Thursday 8/17
Busy day, after our morning walk we drove into Aurora to the Sherwin-Williams Automotive Paint store to take another shot at matching the paint for the trailer. Stopped at Egg Harbor in Geneva for lunch and then Dr. Kerpe’s office for our annual physicals, last of the medical appointment gauntlet for the month. Then stops at Meir’s and Trader Joes and Nancy dropped me off at the Geneva library while she went to Tranquility Spa.
In the evening we hit South Moon Bar-B-Que in Hinckley for a slab of ribs.
Friday 8/18
Laundry and a few chores, otherwise a quiet day after a nice long morning walk.
Saturday 8/19
Out early this morning and headed into Oak Park for haircuts at Kathy Reller’s salon, then straight South to Tinley Park and a stop at Joan’s, then back home in the late afternoon. A lot of driving today!
Sunday 8/20
We went into St Charles early this morning after a short walk. Nancy is helping Patt Barrett with Concours paperwork and I was helping John mark car locations on the streets in Geneva. Write the location on duct tape, rip it off, bend over and stick it on the curb and street - a bit achy this evening!
Back home mid-afternoon and relaxed.
Monday 8/21
Eclipse was pretty much a bust here as it was quite cloudy at mid-day. I was in Marengo getting the oil changed on the truck and Nancy was in St Charles helping Patt with Concours prep. They did get to see a bit of the eclipse as the sun popped in and out of the clouds.
First thing in the morning I went into Geneva and helped John finish up the street marking and then up to Marengo for an oil change and lube on the truck. After the oil change I went on into Elgin and had a windshield stone chip repaired at SafeLite.
Nancy drove into St Charles a little bit later and spent most of the day preparing concours materials.
Both back home late in the afternoon and had burgers on the grille.
Tuesday 8/22
Nice walk on a cool morning, then after breakfast I installed the four shocks on the trailer that MorRyde had sent to me. Easy job, took less than an hour and they had given me a $200 discount for having to install them myself. Not a bad labor rate! The job was made considerably easier by our BigFoot leveling system as it is capable of lifting the entire trailer (used it in the past for tire replacement). I only had to lift a couple of inches to get the clearance to install the shocks.
John B called and said the sheets for the concourse story boards (pictures and descriptions of the cars to be placed in front of each car) were in so we drove into Geneva and spent the afternoon helping paste the printed sheets onto the story boards. Stopped at Culver’s on the way home for dinner.
Wednesday 8/23
After our regular walk and breakfast we ran back into Geneva to help John finish the story boards. Finished up a little after noon and had lunch with John at Deane’s Market and Deli. Then we relaxed at the Geneva Library for a few hours since there was a concours volunteer meeting schedule for later in the evening. Not worth driving to Sycamore and back.
Had a nice pizza at Gia Mia on 3rd St. and then the volunteer meeting at Living Well Cancer Center - they are the charity that the concours helps support.
Thursday 8/24
Morning walk and then spent the day at home, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.
Friday 8/25
Into St Charles early in the morning as I had to meet John at the truck rental place at 7 AM! Dropped Nancy off at Patt and John’s house to help with prep material there, then went and picked up the rental trucks. I drove one truck and Ed Midgley drove the other. Went to Ball Seed in West Chicago to pick up the planters that they had filled for us over the summer. Good crew for loading and distributing the planters along third street, but we are all getting old! It’s a lot harder than it was ten years ago! We need some younger guys.
Saturday 8/26
After our morning walk we got a few things down around the trailer and relaxed. Early afternoon we went into St Charles and settled into a motel. Concours dinner at the Geneva Golf Club this evening and then we have to be on Third St in Geneva at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning!
Really nice dinner and a chance to chat with old friends at the dinner.
Sunday 8/27
Made it to Third St at 5:35 AM! Met with our block captain and helped with setting up the plastic chains and stanchions to rope the cars off. Helped getting the cars parked on our block and then took over manning of the trophy tent for the rest of the afternoon.
