Fran Visiting from San Antonio

Sunday, August 29^th through Thursday, Sept. 2^nd

Our friend and neighbor, Fran Brockway, came to visit us for a few days. She stayed in one of the KOA cottages, which worked out quite well. It was a cozy little cabin with a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen/living room area. We shopped in the little area towns, visited family, and took her to our favorite restaurant (Cannovas, again!).

Northwestern Law School, Chicago, and Rebecca’s Apartment

Friday, August 27^th through Sunday, August 29^th

During our first week in Lena, we caught up on work, did some family things, and had a bonfire with our friends, Sue and Greg Stanforth.

On our first weekend in Lena, we went to visit Rebecca in Chicago. The Northwestern Law School is absolutely beautiful—inside and out. The big old buildings are right on Lake Shore Drive and have great views. Rebecca’s apartment is only a couple blocks away, which is very convenient.

While checked out the law school, walked around the area, ate at fun restaurants like Pizzeria Due, went to see Million Dollar Quartet at the Apollo Theater, visited Oak Street Beach, saw the Rock and Roll McDonalds. We also have a bunch of pictures of Rebecca’s apartment. It is small, but all of her stuff fits in and looks nice and orderly.

Wedding of Bryan McPeek and Rachel Kleckner

Saturday, August 21^st

We arrived in Dubuque a couple hours before the wedding and did some power shopping to find a few new things for Rebecca’s start of law school and Abigail’s start of a new job as a prosecutor in Corpus Christi.

We had a wonderful family time at Bryan and Rachel’s beautiful wedding. My siblings and many of my nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and cousins were there. So, it was really fun to see everyone. It was rather humorous that we had just left Jennifer’s house a few days earlier and then they were all also at the wedding. Jennifer’s family really needed to come since Bryan is Jennifer’s first cousin on her dad’s side and Rachel is Jennifer’s first cousin on her mom’s side. Kind of comical!!

Driving from Madison, MN, to the Lena, IL, KOA

Wednesday, August 18^th through Friday, August 20^th

We drove from Madison, MN, to the Iowa rest stop that has a casino and spent the night there. We actually went into the casino and played a few machines, but we didn’t win anything—just gave our money to the casino. From there we went onto Independence, Iowa, which was a quiet, pleasant little town. On Friday morning, we drove to Dubuque, Iowa and stopped at the Sam’s Club. Then we drove the last hour and a half to the Lena, IL, KOA.

That night, we went to Cannova’s in Freeport (our favorite restaurant in Freeport) and met Abigail and Rebecca there. They had left San Antonio a few days earlier and met the movers in Chicago with Rebecca’s stuff from New York. Then, they spent a couple days putting Rebecca’s new apartment in order. After we ate, we went shopping to get some things for Rebecca’s apartment. Then the four of us spent the night in the RV and got up the next morning to drive back to Dubuque for my nephew’s wedding.