5-6 October 2022 Wednesday and Thursday

Cleveland

The weather is certainly nicer than when we were here in August. We have cool, crisp fall days. S and C do lots of cooking: garbanzo soup for dinner, accompanied by the multigrain bread O and I brought from Portland. They’ve also baked chocolate chip cookies, and on Thursday, a batch of pumpkin cranberry muffins for breakfast on the road Friday morning.

We wander Acacia Park on Wednesday and drive to Lake Erie’s shore on Thursday afternoon.

C and I work on the fiddle tune, The Wren, together. It’s a beautiful melody!

7 October 2022, Friday

On to Madison, Wisconsin

Another early departure and a long drive to Lake Kegonsa State Park near Madison where we have camping reservations. We are very happy to be done driving around Chicago!

Lake Kegonsa is a nice park – small – but the campsites are good and we have electricity to keep the fridge in Vincent running, not that it needs to run. . . temperatures are supposed to drop to 1 degree Celsius tonight

O and I are plenty warm with our down Nemo quilt and fleece blankets. We’re a bit worried about Lucy, but she does fine. We leave her puffy green jacket on overnight.

8 October 2022, Saturday

This morning we have brunch with my cousin D and her husband. Her daughter, A, joins us as well. It’s great seeing them again. Our last visit was two years ago. When my cousin and her husband hear that I’m learning to fiddle they request a mini-concert. My bow hand is a bit shaky after morning coffee but surprisingly I do pretty well!

D, O and I walk around a nearby park and enjoy catching up! O and I depart around 12:30 to seek diesel fuel. We finally find some at our sixth gas station. Back at camp it’s time for our last showers for the next 6 days. Good thing the weather is going to be cool!