An Illinois Round Barn

Tuesday, May 3rd - - As I left Argyle State Park this morning, I turned right instead of left thinking that the road would loop around back to US 136. It didn't. But I came across this neat old Round Barn. I would have loved to take a look inside but it was some distance from the road and it was on private property. As you can see, blue skies and sunshine were in abundance! It was a cool 41 degrees but there was no wind so it was actually rather comfortable.

On The Road Again, Again!

Monday, May 2nd - - After 12 days back home in Indiana, I'm on the move, heading west. I traveled 350 miles today, through Indiana and most of Illinois, and not even one of those miles was on the Interstates!

I think we only had two days of sunshine the entire time I was home, and today was more of the same cloudy, overcast skies. It was raining when I left Columbia City but it quit shortly thereafter. My stopping place for the night was Argyle Lake State Park, about 15 miles southwest of Macomb off of US Route 136 in western Illinois. It was late afternoon, and as so often happens at that time of day, the clouds began to move off and the sun finally made a most-welcome appearance.

After a quick bite to eat, I went for a short walk – on the paved, level road through the campground then down to the lake. Just taking it easy but getting a little exercise to get the old legs moving again. And trying not to do whatever it was that I did before to cause the pain!

Lots of these pretty blue wild-flowers were near the edge of the woods alongside the campground. Each flower in the cluster was about an inch in diameter.

I opted to not attempt these stairs leading down to the lake – they didn't look very sturdy and they were much steeper than they appear.

There was no clear view of the setting sun, which was blocked by the forest on the other side of the meadow.

As the sun set further, the sky filled with color.

A very nice ending, to my first day on the road again, again!

It's Been a Week...

A busy week at that and I'm way behind with the blogging. Readjusting to cooler weather and dealing with the rain and the wind and the storms that have been affecting Northern Indiana as well as many other areas of the country. Aaahh Springtime!

My goal of not traveling on the Interstates from Louisiana to Indiana was successful. And I only had to travel on four-lane highways around and through towns and cities. Of course, it took a bit longer but it was worth the extra time and far less stressful.

It was rather startling to go from this (on the Natchez Trace April 19th):

To this (Northern Indiana on April 24th) where the only “green” is the grass:

But, thankfully, all of those April Showers have brought forth the beautiful flowers!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had a visit with the doctor earlier this week and I'm happy to report that my leg is feeling much better! An ultrasound was done to rule out blood clots and none were found. The doctor prescribed a pain-reliever/anti-inflamatory drug that has helped considerably. The cause of the pain? Most likely a pulled muscle that will heal itself with time.

I've been taking advantage of the “free wifi” here at my friend's house and working on several projects. Rather got “caught up” in researching a very, very distant relative who just happened to have lived in southern Noble County, not far from my ancestors here in Whitley County. And by “distant relative” I mean really distant. You have to go back to the 1635 immigrant, Thomas Joslin, to get to our common ancestor. It's been fun. Haven't had a challenge like that in quite a while!

What's ahead? I'm working on it, formulating a plan. Really. I had hoped to be able to attend the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree in June but that won't happen this year. I have to be back in Indiana by June 14th for a follow-up appointment with the doctor. But I've put the Jamboree on my calendar for 2012 along with RootsTech!