It is the journey that matters, in the end

Currently In: Downers Grove, IL !!!!

This is my final blog post...

It was 19 short months ago that we pulled the motorhome, with our Red Jeep attached, out of this town.   While we have mixed feelings about leaving our nomadic lifestyle, the overwhelming emotion is one of gratitude for everything we experienced.  Here is our last spot at Quincy Bay.

The stats on our journey:
- we put 19,979 miles on the RV
- we put over 16,000  miles on our Jeep
- we were in 40 states (including Delaware and Oklahoma without the RV)
- we spent the night in 85 campgrounds/RV parks, 1 Walmart and the RV Hall of Fame parking lot
- we visited 30 National Parks, numerous Monuments and Historical Parks, and 1 Scenic Riverway
- we attended Mass at 63 churches and 1 converted campground rec room
- I took more than 8,000 photos
- Johnny hit his head dozens of times getting in and out of the compartments down below
- we met hundreds of fantastic people
- we saw thousands upon thousands of cows grazing in the pastures across the country

Johnny is hooking up our car for the last time.

Things I wish I had known/done differently:
- I wish I had purchased a better camera and taken a photography class
- I wish I had sent more postcards, especially to my mother
- Space heaters! We bought a few almost 4 months in and used them almost everyday

Things I am grateful for:
- my husband: driver, fix-it guy, nature narrator, hiking partner, and adventure seeker
- The Great Outdoors and the National Park Service
- our new RV friends: you have an open invitation to visit us anytime!
- our non-RV friends and family: your support and visits along with texts, emails and phone calls have meant the world to us.  We are especially glad to have reconnected with so many people in different places across the country

I realized about 3 weeks into updating this blog that, while I hope readers would enjoy it, I was really creating a travel journal for Johnny and me.  So I included details on places and people that would help us remember our impressions when we reminisce our adventures.  Thank you for going on the journey with us!

The Mighty Miss

Currently In Quincy
Leaving for Downers Grove today - the final leg of our travels


Note: I tried to get this post uploaded last night, but Verizon service in Quincy is highly questionable.  I'm literally typing on I-55 as we head toward home.

Right across the mighty Mississippi from Quincy is Hannibal, MO of Mark Twain fame.

We learned of the boyhood that Samuel Clemens spent in Hanniba growing up poor.  We walked through his childhood home.

And the famous fence that appeared in Tom Sawyer.

Becky Thatcher's home is across the street.  The home really belonged to Laura Hawkins, Samuel Clemens' first girlfriend.

We also took a quick walk through Huck Finn's house - Huck's character was based on the real life of Tom Blankenship.

The museum at the entrance to the Mark Twain complex did a wonderful job describing the life of Samuel Clemens.  He was a printer apprentice, a riverboat pilot, a silver miner in Nevada, a journalist and author-lecturer-humorist.  His extensive world travel also informed many of his writings.  I liked this statue of Mark Twain with many characters he created.

Hannibal is  really cute and ready for tourists.

The Mark Twain Gallery was very well done.  I thought this raft was really cool.  Mark Twain created his nom de plume from his days on the river.  Mark twain is a measurement of water depth and can be interpreted as "safe water ahead".

Norman Rockwell illustrated Mark Twain's books.  There is an exhibition at the gallery containing these illustrations.

In Quincy we noticed that the river has risen over its banks.  In Hannibal, we took a walk behind the gallery and saw how full the Mississippi has gotten this season.  This park and rail line is under water.

Lover's Leap is on a bluff in Hannibal.  It is based on the story of star crossed Native American lovers.

At the top of Lover's Leap, we got a more expansive view of the river.

Here are the barges!

We saw the town of Hannibal too.

In between all the cleaning and organizing for our final push to home, we took a look at some interesting parts of Quincy.  First off - we took the Memorial Bridge below to get into Quincy. It's a truss bridge and was built in1928.

The Bayview Bridge is a cable bridge from 1987 and takes traffic into Missouri.

One of the more unusual places to visit in Quincy is Villa Katherine which overlooks the river.  It was built by rich bachelor George Metz in 1900. George traveled throughout Europe and Northern Africa.  He was intrigued with Middle East architecture and built his home.

The interior was fascinating.  First we stepped into this atrium with this column detail.

Here is a closer look at the mosaic floor of a small pool.

I loved the light fixtures too.



















It looks kind of lonely there.

Quincy is a big Lincoln town.  The Lincoln-Douglas debates (the 6th debate between the two) were held in Washington Park in 1858 as both men were vying for a US Senate seat.  Lincoln lost that election, but then of course went on to become President soon after.

We walked around the park and learned about what an important town Quincy was to that election.

Quincy Founding Father John Wood was Illinois Governor right around that time.  We didn't get a chance to visit his mansion.

A focus on Lincoln lends itself to Civil War history too.  We visited Woodland Cemetery and saw the Civil War Monument.  There are many Civil War soldiers buried in this historic cemetery.

Time for lunch! The iconic Maid Rite for a loose meat sandwich.  I swear the restaurant must look the same as it did in 1928.

The homes on the historic East End were gorgeous.  We spent a good amount of time that afternoon just driving around looking at them.

