Illinois

Today is our pre-departure day. We decided to head out Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Paul joined us for coffee outside and we watched Magic watch a chipmunk eating bird seed by our rig. The chipmunk was a few inches away and Magic just watched him. Now it’s on to our projects. We headed out to meet our niece Ady and her fiance Ivan for dinner at La Pesa in Palatine. We decided not to stay for their wedding in a couple weeks but it was great to be able to spend quality time with them at dinner. We stopped for a nightcap of wine at Hotel California with Rich, Sandy and Paul.

Today is still overcast and a few really light sprinkles. We did sit outside under the overhang and then took a walkabout. Today is closing day for Blarney Island and “Drink us Dry”. As we were getting ready to go on Paul and Chris’s boat, we told our friends we were heading out on Wednesday. None of them were happy but at least we told them and didn’t just leave. So Paul, Marty, Sandy, Rich, Sam, Jackie, John and I headed to Blarneys. We met Huddy there and had a great Blarney closing day. When we got home we stopped at Hotel California for a bit.

Another cool, damp, rainy and overcast day. We did lots of reading and hanging around the rig. We headed out to Jim and Diane’s to meet Mark and go to Kawa for all you can eat sushi. First we had some cocktails and Jim and Di’s and then went to Kawa. We took our time and ate lots. We saw our friend Sheila from Grass Lake there with friends. After dinner, the boys had a couple cocktails and cigars on the deck and Diane and I relaxed inside.

Last day of September. It’s still cool, damp, cloudy and gloomy. We hung around the rig and then had to break out. We met Jim D, Sam, Mike, Ken, and Kim at the Kross Inn and played some darts and video poker. We had cocktails and a few shots. Slowly people left until it was Sam, John and I. We stayed a while longer and headed home around 10pm.