visiting from North Carolina) to abrunch buffet a few blocks from their church.We had a great time conversing over ourmeal.5= Neighborhood City Church has old & beautiful interior. Panorama photo unfortunately distorts proportions of previous German Methodist church.

Bidding adieu, we drove eastward via I-90 toward middle Wisconsin. We set up camp in Juneau County Castle Rock Park near Mauston, WI. Therate for the night is $19. Some sites have electric but you have to carry water to your trailer or fill your tank(s) as you drove past the water spigot.Toilets near campsite were pit-style. Toilets in the bath house are flush-type. Showers are coin-operated at 3 minutes per 25. We had a lake viewsite amongst many trees.

1= Pettibone campsite on Miss. River. 2= Scenic river boatride; fun trip. 3= Eagle we saw on boat tour. 4= Uniquebrick & wood van camper. Looks cooooooool ! !

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Day 145: Monday, August 26 Our drive from Castle Rock Lake county park in west-central Wisconsin was normal. We drove to Madison, WI tohave lunch with Margos sister, Lynne (Lynnie is our sister-in-law Margos sister.) We had a great time chatting & eating for almost 2 hours. Prior tolunch we did window-shopping for a decorator t-shirt for one of our granddaughters. We knew what she wanted would be hard to find: a badgerpicture (photo or cartoon-style) with no indication of a team, city, or other identification. Since the Univ. of Wisconsin is located in Madison, wesuspected wed have an easy time locating one there. Well if a shirt has a badger on it you can expect the university name, or something else thawould not meet the criteria. In the mall near the restaurant we found exactly what we wanted: crew neck, image without name or words, & sizesmall. Sally was ecstatic, Thats just what I prayed for! And to make it even further amazing 1) it was the firstshirt we saw, 2) it was the onlyshirof its type in the store or the mall, 3) it was the exact size we needed, and 4) it was the cheapestof any team shirts in that category in the mall!

We arrived at Dave & Margos about 6PM and arranged our trailer into its usual location next to the house where itll reside for the next week or so

We spent the rest of the evening chatting and reviewing current events within our families.

Day 146: Tuesday, August 27 Early in the day I jacked up the VW and checked the front wheel bearings forexcessive wear (1= Chris checking wheel bearing hub). I suspect Ill replace them when I get back to Florida.Meanwhile, Sally & Margo did some thrifting today at several stores looking for items for four medical studentsfrom Africa. They are in the USA to learn techniques for delivering medication to children with AIDS. The processfor administering drugs to this age patient is very much different than the procedures used with adults. Margo &Daves daughter, Emmy, works for a non-profit company that assists doctors in foreign countries in receivingtraining in the USA along with sending American doctors to their countries to train medical personnel there in theirown land. The training here in the USA will take several months, so Emmy has gotten them an apartment near thetraining location. She was also responsible for getting the items to outfit these semi-furnished apartments, such aspot & pans, bedding, lamps, kitchen tools, vacuum cleaner, etc. We helped by transferring these items from storage to the apartment, and in somecases we assembled some items (e.g. four floor lamps). This was a fun activity involving Sally & I, Dave & Margo, Emmy & husband Eric, plus theirdaughter Ellie. What a fun & useful evening we spent together. Dave rewarded us with frozen custard treats at Culvers. Yum, yum.

Day 147: Wednesday, August 28 Sally and Margo ran more errands today. Dave & I worked on repairing a very used trailer he bought for use withan inner city youth house in Milwaukee. This youth shelter is run by his son, Jon, and daughter-in-law, Kim. Dave & Idetermined that a welder was the best way to repair the trailer, so we selected an inexpensive model and Dave boughit, plus some necessary accessories (helmet, tips, welding wire, etc.). Then we discovered we had to build a superheavy-duty extension cord, so while Dave disassembled some of the worn and broken parts of the trailer I built theextension cord(see photo at left).

