Journal entry – 31 July 2015, Fri

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

After coffee and visiting for a bit I call and confirm that the fridge is up and running. It is, so Ashley and I shower and head up that way. We will be returning about lunch time, giving everyone else a chance to relax and get prepped for the day.

Everything seems to be in order, we receive some spare shelves for the fridge, and are on our way. Nearing Pat’s we find the restaurant from last night and pull in. Everyone comes to meet us, leading the way to a friend’s house – they are out of town for the weekend and thus have an empty driveway that we can use. We park the RV, give Pat and Hillary the grand tour, and then head on to explore Galena, Illinois.

Even though it is a touristy town, downtown is very quaint and a lot of fun to explore. We head to a fabulous restaurant for lunch. It’s been around for some time – Abraham Lincoln held a debate there when it was a hotel and he was running for President. Ashley had a chicken salad wrap while I try a Cuban, inspired by our recent watching of “Chef” at Joni and Jim’s.

We wander down mainstreet. I enjoy the art/paper shop – checking out sketchbooks and fountain pens while everyone else heads next door to the popcorn shop. They have a million flavors and fabulous samples. A whole shop dedicated to rootbeer! I should have picked up a sarsparilla – haven’t had one since I was wee. Ashley gets a latte at the cafe while Jim and I grab ice cream next door.

  

Pat and Hillary head back to the house to wait for Roger and Denise’s arrival (Roger is the eldest of the Guiney brood) while we continue exploring. Jim thoroughly enjoys the hot-sauce shop. I sampled a quarter of the store and he did his best to try everything.

We finally wrap up and head back to the house, arriving shortly before Roger and Denise. Jim grilled brats and burgers and we all ate and chatted the night away. We played another round of Catchphrase before calling it a night.

The power in Pat’s room mysteriously quit working (he found out upon trying to hook up his CPAP machine) and nothing we did fixed it. He finally decided sleep on the couch in the sitting room and solve the electrical mystery in the morning.