A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

The cardinals continue to visit this corner of the front porch, tho I see no signs of nest-building they are enjoyable to watch.

The Interstate has taken up residence in the driveway, is plugged in, I have done some cleaning and begun loading shelf stable and non food items.

Took it into Don Owen this morning for a road check before we hit the road again, and Jon replaced my windshield wipers, re-attached/secured a few things underneath, checked the tires and brakes, etc., etc., etc., so I should be good to go and will hopefully have no mechanical issues.

After looking at the instructions for the battery tender I bought for the Toyota for while I am gone, the first two pages of which are precautions and how not to have a fire, explosion or harm oneself, I am going to take it and the car down there Thursday morning and they are going to show me how to set it up.

Just seems the wise thing to do…I will take pictures, and they will also look at why both my tail lights have gone out.

Lily is watching travel preparations with great interest..where her greenies and chicken jerky are going, that her dog food is still inside, etc.

It’s been a busy spring, and it will be nice to be traveling again…a privilege that is not lost on me.


I have begun reading “While Justice Sleeps”, by Stacey Abrams, https://www.amazon.com/While-Justice.../dp/0385546572 , the first of her books I have read, and it is very good.

Until this book popped up in my Book Bub offerings, I did not realize Stacey Abrams, who I have long admired, was a best selling author.


I upgraded my tool bag for the Interstate, to this little baby made by Carhart that is about twice the size of the one I’ve carried for years, but the increase in size is all in vertical height, so it is still very compact.

Lots of pockets and loops, inside and out, for organizing…I like.

[Lily&Me]

A cow on the loose on a highway in Michigan this morning, being chased down by a cowboy on horseback with a lasso

https://www.nbcchicago.com/top-video...higan/3146998/

I wonder if I should learn to rope and drive, because there isn’t always a cowboy on horseback around when you really need one.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

We have had a rather weird week , but it is coming to a close and we will head out tomorrow after the graduation party.

Spending tomorrow night with a friend north of here, Tuesday will visit my sister in law and do another overnight in far northern Illinois…then on into Wisconsin.

Young Wizard has officially completed high school and is starting the next chapter in his life.

He is maturing nicely, and I believe will be just fine…accepts and integrates information, is always willing to learn something new and has an admirable sense of who he is and what he wants for an 18 year old.


Interstate is packed but for the frig and freezer in the morning, tho when I went to turn the frig on a bit ago the 30 amp fuse for the inverter was blown again and the coach battery was reading 7.86.

I brought it home and plugged it in a week ago, nothing has been on or used inside in that time.

The wiring was repaired in March and I was told this was fixed.

Too late to do anything else now before I leave, so here we go again, heading into summer season when I will need my vent fan.


Did some touch up painting on my shed this morning, and some packing, then crocheted a couple of hours while watching “Les Miserables” on Netflix…just for something entertaining, not requiring too much concentration.

Sooooo good…saw it years ago with the hubby.

We’ll be off tomorrow.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

The graduation party was a resounding success, as were Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies…a double batch, baked yesterday morning, and of which there was only one left when we headed north.

Nestle’s Toll House cookies, the recipe off the package, made with real butter.

Got to meet some of Camden’s friends, fellow orchestra members who I have admired at concerts but never met, also folks from their church and youth group.

It was a nice time, and I am happy for him and his successes.

Spent last night with a friend, finally getting to bed after we had talked and sipped wine for hours, then had a visit today with my SIL and took her out to lunch.


Headed for what I thought was a small township campground in northern Illinois for tonight, but tho there is a lovely park here there is no campground that I can find.

No one in the city office to speak with, I left a message and have pulled into a parking area where we will hopefully be undisturbed the night.


The fuse to the converter has not blown again, the problem apparently being only when it is plugged into electricity, which I guess makes sense, and I have marked on my map an RV place I am going to stop at in the morning and beg a quick look at it.

Grateful to be able to go, and looking forward to the summer.

Safe travels, all.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

We spent a quiet night on this dead end road into the park, completely undisturbed, and rested very well.

Late yesterday afternoon, as I have the rear door open and was sitting here reading, an older man in the first house up stopped to chat a minute before he left in his car to go somewhere.

“Are you by yourself??? No, I have Lily.

Would you rather sleep inside??? We’re good here, are quiet and well behaved and won’t bother you.

Okay, then. Do you need breakfast??? No, but thank you…we have everything we need, and will be out early in the morning.

I should sell my house and buy one of these.”

Introduced myself, shook his hand, we visited a bit more and he told me the campground is actually elsewhere in this small town, but hasn’t been open in years.

He was just being hospitable and kind, and it was a very sweet interaction.

I love meeting people like this, all over the country. ☺️

Maggie

[Dingo Girl]

You won't be disappointed in the Carhartt tool bag. I use a bigger version nearly daily. They wear like iron.
Hope you get your wiring issue straightend out.
Safe travels to you and Lily.

[Lily&Me]

Thank you. ☺️

I’m already loving the Carhart tool bag, particularly the numerous small pockets on the outside where I can keep items I tend to need often…like needle nosed pliers, my sorted box of fuses.

Waiting for the RV place to open, hoping they will look at my converter.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

We are at Mound View RV in Belmont, WI, explained the sequence of events and they are going to replace the converter.