As I’ve noted before the weather has been almost perfect all month, but we had severe thunderstorms earlier in the week and the weather kind of hung around. Had a light drizzle off and on all morning, but it did not really interfere with the concours. Only a couple of no-shoes and a fair crowd of spectators durning the morning. The weather cleared off at mid-day and the crowds thickened. A beautiful afternoon for the trophy parade and presentations, which we assisted with.
I carried my hiking GPS today and I walked six miles in the four or five block area! After the Concours John and Carol Holmes had six of us over to their house for dinner. Of course we were all dog tired!
Monday 8/28
Recovery day! Short morning walk and pretty much took it easy. Joan drove all the way up to Sycamore to visit before we headed back west. Watched the F1 race that we had recorded on Sunday.
We were growing concerned about the cost of diesel due to the Texas flooding so I went up to Marengo and filled the tanks at the Pilot. Now we have 300 gallons, enough to easily get us back home.
Tuesday 8/29
After our walk we went into Geneva and helped John put away Concours material in his shop; washing coolers; stacking awnings, etc. Once that job was finished we started in washing and storing the 500 plus stanchions! Carry them outside, spray with soap and water, carry back inside, dry, and hoist up into the upper level storage! Got about halfway through.
Wednesday 8/30
Morning walk and back to John’s shop to finish the stanchion cleaning. Finished up just after lunch, about 2 and a half hours. Then we went over to Pat and John’s house to shower and relax. Part had a thank you dinner for a group of 18 volunteers at Livia on Third St. this evening.
Thursday 8/31
Getting ready to head out of town. Nancy did laundry, I loaded the car onto the truck. In the process I managed to fall out of the truck! Fell about three feet onto my back, nice bruise on my butt and a pretty good hole in my elbow from a small stone I fell on. Fortunately no one saw me so no damage to my pride.
Friday 9/1
Delayed our departure little bit so the DVR could finish recording F1 practice. Hit the road at 10 AM, uneventful trip, nice weather and - for a change! - a nice tail wind which really helped the gas milage! Lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Davenport, IA and spent the night at Timberland Campground in Waukee, IA.
Saturday 9/2
Back on the road a little after 9 and another good day on the road. A bit of traffic, but nothing of any consequence. Lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Council Bluffs and stopped at our regular place, Sunny Meadows, in Elm Creek, NE.
We have been tossing ideas around about what to do after we leave Denver. We have two weeks at Cherry Creek and then we have to leave (only 14 days out of 45 allowed in the state parks). My cousin’s grandson, Selden is getting married in Albuquerque on 10/13. We had planned on noodling around in Southern Colorado and Utah for a couple of weeks and getting home around the first of October. When we looked at hotels in Albuquerque we found it was during ballon fest and hotels were ridiculously expensive! I contacted Enchanted Trails RV Park where we have stayed before and they we able to juggle the schedule and squeeze us into the last available spot for 10/11-12-13!
So, not much point in going back to Tucson only to turn around and go back up to Albuquerque! So we decided to spent the extra time in Utah. The before we left Illinois, Patt and John asked if we could join them in Lake Geneva for the Geneva Lakes Antique and Classic Boat Show weekend. They always have a group of mutual friends at their vacation home there for the weekend. So, revising our schedule again, we have decided to go back to Wisconsin when we leave Denver! Then back again to Albuquerque for the wedding! Crazy huh?
Sunday 9/3 - Saturday 9/9
Another easy day into Denver and Cherry Creek State Park on Sunday. Always tough to find a place for lunch along this route, but we stumbled onto a good place this time. Lucy’s Place is a small diner right off I-76 in Sedgwick, Co. Exit 165. Great service and good food. Crowded with locals, so there might be a wait at times.
We have traveled over 4,000 miles since we left Tucson and we have only hit a few light showers while on the road. Good thing we made reservations six months ago as the park in Cherry Creek is full. We are a week into our stay as I write this and the “Campground Full- Reservations Only” sign has been out at the entrance to the park almost every day since we arrived,
Nice week visiting with family. Went to soccer practice with Hillary and Oliver (almost four-years-old) on Thursday. This morning we went to watch six-year-old Miles’ soccer game. That was pretty interesting.
Will be here in Denver for another week before heading back East.
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