Catching Up

Luckenbach, Texas

OK, I know it’s been awhile since I updated this; but I’ve been busy!  My last post was from San Macros, Texas.  Since then, we moved to Fredericksburg, Texas where we explored the heart of Texas wine country and listened to live, local Texas music.

Wine tasting Texas style

New cowboy hat

Then we flew to Oregon for a long weekend of family events:  visiting my mother and brother, attending a celebration of life for Pat’s mother (Beth), and catching up with as many friends as possible.   

Jonah hitches a ride on GeeGee's (my mother's) walker

Ventura siblings (Jim, Pat, Susan, and Jennifer)

The day after we returned to Texas, we headed off to meet Sara, Drew, and Jonah in Des Moines, Iowa (stopping on the way in Wichita, Kansas to spread some of Beth’s ashes on the graves of her infant brother, mother, and grandparents).  We spent a fun Father’s Day weekend in Des Moines and then headed south to Stockton, Missouri for some genealogy research.   

The boys enjoy watching World Cup Soccer together

Pat is a child at heart (which makes him a wonderful grampa!)

On the way down the freeway, one of the tires on “the 5^th” blew, ripping off a tire skirt and part of the side trim.  We also thought the trailer brakes might have been impacted.  We managed to get to the next exit (travelling on tire rim); but, of course, it was an exit with NOTHING!  So we called roadside assistance, waited an hour, got the spare (which was almost flat) put on, and crawled to the nearest service station.  At that point, the spare tire was completely flat, so we added more air, and crawled our way to a tire store where we bought two new tires and then decided to head to Kansas City and have the rest of “the 5^th” checked out.  Good news, what we thought were destroyed brake cables were really just long threads left over from the tire explosion hanging from the undercarriage….so eventually, we made it to Stockton.  From there, we went east to the Ozark Mountains.  I have to say that Missouri is a really pretty state.  Very green and lots of nice pretty hills; but, that’s what they are……….hills.  The highest point in the state is in the Ozark “Mountains” and tops out at 1,772 feet……..that is a hill; not a mountain!

Trying to keep cool in Missouri

 Even though it’s a lovely state, it’s too humid and has too many tornados for us; so we headed northeast through the center of Illinois (which is EXTREMELY flat) to Portage, Indiana.  Portage is about a mile from Lake Michigan and about 35 miles from Chicago.  It’s also about 20 miles from where one side of my family headed off on the Oregon Trail in 1852; so we were, once again, exploring our family history.  This area is surprisingly hilly and the three county seats we visited were bustling, lively towns with numerous big trees, old homes, and historic downtown areas.   

Great Chicago Style pizza a cute little place

We took a slight side trip to drive through/around Notre Dame University and then we headed northwest to Galena, Illinois where we treated ourselves to a long weekend stay at a resort hotel.  This area is called the tri-state because Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin meet here.  Galena itself is the home of President U. S. Grant and the entire town is a designated historic area.  The area and the town are gorgeous.  Very hilly.  Although the highest point in Illinois, located near here, is only a little over 1,200 feet, the area looks and feels higher than it is because of all the hills.  

 

View from our room outside Galena, Illinois

In addition, there are numerous wineries (and wine tasting) in the area.  And, no surprise to anyone, I have ancestors from right across the Mississippi River in Iowa and right across the northern Illinois border in Wisconsin. 

Pat hits his 50th state.

 

Galena, Illinois

So, we have enjoyed beautiful scenery, an amazing historic town, great food and wine, and genealogy the last few days.  Tomorrow we start a two day, nine hundred mile trek across Iowa, Nebraska and to Colorado to celebrate Jonah’s 1^st birthday.

Too cool for words!

Jonah exploring in "the 5th"