Free at last, free at last

Our last real commitment for this trip was the final stop in Decatur, IN to get the last work done on the rig.  I am happy to report we have a new awning and the reefer works great.  They decided to change out the awning and not stretch it and we got two parts for the reefer.  We are fixed and outa’ here.  And Fleetwood did a great job.  On time and excellent work.  A pleasant experience. 
So we are on down the road driving through miles and miles of corn and soy beans.  We stopped in Rantoule, IL and went through the Chanute AFB museum.  Kind of neat but it pales in comparison to Wright Patterson.  The best part about Rantoule was the RV park.  It was an older trailer park that had been part of the Air Force base.  It had decent roads and some curbing which was the really neat part.  And now you’re thinking what in the hell is he talking about?  So to the point.  I was returning from the shower after nearly drowning in a thunder storm on the way over and watching the water run down the street.  So I’m thinking about the way we use to play in the water going down the gutters as kids after a rainstorm.  I must have been really enjoying the thought because when I got back to the RV Kat said what were you so happy about walking down the street?  So I explained one of the more simple and most enjoyable summer activities we use to pursue as kids. Bruce and Doug and I would race our little stick boats for probably a hundred yards or more until they disappeared down the sewer and then run back get a new ‘boat’ and start again.  We built gravel and dirt dams to store water along the curbs and then let it out with care and practice to prolong the fun.  What a kick!  Who needed Game Boys or Xbox? 

And then with our new found freedom we stayed at another Corps park in IL.  We spent so much time in Indiana and Illinois this summer that I think we qualify for their potlucks this winter in Bentsen Grove.  You may recall that the different states have potlucks where we winter.  Kat and I are a little bored with our Oregon Potluck.  It’s two chairs, a TV tray, and us.  Lots of folks from the Midwest and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. 
Then it was on to cotton country and along the Mississippi starting at Lady Luck casino in Caruthersville MO.   The casino wasn’t anything real special but it did have an OK RV park and we had a peak at the Mississippi and barge traffic.  Where we come from the casinos are on Indian reservations, along the Mississippi there on, or maybe just over the water.  And for those reading this from maybe more urban America, that’s American Indians.  Just in case!  I mean I know the state of our educational system.  Not that I want to insult my readers, either one of them.  OK!  So very coincidentally I am reading Mark Twain’s “LIfe On the Mississippi” along this part of the trip.  Really!  Kat bought me a Sony ‘Reader’ some time ago and I have read a few things even though I still have a number of paperbacks on hand.  “Life on the Mississippi” just happened to be a free download and I thought, ‘why not’.  The Reader is OK but maybe not quite as neat as I thought it might be.  I’ve always mentally compared them to an Etch A’ Sketch on steroids.  But there is no back light and that maybe is good or bad but it could be easier to read in some lighting.  The ability to select font size is good, but there is only one page button and there should be more.  It is a snap to download books online at the ‘Reader Store’ and the prices are reasonable for most stuff, but you can’t get everything.  With the growth in different electronic readers though there is more and more stuff available almost on a daily basis it seems.