At Home and Ducks

April 13-21– At home and ducks

Once we got home we turned on the water and “un-winterized” the house. It did not take long. However the next day we realized we were not getting any hot water. Turned out we did not turn off the correct breaker to the water heater and the element burned out. Dennis tried removing the old one to replace it and it would not budge. We ended up purchasing a new water heater which was a good thing as there was lots of crud in the old one. We also increased the size from a 12 gallon to a 20 gallon.

Sheila a brought Henry to our house on Thursday (5/13) and he stayed overnight. He went with us to Chippewa Falls for Easter. Sheila came up on Saturday.

Dennis got a call from Carolyn at Kohler Andrae State Park on our way to Chippewa Falls. We were originally scheduled to start hosting at the park on May 15^th. However she asked if we could come earlier so Dennis can help cut the grass. We will now be starting May 1^st.

On Wednesday (5/19) we went with a group to hike a portion of the Ice Age Trail. The naturalist at the Ice Age Center has organized a series of hikes over the spring, summer and fall to cover the entire trail in the Northern Unit of the the Kettle Moraine. The hikes are scheduled every Wednesday. This was the first one. The last one is in September. If you complete all the hikes you receive a special commemorative patch.

We noticed ducks on our lake but they were too far to identify. So Wednesday afternoon we went down to Cabelas to check out spotting scopes. We purchased one for $60 plus a tripod. We set it up in the living room and identified the following:

1. Lesser Scaup
2. Bufflehead
3. Common Merganser
4. Pied-billed Grebe

These are all fairly common waterbirds but it was exciting to see and identify them. I have included a photo taken with my phone camera through the scope.

3 male Lesser Scaups and 1 female Bufflehead

The Last Night and then Home

April 11-12 – At Boondockers Welcome location near Rockford IL

Tuesday morning the four of us went to the Casino for breakfast. Then we all packed up and headed out. Alex and Monica were going home. We planned on staying overnight somewhere as we did not want to get home in the dark. Wednesday morning we got a pretty early start and arrived home around noon. Our neighbors had done some more work on our RV parking spot. They leveled some additional area and added electric. Now we can hook up to electric if need be. They are are so nice!

Where we are parked: Boondockers Welcome Hobby Farm near Rockford IL. It was located on Murphy Road. We were told there was electric available however when we plugged in it was not working so we had to use our batteries. The spot we chose was behind the barn and had a nice view but was not very flat. The host was very friendly. Dennis gave her a tour of our solar system as she is getting a new used RV in a few weeks that has solar. It was pretty chilly over night so our furnace ran quit a bit but there was plenty of battery remaining in the morning. All in all it was a pleasant place to spend a night.

Visit with Alex and Monica

April 7 - 11 – At Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park (TSMRP)– Visit with Alex and Monica

Alex and Monica left early Friday morning heading for Memphis. They stopped several times and did not make it to the campground until after 11:00. We chatted with them for a while then went to bed. Saturday morning we hopped in the truck and left to see what we could see in Memphis and search out rib restaurants. We took them to the Bass Pro Shop and then stopped at the visitor center. Alex mentioned that he was not feeling good and had not been for a few days so we took him to a Walk-in Clinic. He was diagnosed with a UTI and got some medication. Then we headed out to get some ribs! Between Saturday and Sunday we visited 3 rib places. They were in order of preference:

1. Central Bar-B-Que
2. German Commissary
3. Ray's Bar-B-Que

We visited Beale street a few times including having breakfast at Miss Polly's Soul City Cafe. Sunday evening we stopped at Margie's 901 Shop in downtown Memphis for ice cream. We really enjoyed Alex and Monica's visit but we ate.....a lot!

Our reservations at TSMRP ended on Monday so we decided to leave and head north to St. Louis. Alex and Monica met us there and stayed over night again as they did not have to be home until Tuesday. We stayed at the Casino Queen RV Park. That evening we drove across the river and went to the Arch. The tram in the arch was closed as they are renovating. We watched the movie in the visitor center then headed into town to get a bit to eat. The goal was to seek out St. Louis bar-b-que ribs to compare to the Memphis version. We stopped at the Budweiser Brew House at the Ballpark Village. The four of us shared deep fried ravioli, fish tacos, a beef brisket sandwich and a full rack of ribs. Yum! Was not really the type of place we were looking for for St. Louis ribs but the food was very good. Afterwards we went to the St. Louis Union Station to watch the lights shows we had heard about. We went to the outdoor show at 9:00. The indoor show was at the same time but the next one was not gong to be until 10:00 so we decided to leave. On the way out we stopped to talk to the door man at the hotel entrance. He said we would ask to have it played for us which he did. So we were able to see the show which was a tribute to the Beatles. It was very cool and I am glad we saw it.

Where we are parked: Casino Queen RV Park, East St Louis IL, $55/night, water, sewer and 50 amp electric. All sites are paved with gravel in between. We could see a portion of the arch from our site. Pretty pricey for a place to park but the location is great. You can drive or there is public transportation to take you across the river.

Cheryl and Dennis

Alex and Monica

Cool graphics next to Central Bar-B-Que

Some for me and some for you!

German Commissary

Breakfast at Soul City

The Arch and storm clouds

Light show at Union Station

Our site at Casino Queen RV Park

Memphis and the Mississippi

Monday - April 3 – LBL to Memphis

Moving day! Heading back to Memphis today. We have plans to meet Alex and Monica there next weekend. We made it there in around 4 hours however our fuel mileage sucked since we ran into rain and a 20 MPH head wind. I think we ended up around 9.4 MPG. We are averaging around 10.5. We arrived at Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park around one o'clock. This campground is in West Memphis Arkansas with sites right on the Mississippi River. It will be interesting watching the barges going up and down the river. For supper we went to the Shake Shack in nearby Marion for burgers.

Beale Street

They still make these??

On Beale Street

Where we are parked: Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park, West Memphis AR, Site 82, 30$/night, water, sewer and 50 amp electric. There is a mix of gravel and paved sites, all level, with the paved sites closest to the water. The rest of the roads are gravel. It had just rained before we arrived and there was lots of standing water. However it was all dried up by the next day.

Tuesday - April 4 – Memphis – temps: High 79º, Low 61º

Today we drove across the river into Memphis. We went to the Camping World in Memphis to look for a LED light bulb. I had some coupons for free spices from Penzey's so we went there as well. Then we went down to Beale street to hang out for a while. We had lunch at The Pig on Beale. It was warm enough to sit outside and listen to the band that was playing across the street. Dennis had a Bar-B-Que'd bologna sandwich. It was actually better than my pulled port sandwich. On the way back to the RV park we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few groceries. 

Barge on the Mississippi

Barge Tug