We made 2 other quick stops in downtown Quincy.
First we saw a piece of Tower 1 from the World Trade Center.  It supported an antenna that was manufactured in Quincy.  9/11/01 was personal to people all across our country.

We also stopped at St. Boniface Church where Fr. Augustine Tolton is remembered for being the first African American Catholic priest in the United States.  He was the son of slaves from Missouri, moved to Quincy as a child, was educated here,  and celebrated his first public Mass in this parish in 1886.

My Quincy cousins gave Johnny and me a great send off.  We met at The Abbey, a really cute restaurant near Quincy University.

We hope to see Amy, Tim and Matt Lawless with his wife Jenny at the Stauder Family Reunion in July!

Back in rye toast country

Currently in: Quincy, IL
Next Stop: HOME!

On our drive up from Missouri I saw a sign that made me a little emotional.

We have taken the opportunity to visit with family while here.  My Aunt Judy and several of her children, grandchildren and a new great granddaughter live here.  We visited the Lawless clan at my cousin Amy's home, but I only snapped this one photo. Just too busy enjoying myself to get the phone out!

The next day we woke up to this!  Did we come north too soon?  It's April, for goodness sake.
Since we couldn't really go touring, it was the perfect opportunity to start fixing things, cleaning out and cleaning up the RV so we are ready to move on when we get home.

My cousin Tim and his wife Melissa invited us to their home for a delicious ham dinner.  We enjoyed spending the evening with them.

We've done a pretty good job emptying out the fridge before we get home.  So more restaurants the next couple of days.
At breakfast this morning, we realized we have left the land of "biscuits" and Johnny could, once again, enjoy rye toast with his eggs.  He's been missing that.

Spring Spring Tour

Currently In Van Buren, MO
Leaving for our last stop (Quincy, IL) tomorrow!

The title of this post is not a typo.  We took a tour of all of the bubbling springs along the National Scenic Riverways in the Ozarks.  These springs supply most of the water to the Current River  - that's where we're camping!  And we had a great campfire while we were here.

The Park (scenic riverways) is home to more first magnitude springs (flows over 65 million gallons of water) than anywhere else in the world.  Most people visit this area to float, canoe or kayak down the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers.  We were a little too early in the season for that, so we took a tour of the main attractions.

We took a quick hike behind the visitor center before looking for the springs.  The hike was not much, but such a beautiful day I had to snap this photo.

Big Spring is just a few miles from our campground, so we visited there first.  This spring moves 285 gallons of water a day.  Spectacular!

The color is crystal blue.

And so clear - you can see to the bottom of the water.

We took a quick hike on one of the shorter trails there.

Close by was the Big Springs Historic District anchored by the office building where people checked in to stay at Missouri's first State Park.  It is part of the National Park System now.

Several buildings, along with other bridges and dams, were built by the CCC in the 1930's.  Gosh those men were busy!

The dining hall and other cabins were built using half-timber architecture; half hewn timbers and native stone.  The result is so beautiful, as is the view of the Current River just below the dining hall.

This cabin and several others were for rent prior to 2014 when a complete renovation was scheduled.  There was a major flood of the whole area in 2017 which put the timetable for completion way behind.  They are now scheduled to be finished and rentable in 2020.

Next on our tour was the Alley Spring and Alley Mill.  It is a piece of Americana.

The mill used the rushing spring water for power.  So fast!

And right into the Jacks Fork River.

A peaceful view of the Alley Spring.

There was a short hike around the spring that looked nice.

There were many rock holes and caves along the way.

One last look at the mill on our way out.

It was a twenty minute drive to our next stop was the Two Rivers -  the confluence of the Jacks Fork and Current rivers.

I thought it would provide a perfect lunch spot, but we couldn't really see the rivers.  Oh well.

On our way down to the beach on the Current River, we saw this river measure stick.  They have these everywhere along the riverways here.

The beach.

We watched these aqua and black colored butterflies for a while.  So pretty.

Blue Spring was another 15 minutes down the road.  We drove on a hilly gravel road to get to the trailhead.

 The hike to the spring was about 1/2 mile.

Across a small stream...

It was worth it!  Blue Spring is the 8th largest Missouri spring and is said to have the deepest blue of any of them.  The daily flow is about 87 million gallons.

Again the water was so clear I could see the vegetation growing in the shallow parts.

Johnny got this overhead photo.  The spring is 310 feet deep which gives it the blue color.

Rocky Falls was the last stop of the day.  Not a spring - but a great view.

I wanted to get a closer look, so of course did a bit of a rock scramble across some boulders.

Yes! It was really loud.

A couple of other things unrelated to our spring tour.  First, this area experienced a devastating flood in 2017.  The town of Van Buren was under water and they are still recovering.  Almost every person we met still talks about it.  The historic County Courthouse needs some restoration and they are trying to raise money.  I love these old buildings.

Finally, we took a quick hike this morning on the OT (not the AT!), the Ozark Trail.  It's 350 miles long and eventually will join a trail in Arkansas.

We only did a mile of the 350 total.

The dogwood trees were in full bloom.

Not sure what these flowers are but we've seen them on a lot of hikes.

I have been obsessed with these Eastern Redbud - they are everywhere!