I see all kinds of cool things while we are driving down the road. Usually I don’t get the camera out fast enough to take a picture or just end up with a blurred image because, well, we are traveling down the road. I got lucky with this one because it was along side a gas station we stopped at.

This was the view at the first hotel we stayed at in Colorado Springs. When we were checking out the lady asked us how our stay had been and I truthfully answered that it had been like sleeping in a pot hole. I have a hard time understanding how hotel mattresses can be broken down so much more than a home mattress. I spent the night trying to steal Recliner Man’s side of the bed and the nice lady at the front desk refunded half of our money so it all worked out.

We spent two days cleaning out The House of Many Treasures. We were covered in grime and worn out but we could actually see a bit of difference where we had been. It was just a drop in the bucket though and I really feel for the other family members who have had the task of dealing with this for weeks. It can not be completed by the time the moving van shows up so they will sort through the pikes looking for things that need to be taken and return to deal with the mess after she has been shipped off to her new home.

One of the treasures that came out of the house was a sewing cabinet she decided to give to my daughter. We put it in the car and brought it with us to Illinois. Now we are enjoying a few days visitng with my daughter and her husband.

Whenever we visit they take us on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail.  There are many fine wineries in Southern Illinois and most of them offer free wine tasting. We stopped at Hedman Vineyards and enjoyed a terrific lunch with Peach Wine. The kids are moving upstate soon so we took the opportunity to stock up on some of our favorite wines. We have fallen in love with the Chardonel from Blue Sky Vineyard. It makes an awsome White Sangria. Recliner Man made sure we also stopped at The Pomona Winery to pick up some of their Strawberry Dessert Wine.

There are still a lot of miles to go. On Monday we will be heading up to Wisconsin for a few days and then back down to Illinois for the big event, my son-in-law’s graduation. That hotshot has a 4.0 GPA and is graduating with double honors. I never feel very smart around this kid but I love him like my own.