Our 49th Wedding Anniversary-- Part 13: Heading Home on Our Last Anniversary

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022

There was a still a clown hanging around this morning outside our room, only now wearing a bathrobe and later tourist clothes (but still with clown face painted on)  Not something you'd expect to see outside your door in the morning.  And, actually, a little bit unsettling.

Went to the Grant Hills Motel office for coffee and today's Dubuque newspaper.  The manager asked if we were going to stay another day, but Liz had already told me she wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home.  I told her that we didn't want to stay and she said that was alright as they still didn't have any room cancellations.

Read the newspaper outside and we headed for home at 10:30.  I had considered driving the Stagecoach Road on the way home, but Liz said she wasn't feeling well, so took the usual US-20 route.

Instead of going on the US-20 bypass around Freeport, we took Business US-20, the original US-20 through town. It sure seemed like we went a long way on it.

When we got home after a 353 mile drive for our anniversary, I cut the grass and then we went to Sunnyside and the McHenry American Legion.

Little did I know at the time, but this was to be my last anniversary with Liz and that we only had less than a month before her death.  Today, December 23, is the third month since she died.

Sure Going to be a Strange Christmas This Year.  --RoadDog

Our 49th Wedding Anniversary-- Part 4: Hanging Out and Going to Dubuque

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25

There were three motorcyclists who stayed at the Grant Hills Motel last night and we said hello as they passed by, but as cyclists often are, they only wanted to talk with each other.  Not with car folk like us.

I sat out by the pool and wrote in the journal.  The clouds were gone, sunshining and actually getting hot.  Cars, trucks, motorcycles and lots of SUVs going by on US-20 (the U.S. Grant Highway)  The U-Haul trucks are parked by the side of the pool.  The motel also rents them.

Liz and I drove to Dubuque, Iowa.  US-20 from Main Street in Galena all the way up the hill is really torn up with construction.  Galena High School is called the Pirates and they have the same dopey-looking logo as our Palatine High School Pirates.

Anyone who thinks Illinois is a flat state need only drive US-20 from Freeport to Dubuque to change their mind.  Passed the Swiss Inn in East Dubuque, Illinois.  We have stayed there often and like it especially because there is a bar attached to it.

We crossed the Mighty Mississippi on the bridge and were expecting to find cheaper gas prices in Iowa.  From the bridge there is quite a climb up a hill to get to the main store area of Dubuque on US-20.

--RoadDog

POINTS TO PONDER:  Why do you fill out a form by filling it in?

Dose Eagles-- Part 1

We just got back from our annual trip out to the Mississippi River to see the bald eagles.  Winter time is a great time to see these magnificent birds.  We didn't get to go last year because of that horrible winter, but managed to slip four days in this year.

We had planned on leaving on Tuesday, but the leak in the basement, which we had fixed on friday, came back, so postponed leaving for a day.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21ST:  Left home at 1 p.m. and drove state highways 120, 47, 176, 23 and U.S.-20 to Galena.  Stopped at the great Freeport-Stephenson County welcome center as usual.  Arrived in Galena and had a coupla-two at the VFW and ate at The Log Cabin on Main Street.  This is always a favorite of ours as this is where we ate the day after our wedding back in 1973.

The place hasn't changed a bit, except for the prices, which are considerably higher.  They feature meat from Chicago's Allen Brothers.  I had the Greecian chicken and Liz the cod dinner.  Talked with another couple who were 1971, NIU graduates and had retired to Galena.  Liz and I graduated from there in 1973.

Drove into Dubuque, Iowa, and got a room at the Super 8 and then went over to the nearby Champ's Sports Bar and watched the Blackhawks win their game on a huge screen.

--RoadDog


WITTY OBSERVATIONS:  A clear conscious is a sign of a fuzzy memory.

Mrs. Mike's Gourmet Corn Cheesy Style, Freeport, Illinois

As we travel down those old roads, every so often it becomes necessary to stop for a bathroom break. Often it is at a fast food place or gas station/convenience store. If I do not buy gas, I always make sure I buy something in way of thanks for using their facilities.

That usually means something from their $1 snacks. I always look for something I've never seen  before.   This past Friday, while driving along Illinois Hwy 72, we stopped and I bought some of the best cheese popcorn I've ever had. It was called Mrs. Mike's Gourmet Corn Cheesy Style. It looked cheesy and believe me, it was.

It is made by the Altona Company of Freeport, Illinois, which advertises "From the makers of the BEST POTATO CHIPS ON THE PLANET" on the package. If their gourmet corn is any indication, I would have to believe them. This was the BEST I've ever eaten.

Freeport, Illinois, is known even better for pretzels.  Even their high school teams are called the Pretzels.

They have a website at www.mrsmikes.com

Check them out, and, if you ever see it sold, buy some.

Mighty Good Eatin'. --RoadDog