On the road at last!

We are on the road again - WOO HOO!!! The days are rather hard as neither of us is comfortable riding so we are really trying to take it easy. We are only in the car 4 hours or less each day with many stops to stretch and move. We are on our way to vacation with our oldest son and his family in Virginia. 

Day 1
We began our trip on Sunday and I didn't take any pictures that day. We stopped at Quilting in the Valley in LaSalle, IL. I didn't buy anything(!) but enjoyed looking. They must be rearranging that store as things were in a bit of disarray. 

Later we stopped at Quilting in the Valley in Champaign, IL. It was my first time at the Champaign store and I found a neat wide quilt backing. 

The lady working was so friendly and the store looked great. It's smaller than the LaSalle store but organized nicely. 

In the evening we walked around part of the University of Illinois campus - an area we've never explored, and it was right across the street from our motel.

Day 2 
We had bad storms overnight and early this morning. When I got up to exercise, I thought the wind might breakout the window in our room - it was strong and loud. Then we heard about damage near us and found out how lucky we'd been. The rain stopped before we left; we had a very warm, humid day.

We enjoyed a leisurely trip to Terre Haute, Indiana where we stopped at Wabash Valley Fabrics. 

The owner and her staff were super friendly and their passion for quilting was obvious. This is a great store and I could have bought a carload of fabric but restrained myself to one wide backing 

and a couple of pieces to add to my stash for more Tiny Houses.

We asked where to have lunch. Quilt shops have NEVER sent us to a bad restaurant. The first recommendation was right in the neighborhood, Sonka Irish Pub, so we headed that way. It was just a little over a block away and quite good. The wait staff was great.

We weren't very hungry so we shared a BLT, homemade chips, and our very first piece of Limoncello Cake - Wow! The cake was so good and very rich.

After lunch, we enjoyed a short walk in the park near the pub and then headed to Nashville, Indiana. When we arrived in Nashville, we walked around downtown for a while and then headed to our lodging. We have a nice airbnb that we've rented before. The evening was spent relaxing and not doing much.

Day 3 

Today was a day with little in-car time. Everything we wanted to do was close and we needed a break from the car. 

We began the day in Brown County State Park, which is less than five minutes from our 'home'. The north entrance is through this covered bridge.

We decided to do Hike 7, a 1.2 mile moderate hike around Ogle Lake. It was a warm, overcast, humid, still morning with beautiful reflections in the lake.

We met the fishers on the fishing platform as we hiked the perimeter - they were tent campers. (We enjoyed tent camping for many years.)

Some views around the lake

and little signs that fall is coming.

One of many shelter houses in the park.

At lunch time, we headed to Brownie's Bean Blossom Family Restaurant. Ray read about it somewhere and we thought it sounded good. 

All of the comments Ray read said that the Walleye Sandwich was fantastic. So we decided we had to have it. Oh my! It was so much fish, fried perfectly, and absolutely delicious! I might have had a couple little tastes before the picture.

Our waitress was wonderful and so was the homemade pie. We definitely have a favorite restaurant in this area.

Next on the agenda was the 1880 Bean Blossom Covered Bridge.

We drove across the bridge and Ray walked back to take a picture but was distracted with the flowers.

We headed about 5 miles outside of Nashville to see the Mail Pouch barn. This barn may be in better shape than the stuff surrounding it.

We decided to go back to the park on our way 'home'. This time we stopped at Strahl Lake. It is a smaller lake than Ogle but still pretty. It even had reflections this afternoon.

On our way out of the park, this young deer decided to say hello!

It's been a fun day and we didn't spend much time in the car. Tomorrow we will head for Chillicothe, Ohio.

Recently I shared a picture of a bench saying 

"The physician heals, nature makes well." 

Today we thoroughly enjoyed nature and feel much better.