Later we took Dave, Margo, Jon, & Kim out for supper to Fazolis for fast-foodItalian cuisine. The food was very good along with terrific conversation. The mealwas followed by Sally & I driving to Jon & Kims ministry, Kidz-In-The-Hoodyouthshelter. Jon is an electrical engineer by day and a youth director in the evening &weekends. Kim runs the site during the day. We were very impressed with theirprogram and the hard work theyre putting into their building in this inner city

neighborhood. God has great plans for them and their project. (3= Jon & KimHoffman, our nephew & niece in inner-city Milwaukee, WI)

Day 148: Thursday, August 29 We spent most of the day working on the trailer. I fabricated parts to bewelded to make the trailer stronger, while Dave worked on moving the lights to a more substantial mountingsystem. By days end we had about 80% of the trailer fixed. We quit in midday to bathe and get ready for adinner theatre about 45 minutes west of New Berlin, WI at Fort Atkinson. The Fireside Theatre served abuffet meal in the restaurant portion of the building followed by the live show in the theatre. Dave & Margotreated Sally to the venue for her birthday. The play was entitled Run for Your Wife, a British comedy about ataxi driver who is married to two different wives whom he lives with at two different apartments in separateneighborhoods in London. The plot ran around in circles as the fellow couldnt keep his wives from meetingeach other. It was a very funny play with very good performances by the cast. (4= Chris, Sally, Margo & Davecelebrate Sallys birthday at dinner theatre in Wisconsin)

Day 149: Friday, August 30 HAPPY BIRTHDAY SALLY! We spent the morning and early part of afternoon finishing the trailerepairs & modifications; it really is much stronger and more useable now. While we were working on thetrailer, Sally & Margo were painting the Hoffmans old gym set & slide that they had built about twenty yearsago. We all quit about the same time and went out for lunch to celebrate Sallys birthday today. It was a verynice occasion and we had a delicious meal and chatted for almost two hours.

Day 150: Saturday, August 31 Dave & I drove to Home Depot and bought some plywood & lumber to buildshelves for the Kidz-In-The-Hoodprogram that Jon & Kim operate in the inner city. Sally & I bought thematerials and I cut, drilled, glued & nailed the shelves together. Dave & I will go to the Kids-In-The-Hoodcenter next week to install the shelving and to also install burglar bars over select windows. They had a theftof some appliances a while ago so we wanted to increase security on the premises. (5= Bottom of shelfsystem for storage at the Kidz-In-The-Hood inner-city youth program.)

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Day 151: Sunday, September 1 Dave, Sally & I attended worship at the inner city neighborhood church attended by Jon & Kim as part of their youtministry program. The service was attended by about 30 people, so it was very intimate and personal. Two of the girls from Kidz-In-The-Hooperformed a praise dance to a Christian song. They did a fantastic job. There were several testimonials by members of the congregation, which did alot to encourage others in their faith. The pastor delivered a powerful sermon about Joshua and the service ended 2.5 hours after it started. Whew, felt like I got my monies worth! The church members were verynice to us and welcomed us to return again.

Following worship we drove back home for a big party to celebrate Emmys 30th birthday. Emmy (Emily) is Margo & Daves daughter. Attending thwedding were Lynne, Margo, Dave, Emmy, daughter Elly, husband Eric, Jon, Kim, Erics father Pete, Erics mother Carol, Sally & I. There were somany people for lunch we were grouped in two rooms around tables. Everything was terrific food & fellowship.

After the party ended Dave prepared the items we would need fo

tomorrows work at the Kidz-In-The-Hood. Dave & Jon will be picking usome donated appliances for the center, while Ill be installing security barover basement windows and a set of storage shelves in the basementDave attached his rebuilt trailer and found the lights didnt work properlyWe spent another few hours rewiring the trailer after we found the previouowner had wrapped the wires together and secured them with electricatape alone. The wires were shorting out and doing funky things. 1= Davhelps at party while sister-in-law, Lynnie, and Carol, (Erics mother), look aother details. 2= Emmy, the birthday girl, talks to others while Sally plays

with Emmy & Erics daughter, Elly, a real charmer. Emmy is due any day now.

