It's October and it's been too cold for my likin' for a while now. We gotta commence ta hittin' the road and moseyin' ta somewheres warm n' dry.
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| Even the geese are leavin' |
I lied about posting pictures and stories from prior adventures. Sorry. Summer went by way too fast. Of course it was still Winter until mid-June.
Every year Blackhawk Valley Campground has a series of charity events, usually to help out someone in the campground community. This year's beneficiary was a gentleman who has been having dialysis three time a week for the past seven years, while he waits for a donor kidney.
This year the campground hosted several theme-basket raffles, a garage sale, a poker walk,
and the main event, the 10th annual Labor Day weekend auction. Penny volunteered to organize it all. She and I, her handy dandy helper, put in countless hours creating posters and signage, sending out emails, making phone calls, recruiting volunteers to help out with the events, soliciting donations from merchants in the form of gift certificates for meals, goods and services, and camping related items, and who knows what all else.
a rubber duck race
and the main event, the 10th annual Labor Day weekend auction. Penny volunteered to organize it all. She and I, her handy dandy helper, put in countless hours creating posters and signage, sending out emails, making phone calls, recruiting volunteers to help out with the events, soliciting donations from merchants in the form of gift certificates for meals, goods and services, and camping related items, and who knows what all else.
This year people donated a Blackhawks jersey,
a Bears jersey,
a Bears jacket,
some really valuable watches, a U.S. Silver Certificate and two rolls of Wheat Pennies.
The Weber Company donated two new grills,
The Home Depot donated a battery powered tool combo kit,
and another company donated a Lift Assist Recliner.
These events take a lot of effort, and we couldn't do it without the tireless help of a whole bunch of volunteers who helped out with everything
from setting up canopies,
tables and chairs, 
to manning the food tent during the auction,
and hosting poker walk stops, (complete with all manner of eats and drinks for walkers to buy for additional donations), to running the garage sale.
The people here are generous beyond measure.
They make up and donate theme baskets of every kind imaginable, 
donate new and like new items of all kinds,
and then, turn around and bid on the very things everyone donated.
Even in this sucky economy, they give sacrificially of their time and resources to help a neighbor in need. I am honored and proud to be a part of this community.
Our plans for Autumn are to leave Northern Illinois next week and meander our way down to the pine county of East Texas in time to vote in the November Elections. Much is at stake in our home state and nationally. We take our privilege to vote seriously, and as John Stuart Mill once said, "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
After that it's down to the Gulf of Mexico, follow the coast to Corpus Christi, then up to Hondo for a few weeks of "HOW Improvement". Following a short stay there, we head West to Arizona for some boon-docking out in the dessert.
Stay tuned and HANG ON!
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