Some views with the drone of Paul Wolff

Carl got his drone out to show it to Jim and took some pictures around where we are camping...

Gracie and the Jee-rage in our spot at Paul Wolff (you can see a number of empty spots around us)

Melanie and Jim's camper in their site

Another view of Melanie and Jim's camper in their site

We *so* enjoy having friends camping with us!

Friend trying out e-bikes

We had friends who came out to camp with us at Paul Wolff, and our friend, Jim, wanted to try out our Lectric e-bikes...

Jim starting out on the e-bike (Melanie in the background watching!)...

Carl and Jim heading out around the campground

They were able to bike around the campground, and then also on the trails in the forest preserve.

Beautiful Skies

After a rainstorm moved through, the clouds and sun made such a beautiful sight...

The sun shining from behind the clouds made it look like the clouds were on fire!

Lunch that satisfies

Our tastes for food that we like do not always agree... in general, Carl will eat anything, and I'm a bit pickier (though a LOT better than when I was a kid!). Some of the foods that he *really* likes, I can tolerate, but don't enjoy -- so we try to figure out ways to accommodate us both...

One of the foods that he *really* likes is White Castle. I can eat White Castle, but... I generally regret it later... Last time we were in the Elgin area, we found a White Castle location that is near other restaurants, so I could get my meal from a different place...

... we went there again on this visit -- I got Steak 'n' Shake, and fries and shakes for both of us, and Carl got White Castle (note the grease marks on the bag -- gives you a clue about the contents if you've never had White Castle!). The Steak 'n' Shake has picnic tables with umbrellas outside, so we were able to enjoy both of our lunches!

I haven't quite figured out a solution when Carl "needs" to eat Indian Buffet... but I can eat a few things and fill up on Naan -- it just ends up being a pretty expensive meal for the amount that I (don't) eat!

An interesting bumper sticker

We met some of our family at a local Culver's (Culver's had Chocolate Caramel Pecan as the flavor of the day -- couldn't miss getting some of that!), and Carl saw an interesting bumper sticker:

<grin>

Cute, huh? Makes you think too?

Things we wonder about

As we were driving in Illinois,

We saw an "interesting" Schneider trailer -- a white trailer instead of the normal orange.

Carl's son, Steve, works for Schneider (in the offices acquiring new business -- Carl asks him often, "When will you get to drive one of the trucks?"). So... we notice Schneider trucks as we travel, and we'd never seen a white one before.

Since we had the opportunity to get together with Steve, we asked... it turns out that they are changing over to white trailers as the resale value (when Schneider is done with a trailer) is higher than with the orange trailers. So, now if you notice white Schneider trailers on the road, you'll know why!

Continuing on our journey from Wisconsin

After a quick one night stay across the river from Dubuque in Wisconsin, we continued on our journey toward the Chicago-land area...

Technically, we could have stayed on roads in Wisconsin and worked our way east and south (using county roads such as County Road H, County Road HH, and County Road HHH), but the Garmin in Gracie (which knows how long and heavy she is) recommended that we stay on more major roads which took us back through Dubuque.

So we re-crossed the Mississippi...

Looking upstream of the mighty Mississippi

We got welcomed back into Iowa...

...saw (what I think is) the gold leafed dome on the Dubuque Courthouse (at a distance)...

...were impressed by the massive structure holding the traffic signals aloft at this intersection...

... crossed another bridge over the Mississippi...

... enjoyed some additional views of the mighty Mississippi, upstream...

... and downstream...

"Smile, Carl!" (another upstream view - you may be able to barely see the bridge we had crossed earlier out the window)

... and got welcomed into Illinois (the northern bridge out of Dubuque goes into Wisconsin, the southern one goes into Illinois).

So we were on our way to the Chicago-land area!