Day 152: Monday, September 2 Dave and I drove to Jon & Kims house where they occupy the second floor with the Kidz-In-The-Hoodministrbelow. While I remained with a volunteer, Jay, Dave & Jon drove with the new trailer to pick-up three donated appliances. Jay & I assembled &installed the shelf unit and the security bars on the basement windows. Kim helped us with the installation of the shelving. When Dave & Jon

returned, Jon & Jay carried the stove up to the second floor and stored the dishwasher. The third appliance was given to someone else, plus the oldstove from upstairs. I installed the new gas range and then reinforced all the handrails from the basement to the second floor, plus I repaired a boybike; he stopped by the Kidz-In-The-Hoodcenter. We went home in late afternoon tired but happy for what we accomplished.

Day 153: Tuesday, September 3 I worked on reinforcing a main storage box in our trailer. I carry about ten small cases of parts & small tools in ouAliner, some boxes as large as a briefcase and others as small as a hardbound dictionary. Over the years it became frustrating having these boxemoving around in the storage area due to normal road-bounce, so I built a box of thin plywood and fiberboard tocorral these cases together. While moving things in the storage area under the beds I pulled a box side and thefiberboard side came loose. Long story short, I decided to reinforce the boxes edges with aluminum angle ratherthan rebuild the entire box with thicker, heavier plywood. So that was my project for the day reinforce the boxusing 2 x 2 thin aluminum angle, Liquid Nails adhesive, and 3/16 diameter aluminum pop rivets and fenderwashers. Well see how it holds up over time.

Having finished the box by 12:30PM, I helped Margo & Sally pick up branches from the bushes Dave wastrimming with the electric hedge clippers. This appears to be an annual event as we helped with this same projectlast year. It took two trips in Daves trailer to get all the trimmings to the dump. When this project was finished itwas time to go out for a planned late lunch (or early supper) at a buffet (Golden Corral) that has a senior earlybird dinner from 2-4PM. All four of us enjoy this restaurant as the meals are just $7.59 which includes the beverage a good deal for seniors.3= Reinforced trailer storage box holds 10 storage cases & keeps them from shifting around in cargo area while we travel. Very useful device!

Day 154: Wednesday, September 4 I spent the morning doing some deep-cleaning of the interior of our trailer. Little smudges and light grime buildon the white interior walls, so I decided to clean them with some industrial spray cleaner while Sally worked with Margo on cleaning the gym set toprepare it for more painting. Dave came to their rescue with his electric-powered pressure cleaner. But when he turned it on it hummed and wouldnstart. We phoned the 1-800 number listed on the washer but the tech support wasnt all that great. In the end I noticed a shroud inside the washethat looked like it had fallen on top of the pressure washers fan. Dave & I disassembled the unit, removed a broken plastic shroud and reassembled

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Some things are funnier when theyre true.Heres an example

Sally older brother, Jim, frequently walks through his local mall for exerciseDuring a recent walk he caught sight of exhibits in the malls concoursewhere people from the psychic community had booths explaining thepractices. Jim happened to walk by and a woman at a booth said to himHow are you doing today?

He said, You should know!

She stood and looked back at him unaware of the implication of hicomment.

Food For Thought(I thought you ladies would love this one!)

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the washer unit. It ran like new. The girls said that with the pressure washer they got the job done in record time. Following the washer repair I wenback to work on washing our trailers interior. Later that evening we all drove to Jon & Kims house where Dave lubricated a bathroom fan motor (iwas screeching) and I scraped and re-caulked a bathtub surround.

Day 155: Thursday, September 5 My first order of the day was to check the air in the car tires and trailer tires in preparation for our departure earlytomorrow morning. Next I decided to wash our car while Dave was running errands with his van. When he returned I decided to make a special shimfor his new trailers hitch. It wobbles a bit too much for our liking. It took about 1.5 hours to finally get the shim to work properly.

