West Virginia , Ohio, Indiana , IL, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Colorado

It's been awhile since I wrote, and we've been doing so much, and visiting so much and hardly any time to spare to write the amazing things that have been happening. 

These are our friends, Sandy and Retta. We've known Sandy since before Mike and I met each other, and he's been a friend to both of us and was a groomsman in our wedding. Meeting his awesome wife, Retta, their daughter, and grandsons was a blast! 

Weirton WV is a nice place and we camped about an hour away just inside Ohio in a town called Calcutta.  The cities are old and quaint in many of the eastern states. You get the feel of old  America before we had all 50 states.

This bridge below 👇 is over the Ohio River crossing into Weirton.

We left there and drove a little past Toledo into Michigan where we had a great stay at Toledo North KOA in Petersburg Michigan catching up on daily chores around the campsite. 

Next was Caboose Lake where we were safe despite lots of rain and nearby flooding 

Everywhere across the country I've walked around and love being in and seeing, touching, and smelling  nature. My dog Maggie and I walk a lot! She's patient with me as I stop and take photos. we walked around the Caboose Lake and passed a huge warehouse just next to us. 

it had rained lots the previous day and much flooding was happening in nearby counties.

The picture above is not the lake, just a flood runoff pond behind that huge building . Maggie and I walked as far as we could, but the water conditions blocked us from taking the last turn on the 1 mile trail. it was all fine though, we turned around and went back to camp and got almost 2 miles on that path.

Our last day there was beautiful and sunny and I enjoyed the lake!

With the rain comes big ole mushrooms. This one was new to me!

and we saw a rabbit...

we traveled after that to Nature's Way Campground in Utica IL.

It was a beautiful place on a creek with bridges and plenty of room to walk. It's a place one may not be able to dismiss the spiritual world that can be found  in Nature and fill you with joy and wonder. This country is home to such beauty in nature !

They have Osage trees which are incredible large shade trees which drop Osage Oranges..not an orange at all, but inedible for humans. they're also called horse apples..."The Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) is a tough, small-to-medium deciduous tree in the mulberry family (Moraceae) known for its extremely durable wood and bumpy, green-yellow "hedge apple" fruits. [1, 2]

I thought they were pretty neat and the trees all around were majestic.

While at this campground I needed to take care of of some business, which involved finding a copy shop to print a shipping label and a FedEx drop. I found a Staples store on maps just a short drive to Peru IL.
Unfortunately, they were locked up with their security bars and a sign they hung by the door saying, " "Closed due to no Internet "... Well! Poop! it's all good though. I thankfully asked Google to find another print shop and I was on my way. There was one lady there and she was super helpful and got me all straightened  out, helping this ole gal email a FedEx label which had been texted to me, printing it, and referring me to Walgreens for envelopes and FedEx drop off. and dear lady charged me something like 79 cents. Thankful that when I ask Jesus to guide and guard me each day, I get confirmation through meeting kind helpers on days like that.

We drove from there to Oakdale KOA Journey in Wisconsin, not far from Wisconsin Dells. It was pleasant with fair weather and lots of room to ride my bike. There's a Love's Travel stop just a short ride and across the interstate bridge and there was another gas station store just outside our CG, plus another campground in the other direction and gave me lots of room to ride my bike. I had a great time in great weather and rode several miles over our two days, either grabbing a sticker

and milk at the stores. or a real neat new Dog Leash Bag that holds a few neccecities like poop bags in its tiny backpack way!

After my shopping trip I took a second bike ride a little beyond Love's and enjoyed myself. I found a really neat old boardwalk that I was trying to ride on, but it's definitely aged, weathered, and meant for walking or something other that a bicycle!                        

  I ended up with a flat tire, but I got back to the campground without any problems and the flat didn't show up until my next attempt to ride.

8/18/26 we arrived at Oakdale KOA in Wisconsin and spent a few nights resting and relaxing. I didn't get any pictures from there, but it was a small quiet place and every campground feels quiet and peaceful.

Our journey then took us to Minneapolis Minnesota. We we went there specifically to meet another of Mike's half-sisters from his father that he never met. Mike was adopted as an infant by the Hills.  We fell in love immediately with newly found sister Terri in Minnesota. All of us had so much in common and our family is growing bigger and better than ever. Terri was amazing, beautiful and had many common connections with us. We talked for hours and learned that both she and I had had careers a a teacher and a hairdresser! we met one of her kids, did a video message with  another sister of her and Mike, and explored the Largest Candy Store in Minnesota. 

Terri spent hours with us over the week in our campsite and we visited her home and took a walk on a river trail there. 

Us with Terry's oldest, Blaise 

Mike and Terri on the River Walk

It was a blessed week and we felt so much joy getting to know a new sister!
It was hard to leave but we know we'll have more time to get together in the future.

our next stop was at Adventureland campground in Iowa. we only camped a couple nights to rest up and didn't go to the park, but could hear the fun and screams of joy from people on the rides. I caught up laundry there and we got much needed rest.  on our way from MN to Iowa we had a flat tire on the RV. Mike was able to ease off the interstate and find a tire shop in a nearby town so we made it!

Our next stop was Topeka Kansas August 30-Sept 1. we got some rest and headed to WaKeenney KS for a 2 night rest before moving on to Limon CO for another 2 nights rest. We really needed that rest because on the trip we had another blowout! That one was on the trailer that we tow. We pulled into a rest area and Mike had a spare so he was ready to replace the tire and soon discovered that the jack he had was broken 😥! I rode my bike around the rest area asking other drivers if they had a jack, but no one did. We found a phone number for a service shop nearby and were able to have a kind young man bring a jack out and Mike changed the tire in a jiffy. Thank God 🙏 

We continued on to the next KOA in Colorado close to much of Mike's family (His sister of the parents who adopted him as an infant, and her children and grandchildren) it was a great reunion!

This is the group at our niece's house.

and I didn't get any pictures yesterday but several of them were able to come to the KOA and celebrate Labor Day with us. I reserved the camp kitchen and shelter and we had burgers, swimming and yards games for a really fun day!