central time

Wow do I have a lot to write about tonight! I'll start with last night, since that ended up being quite interesting. Jo and I had a great, relaxing night by the pool. We were going to head to bed early since we don't have much to do after it gets dark anyway. It was terribly hot inside the tent with the fly on and it had been such a gorgeous evening, that we decided to just remove the fly halfway to keep some privacy while still allowing for some air circulation. We hit the hay around 9:15ish and struggled to fall asleep due to the heat (eek and we're not even in Tucson yet!).

At exactly 11:56pm I somehow woke up and noticed lightning. I think it was my Mom sense kicking in. I immediately realized how crappy it is to be in a tent with metal poles underneath a tree while it's thunder storming outside. Also, rain was inevitably going to fall on our half covered tent. So, I grabbed for the car keys and tried my best to wake Jo up. I'm pretty sure Jo never fully understood what was going on. She kind of just sat up and did nothing. I then told her to get her stuff and get it to the car. Next thing I know, I'm running around like crazy and Jo is standing in the middle of the site holding her sleeping bag and not moving. I yelled at her to throw her stuff in the car (pretty sure she was just sleeping while standing up). Then I continue running around like crazy trying to get everything in the car before the rain came and I find Jo sitting looking really confused with a bunch of stuff in her lap in the car. Again, fairly certain she was asleep. So, I managed to pack up the tent, sleeping bags, pillows, and all of that stuff and cram it into the back of the car. I then ran into the driver's seat with no plan of what to do next. Literally the minute I closed my door the rain started pouring down. Talk about timing. Phew. Since it was midnight, I had no idea what to do. So, we just slept in the van. It was a pretty crappy night's sleep. Have you ever slept with a steering wheel in your lap? It gets in the way quite often. I don't recommend it. Regardless, we were dry and our gear was as well, so that's all that matters. Jo was pretty hilarious to be around though because she didn't have a clue what was going on. Ah stories for grandchildren someday.

Anyway, so then this morning we woke up, tried to get all of the cricks out of our neck, and headed for Columbus. Once there, we found the art sculpture and took some pictures. At first look, the sculpture says "art" but at second look, a lamp post is unfortunately placed. See photos below. The immaturity will never get old. Jo and I got a large kick out of it :-).

After that we drove to the Columbus Garden of Roses. It was gorgeous despite some on and off clouds. It was essentially like something you would find at Longwood Gardens. However, this is the peak time for roses, so it was pretty incredible. We just walked around, marveled at all the different colors and kinds of roses, and took lots of pictures. We saw a painter and got to go up and look at her canvas, which was really impressive. All in all, that was a pretty great excursion and a nice was to start the day.

Then it was time to hit the road and make our way to Illinois. We had a pretty uneventful drive, which is a good thing. Whenever Jo was driving there seemed to be a ton of construction with lower speed limits. It was frustrating and made cruise control almost impossible. Sorry Jo Jo.

We got to our site in Casey, Illinois around 2:15 central time. We were in the pool by 2:30...literally. It was an absolutely perfect afternoon for laying by the pool. We were the only ones there. These KOAs are actually quite quiet and really comfortable. Every single employee has been so genuinely polite and caring. The pools are well kept and no one seems to use them. Jo and I swam and lounged around all afternoon, what more could you ask for? I wasn't even stressed before, but I'm even more relaxed now.

Hey Mom and Dad - I think you guys should look into working at KOAs when you retire. It seems to be about the perfect job for the two of you. I saw some lady mowing yesterday and a guy moving firewood with a backhoe. Now I'm looking at the staff sitting around a campsite with their dogs just chatting. Of course there would be the occasional bathroom to clean, but whatever. Plus a sign at the site yesterday instructed visitors to leave their frowns at the door because there was no place for them here. They seem to really mean that too because everyone is just so freaking happy! It's so nice. Also, you get to camp all summer. Awesome.

So that's about it for today I believe. It's definitely been an adventure so far. We're hoping to be able to sleep in the tent all night tonight. Tomorrow we drive to St. Louis for a bit and then on to Topeka, KS. See ya then!

P.S. Internet is too slow to upload pictures right now. I'm going to try to start a Picasa so that you can just check that out instead.