November 21, 2013
McHenry, IL
134,552.3 (349.9 miles)
[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-g2X8stDLHAk/Uo7jzq46bUI/AAAAAAAAELM/4Uc4MjjuamA/s144-c-o/1121131733.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108131301217387227436/EastboundDay12#5948942634628836674″ caption=”Just after dark and we hit the Illinois State Line on Highway 12.” type=”image” alt=”1121131733.jpg” pe2_img_align=”right” ] We sit here tonight in McHenry, IL about an hour south of Milwaukee or north of Chicago camped at a new friends house. Crazy Larry is a fellow (though I am former) ST owner and member of the ST-Owners.com club. To date, I’ve had now 4 ST Owners who have offered provided us a place to camp and I have two more who’s homes I’ll be camping at in the future. I had to change offer to provide, because I had far more offers than 4, I just could not make it to all the ST-Owners homes who did offer. On top of that, we have the Bus and Bug owners who have also offered and provided us with places to camp. I’ve managed to stay at 5 of their homes and have another two coming up and like the ST-Owners, I could not make it to all the places that were offered me with the VW group. Then I have 2 clients and two friends whom also allowed us to camp in their driveways.
Whats my point? People are amazing. Most of these people have never met except on line while a few others I have only met once or twice for a day at most. They are for most practical purposes, total strangers whom have opened their doors for Lexie and I. Some even took off work and or school to help us with repairs or maintenance. So I want you to remember this the next time you hear someone say what a waste Facebook is or “those are not real friends” The people you meet on line are as real as you want them to be. Keep your guard up and, true, they are not real friends, but open you eyes, your hearts and your doors and they are indeed real, nice and accommodating. Many of these people I have met on this trip will become, as has happened in the past with similar travels I have down before like this; very close friends.
This is what I was thinking about today as I traveled down the interstate from Stillwater, MN to McHenry, IL to meet a person I never met before who only knew me via a post I made on line asking for a place to stay. And I thought back to all my friends today that I met the very same way. A single request put out to the world and from far away, a voice or rather text comes back and says…Stay with Us. For many of you, you will never be able to travel like this, for most of you, you could never open yourself up to this idea, be it due to family traveling with you or just how you were brought up. Even my own family could never think of traveling like this and that is OK, but the point I want to make is that – in general – people are good, kind and compassionate, regardless of what you hear on the news. The people I meet, don’t make the news, they don’t stand out in a community, they are the quiet ones that just do their own thing and keep their doors, minds and hearts open.
With Thanksgiving coming up, I’d like to remind people of this. Turn off the News, Radio, TV and open your eyes and see who is around you, alone. Could you open your door and invite an neighbor in to join you? Perhaps that newly widowed senior down the street, the newly single Mom or Dad who will be alone the first time in years or the new person who moved in next door. So take a look around and see who’s life you can enrich by opening you door.
[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5BTzp9SnN9I/Uo7ikNVs2PI/AAAAAAAAELM/ZPx_BosKYIU/s144-c-o/1121131035.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108131301217387227436/EastboundDay12#5948941269486852338″ caption=”Sandy had a playmate too…well perhaps more than one, but this rig int he background is about to head to Key Wes and we might just see them down there.” type=”image” alt=”1121131035.jpg” pe2_img_align=”right” ]OK, back to the trip today. I really don’t enjoy the Interstate Travel at all, but sometimes its necessary. Today it was necessary as we needed to arrive in McHenry, IL before it began to snow in Wisconsin and I wanted to arrive before dark, though that didn’t happen, but we did manage to avoid the snow.
When we left Minnesota it was under cloudy skies and it was growing colder by the minute. Just down the road it began to rain which I was a bit nervous about because the temp was sitting right at 32 degrees and they were calling for snow accumulating to begin at 2pm so I was hoping it did not arrive earlier. As it turned out, the weather cleared up the further East we headed and was good through dark. We might get a flurry here overnight, but no accumulation which is fine by me as I’ve been avoiding this storm since I left Keystone, SD a few days ago.
Wow, I just had to think about that. Just 4 days ago I was in Keystone, SD. 10 days ago, I began our trek East and now I’m sitting here thinking back on all the amazing sights we have seen and places we have been. I still have a week to go before I arrive at the Thanksgiving Dinner Table in New York, though in 3 days I’ll be on familiar ground and in familiar roads as we traverse across New York and New England before turning south for Westchester County, NY.
Hang on, we still have a lot more roads to travel and places to see. I might even take a walk into the Atlantic once I hit Maine. 😀
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