Moved to Chicagoland

(Joliet, IL) Hi 68 Lo 57 -- I never sleep well the night before a move. We had to be in Bloomington, IL for a lunch date by noon, so we didn't linger very long this morning getting ready to move out. The Cowbird was still banging on our rear window this morning and sitting on the ladder. Even with us moving all around the RV, he still did his thing. We were beginning to wonder if he was going to follow us on the road.

I always keep track of the miles we drive when we're set up in one location. We drove 1,440 miles during our month in Edwardsville. I'm so glad we have the car rather than put that many miles on the truck. It saves us so much in fuel costs! We'll also be putting in a lot of miles the next two weeks in the Chicago area going back and forth to Homewood to our son's house.

When Jim pulled out of our site this morning the RV made a horrible screeching noise in the area of the wheels. At first he thought the breakaway cable had pulled out, but he checked it and it was fine. Then he thought it might be a coating of rust or other gunk on the brake discs from all the rain we've had and from sitting for a month. Not really sure of what to do, we proceeded on the road slowly, with me keeping an eye on the wheels from behind looking for smoke, and by the time we got to the highway the sound was not as loud. We proceeded north on I-55 for 10 miles to a rest area. Jim pulled in and checked the temperature of the tires and wheels. They were all normal. And the screeching noise was gone. We proceeded on our way and didn't have any problems. We stopped at another rest area about 80 miles farther for another check and the tires and wheels were still at normal temperatures. Our conclusion is it was either something on the discs that wore off after a few miles, or maybe a hung caliper that corrected itself. Our next move in two weeks is to Elkhart, IN where we're getting some maintenance done at an RV service center, so we'll have them give the brakes and suspension a good check-up.

We met with Charlene and Denny and their two grandkids, Noah and Hannah at a Cracker Barrel in Bloomington. Char and Denny are full timers, and we try meet up with them whenever we're in the same area. They're on the way to Washington, DC. It was so great to see them again. We spent a couple hours catching up with our travels and lives. Thank you so much for meeting with us!

Denny and Charlene









We got to Hollywood Casino in Joliet around 3:30 and into our site with no problems. The cost went up $10 a day since we stayed here last year because they added a continental breakfast at the nearby hotel. I guess we'll have to eat about $100 worth of food the next two weeks.

This is our site. It's got a cement pad and nice picnic table.

Other sites around us. The park is less than half full.

We're all settled in. Jim is watching the Cardinals baseball game and I'm going to crochet then get into the chatroom.