It has been an emotional few weeks full of sweat, tears and laughter. Once we got back to Chicago, we were busy packing, cleaning, clearing out a garage FULL of stuff, and finally moving our remaining stuff to storage locker. We said goodbye to Chicago and said goodbye to the home we started our life together in 8 years ago. We had hoped to have a big party and get to see everyone before we left, but due to Covid - saying goodbye to friends and family did not go quite as planned. Fortunately, we were able to do a few small, intimate gatherings to see some friends and family before we left. Thanks to everyone for coming out and saying goodbye in these crazy times. It was very bittersweet. It was a taste of normalcy after months of zoom calls... Sitting around outside on a beautiful summer night with friends, but knowing it would be the last time for a long time. And then having to say goodbye without a proper hug was so hard. We love Chicago and all of our people there... We'll be back soon to visit!
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| Goodbye, old friend - thanks for the memories! |
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Our last night at the house - Hamilton says "Where am I supposed to nap?"
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| Almost everything we own stuffed in a 10x15 locker. Fingers crossed all is good in a few months when we come back. |
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Seems appropriate that after saying goodbye to Chicago, a rainbow appears in the sky above our first stop in the RV. Is there a pot of gold at Cracker Barrel?
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May 28th - June 1st - St. Louis/St. Charles, MO
While it's sad to be saying goodbye to Chicago, there is a lot to look forward in the coming weeks and months. We head to Pontiac, IL and pick up the RV. The minute we step in, it feels like home and we are feeling excited to be hitting the road again. Before we head west, we want to say goodbye to friends and family in St. Louis and Peoria. Our first stop is Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries (wearing our masks of course) and then we're on the road heading south towards St. Louis. We stop at a Cracker Barrel and get some food and rest. We absolutely love the fact that we can stay overnight for free in these parking lots.
The closing for our house is scheduled for Friday morning - our first morning on the road. We made sure to stay fairly close in case we needed to rush back to Chicago or something... We are anxiously awaiting word from our lawyer. As we are nearing St. Louis, we get the email that the sale is complete! We are now officially RV full timers... Or as we like to say, we are "living in a van down by the river!"
We are staying at Sundermeier RV campground in St. Charles, MO. On Friday night we had a mini-Mahrt cousins reunion. Jamie, Abbey & family, Jimmy, and Bethany - so great seeing you guys!! Thanks for coming out! Again, wish it was different times, but feels so great to be sitting outside visiting with family. Unfortunately, no photos were taken of the cousins... I guess we were having too much fun! However, we did get a picture of the portable campfire that Neil got as a birthday gift from Pam and Tim (Anne's parents). It started off looking like a candle, but definitely turned into a full on blazing fire! Pretty cool when you don't have an actual fire pit! We also got an amazing picture and video of a toad eating a french fry. I mean, it's just something you don't see every day, that's for sure...
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| Not the most exciting view... but the train was nice and loud! |
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A toad eating a french fry!
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| Portable campfire roaring! |
At every campsite we're always hoping that there is a bike trail nearby. Right outside our campsite is a 240 mile trail, Katy Trail (another one of the rails to trails). Score!! Saturday morning (11:30ish.. Hey, still morning for us!), we hop on our bikes and hit the trail heading towards St. Charles. It's a great trail that follows the river and there are a few people on it, but it's not too crowded. We bike around the historic downtown area, which is super charming - lots of old buildings and houses that have been converted to cute shops and restaurants. As many times as we've been down here, we haven't spent much time in this area (Neil's first time seeing the historic downtown area). We were planning on getting off of our bikes to find some food for lunch; however, this town is jamming! Do these people know there's a pandemic?? Everything is open and there are a ton of people walking around on the sidewalks and not a mask in site, so we take a hard pass on that. We decide that the local businesses are getting enough patronage, so we decide to head back to the RV for lunch.
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Biking the Katy trail near St. Charles, MO
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| The old train station - we love rails to trails! |
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Historic downtown St. Charles, MO - business as usual here. Masks anyone?
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After lunch, we get to play disc golf, so Neil's psyched! His passion for disc golf is becoming more of an obsession ... He is constantly watching pro disc golf tournaments in his free time. Yes, you read that correctly.. Pro disc golf. (In Neil's defense, the top player is worth $5 million, and the last tourney he watched from 2019 had a gallery of 3500 PEOPLE!) And we get to play disc golf with our good friends, Amanda, Chris & family! We all have a great round of disc golf and while it's new for them, everyone seems to enjoy it. Or maybe they just enjoyed being out of the house doing something different, but either way, we have a blast playing with them! After a great visit, we say goodbye. Again, sadly, no photos!
Sunday, we decide to ride the Katy trail the other way. It quickly turned to farmland and was a bit less scenic than the other route. We go about 4 miles before we turn around and head back to the RV park.
