Mike and I are thrilled to take Violet and Evie on our first motorhome trip with them. We will be traveling west to the Mt. Rushmore area with many interesting stops in between.

Day 1 – Thursday August 16, 2018

Thursda any morning, packed and ready to go.  9:27 am and we are on the road!!

10:37 am and Pennsylvania is welcoming us to their beautiful state.

11:16 am Ohio is happy to see us also 🙂 !!

And last, but not least, Indiana. 4:20 pm we arrive at our first campground- the KOA in Middlebury, Indiana. After we set up the motorhome the girls and I went for a walk to the office to look for brochures and check out the store. And Mike stayed back to sit and enjoy not driving. Violet enjoyed seeing all the dogs along the way and Evie thought she was the queen of ping pong since she beat me. I haven’t played in 20 years and she played once on a cruise ship. So, I don’t think the win counts for much, just sayin’. But then she did beat me at Kwixx ( a dice game ). The games have just begun!!!!

Our first dinner together. Delicious chicken and green beans on the grill with Noni B’s mac and cheese. And for everyone who ate all their dinner, Dilly bars from Dairy Queen.

The girls are chillin out while Grandma is cleaning up from dinner. After all, they had a strenuous day sleeping while Grandpa was driving. Hey, it’s a tough life for teenagers.

Day 2 – Thursday August 17, 2018

Up early and back on the road as we want to stop at the La Porte County Historical Museum in La Porte, Indiana. It opens at 10 am and we would like to be there when it opens or close. And the museum is about an hour away. Well…… after we were driving for about a half hour our GPS notified us that we had changed time zones. Ooops, we didn’t need to get up as early as we did. And we arrived at the museum well before they opened. So, we got to be their first customers and have the museum all to ourselves for awhile. So, you are asking, why this particular museum. And the reason would be to see the exhibit on the first known serial killer – Belle Gunness. She was known to have killed 14 people but possibly as many as 40. And this was the “one” thing that Violet really wanted to see on our trip.

This is an information board about her. It is a bit gruesome.

Inside the room about Belle Gunness.

Our crazy driver Violet is not happy being distracted by Evie who just can’t get over what she sees. LOL

The museum was previously located in the basement of La Porte town hall. The town needed the space and asked the museum to relocate. The town orthodontist was a collector of automobiles and planes and stored them in a beautiful building on the outskirts of town. The museum approached him about possibly using the building for their museum also. And a match was made. The building has 3 floors so there was plenty of space to meld the museum pieces and exhibits with his car and plane collection. It is beautifully done and we enjoyed it immensely.

Here are two of his cars. The silver one is a De Lorean and the red is a Tucker.

After an hour and a half we were on the road again. It really was a great museum. Fun was had by all.

Oh, and after we left the museum Violet received word from her father that she has been accepted at Cardinal O’Hara High School. YAY Violet!!!! Big hugs and high fives all around.

Welcome to Illinois, land of Lincoln!!! And a lot of traffic!!! Did we tell you how much we don’t like driving in, near or around Chicago. Unbelievable traffic.

3:50 pm we arrive at Colona’s Scott Family Park. It was once a resort owned by the Scott family. They donated it to the town (don’t know why) who now manage it as a campground. And, since we were ahead of schedule, due to the time zone change, we were able to go to the Antique Archaeology store in Le Clair Iowa. It is a store owned by Mike Wolfe who has the TV show American Pickers. Mike and his friend Frank go around the country looking for old unusual antique items. It is one of Mike’s favorite shows. This was Mike’s pick. (do you see a theme here)

Back to the campground. Another game of Kwixx with Evie. I am happy to say that I was the winner this time. So the score is – Evie 1    Grandma 1. I will keep you posted as we go. Oh, and not to brag, okay I will, I won at Sorry!!! I knew you all would want to know. The four of us have been playing that for awhile and having a bit of “friendly” competition.

Til tomorrow…. Love, Dona