For the last time on this vacation, Rich woke up again.
Today is the last day on the road. We have to get from Des Moines, IA to Holiday Hills. The day was going to prove a warm one, so the air conditioning was on from the start. No hanging either arm out of the car window for extra bronzing.
We made good time, even with construction on the way. We hit the Quad cities on the Mississippi River. We stopped at the Illinois Welcome Center. This overlooks the Mississippi. Not much else there.
We headed into Rockford to eat at one of our favorite places. The Machine Shed used to have the best chicken livers, but now they are reduced to an appetizer, except for Sundays. Still the food is excellent and the sides are served family style. We got our fill and moved on down the road. At least I was going to have to fix dinner tonight.
Did I mention that we had stopped here several years ago from our Colorado vacation and evacuated a stray lizard who hitched a ride from Colorado Springs? I’m pretty sure he doesn’t still live here.
We got into home about 3:30. Now came the task of unloading the entire car into the house before anyone could relax. Rich turned on the water to house so we had flushing toilets. Finally, the car was empty. We could spend the next day or so putting things back where they belong.
My first order of business was get the laundry started. I only ended up with 3 loads to clean everything, and that included the new t-shirts purchased on the trip. I got things folded, but not quite put away.
Tired and exhausted, it was good to fall into our own beds and sleep deeply and long into the morning without having to think about driving to another city. I actually even slept in, too, which was unusual.
Sunday morning, we made coffee and read the paper like any other Sunday. Finally, it was time to call and get a pick up time for Sascha. Virginia said I could get her at 11:00 when her bath would be done and she would be dry. Apparently, Sascha had a hot spot on her side. These are just little sores that come up from something. They aren’t sure what. The kennel had treated it and she only had a scab now. Something I need to watch her for.
Come 11:00, I went into the kennel and picked up Sascha. As soon as she came through the door, she was so excited and about knocked me down to get a hug. The girls there and I talked and they praised Sascha highly for being such a good dog. They all think she is so beautiful.
We got home and Sascha dived for her toys before greeting anyone else. Then she went off in search of Rich and planted big kisses on him. She is definitely a Daddy’s girl.
It was really hot out there today. I kept going outside to warm up from the air conditioning, but there was only so much you can take out when the heat is this high. I think it topped out at 93 here. Sascha wanted to be outside, but it was too hot for her. I drug her pool out from under the deck and filled it. She loves her pool. She would play in the water and then go out into the yard. This was repeated several times.
Rich did BBQ chicken on the grill and we ate well that night. Even Rick’s friend, Tyler, joined us for dinner. It’s been a while since we’ve seen him. Tyler and Rick were hanging out for a while on Sunday.
I spent the day pretty much getting all of the vacation pictures from Rich’s camera and my camera into order and creating files I could post. Then came the task of actually posting them. I only got two folders done by 9:00. Time to call it quits and work on the process over the week. Be looking for a link soon to my Picasa site.
Another vacation done. It was a great one. Now I have to start planning next year’s. Wonder where in the world we should go?
Diane: I still owe you a happy picture of Sascha with her people.