Everybody Has a Story to Tell

On the way here, we stopped at a Flying J to get fuel. I saw this vehicle out in the parking lot. It caught my curiosity. What kind of boat is a "Magic Boat"? What does this person do for a living? There was an interesting message on the side. I'll let you read that and decide what it means to you. I decided to check the web address out online. There isn't much to the website to give you much information: The Magic Boat  Apparently, the fellow that owns this boat is a singer. I just love that, that here is someone following their dreams, traveling around in this delightful vehicle. I wondered if this is his only way of making a living? Here is the message that was on the side of the vehicle...........


Here's another story you don't see very often, at least we haven't, in campgrounds we've stayed at...But I'm sure many people have seen this sight. I didn't see the guys to ask them their story--how long did they have to wait till to get these deer? Does they always go to the same hunting grounds every year? The Gun Lake Campground where we are staying at Rend Lake is full of hunters and I guess they are hunting all around Rend Lake. Campers here only have ten more days and the campground closes for the season.


Today we stopped off at the Visitor's Center in Rend Lake, which is officially called the Southern Illinois Art & Artisan Center. It was an unusual welcome center. It is a gallery for Illinois artists, run by the Illinois State Museum. Over 850 artists' is on display and for sale. Metals, wearables, jewelry, paintings, ceramics, textiles and more were displayed. I was not allowed to take photos, but the gallery was beautiful. On the way back, we stopped off at the Pheasant Hollow Winery which was supposed to open at 10:00 AM. It was closed! Bummer! We'll head back there later today....time to go for a bike ride at Rend Lake College..that's the only safe place to ride this weekend, they told me.

Blogging is sometimes hard work to think of interesting things to say, clever titles to catch one's eye, but it's also great fun to keep a traveling diary. Some day, grandkids will read about these things and marvel at what we did...our families today appreciate it that we take the time to write and photograph about what we are seeing and doing, and strangers get to participate in a very real way if they aren't able to travel themselves at this time. Others want to just know out of curiosity what you're up to! It's great to see so many blogs out there. There are so many interesting travels, places and people to read about. It's a great way to document your life, a way to digitally scrapbook in a story telling form. We'll keep writing even when things slow down. The ordinary things are important to document and save as well, I think. How we travel, what we eat, the company we keep....we want to remember this very special time in our lives. It's been pretty exciting and amazing, and we've been very fortunate to be able to do this. Hope you will continue to enjoy reading as much as we enjoy writing, and......... see you tomorrow.....