Shipshewana, Indiana to Western Pennsylvania

 We left the Chicago area (Joliet) and moved along east in to Indiana to the town of Shipshewana.

 

 

 

It was still pretty hot and humid so we opted for a campground where we could get full hook-ups (electric, water, and sewer).  Unfortunately, a storm blew through the area and knocked out all the power.  That meant no electric to run the AC and no water since the pumps are run off electric.  (We were later refunded our campground charges due to the lack of utilities.)  

 

 

 

We were in Amish and Mennonite country.  I just loved hearing the clock, clock, clock sound of the horse and buggies going by.  

We were in the area to take a scheduled tour of the factory that built our Grand Design Reflection travel trailer.  Unfortunately due to the storm that knocked out the power at the campground it also knocked out the power to the factory so our tour was cancelled.  We were really disappointed because we purposely took this route to do the tour.  Oh well, next time we're in the area.

We left the next day and drove across the state line in to Michigan to get diesel since it was cheaper.  At one point we needed to turn around and ended up getting stuck in the mud in a parking area.  With so much rain from the storm the grass was REALLY soft.  Uh oh!  Now what???

 

 

We tried to place pieces of wood under the wheels to gains some traction but that didn't work.  Then Al got the idea to disconnect the truck from the trailer and then reconnect it with the truck at an angle with the front wheels on more solid surface and use the 4 wheel drive to pull the trailer out.  It worked!

We left quite a mess of the grass!  Sorry.....

So that cheaper diesel cost us a lot of time and aggravation!  Lesson learned!

Now back on to our plan for the day.  We continued east to our next stop in Sandusky, Ohio.  

  

We got settled in to the Crystal Rock Campground.

We drove over to see Lake Erie and a lighthouse.  The Marblehead Lighthouse is on a peninsula of land in Lake Erie.  Marblehead is the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the American side of the Great Lakes.    

 

 

Lake Erie shoreline

Cedar Point Amusement Park

 

 

 

Lifesaving Station

 

 

After the lighthouse, we continued along the loop road stopping off at various farm stands.  Eventually it was time for some ice cream.

Toft's Ice Cream, Yummy!

Next up we arrived in western Pennsylvania and made our way to a property in Slippery Rock.

 

We were very fortunate to be hosted on a beautiful property and got set up next to their pond.  Our host, Mark, had us drive across his freshly mowed field to get to the pond.

Using our solar panels at this location.

We were parked in such a beautiful location it was hard to stop taking photos!

Sadly we could only stay for one night as we thoroughly enjoyed this location.  

Our next night was spent on another property in the middle of Pennsylvania in the town of Julian.  

The property had a huge 'U' shaped driveway so we were offered an area with hookups or we could park up on the grass.  We were only spending one night so we parked up on a level section of the grass.

Hitchhiker on our truck.

After dinner, our hosts, Kathy and Randy, invited us to their porch for homemade ice cream where we chatted and watched for lightening bugs. 

So this was our route for this entry.  We made it to my home state of Pennsylvania! 

 

Next stop, eastern Pennsylvania and my family!

Joliet, Illinois

We left the St Louis area and drove north to Joliet, Illinois and got set up in a church parking lot. Pastor Dave at the church was so friendly and gracious to host us fellow RVers. 

 

  

Our friends, Linda and Randy, met up with us and we shared the church parking lot.  

We were onsite on a Sunday so we went to their service.

 While in the area, we had 3 goals

1. Catch up with Linda & Randy
2. See a Chicago White Sox baseball game
3. See a Chicago Cubs baseball game
   

We've stayed in downtown Chicago before we retired so we already saw the highlights so we didn't need to see all that again on this trip.

First up was a White Sox game.  We were able to take the train from Joliet directly to the stadium.  We just had to park the truck in a lot at the Joliet station and hop on.  So much better then trying to drive in to Chicago and find parking.

Chicago skyline in the background

 

While waiting for the game to start the scoreboard showed player and team stats.

Shohei Ohtani (Pitcher for the LA Angels) is leading the league in home runs with 37.  He ended the season with 46!

Southpaw is the official mascot of the Chicago White Sox. He made his Major League debut on June 13, 2004.

We bought cheap seat tickets and found out that our tickets did not allow us to walk around the lower sections of the stadium.  That was a big disappointment as we like to walk around and check out the unique features of each stadium. 

Here was the view from our seats.

Another fun feature is to see how the home team home runs are acknowledged. 

Fireworks and the scoreboard changed to "Home Run".

After the game, we caught a glimpse of the Chicago skyline lit up.

