travel tales for family and friends. . .

wild horses. . .Theodore Roosevelt NP - North Dakota

Sunday, August 3, 2014

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. . .

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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!

Illinois, Chicago IL (35)

hopefully the horrible flight memories will fade,

and he’ll reminder the fun Gangster Tour

 

The Bean - Cloudscape - ChicagoThe Bean - Cloudscape - Chicago

the “Bean” Cloudscape Sculpture

Illinois, Chicago IL (57)

our wonderful Chicago Style Pizza. . .

Illinois, Chicago IL (86)Illinois, Chicago IL (97)

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. ..

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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. . .

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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!

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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. . .

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from which we can see the State of Wisconsin

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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. . .

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saw some wildlife. . .

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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. . .

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and was serenaded by the beautiful Mountain Bluebird. . .

I’m feeling better already!

See you next time,

Janice and Dave

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