Escape!

It seems like most of our time at home has been spent on household items and yard maintenance. Of course this isn't all we've been up to. In the past couple of weeks we've been able to sneak out of the house for some play time. A few days even included water!

Our first adventure was dusting off the golf clubs and revisiting the game of pasture pool. Mike and Nancy showed tremendous patience with our lack of skill and hopefully had a good time in spite of their occasional need to take cover from a ricocheting golf ball!

Fore!!!

A few days later found us in Madison, Wisconsin to attend Music on the Square with friends Frank & Peg. Every summer they hold free concerts on the lawn of the state capital building. I"m  not sure what the music was but we had a great time listening and watching people.

 State Capital Building

Some of the crowd gathered for the concert.

Our gang taking time to pose for a commemorative photo!

Apparently we didn't scare Mike & Nancy with our golf game and got invited to spend a few days with them on their boat. As seems to be the case when we're together on a boat, the weather gives us a few challenges. This time after a month of  temps in the 80's the thermometer dropped to highs in the 60's and some rain and wind to go along with it. Of course it went back to the mid 70's on our last day.
Even with the less than hoped for weather we had a great time together as always.

A northbound tow as we leave the marina in Dubuque, Ia.

The Mississippi below Nine Mile Island.

The entrance to our anchorage.

Looking back towards the main channel at sunset.

 Saturday morning Bloody Mary's!

Northbound tow passing our anchorage.

 M/V Roberta Tabor passing by.

 Pam & Dixie staying warm.

Dragonfly staying out of the weather.

We took advantage of a break in the weather and dinghied to nearby Chestnut Beach.

 One of the ATON's along the river complete with mile post. We're 561.9 miles above the Ohio River junction.

 Not exactly bikini weather!

Chestnut Mountain ski resort on the Illinois side of the river.

Sunday morning.

Sunday evening.

 Monday morning haze.

Mike & Dixie coming back from Dixie duty.

Nancy taking our picture.

                                     
 Dixie in the co-pilots seat.

                                      
We met the Riverboat Twilight as we headed back upriver.

The Dubuque RR Bridge was open for us on our return.

All too soon we were turning back into the marina.

We made it back without incident proving once again that weather doesn't ruin a good time!

Home Life

We've been home now for a couple of months and have reacquainted ourselves with the dirt dweller lifestyle.     Ours consists of projects around the house. Socializing with friends and family. And babysitting from time to time. The weather has been warm and wet with several heavy rainstorms and temps in the mid 80's.

Pam helping her dad install a storm door.

Me changing a flat tire on our way back from my daughters. Of course it was raining.

Ellie and me having fun at breakfast. We made a pact not to tell GramPam about the new toilet seat on the counter. She eventually discovered it and made me install it.

Heavy rain obscuring the house across the street from us.

Pam cutting back the fast growing hostas.

Franklin getting his first convertible ride from GramPam. Look who's riding his John Deere convertible in the background!

Pam, Kim, Barb, & Jean and their non-alcoholic drinks. Yeah right!

The next seven pictures are from the 3rd of July air show and fireworks display in Dubuque, Ia. We were guests of the Vagabond crew for the festivities. The river was running around 8' higher than normal that day making for some interesting anchoring scenarios with more than one boat dragging and picking up the next boat downstream. Of course it was a KFC evening!

Saturday July 6th we traveled into the Iowa countryside to celebrate my son Addam's birthday which is actually July 4th. Happy birthday Dutch!

Addam giving me instructions on 4 wheeler operation.

Pam and I after a successful ride.

Addam, Jeni(significant other) and Jeni's dad Mike(sitting).

Mike's house from the other side of the pond.

In the meantime while we're adapting to life here in the Midwest Tourist is resting comfortably inside a building back in Florida. Our decision to not bring her back up the inland rivers to our home was no doubt the correct one. The high water is just now receding which means we would have been stopped in the Kentucky Lake area and not gotten here until mid-July. Meanwhile we just might have to blow the dust off the golf clubs! FORE!