A visit home

After we left our friends in Kansas, we headed to Illinois to see my family. My father is getting older and I am leaving once again.  I thought it best to spend a bit of time with him before I headed out.  Kansas is flat.  Nebraska is flat. Iowa is flat.  Illinois is flat.  It's a welcome change from the low mountains and rolling hills we had been through.  One of the things that struck me was all of the fracking wells.  Kansas was just full of them.  It's an ugly thing to see.  those evil looking ground eating monsters and piping to take away their excretions.  

There are even refineries near by and rail tankers lined up by the hundred to collect what they spit out.  Much of it behind high fences.  I'm guessing it is to keep protestors out. I now understand why people don't like this stuff.  There were great swatches of land that are now barren which could be put to other uses.  Add that to the 'caved in' ground, and it is a truly ugly sight. Do we really need to destroy this beautiful country for a bit of oil?

When we hit Iowa, big-agra came in and the grain silos are everywhere.  I lamented that with so much agriculture in this country it is a shame we have people who don't have enough to eat.  I was also reading recently that China now has stored almost 80% of the worlds grain.  It makes one wonder what the future will hold.  

We arrived in Illinois at 7 pm on Saturday grabbed a hotel and walked across to Red Lobster for a quick dinner before going to bed.  Getting the hotel was funny. I saw online they offer a discount so we called up to get it and reserve  a room for 4 nights. We were told there was no discount.  Fine. I was going to check other hotels in the area, but in the end I was so tired from driving a 12 hour day that we stayed there anyway.  George got the room as always, and when he came out he was laughing. They gave us the same discount I was asking for. We saved $25 a room.  It pays to ask.

Sunday I had a room booked for Krissy and the kids and had hoped my brother would bring the triplets over for a swim, but sadly that didn't happen.  Naomi's other grandparents who live in the area wanted her for the morning. Dad and Joey headed somewhere for the day so there went my plans of spending time with my dad. We all finally managed to get together for dinner at Red Lobster and had a wonderful time talking.  

At the end of the meal Ricky and ate desert together.  I think his dad was getting a bit angry about the kids excitement, after all, they are only 7. So I joined in and ate the brownie without a fork doggie style-complete with a chocolate nose and dirty mouth.  Thank heavens no one got a photo of that.  

We returned to the hotel and the kids had fun in the pool for a few hours.  

Around 8:30 George came down and got me to go back to sleep.  We were exhausted and needed the rest. 

On Monday I met dad at the VA and took him to breakfast. There is nothing like bacon and sunny side up eggs with toast.  This was hard for me.  I have discovered that I'm gluten intolerant and have been "picking my battles" as I learn not to eat gluten.  This morning I chose to have that 1/2 piece of toast.  Lucky George got the rest of the egg for his sandwich.

In the afternoon we went to dad's house out in the country and had a nice talk.  

Well, as nice as one can have with 3 kids cooped up in the house. It was a school holiday in Illinois so they were home for the day.  We left shortly after my brother got home because I am also allergic to cats and was starting to have problems breathing.  

Tuesday we went to Krissy's house to look at her Lego builds.  She has done some nice ones. The really large sets I have sent her kind of as a joke, but to her credit, she's done them all. 

Even Naomi got in on the Lego building.

And I don't know what the deal is with rubber ducks. But then who am I to talk with what I collect.

Then we looked at the house we own in Henry and decided that if it didn't sell by Easter my brother was going to get a gift of it.  I hate the place.  Never do a favor for a distant relative; it will bite you in the end.

I called the relator and related my thoughts along with a reminder that she will have no commission if I give it away.  Guess what? It was under contract on Wednesday!

From there we ate at a small town diner.  This was a hoot. More bacon and eggs for me.  A white bread and plastic cheese club sandwich for George. But the atmosphere was amazing.  The proprietor knew all of the customers and she was a talkative soul.  Even asked us about where we live.  A truly midwestern experience.

We spent a few more hours at dad's before heading back to the hotel to pack and have meet up with Krissy and Andres for dinner.  Tonight Gavin was having a concert that we wanted to attend.  It was a good dinner in a Mexican place and Gavin was a great singer.  We really enjoyed the evening.

Wednesday morning we woke early and headed for Dayton where we were going to have a small puzzle party.  But more on that in the next post.