20030915

September 15, 2003
Monday


Start:   Viking Village RV Park, Stoughton WI
End:     Coachman's Terrace Park, Lake Geneva WI
Miles:   56
Hi Temp: 76.5
Lo Temp: 49.5


We hooked up and headed out on County "N", south to US-51 east.  That led us onto I-90/39, which we left again very soon to follow US-51.

We went into a Shell truck stop to check on the "wheel bearing" report a driver yelled to us in Madison. The left rear wheel was really hot.  We had to wait for the repair guy to fit three tires onto an 18-wheeler.  He couldn't find anything wrong with the bearing, so he re-packed both left wheel bearings full of grease and sent us along.

We followed US-51 to US-14 at Janesville, to WI-11 to Delavan. We stopped to check the wheel again, and found it terribly hot again.  We limped at low speed on to the campground.

Now I think the trouble must be something broken in the wheel that has that brake locked.

We set up in the campground and called an RV place 7 miles north in Elkhorn. We'll go directly there at low speed Wednesday morning when we leave here.  They'll be waiting for us and will look at the wheel problem. Then we'll go on north.

We had lunch and called my cousin Lynn, who came to get us and take us to her house. They've moved since I was last here, to a beautiful duplex overlooking the golf course at Geneva National. We sat and chatted with her and husband Gene all afternoon on the screened deck; it was a beautiful day outside. Daughter Amy was visiting them, so we got a chance to see her as well; she left in late afternoon to go to Chicago to see her twin brothers Nate and Noel.

As it got cool, we moved inside and Lynn prepared a dinner of taco casserole and a coconut pie with ice cream for dessert.  Both were delicious.

Then we moved downstairs and talked some more. Lynn dragged out pictures of the family and we went over those. we also reviewed her father's Army records, which are terribly incomplete; she's working on filling in some gaps.  She wants me to send her another copy of the VCR tape of my dad's home movies, which shows her father briefly. 

It certainly was fun seeing Lynn & Gene again.

Finally, she drove us back to the little house.  I cut a CD of pictures for her, and we settled in.  We see that hurricane Isabel is headed for the east coast.  We'll watch that with interest over the next few days.

 

20030916

September 16, 2003
Tuesday


Start:   Coachmen's Terrace RV, Lake Geneva WI
End:     same
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 77.7
Lo Temp: 54.7


We had a slow morning, then we went shopping as a form of touring Lake Geneva. The downtown is mostly on the register of historic buildings and the shops are still good ones, reflecting the town's status as a resort for the Chicago folks.

One book we saw showed the historic homes under the title, "Newport of the West".

We found a wireless internet access point in a mailbox and shipping store and inquired about that.  Then we went to the grocery and bought foodstuffs.  We haven't used much lately, while visiting Cynthia and Lynn, so we didn't need a lot.

We put those things away at the trailer. Dolores picked up a book while I went back to get onto the internet. The internet browser functions I had to do worked just fine, and quite quickly. I found the Mastercard bill, then went to the financial place I use and paid the bill.  I downloaded all the credit card activity to double-check against my receipts, and all the bank transactions to put them into the expenditures database.  I'll do that tonight.

I came home and soon it was time for dinner with Gene and Lynn.  They picked us up and took us downtown to Popeye's (not the chain, the local one). It overlooks Geneva Lake, which was beautiful tonight with the clear blue sky and setting sun. The temperature was in the low seventies with low humidity.

We chatted and ate and had a good time.  Lynn said she was a little short of sleep and Gene has a long, dry, training session tomorrow. We, of course, have to get the trailer examined and fixed.  So we asked to be dropped off at the trailer so everyone could get some rest. I gave Lynn the CD I'd made for her and we made our thanks and good-byes.  It was great to have seen them again.

Back at the little house, we're settling in and doing the finance-checking.  We'll catch the evening news to watch the progress of hurricane Isabel toward the east coast.