Moving on down the road

Along about 5:30 this morning, I noticed that my little fan that I have on my bed stand wasn’t working.  I rolled over to check the time, and the clock was out.  The rig was pitch black… no nightlights.  Ugh.  The electricity had gone out.  I got up, got dressed, and staggered out the door with Emma.  I took my flashlight, and found our way out of the service building.  It seemed that Brown and Brown was the only place that was dark.  Eventually, the electric came back on about 7:00.  By that time, I had gathered what I needed out of the rig, and moved out to the car as the workers began showing up.  I decided I needed a change in scenery from the parking lot today.

Using my GPS, I found the state park about 10 miles away.  I needed to take Emma on a hike and decompress from the stress of this week.

There is a great, mostly paved, bike/hike trail that follows the Kankakee River for about 10 miles. 

We started out at the Rock Creek Bridge and went a ways that direction.

What a nice peaceful view from the middle of the bridge.  Rock Creek empties into the Kankakee River.  It was so peaceful walking through the woods that I nearly jumped out of my skin when I suddenly heard a male voice say, “Passing on the left!”  Two bicyclists were coming down hill upon me pretty quickly.  I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights as I scrambled to get myself and Emma out of the way, because the cyclist said, “It’s okay, you’re alright.” 

As we headed back and went the other direction down the trail, we came upon an enjoyable overlook of the river.  I later figured out this is the handicapped fishing pier.  Even though it was a cloudy and chilly morning, being here refreshed me.

Another discovery along the way was the Smith Cemetery (notice how the sign is misspelled) in the park.  By what I could find, the earliest grave appears to be from 1844, and the most recent marker was from the 1870’s.  Most of the markers lie flat on the ground in cement.  I don’t know if that is how they did things in those days, or the markers were later placed that way.  I tried to pick up information at the visitor’s center, but it was closed for the season. 

Robyn didn’t have any Life Vest appointments today, so we were able to meet for lunch at another one of those little hotdog places found around Chicago, and both enjoyed an Italian Beef sandwich.  At this place you stood outside to order, and then sat outside or in your car to eat.  We chose the car since it was in the 50’s today.  I’m thinking it will be quite some time before I have another Italian Beef.

I’d like to report that my moving on down the road title means that the rig is all fixed, but I’m afraid it just isn’t so.  In this continuing saga of how Murphy’s Law works, Brown and Brown RV has thrown in the towel on trying to fix my brake problem.  It seems the brake business is not of the normal type that is done on  the Workhorse Chassis.  This repair place does not have the proper equipment to read the brand that was installed.  According to Rich, this is the type of brakes that are usually installed in upper level RV’s and they don’t have the equipment to analyze it.  Sigh ! 

So, what does that mean?  It means they VERY carefully drove my rig out of the service bay and placed it back out in the parking lot, with lots of wheel chocks, where I now have a 50 amp hookup for the weekend.  On Monday morning, a tow truck will arrive, and I’ll be towed back to a repair facility in Indiana that has the proper equipment.  Will I ever get back on the road to Texas?  Who knows.

I’m not going to let this all get me down, but my goodness, isn’t it someone else’s turn to deal with Murphy?   Any volunteers??  Sorry this post was so long; hope you made it to THE END!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy