CHICAGO

While in Nappanee having work done on our motorhome we decided to take the train into Chicago and spend the day.

Rush Hour in Chicago- very happy to be in a double decker tour bus on a warm and sunny day!!

We ate lunch here and had the best Italian Sausage sandwich I have ever tasted.

Married with Children fans should recognized this fountain. Buckingham Fountain

Of course no trip to Chicago would be complete without a drive by of Harpo Studios

Tour of Fair Oaks Dairy
Fair Oaks, Indiana

Fair Oaks Dairy is one of the largest in the United States. This particular dairy uses holstien cows the milk has less fat than other types of cows. Milk leaves the dairy in tankers and will go as far south as Florida. Once the milk reaches its destination, the milk is then pasteurized.
This is a milking table the cows get on the platform and the platform holds 72 cows and will take 8 minutes to complete the process. Each cow is milked 3 times a day and each cow will produce 9-10 gallons of milk a day. There are 2800 cows at this dairy. Do the math- Thats a lot of milk!!
This is inside the birthing barn this momma is in labor we waited 2 hours for her to deliver!!
There were complications and the the calf had to be pulled out. Straps were tied to the calf hoofs and was pulled out it - it took the strength of both the vet and his assistant to accomplish this.

Its a 90 pound boy !!!

Momma and bull are resting and doing fine. This was quite the adventure for a city gal!!!

RACE DAY !!!

Ladies & Gentlemen start your engines...... and the crowd goes wild!!!

These cars are racing at over 200 miles per hour and they are loud

This is our car on the race track this picture was taken as we crossed the finish line!! Our car never exceeded speeds over 30 miles per hour!!!

Indy 500 race is awesome!! This should be on everyone's "must do once in a lifetime list".

Our next stop will be College Park, MD where we report for our jobs in June.
Until then, stay safe, be happy, and stay healthy.......

INDY 500 FESTIVAL PARADE

This was one of the best parades we have been to. This is just a sampling of some the floats. As soon as I can figure out how to do a web album I will put more pics for those who want to see them. It did NOT rain on our parade today.

The big race is tomorrow tonight we PARTY!!!!

Miller Lite Carb Day 2007

Today was the Miller Lite Carb day, just in case you don't know ( I didn't and don't ask what I thought it was) carb means carburetor. Back in the day when the indy cars actually had a carburetor the race cars would go out on the track and run the cars and then adjust the carburetor until the car ran the way it should. This race 100 miles (40 laps).

It was a miracle that I was able to get this picture taken. These Indy cars go wizzin by at over 200 miles per hour, they are a blur. Nothing like NASCAR
These Indy cars line up in the garage area and are waiting for the signal to go out to the track so the race can begin.
This is a preview of the pace car that will be driven by Patrick Dempsy ( aka Mc Dreamy) on Sunday. Saturday is the big parade downtown and I will do my best to get some pic of the parade posted Saturday night. We are not having the best weather rain is in the forecast for the entire weekend.

Indy 500 Race May 25-28, 2007

The race officially starts on Friday, today we were allowed to wander around and we drove our own car around the track that was so cool, then we went over to the garage area and were able to talk to the drivers and see their cars and watch a tire changing competition.

This is a tire changing competition all four tires are changed in 5 seconds!!
This picture was pretty hard to take it took may camera longer to set up than it
did to change all four tires!!!

All four tires are on, and the process starts all over again, I can't believe that they are trying to beat their 5 second time. Well stay tuned tomorrow we move over to the camping area and then the fun shall begin. There is a concert on Friday with Kid Rock, we have front row seats to the kickoff parade and tons more stuff to do. I will post as many pics as I can.
Gentlemen Start your Engines!!! I wonder do they still say that?

Jersey Boys... in San Fransisco

John and I took BART into the city and saw Jersey Boys at the Curran Theater. It was spectacular!!! Jersey Boys is about the rise and fall of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the music was fantastic!! I can understand why it won the 06 Tony awards. If you get the chance to see this spectacular musical it should not be missed!!!