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| Not as exciting in the other direction... but good exercise! |
Sunday evening, we head over to the IL side to visit with Bethany, Anne's cousin/goddaughter who just graduated pharmacy school. Instead of a typical graduation, we celebrate by playing a round of disc golf and a tour of campus/Edwardsville. We are so proud of her and excited for her as she begins this next chapter! What a beautiful campus - there were deer everywhere! We almost hit them with frisbees, but they didn't seem to care...
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Watch out deer - frisbee coming your way!
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While we were in St. Charles, protests, riots and looting started happening in cities across the U.S. related to the tragic and unjust death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We watched the news in disbelief as peaceful protests turned violent and cities we love burned. We heard stories from people we know in Chicago and saw the sad photos of the aftermath. And we watched peaceful protests that made us hopeful that maybe together we can make positive changes. We both strongly believe in the "Black Lives Matter" movement - it's time to change the systemic racism in our country.
Monday, we pack up the RV and head out towards Pleasant Hill, IL to see Anne's grandparents. We pull up the RV on their front yard (luckily leaving no tire track marks this time!). Due to Covid, we take extra precautions... They have set up chairs on their front deck 6 feet apart. We wear our masks and use lots of hand sanitizer. It's hard not to give them a big hug, but it is so great to see them and spend time visiting in person. And yet again, no photos!
June 1st - June 4th - Peoria,ILTonight we are staying at Kickapoo Creek Winery! We found this through Harvest Hosts, which is a network of wineries, breweries and orchards that let you stay for free. In exchange, you are supposed to give them some business. We'll gladly buy some wine to wake up in a beautiful winery, such as Kickapoo Creek's! Once we are set up, we head over to Jen and Jay's house and sit around the bonfire and have a great night catching up. We are "boondocking" for the next 3 nights, but Neil made his first attempt at filling the 55 gallon water tank that we have. It didn't affect our gas mileage too much, and the system works great. Even though we have no water or electric hookup, we are able to stay 3 nights with no problem. And we each got to take 2 showers - 55 gallons is quite a bit of fresh water!
Tuesday morning, after breakfast, we head over to the tasting room and sample a few wines (it's 5:00 somewhere, right?!). We select a sangria and cherry wine for sharing and a rose for our fridge. This place is not only beautiful but they make some tasty wine!
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| Our home for the next few days - What a great view to wake up to! |
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These flowers from Grandma are the perfect touch for our new home.
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Hamilton says "Thanks Uncle Shooter (and Aunt Toad) for the cozy bed". Shooter will be missed.
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In addition to seeing our close friends here, Neil's also been looking forward to (you guessed it!) playing frisbee golf in Peoria, so we head to Bradley Park with Jen, Cade and Camelia. After having played a variety of courses all over, this is still one of our favorites. We head back to Jen's to get ready for the evening since a few people will be coming by to say hi and farewell. Their good friend, Tom, is also in town from Florida. People come and go all evening and join our circle of chairs in the backyard. Still no hugs, but feels SO good to be in a circle of friends and it is so great so see everyone! Thanks everyone that stopped by! We will miss you all!
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Frisbee golfing at Bradley Park.
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Camelia loved walking Hamilton!
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Anne didn't do a great job of planning ahead for the Peoria visit but luckily Anne's Aunt Toad (Therese) was available on Wednesday for lunch. She gets gondola sandwiches, which for those of you not familiar with these, are the BEST sandwiches!! It's a sweet bread loaf with Italian meats and lettuce. Simple, but delicious. We have a great visit with Aunt Toad! We are bummed we missed Uncle Marty (back to the poor planning!).
It wouldn't be a farewell tour without a drive by Anne's old house where she grew up. Unfortunately the house is in disrepair - the lawn is overgrown and the front door is ajar with what looks to be an eviction notice. It's so sad seeing it in this state. And as we drive through town, lots of stores are boarded up as a precaution to potential looting. These are crazy times.
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So many memories at this house! Sad to see it in this state.
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We get back to Jen's and the sun is coming out, so we decide to head to Kartville for some go karting. As we pull in, we see that it's not too crowded. Yeah! Go karts, bumpy dune buggy, and bumper boats... Camelia (4 y.o.) wants to ride with all of us and it's so fun laughing with her as we go really "fast" or get soaked in bumper boats. It was good times and there was LOTS of hand sanitizer (though they were good about wiping things down between each turn). As they are closing up, it starts raining... Great timing! So, we head back to Jen/Jay's garage to finish the day with a game of Settlers of Catan.
Peoria, it's been great! Next stop is Comlara County Park near Bloomington, IL, where we are planning on spending our final 2 nights as Illinois residents. Thanks to Jen, we got the last spot in the park that would fit our rig, and we are excited for 2 full days in a campground with some great company. Looking forward to seeing exactly what this rig can handle in terms of camping with more than just the two of us. Although we call it camping, it will most certainly be "glamping". Calling it camping isn't really fair to people who actually sleep in tents. We have running water, a queen size bed and air conditioning.
While it wasn't the farewell tour we initially imagined, we are so happy and grateful that we were able to see the people we did. For those we weren't able to see due to Covid or other reasons, sorry we missed you this time!! Hope to see you soon! Until next time...
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