Meanwhile, Sally & Margo painted the remainder of the gym set. They had pressurewashed the old wood yesterday so they could paint it today after it had driedovernight. They did a fantastic job! It looks so nice! 1= Margo paints the minute

places on the gym set with new green paint via her well-worn brush. 2- Sally uses aroller to paint the big, flat areas. These girls make a fantastic team!

By now it was close to mid-afternoon and we had reservations to see the play OnceUpon A Mattress, a cute story of a medieval prince who must get married in orde

for any of the other young people inthe kingdom to wed. His mother, theQueen, does not want him to marry,

so she devises tests for each princess in order to eliminatethem from being good enough to marry the prince. The story isvery funny with nice songs and very good dancing. Wethoroughly enjoyed the play and the meal prior to the

performance was excellent. We arrived home at 11PM stuffedand happy. 3= We sit for a group photo in one of the lobbies ofthe Fireside Theatre. 4= The owner of the Fireside makes announcements of upcoming events and introductions of special groups and thoscelebrating anniversaries & birthdays. Chris snuck a note to him earlier in the evening to announce Daves 65th birthday, except Chris had themmention that Dave was 74 years old! Dave was surprised twice; once when his name was announced, and secondly that he aged 10 years overnight

Day 156: Friday, September 6 When we awoke today our first task was to phone our granddaughter, Symphony, before she left for school. Today iher 12th birthday. Not only was our call a surprise, but shell be surprised when she gets to school this morning. Her mother and sister went to theschool yesterday before the building closed and decorated the front of her locker, so a lotof folks at school will know its her birthday!

We bid farewell to Margo & Dave and drove out their driveway about 8:30AM as we headed toward Effingham, Illinois via Rockford. As expected, thetrip was routine with many miles on cruise control heading southwest down I-43 to Beloit, WI. From therethe route was to go south on I-39 that is also I-90, but I-90 is a toll road in Illinois and the tolls weveexperienced in other sections of IL have made us ill. So we chose to go down county & city roads

through Rockford, IL and its suburbs. The first few miles were a bit confusing as our GPS had us turninga lot through Beloit. Once on Hwy 251 it was simple driving but we wondered if we really saved muchmoney over the toll route. We got onto US20, then I-39 until it met I-74, which we took east towardChampaign, then I-57 south to Effingham, IL. Our campground for the next two nights is CampLakewood outside Effingham. We were given a campsite overlooking the lake, probably the prettiestsite in the park. It has no sewer connection so it was fine for our Aliner. 5= Our one-of-a-kind campsiteoverlooking at Camp Lakewood. Super-clean restrooms at this RV park!

But, as we went to drive from the registration office down to the campsite we got another surprise ourcars remote key wouldnt work. Ugh!For any new readers, our car now has over 217,000 miles and its groaning about its old age. This sameremote-access key didnt work earlier on our trip. It became inoperative in Las Vegas and I replaced the battery and fixed it on May 24th, just abou3 months ago! Could the battery be bad again? Other batteries have lasted 5 years or more! To compound the issue, the lock mechanism on the

drivers door broke the day before we left on the trip (the VW only has one door with a key lock, plus the tailgate)Well Sally crawled in through the hatch and opened a back door. I opened the drivers door from the back doorNeither of our jaunts were easy as our cars rear seats are removed and the space behind our seats is all storage. I go

the door opened and hoped the car would start and not be inoperable due to the security system. The VW started fineWhew! We got the camper in the site, set-up and I then dug into the trailers drawers to find the second battery (theycome in a packet of two). Long story short, I found the existing new-old battery to be low and the second battery wasinstalled. The remote worked fine. Not ones to take chances, well buy another set of two batteries tomorrow as backups, but we wont buy Rayovac-brand from Walmart again. Id feel better with a more major brand from Walgreens.6= VW key taken apart and awaiting installation of a new battery (round disk about the size of a nickel).

