The past twenty four hours have been very emotional for me. Hurricane Isaac has stirred up a lot of memories!
Seven years ago Hurricane Katrina was coming to New Orleans and we left town. We evacuated heading to Lake Charles in our small 5th wheel.....who knew we'd still be rving???
Several days later we were allowed to go back home. I can't begin to tell you how returning to our home felt like...my first sight as we got closer to New Orleans was of naked trees....I expected downed power lines and trees. I knew there would be damage to buildings and homes...but naked trees in September just blew my mind. Our home had what we call normal hurricane damage...part of the roof was gone which allowed rain to come in. Carpeting and walls were soaked. We didn't have any flooding in our neighborhood.
My heart goes out to all in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, the road ahead will be hard but I know that the resilience of these fine southern people will prevail. You can rebuild!
We stayed in the area for another year while Jim worked and we repaired the house. We lived in Baton Rouge on the levee outside of Jim's office. Driving down to Terrytown when we could, man did that get old! Jim retired a year later and we lived on base in Algiers so we could get the house cleaned out and sold.
So we've been Full Timing for seven years....
I love it and still look forward to traveling
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Rantoul, Illinois
For dinner Thursday night I made Pablo Pasta (bow tie pasta and black beans are the main ingredients) from the Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook...it was quite tasty but we both agreed the sauce was bland. I've got some ideas about how to 'spice' it up and I think some chipotle peppers are called for! We'll have it again.
Our drive from Cicero was an easy one, we spent some time on the interstate. Not sure why but two rest areas were closed and we finally stopped at a gas station and bought a Subway sandwich for lunch. When we crossed into Illinois we entered the Central Time Zone...
About 30 minutes after lunch we arrived at Prairie Pines Campground in Rantoul, http://www.village.rantoul.il.us/recreation/prairiepines/index.html And Summer is back in full swing here. The temperature was close to 90 as we set up! We have full hookups with 50 amp and we're staying two weeks. Weekly rate is $125. This used to be a mobile home park for the nearby defunct Air Force Base. The sites are grass but it's a well kept campground. Also the sites are oddly set up. There are angled sites and when you pull in you can park away from the road and neighbors or close up. I think all the sites are pull throughs and we had to weave through some pine trees to get to ours. We were both pleased and surprised that the site is level...doesn't happen very often on a grassy field.
Last night's dinner was Morning Star Farms 'chicken' cutlets with mashed potatoes and gravy and steamed broccoli. Jim did the dishes, thanks honey!
This morning I was up at 0430, don't ask me why...I tried to go back to sleep but after tossing and turning two or three times I gave up. But it's been interesting! I've heard trains off in the distance and a flock of geese flew over just after the sky lightened up. The sun is coming up at my back and I've had fun watching a squirrel dash around under the tree outside my window. Across the street is a corn field and behind to the right is another crop that I haven't identified yet, it's green and low so maybe it's green beans. Will have to get back to you on that.
Our drive from Cicero was an easy one, we spent some time on the interstate. Not sure why but two rest areas were closed and we finally stopped at a gas station and bought a Subway sandwich for lunch. When we crossed into Illinois we entered the Central Time Zone...
About 30 minutes after lunch we arrived at Prairie Pines Campground in Rantoul, http://www.village.rantoul.il.us/recreation/prairiepines/index.html And Summer is back in full swing here. The temperature was close to 90 as we set up! We have full hookups with 50 amp and we're staying two weeks. Weekly rate is $125. This used to be a mobile home park for the nearby defunct Air Force Base. The sites are grass but it's a well kept campground. Also the sites are oddly set up. There are angled sites and when you pull in you can park away from the road and neighbors or close up. I think all the sites are pull throughs and we had to weave through some pine trees to get to ours. We were both pleased and surprised that the site is level...doesn't happen very often on a grassy field.
Last night's dinner was Morning Star Farms 'chicken' cutlets with mashed potatoes and gravy and steamed broccoli. Jim did the dishes, thanks honey!
This morning I was up at 0430, don't ask me why...I tried to go back to sleep but after tossing and turning two or three times I gave up. But it's been interesting! I've heard trains off in the distance and a flock of geese flew over just after the sky lightened up. The sun is coming up at my back and I've had fun watching a squirrel dash around under the tree outside my window. Across the street is a corn field and behind to the right is another crop that I haven't identified yet, it's green and low so maybe it's green beans. Will have to get back to you on that.
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