The First Day of Our Journey - Heading out West 2015

Ahhhh   after packing and checking and doublechecking our lists.... we were ready to roll by 2 pm.

Steve had to work up until 1:30 pm, so it was up to me to run all of the errands, return the extra furnace parts, run the dog to the vet for her last round of booster shots plus finish loading all the items that could have frozen overnight if we did it last night.  I put on 82 miles running around before I made it back home to load up our final items.  Whew!

At 2:15, we hooked up the Tracker and rolled out of the yard! 

Yup.. we are heading south and west for six weeks--- seeking desert sun and peace and quiet.  ahhhhh


63,198  starting mileage

We headed south through the snowy Wisconsin countryside.  The further south we went, the higher the snowbanks got because they had a storm last week that piled up more snow to the south.  The temps were mid 20's, the sun was shining and the roads were dry and clear.

We only had one tiny detour of a few miles during some construction areas, but the rest of the drive was clear and uneventful.  Just the way we like it!

By 4:49 pm we crossed into Illinois, and set our sights on zooming south until dusk set in.  We really don't care to drive at night.  But... Steveio decided to keep driving into the dark, and get south to where we don't see any snow!  Ha... they have more snow here than we did in Wisconsin.

We got around the exit for Wenona, Illinois, and we remembered a gas station with five RV sites along side of the building.  Figuring we drove enough for one day, we pulled in at 6:30 pm.

Finding any type of a campground open at this time of year is unheard of in our neck of the woods, so this gas station is pretty special.  It is located at Wenoma exit hwy 17,  $15 hookup for 50 amp, dump station but no water available at the site of course being winter.  They said in the morning at the building we can hook up a hose to the frost free faucet when the manager comes in with the key.

Normally we don't need any hookups, but we knew this was here, plus having the 50 amp hookup allows us to use our electric heaters and electric mattress pad tonight.  Saves our propane when the temps are going down to the mid teens tonight here.  Brrrrrr.

Soooo it was 241 miles traveled today.  Pretty good for being up at 6, running all those errands and Steveio having to put in more than half a day too.

I popped two chicken pot pies from Hilde's Deli and Bakery into the oven.  I buy 10 frozen ones before we leave on our vacations, and we can enjoy them for a quick no fuss dinner while we travel.  I whipped up a couple salads and we cracked open a bottle of wine.  Ahhhh that is roughing it on the road, eh?

Binney was exhausted and kept falling asleep on the loveseat

while Finney kept begging for some of our pot pies!

Little Binney rode very well, and was not scared in the least.  She and Finney cuddled up and enjoyed the ride.  Once we stopped, I took them both out on the long leashes into a small grassy area near our Rv slot.  Finney did his thing right away and spent the next 20 minutes sniffing.  Binney just stood there for 20 minutes, refusing to do a thing!  Stubborn little cuss!!   The vet told me a way to get her to go potty was to sing the song from Frozen.  You know the one.... "Let it gooo  Let it goooooo"

But she didn't.

Tried again at 9:30 pm .   Same result.

Oh well, we will get her out early in the morning.  As for now while I write this, both dogs are cuddled on our bed with a snoring Steveio.  When I hit "publish" I will be zonking out too.  Quiet countryside, far enough from the highway.  Time to sleep.

We will hit the road early and make some miles burn up under our tires tomorrow.

Looking for warmth and sunshine.