Day 157: Saturday, September 7 We were on a rather loose schedule today so we took the time to make a nicebreakfast one of Sallys favorites egg burrito. After clean up we drove into Effington to drop off a package at thepost office. From there we drove to a church-operated thrift store where we got some good bargains. Then we drove toMY Garage, a company specializing in the sale of parts for Corvettes and air-cooled VWs. The only section of thismulti-building complex open to the public is their retail store and the car collection within that same building. This wasthe reason we came to Effington, IL. Though Corvettes are not my bag, I still enjoy seeing interesting things about

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each make of car. Thiscollection was open FREEtothe public and was unique inthat it contained severalexperimental models ofvarious Corvettes that wereused for testing prior toproduction, or for racing byb o t h t h e f a c t o r y a n d

individual racing teams.There were several experimental Corvettes displayed with several valued at more than amillion dollars. Also, in a back room, was a private collection of VWs and related vehiclesused by Hitlers military during World War II. These were very interesting, also.

1= Sally poses in MY Garage car collection, mainly Corvettes. 2= Cutaway Corvette atMY Garage shows internal parts.

The Corvette (#3, left) was a concept car used at a worlds fair to help introduce thepublic to ideas that would possibly be incorporated in an upcoming model. Thisprocedure is used by many auto manufacturers to gauge public interest in various cadesigns prior to spending huge sums of money to put ill-conceived ideas intoproduction.

(An interesting aside story that someone shared with me. Sounds true, but you neveknow! 1958 was a year that found our country in a recession. Car sales were downdramatically earlier the previous year. [1958 was the only year my father ever bought a

new car, a Plymouth, because car prices were very low to encourage car buying.]General Motors misread these economic times and thought the reason their 1958 carswerent selling was because the public was more enamored with other manufacturersmodels, especially Chrysler Corporation cars.

Most cars at that time were built on the same chassis for 2-4 years with just minochanges being made to the exteriors. This saved the companies millions of dollarsSure that their lack of sales was due to their cars designs, GM ordered the 1958models to be totally redone for the 1959 model year. Do you remember the Chevroletswith the huge, curved tail-fins that almost looked like angel wings? What was sointeresting is that the 1958 models, having been built for only one year, became someof the most valuable cars GM produced, and they command high prices to collectorswho like their styling. The Buick of 1958 is reputed to be the most chrome-adornedcare ever produced! Interesting bit of trivia.)

Does this replica, old Mobil gas station (photo #4)bring back any fond memories foany of you? Do you have a story about an experience you had at a gas station in youyounger years? Would you like to share it for a future issue of our newsletter?

After our tour of the car collection we decided to go out for lunch. A local Chinesebuffet was very good and they had a very interesting group of fish in their aquarium(see #5, below left). We had never seenany fish like these. Do any of yourecognize this species of fish?

While dining we met several coupleswith whom we became involved in

conversation. One woman in particular was especially interesting. As aWalmart employee she spoke of theft issues in the stores. It wasinteresting to hear about the security systems they employ includingthe use of video cameras both inside & outside the store. It made me

feel a little more secure knowing that the aisles and grounds are beingscanned & recorded.

As we headed back to camp I stopped to photograph the restoration ofa roof and steeple on St. Anthonys Roman Catholic Church inEffingham. This steeple is quite tall and we wondered how long theyhad been working on this repair. 6= Complex scaffolding seems toclimb the walls of St. Anthonys Catholic Church in Effingham, IL.Unable to see much from any ground-level position, we deduced thatthe roof and steeple were being repaired. What a job!

We headed back to Camp Lakewood RV Park and had a laid backafternoon working on this newsletter while also answering emails, etc. Tomorrow well pack up anddrive to St. Pauls Lutheran Church to attend worship, then drive south to Sikeston, Missouri to visit ourdear friends Wendi & Terry Pruden, former members of our church in Ocala, FL. RV there yet?

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