Living in California for so long I forgot how uncomfortable high humidity with high temperatures is.  We were parked in the church parking lot with no hookups so we couldn't run our air conditioner all night to cool down the trailer and get a good night's sleep.  We were afraid our four lithium batteries would drain too much even though the solar would re-charge them the next day. 

So the four of us moved to the RV Park at the Hollywood Casino in Joliet which had full hookups.  Ahhhh......

Linda & Randy moved to a site across the street so we were still hanging out together.

Linda & Randy had other things to do while in the area so they didn't attend the ball games with us.  Our next visit was to Wrigley Field to see a Cubs game.  We saw a Cubs game before and checked that off our bucket list before we retired but wanted to visit again.  

Unfortunately the weather was not looking good for this game but we already had our tickets so we took the train to the stadium.  This time we had to make a transfer at the White Sox stadium stop and take a second train in to downtown Chicago to get to Wrigley.

Humidity Hair!

Harry Caray statue

Harry Caray covered five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of calling the games of the St. Louis Cardinals with two of these years also spent calling games for the St. Louis Browns. After a year working for the Oakland Athletics and eleven years with the Chicago White Sox, Caray spent the last sixteen years of his career as the announcer for the Chicago Cubs.

I brought an umbrella to the game and learned when we got to the entrance gate that we couldn't bring it inside.  Al had the great idea of hiding our umbrella outside the stadium under a giant planter.  Luckily no one noticed Al hiding it because it was there when we left the stadium.

Not a good sign when the grounds crew starts covering the infield

Al was impressed with the items available for hot dogs and burgers. 

Relish, peppers, tomatoes, onion, and pickles

We had covered seats in case it started to rain.

 

 

The skies were not looking good

We sat and waited and waited and eventually the game was postponed.  Lucky for us it was rescheduled as the first game of a double header the next day so we would still be in the area to attend. 

Waiting for the train at the connection stop near the White Sox stadium.

The train had two levels and was SO noisy when filled with fans.

 

So after the dress rehearsal the day before, we went back to the stadium the next day taking the train.  This time the weather was hot and humid and the game was played although when there is a double header these days, they only play 7 innings.

 

 

 

Ernie Banks "Let's play two."

 

Ernest Banks, nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was a professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between 1953 and 1971.

 

Some more interesting info about Ernie Banks from Wikipedia:

Banks is regarded by some as one of the greatest players of all time. He began playing professional baseball in 1950 with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro leagues. He served in the U.S. military for two years, played for the Monarchs again, and began his National League career in September 1953. The following year, Banks was the National League Rookie of the Year runner-up. Beginning in 1955, Banks was a National League (NL) All-Star for 11 seasons, playing in 13 of the 15 All-Star Games held during those years. Banks was the Cubs' main attraction in the late 1950s, the National League Most Valuable Player in 1958 and 1959, and the Cubs' first Gold Glove winner in 1960.

In 1962, Banks became a regular first baseman for the Cubs. Between 1967 and 1971, he was a player-coach. In 1969, through a Chicago Sun-Times fan poll, Cubs fans voted him the greatest Cub ever. In 1970, Banks hit his 500th career home run at Wrigley Field. He retired from playing in 1971, was a coach for the Cubs in 1972, and in 1982 was the team's first player to have his uniform number retired.

Banks was active in the Chicago community during and after his tenure with the Cubs. He founded a charitable organization, became the first black Ford Motor Company dealer in the United States, and made an unsuccessful bid for a local political office. In 2013, Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to sports.

Banks was known for his catchphrase, "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame ... Let's play two!", expressing his wish to play a doubleheader every day out of his love of baseball 

Here are building across the street with views of the field that house seating for the games.

The field from a different perspective.

Clark is the official team mascot of the Chicago Cubs. He was announced on January 13, 2014, as the first official mascot in the modern history of the Cubs franchise.

Starting Lineup

Quite the difference in weather from the previous night.

 

 

So we go from a lightning storm the night before to a heat advisory.  

The home plate Ump trying to cool off between innings

Final Score for the 7 inning game of the double header.  (We're 4 for 4 for the home team loosing when we are in attendance.)

It used to be that when you went to a double header you got to watch both games.  That's not the case anymore so we got a 7 inning game.  At least we got to catch a game after it was postponed by the weather.

 

After the game we had a little time to walk around downtown before catching the train ride back to Joliet.

 

And that was our time in Joliet/Chicago.  Next we're continuing east to Indiana and Ohio and in to Pennsylvania (my home state).