Always so grateful to places that will take us in off the road.

Maggie

[DaveP]

Maggie,

Are you headed to one of the Historicorps projects?

[Lily&Me]

Hi, Dave!

I am headed to Forest Lodge for 2 sessions, then 3 sessions at Joyce Estate in northern MN.

What are you doing this summer?


The tech at Mound View RV said the lower part of this converter had been replaced at some point, the fuse board was not replaced at the same time.

All new, now, and I am relieved to have that fixed.

Maggie

[DaveP]

I was going to do a session at the schoolhouse in Meeker, CO but had to cancel. I did 4 weeks in Hobbs NM for Habitat. I am doing another two-week session at Habitat in Waterloo IA and then 2 weeks with A Year To Volunteer up in Walden CO in September.

I hope Historicorps gets their calendar up earlier next year. By the time they put most of it up, I was already booked for the summer/fall. And I had to get my fly fishing in too!

Have a good time on the Wisconsen and Minnesota projects!

[Lily&Me]

Yes, I have had that conversation with Kyle, as I’m sure have others, about not noticing all project dates earlier in the season.

His response was that volunteers picked out the best projects and then they had trouble getting volunteers for others.

While I understand that, people need to plan, and so you might send a little feedback to Kyle about this.

This is something new they tried this year, and it will be interesting to see how it works out for them.

The lighthouse project will not be until September this year, and so I will not be able to do it as I will need to be home, so I’m going to drive into Canada after Joyce Estate and do Lake Superior from that side, which I have never done.



Plugged into electricity, this is my coach battery, so what a difference a new converter makes.

I should have just insisted the folks at Toevert replace the converter when it was in there in March and they found the loose wire, but now I’ve learned a bit more, so I guess that is the upside.

With a 2 year warranty, so hopefully we will be good for awhile.

[DaveP]

I will definitely write to Kyle and the BoD. I think they inadvertently squandered their available resources.

Enjoy the Canada trip/route!

[Lily&Me]

And you have a great summer, Dave.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

About 5 hours on the road this morning, heading out just before 6:30am and stopping only for a coffee/potty break and at a self serve car wash to clean the bugs and filth off the Interstate.

I had targeted a small City Park Campground a ways south of where I need to be on Sunday, was delighted to find it mostly empty and snagged an electric site at the bargain price of $15 a night.

We are going to stay here til Sunday morning, putter, clean a bit, cook, walk and otherwise just enjoy “being still”.

Lily will be delighted for us not to be driving.

I like to get below the serious cold in the winter months and above the serious heat in the summer, but the heat is following us as it was 90 degrees yesterday and almost that again today, tho we are 200 miles farther north.

But, that’s why we have electricity, to run the AC so as not to be miserable in the heat.

Cooler days are coming.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

We are settled in at our first HistoriCorps project of the season in Wisconsin, and have a very nice group that includes 4 amazing young people from Climate Corps.

I’ve worked with this Project Supervisor several times, and enjoy him, the Crew Leader responsible for the kitchen is a very personable young man for whom this is his first project.

Temps have cooled off some but mosquitoes are absolutely thick, so we’ve all been issued nets for our heads, and still battle hundreds of them getting into wherever we are sleeping.

My vent fan and hand vac are fairly well keeping them at bay inside the Interstate, but it still requires all day attention.

Lily resumed her favored position as Camp Dog and quickly determined who gives the best scratches, so goes from one to the next as if she is a dog starved for affection.

Then, she’s ready for a nap.

[Lily&Me]

I am about halfway thru “Homeland: a Novel”, by John Jakes, and it is very good.

https://www.amazon.com/Homeland-Nove.../dp/1504051998

Set mostly in Chicago, rich in historical detail of the times it encompasses, and full of complex, well-developed characters.

[Lily&Me]

A full article about the young man and his family in Michigan, who chased down and roped the runaway cow on I75 a week or so ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...ky-littlejohn/

He makes his living training horses and cow-catching.

I love it.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

We have had a very good week at Forest Lodge, and young Nick, our Crew Leader on his very first project, has done an excellent job of planning and preparing meals for 13 adults.

Tho every Crew Leader I have worked with has been a very good cook, he is also very personable and intuitive, quick to perceive needs from volunteers and tend to them.

He is going to a project in the San Juan islands for 5 weeks when he leaves here, and I am a bit jealous of that one, tho then another where they must hike 4 miles in, carrying supplies on horses.

I was scheduled here for two sessions but have been asked to stay for a third, so have agreed to that.

As a morning person, and Kitchen Helper, I get up to start coffee, clean off the tables and do other prep work before the Crew Leader gets in to start breakfast, letting them sleep in a bit.

It works out well for both of us.

Forest Lodge is luxury accommodations, for any of you contemplating these projects, as we have hot showers, electricity, running water, etc.

Going to go into town tomorrow to do some laundry and stop at the little grocery in Cable, then we will do a small bit of choring but otherwise relax the weekend and not have a 4:30am alarm.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Staff and a couple of volunteers who stayed over last night…all men…went to a local place with a Friday night fish fry last night, which I was invited to join but decided to pass on.

Not exhausted, but tired from our busy week, I enjoyed the quiet here in camp.

I got up this morning to this near the Interstate, placed sometime last evening.