Trip Planning

Sunday I became serious about planning our route from here to Kankakee, IL.  We will be meeting up with the Adventure Caravan travelers there, with our formal trip beginning on Sept 20. We will travel with the group from there to the Santa Monica pier...the official end of Route 66. 
 

So, this is my spreadsheet of our trip....and it has already changed! That's one of the things I find most challenging. I can't tell you how many times I block out a trip, locate campgrounds within a suitable mileage, make reservations.....and then discover that we need to tweak our plans...and I get to change or cancel some reservations and make new plans. It can be frustrating! 

Here it is Tuesday and we are still unsure if what I have set up is "set in stone". 

But, I moved on and have adopted a "Que Sera, Sera" attitude. 

Many years ago my parents had a large sailboat that they sailed on Lake Ontario. One of the other boats in the marina was named, "Que Sera". The dinghy had "Sera" painted on its transom. It always made me smile, and when I hear the phrase, I immediately think of the boat. Can't help it! 

Today I ran some errands and actually visited Walmart twice! I haven't been in Walmart in months. I do like going there for their veggies, which are usually the freshest in town. But, the parking lot is always crazy and it is always crowded inside. The Mister wanted to show me a small griddle that maybe we could carry on the motorhome instead of a grill. They didn't have the exact one we wanted at Walmart, but from what they had we could make a decision. He later found the grill at Ace Hardware, but they didn't have the connector  for using small propane tanks, so back I went to pick up the connector! 

I discovered that I enjoy cooking on a Blackstone griddle.  I like cooking everything at once...even hamburgers and steaks come out great. I have my formula for making slider sized, medium rare cheeseburgers with sautéed onions and/or mushrooms. Yum! That's what we had tonight! The Mister 'seasoned' the grill by heating small amounts of oil, wiping the grill down,  and repeating the oil treatment 2 more times. Then, I sautéed a bunch of onions in oil before cooking the rest of our dinner on it. 

I finished the last of 23 journals for our Rt 66 tour. I ran out of the Rt 66 fabric, so used embroidery on a simpler fabric. I actually like these last two better than the others! The leaders of the tour will get these:

We have had more rain. It is glorious! Our yard is loving it!

All Dolled Up!

 I had a nice morning with some of my lady friends. We played Apples to Apples. It's enjoyable. It's good for a few laughs. It encourages conversation and getting to know each other a bit better, which is great for me as I am the new kid on the block.

The muffins and scones were yummy. I also had some fresh strawberries and a bowl of Kisses. 

After lunch I retreated to my sewing space. I am embroidering the names of fellow travelers on some of the journals. It probably takes more time to get the journal secured on the hoop than it does to embroider it. It will take me a few days to complete 21 of them.

I made templates for hand quilting my State challenge quilt. I'll take the quilt with me on our trip. I might have a lot of seat time where I can stitch the Baptist Fan design. 

After I washed the doll's clothes in Woolite the white pinafore and her slip were still very yellow. I found out that the Woolite will take out dirt, but not necessarily the yellow. It was suggested that I use OxyClean for that. I don't normally use that product and admit to standing in the aisle looking at all of the various OxyClean options! The instructions for that product said you might soak objects for up to 6 hours, and it took all of that to make the whites white again! 

The elastic in her panties is shot. They won't stay up! Don't you hate it when that happens?! 🤣 I've put them aside to redo the elastic. Until then she'll have to go commando! 😮

While I was perusing my email I found a link to "50's Forgotten Casseroles". What's uncanny is just last night I was thinking of the cheeseburger casserole I used to make for the kids using Bisquik. And ta da! Just like that...here are some of those old favorites...including a hamburger casserole! We are going to enjoy try the chicken-a-la-king casserole tonight. The jury is out on whether we will enjoy it or not. 

Gypsy's Journal

Thursday, August 9
I found a cupcake wrapper on an empty campsite. Yum. Dreaming took it away from me. That made me sad.

Friday, August 10
I found a small bone near the fire pit at the campsite. Yum. Dreaming took it away from me and tossed it.

Saturday, August 11
I found the same bone again. Yum. Dreaming took it and threw it in the trash. I was not happy.
We had a long ride in the truck.

Sunday, August 12
I found some old dog food on the ground by our campsite. Yum. Dreaming didn't see that I was eating it until I was almost finished. Yay, me! We had a long ride in the truck.

Monday, August 13
We are at a new campground. It has a play yard with a small A-frame and an agility dog walk. Dreaming feeds me treats if I go over them. Yum.

Tuesday, August 14
Dreaming took us for a walk this morning. I got to smell goose poop. Yum. Dreaming wouldn't let me roll in it or eat it. She is too fussy. We had a long ride in the truck.

Wednesday, August 15
Yummy! I hit the jackpot. Someone spilled something wonderful on the gravel. I licked it. And licked it some more. Dreaming told me to stop. I went back and licked it some more. Yum! I think I like this kind of camping!

Tuesday's Treasure: A Journal

Quite a few years ago my father handed me a book, stuffed with pictures and newspaper clippings, telling me it was his father's journal and I should be the one to have it.

We had a seven hour drive ahead of us and I read the entire journal on the trip. I was fascinated, to say the least. I knew very little about my grandfather. Sure, we visited with one another on holidays and had occasional dinners out. I knew he loved the Buffalo Bills, that he had worked at Merrill Lynch and that he loved cars. His journal was a revelation.

The bound diary was dated 1923, but my grandfather relabeled each page, beginning with 1896, the year of his birth. He allowed three pages for each year. He went back to fill in some information from the years before the diary was published. 

Each year he would make brief entries about trips, people he met, accomplishments and often about what car he was driving! There were many pictures, newspaper articles, programs and letters stuffed into the pages that filled in the gaps. 

Ten years ago I created an electronic version of the diary and had it printed in an effort to preserve the information and to share it with my family. My sweet hubby, my son and I scanned over 400 documents and transcribed each entry, embedding the pictures and articles in the text.

I am so thrilled to have had an opportunity to know more about my grandfather; I am saddened that I didn't know this before his death. What great conversations we could have had!

In some ways, our Blogs are like journals. They mark important events in our lives. I kept a diary through middle school and high school, but have not 'journaled' since then. What about you? Do you keep a journal?