October 29-31 2024 Western Springs, Illinois

 82 and sunny.

John spent the entire day removing the receiver from the motorhome. It had 22 years worth of road dirt, grime and oil stuck to it. It was a major job, but he kept at it. He does not know how long it will take the guy to fix it and he does not want to leave the bus at the shop till it is done. I went for a lovely bike ride around the neighborhood admiring beautiful houses, fall color and Halloween decorations. This is the creek that runs behind his sister's house. 

Fall color and neighborhood. 

More fall color. When I got back I helped John by holding a wrench while he cranked on the bolt on the underside of the bus. 

The arrow is showing where the weld came loose on the receiver. John was covered in dirt and grease from his work on the bus. He looked like a coal miner. 

I wrapped two more. The one on the right I made in the class where I learned to bevel and polish. It is huge. I wrapped it anyway and we will see if anyone buys it. John and Bridget, his sister on our walk around the neighborhood. 80 degrees and sunny.

Sunset in downtown La Grange. Bridget, John and Marilyn's skeleton. 

Bridget, Dean, Sue and John. Dean treated us to a yummy dinner at Santiago's. Me with my restaurant and bier garten. 

Today John dressed better to reinstall the receiver for the hitch. Patrick (dad) as the Dude and Samantha (daughter) as the statue of liberty.

John working on the bus. Many trips to the hardware store. Two more wrapped pieces. The colors of the dichro don't show up well in the photos

Bridget cut the pumpkin. Sunset. 

October 25-28, 2024 New Lisbon to Afton, Wisconsin to Western Springs, Illinois

 56 degrees and sunny, When we went to hook the truck up to the bus John noticed we had lost one of the pins for hooking the hitch to the truck. So he drove to an RV supply and bought a couple. I drove the truck behind him.

Wisconsin farm along the way. Everywhere are big silos.  Fuel is still reasonable here. 

Burr Oak winery. Stained glass windows in the tasting room. They came from an old Methodist church that was torn down. 

Steve pouring us a tasting. He had very specialty grapes, and wines. Also cranberry wine- my favorite. Very good wine.  Burr Oak Winery is a harvest host and we are spending the night next to the barn. All the campgrounds up north are all closed now, so we are staying at harvest hosts. 

We are parked at a boondockers welcome site in Afton, Wisconsin, since there are no campgrounds open this late in the year. The site is behind an old restaurant. We have 30 power.  Our view to the side and back are this barn and HUGE lawn. 

Sunset. John on Bass Road going toward the Peace Trail. The Peace trail runs from Afton to Janesville, Wisconsin. Beautiful day to be out walking. 

Rock River,  that the Peace trail runs along. John on the Peace Trail. 

Fall colors. It has been a long time since I have seen anyone burning leaves. The fire danger is way to high in the Rockies to do this. 

Peace Trail, Afton Floral does not seem to exist anymore, but people are having fun with the sign. Pony for sale, $1.89 per pound and Bass Creek submarine sales and service. Great political sign, Everyone Sucks 2024. And I got an email that my vote was counted! We had an adventure today. The receiver for the hitch that attaches the truck to the bus broke and the hitch fell off while we were driving on a busy street in  Chicago.  The truck is connected with cables to the bus, so we didn't loose anything.   I was directing traffic behind the truck while John took it off. This nice police man showed up and parked behind us and turned on his lights to keep cars from running into us. 

John working on getting the hitch off. Where it attaches to the bus it is supposed to stick straight out, it broke and bent and  the hitch was dragging on the ground, still attached to the bus. . He got the hitch off and I drove the truck the rest of the way. John has an appointment on Wednesday to see if it can be welded back together. 

We are here in Chicago to visit John's family. there was a big family dinner tonight. Was fun to see everyone. I wrapped a few more pendants last night. Need to stock back up, have sold quite a few. 

October 23-24, 2024 O'Neill Creek Winery, Bloomer, to Chippawa Falls, Wisconsin

 Chilly 55 and sunny.

Fall colors over the river in Grantsburg that we camped by. We are now at O'Neill Creek winery outside of Bloomer, Wisconsin. 

It was a nightmare getting in here. First the guy had us unhook the truck in the middle of the road near a blind curve, then drive the bus up a narrow steep driveway, and the turn around in a very, very tight driveway. Then it took 6 inches of wood  under the front tires to almost level the bus.  There is about 3 feet from the bottom step to the ground now, the front is so high in the air. John heading into the O'Neill Creek Winery. 

Joe pouring us wine to taste. He makes only fruit wine. 25 kinds. Apple, cherry, blue berry, cranberry, elderberry, etc. and rhubarb wines. I love fruit wines and his were very good. He grows most of the fruit for his wines. Here is part of his orchard.

Beautiful maple tree. John in the rest of the winery's orchards. 

We drove a whopping 35 miles to Connell's Orchards. With the farm store. Another harvest host for the night. Our spot at Connell's orchard by the corn field, and the start to the Halloween scary walks they do on weekends, along with hay rides and various other Halloween events. But tonight it is quiet, dark and raining. Very nice. I hope nothing scary comes out of the corn.

John and his wives at Connell's orchard. John on one end of the tractor teeter totter. I sat down and he raised me up and would not let me down. . .

Lovely fall colors. A mural under a bridge in Chippawa falls by the brewery. 

We took a tour of Leinenkugel's brewing, about the only attraction listed for Chippawa falls. The oldest building at the brewery. They used to make all the beer from this spring, but the demand was more than the spring produced, so they now use city water. The brewery was originally named Spring Brewery. 

Cereal and mash tanks and brew kettle. 

The bottling area. They were not bottling today, Thurs and Fri they clean everything. These are the beers Leinenkugel's  make currently. 

John and I in Leinie lounger. Inside the Leinie Lodge, tasting room and gift shop. We got 5 tickets to taste the beer with the tour. We didn't really like any of them. Summer Shandy, their most popular is a mix if Weiss beer and lemonade, it was really bad. They had a number of similar beers with fruit added like peach and cherry. They tasted like sweet sodas, not beer. 

We had dinner at Sheeley's. John had a skull for a dinning partner. Destination Chippawa falls.