Day 21
LOCATION: Spring Grove, Illinois just north of Chicago’s NW suburbs
CAMPGROUND: Chain O Lakes State Park. Nice and woodsy. No waterview sites. Gravel, flat site with stand-up grill (for George), picnic table, and electricity. Decent bathrooms. $27/night. 5 stars out of 5
WEATHER: A beauty! Sunny. High 79. Very windy
DISTANCE DRIVEN: 3 hours
We had a pretty quiet night at the Harvest Host winery in Dubuque. We were near the port on the Mississippi, so heard trains all night – kind of comforting.
Our drive today was due east, and there was a very strong cross-wind from the south, making driving quite stressful. We were on secondary roads, and passed a lot of huge farm equipment. More stress. We drove mostly in Wisconsin, so saw a lot of cows….:-)
We will be here for 3 days. The main reason we are here is that two sets of friends from Retama Village live nearby in the summers. Theresa and Bill, our former neighbors in Texas, recommended this campground. They came by for drinks and snacks in the late afternoon. They told us that there had been snow on the ground 2 weeks ago here. We had had our mail and prescriptions sent to them, so it was like Christmas opening our packages.
George went morel hunting and brought back a tick instead! We went scavenging for firewood, and picked up a lot!
George made a great campfire, and we enjoying chatting around it. (I forgot to take photos!!!) 😦
DINNER: For appetizers, I served “take & bake” asiago French bread with tapanade, shrimp cocktail, and summer sausage. They brought a snack platter. Therea is a great fisherwoman (?) and brought a snack assortment in a tackle box. Cute!
After snacking a lot with them, we weren’t too hungry. I sauted some onion, jalapeno, and artichoke hearts, added some wine, and a bit of cream cheese. At the end, I cooked very quickly a few shrimp. I served it over pasta.
Reids on the Road with Joy 