Illinois

It was a normal day back in October last year, just two months after we left Scotty in storage following our adventure in Alaska and Canada among other states.

Then heavy rain appears in the horizon and a few hours later all turned into tragedy in Valencia. The result: floods took a big hit in the area: 220 people killed and 120,000 cars lost and invaluable loses for those who lost their homes, businesses, etc. It will be remembered as the floodings of October 29th.

Luckily we were fine as well as our home and car.

Well, hello there!!! YES!!! we are back in the States and so happy to lift up the gate of the storage unit just to find that Scotty has just been dormant for a few months ( too long) but all was found in perfect order!. My friend Sam went a couple of times to make sure all things were working just fine.

Last year was all about the west and the pacific ocean; this year will be the northeast, the states surrounding the Great Lakes and the atlantic ocean.

It was Labor Day and we couldn’t help but accept and invitation for a BBQ at Sam’s with his adorable family, before our departure.

And here’s when you need to plan the trip considering a few very important factors which, in short, have to do with the weather changes ( but is that not always the case?): we need to be in October in New Hamshire just to admire the change of colors on trees that turn green into amazing reds, browns, yellows, goldens,etc…. so the obvious action is to head northeast and visit a few surrounding states ( Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island , etc) before staying put in NH from October 1st to the 10th ( very small window), BUT we can’t leave Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan for November or even end of October because we may get stranded due to early snow and very cold temperatures. So, we decided to start from Illinois making our way further east.

Scotty in Greenbrier finally seeing the sun!!!

We headed north to Branson Missouri, spent the night there and the following day cross the border to Springfield IL where Double J campground gave us a warm welcome

Then time to go find a campground close to Chicago but not too close as this large city, as any other, can be intimidating to be driven by a large coach as Scotty. We ended up at a KOA in Kankakee. Great facilities and wonderful staff!

Entering Chicago. Heavy traffic, high rise buildings, a famous elevated train and a glimpse of Lake Michigan is what you see. We were specific on our wish list of things to do: The Bean located inside Millenium Park, the Chicago River ( canal that is part of the well known experience Great Loop, the circumnavigation of Eastern US through canals and rivers…. part of my Bucket List as well…. but don’t tell Claudia as I need to find the way to convince her!!).

Millenium Park

Tickets sold out for this evening show…. Selena!!

This picture reminds me of Dubai and its canal, or Miami, or Fort Lauderdale. You may remember that the waters of this river turn green for St Patrick’s day.

Pulling up in style at a restaurant by the canal for lunch… nice!!

The Bean

All nice until freezing conditions are embraced by the inhabitants… then all activities change to either indoor or ice rinks!

The Cadillac Palace Theater, famous venue built in 1926. Just imagine how it was like back in the early 20s and walking down the street bump into Al Capone and his friendly companions… lol

And this one doesn’t even imagine why his owner dyed his fur to resemble a tiger!!

Meet a 133 year old train system

Time to plant a tree now, shall we?

And here we have the KOA staff (owner Rob and Erin along with Dina) helping us out to plant the tree that belongs to Illinois. And this is something that doesn’t happen everyday….. Rob liked the idea of planting a tree in every state so much, that he made a donation for us to buy the next tree!! That will be the one for Wisconsin. Very kind of you Rob, appreciated ☺

Illinois became state number 27 in our count.

See you soon! Thanks for reading ☺