Sublette - Joliet

We decide to move on from Rock Island - there is still no power and not much happening so we head off towards Chicago and end up in a place called Woodhaven Lakes in Sublette, a very small town in the middle of nowhere. 

Woodhaven Lakes is a membership club that we have access to but is unlike any other place we have stayed in.  It has over 6000 sites which are mostly fill of transportable homes or permanent looking RV's with decks etc built on them.  This is a secure facility which has two pools, two baseballs fields, blade skating, tennis courts, boats to rent, beach (on a lake) three recreational centres, restaurant, hardware shop, petrol station, general store and much more, stuff going on all the time etc etc..... 

We have a nice little pull through with lots of natural bush about - there are deer and other wildlife roaming free and we have seen a little baby Bambi, turtles, a raccoon - which was standing in the middle of the road (not sure if it was fully there as it was still light (apparently they only come out at night) and didn't seem too bothered about cars!). 

So we spend three days here and relax, go for a walk/run in the mornings and Daryl plays on the coupe.  Very peaceful spot and we wind down after our little experience in Rock Island.


On the third morning we decide we better move on and head closer to Chicago, stopping in Joliet in the southern suburbs.  We will catch the Metro in to Chicago tomorrow to have a look around.  Watching the news tonight, glad it wasn't today as 2 million people went in to celebrate the Black Hawks Ice Hockey team winning the Stanley Cup  as they were having a parade - can you imagine half of NZ in one city?!!  Akin to the AB's winning the World Cup.

The temperature is going to drop tomorrow to 20 (68F) degrees.......  the west is having a record heat wave expecting in the 120F range with Death Valley expecting 129F.  The east is flooding.....might stay in the middle!

Rock Island

We are still here and a little undecided where to head off to next but David & Mimi have given us some great hints for what to see and where to travel.  Daryl wants to drop David off some decals and we end up deciding we will stay another day.

Just before sorting that, I hear water in the RV bathroom, think that's funny but can't find anything, go outside and walk around but can still here water running....  think somethings not right better have another look, only to find two pin hole jets of water (fresh) coming out the back of the toilet!   Run outside to get Daryl to turn off the water and find out what going on - the pump has split...yippee.

I google the brand and find a local dealer about 6 miles away so we head off to get a new part - notice the sky is dark and think we better get back before it rains, which we did and Daryl is able to sort the part and reinstall the dunny (most important). 

I head off and do the washing which took a couple of hours of back and forth to the laundry but heading up to get the last load I notice some very black clouds and think it would be best to get the load and get back - about a third of the way back it starts to spit very big rain drops and I run for it.  Throw the laundry in the door and run back to pull the cover over the car which had come off - it buckets down and I give up and head back to the RV, 15 meters away and get blown in the door. 

Oh boy, this was not an ordinary storm the trees bent, the branches flew and we rocked.  Then the emergency siren went and didn't stop....Mimi had explained that was the siren goes continuously for extreme storm danger....  time to change our pants.

 

Well that was the end of our power!

Garden shed in the lake.......

Right behind our RV..

 

The top half of the tree, Daryl's foot showing how wide the trunk is...

and what is left of the tree it came off..........

This was just in front and a little to the right of our RV!






We were lucky!  Sadly, others were not quite so lucky.

We see full grown trees uprooted, both lights at the intersection gone & 18 wheel trucks have been blown over.......

Quad Cities - David & Mimi

Next morning we head over to the Nankivell household - it is Friday and David has taken a day off also and takes us along with their niece from Norway, Ingri (sweet 16 - not sure on the spelling sorry), around the John Deere head quarters in Moline which is quite something - (Daryl gets to play on machines....).   The head quarters is set up in harmony with the natural environment around it and would be a great place to work.   

The rain bucketed down while we were inside but fined up later on, so we also stopped at the John Deere shop.  Lunch back at the house and Mimi was able to join us, so we all went on a cruise down the Mississippi river.  Some neat old houses - the residences of past officers on the arsenal base along with rich merchants on the other side made some good sightseeing.

Daryl, Mimi, David & Ingri

 

That night we all head out to dinner near St Clair which is a cute little town where "The Pickers" from the TV series have their shop.   After dinner we head back to our RV for the night having had an amazing time with them ad their family.

Day Two

 

Next day Mimi takes Ingri to the shuttles to catch a plane from Chicago back to Norway - 9 hours, almost as bad as our flight and we do some washing in the morning as we are running out of clothes.

 

We meet at lunch time expecting to head out and Mimi has lunch organised for us before we leave for the Quad City Airshow, (like Wings over Waiarapa).  The day turned out really hot but the show was fantastic and man those pilots could fly those machines. 

 

 

Flying sideways......

Tora Tora - the grand finale

Next on the list is the drags at Cordova Dragway, which start at 5pm and go into the night with the nitro drags.  This was also a great night and the speed were high with one record being broken and speeds over 265 miles per hour. 

They also race snow sleds.......154 miles per hour - we are not kidding.

 

 

Dinner at the drags and after seeing some of the nitro cars light up we head home where we stayed at their house for the night as it was quite late. 

 

Next morning we get up and true to form Mimi has a full breakfast going - eggs on toast, croissants, cheese and the whole family around the table - really nice.  Then we are off to Galena near the Michigan border, which is a lovely old town with a tonne of history, neat shops and cafes.  After poking around the shops, we did some wine tasting and then had some lunch (about 3pm as time had just gotten away on us), some more shops and then back home, where the guys wash their cars... and we have a BBQ dinner, some of the wine from the tasting shop with cheesecake..... need to do some exercise now!

 

 

Galena, Illinois

 

We say our goodbyes which is very sad as we have become quite attached to them and they have been the most wonderful hosts, showing us around and making us very welcome.  One day we may get to return the favour.  Can't thank them enough for their hospitality and allowing us to share their home.

Newton - Rock Island, Illinios

The camp in Newton is right next to the I80 and very noisy but we were so tired we slept anyway.  It also turned out to be right next to the Indy car racing which was on that weekend - they were fully booked for that of course.  The phone lines go down and internet is out, so we head off not knowing where our next stop is again...

Heading east again we head down the I80 to Davenport we stop at the rest area as in Iowa these all have wireless internet - very handy.  Look up some RV parks, but nothing near Bettendorf where Daryl's friend lives, so we end up choosing the KOA in Rock Island which is across the Mississippi river in Illinois.  The camp is about 20 minutes away from David & Mimi's place in Bettendorf, back across the Mississippi, so after settling in, we head over to catch up with them.

Crossing the mighty Mississippi into Illinios

 





And crossing back again into Iowa to visit David & Mimi in Bettendorf.



David was a founding member of Moonshine Hot Road Club in Upper Hutt and has known Daryl for many years although he has lived in the US for over 23 years now.  We arrive at their house and are immediately welcomed with open arms by Mimi, and David arrives not long after - they have two sons, Luke & Jason who we also get to meet.  Mimi has prepared dinner for us and we have a great night around the table before heading back to our RV.

 

They have a lovely house and great children, young men really and are fun to spend time with.

We arrange to meet the next day, where they will show us around the area and where David works at John Deere.