SEEING THE SIGHTS & THE CHICAGO FAMILY, Plus... "It's a Small World Story"

Wow! We went from playing tourists in Memphis & St. Louis, to family gatherings in Chicago, travelling 500+ miles with a range in temps from 106 to 66 degrees, I'd say we covered a lot in the 10 days before we got to Ohio!  They were both fairly easy drives with 6 hrs each between cities, and once settled in, I think we ate and drank our way thru all three. We had never been in Memphis and St. Louis, so we stayed 2-1/2 days each.  In the limited time we had, we did our best. On this trip, I am using Yelp reviews and it has really helped in making choices from everything from campgrounds, dining, attractions, hair salons and massages.  I also suggest anyone travelling to try GasBuddy to find cheap gas prices.

Memphis first: We were amazed at how much was going on there! It was still very hot and we could not stand in lines outside, so we did not do Graceland. :(  We will definitely come back again to tour the Sun Studio, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Gibson Guitar factory and more music venues. Some of our favorite things here were:

Goddess of the Rainbow
Memphis Botanic Garden

• Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken (the BEST ever!)
• Beale Street Music (a public park, a private restaurant courtyard -- prefer private, less street people)
• Memphis Botanic Garden
• The Peabody Hotel Ducks
• Cozy Corner BBQ (very old place, very tender tasty ribs)

St. Louis was still very hot, so we did very little.  We will come back again and take in the historic aspect of this city and go to the museums, theater and music venues.  We will definitely take a guided tour of the Basilica next time. Stayed at the Casino Queen RV sites on the Missouri River, not much there, but safe and clean with with grassy areas.  They are not the "loosest slots around" however.  Of course $20 each does not go far. Fun things to do in St. Louis are:

• The Bridge Tap Room and Wine Bar (Glynn loved the Southern Tier Choklat Beer)
• Anheuser Busch Stable Tour (still get free samples,have toured their other brewery)
• The Arch (2-1/2 hrs standing in line underground, but it was worth it)
• Basilica St. Louis (felt like I was in a beautiful old cathedral in Europe)

We get to the CHICAGO area! YAY! What a family! What a town! What a small world!

Lamar Story & Glynn

First of all, there are no camping sites on a river that's for sure. Now we are spoiled as we have been camping on the Guadalupe, Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.  We stayed in Joliet, IL, central to both families we wanted to visit. Think someone's "field". Nice enough, but not sure about the people, kinda ... 'outback'. But nice. We set up, go to bed, then at 3am when Sparky needs to go out, Patchouli jumps out by accident, and we think... uh oh, she's a gonner. Glynn's out there in the middle of the night snooping around the big Class A parked next to us. I'm hoping they don't have a shotgun... long story shorter, she comes in later when I shake the food jar. Next morning, and here's where the small world story comes in, Glynn's outside fooling with the camper and I hear this guffawing and commotion outside. As it turns out, that Class A belongs to a friend of ours in Rockport, Texas, Lamar Story.  Teresa and Lamar have been full-timing since April and we end up camping next door to each other for one night! They were leaving the day after we arrived. What are the chances of that happening?? A lot of synchronicity happening on this trip! It truly is a Small World after all!

Now on to visit family!  YAY! Let's just sum it up in pictures, shall we?

Rob, Madeline, Kevin Denty & us

We went to see Glynn's nephew's family, Rob, Lisa, Madeline and Kevin Denty in Orland Park, IL. Rob is a jazz musician and teacher. The next night, he had a gig at the Shedd Aquarium.  We had a wonderful time with his family at the event, which was held outside, while watching the sun go down over the skyline of Chicago. The night lights came up and the evening ended with fireworks over the Navy Pier. With cool temps and clear skies, it was absolutely beautiful!

Luke, Scotty & Josh Conley
with Aunt Kay

Joshua Robert Conley

Our other Chicago family is my friend Diane Cole and her husband, Stan who live in Downers Grove.  She is the mother of my nieces Andrea Conley and Sarah Rae, and nephew, Bob Scott. We moved the camper to the Cole's driveway and commenced to visit at Spa-la-Di (restful visits with hot tub evenings and our favorite adult beverages) and helped Diane get ready for Joshua's baptism (Andrea's third son) and the party following.

Stan & Diane with the newest
Sox fans! 

   
While we had our camper parked in their driveway, Diane took us out on the town in Chicago, with a watertaxi ride to see Bob working at Bar Louies, out for a fabulous dinner and then on to Andy's Chicago Jazz Club where we listened to great music. The next night we went to a Sox game after tailgating like the locals!  

Bobbo, Andrea, Sarah & Diane

The weekend ended with Josh's baptismal party and visiting with Diane and Andrea's extended family.  So much fun!  We can't thank them enough for all the memories and joy we shared that weekend. 

Now we are in Ohio visiting Mom and more of my family! Whew! What a trip!  Talk at you in the next segment of S.O.S.O.S., now down the highway we go!!!  Rollin, rollin, rollin, keep those doggies rollin... yahaaa!!!