After the theater we went to Puccini & Pinetti's for dinner we just love this little Italian Bistro. The food is very different not your ordinary Italian fare, for instance I had this pizza with apples, goat cheese, arugala and just a slight hint of honey drizzled over the top. John had angel hair pasta with fire roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella balls, and basil with grilled chicken. No room for desert, but I know they are fabulous. That was then end to our wonderful evening.

Oh what a night!!!

EXTRA EXTRA Read all about it.......

John and I are back in the bay area doing our semi- annual check ups and visiting family. We have firmed up our Summer Plans and we are both so excited about this summer. We were just offered a job at Cherry Hill Campground in College Park, MD just minutes from Washington DC. The cool part is the job itself.... John will be the outdoor grill cook -BBQ'n dogs, burgers, steaks for the campground cafe and I will be the cashier we will work 3 days a week in exchange for an hourly wage and full hookup site. We start on June 20 and will work thru 9/10. We are still going to the Indy 500 and we have an appointment in Nappannee to have some warranty work done on our motorhome, then off to Maryland.

Hope you all are looking forward to your Summer Plans.......

Out and about in Los Angeles

Our first stop was the "Original Farmers Market" It has been around since 1934-
If you can't find what you are looking for here, then it must not exist or you didn't look hard enough.....





Our next stop was the Ronald Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
Below are pictures of the Oval Office, Air Force One, and a piece of the Berlin Wall and Regan's final resting place. When the time comes Nancy will join him. The main focus of Regan's Library seemed to be his 8 years he spent in the white house and his relationship with Nancy- No pictures of his children or much on how he grew up. We found that to be a little odd.
There were two exhibits that are leaving on Saturday that we were able to see - one was the Red Dress Exhibit this was to bring attention to Women and heart disease, the other was all the gifts that Regan had received during his two terms- he received several saddles and belt buckles not to mention lots of other gifts of Waterford Crystal, a picture of Ronald make out entirely of butterfly wings, etc. For us touring Air Force One was pretty interesting, the last president to use the plane was George Bush (dad). It is a flying white House!!!

NASCAR RACE CONTINUED

MARCH 9-11, 2007This car is leaving the "Pit" and headed to the race track.

John was drooling over this toolbox!!!!
or should I say toybox!!!

He we are the happy workkampers. Behind us was the truck parade- inside all of these trucks are the race cars and tools and stuff. This was the main gate we were guarding, when we were not out on patrol..

Race Day!! This is a view of the track from the grandstand

Opps had a little fender bender!!
No one hurt!!!

LAS VEGAS NASCAR

MARCH 9-11, 2007

We arrived at the Las Vegas Speedway and our assignment is the infield parking lot below is our motorhome right across from the turn!!! We think this is going to be a lot of fun- we have our schedules and are ready to go........ 8 on/off we will be working with 11 other couples this lot is reserved for over 1200 RVs. Parking spaces in this lot sell for $800 for the race!!! A lot of dough for a small loaf of bread- the parking spaces are 20 x 45. This should be a PARTY!!!!

Stay Tuned

ASTA LA VISTA- SAN CARLOS!!!

We are going to miss you!!!

We have really enjoyed our time in Mexico and look forward to returning!!!

Next stop LAS VEGAS NASCAR!!!

Camp Totonaka Mexican Cooking Class of 07
Our Field Trip to Guaymas


Our campground gives free Mexican cooking classes twice a week. They are a lot of fun. This week we learned about all the different chilies and how to make fresh salsa, next week the class is all about Mexican cheeses. We take the city bus to the Mercado in Guaymas to buy fresh ingredients for our salsa. Maria our leader gave us a complete tour of the Mercado.


Here we are buying all of our ingredients. Then we head back to the campground and all begin to make our salsas for the tasting party!




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Pearl Farm Tour
This is the pearl farm. We had a short tour and found a few interesting facts about pearls. It takes about 3 1/2 years to cultivate a pearl. Very labor intensive! This is the only place in the world where the rainbow pearls come from. I did not know there were rainbow pearls.


The workers remove the bags of oysters and clean the shell so the oyster is free to open and close. The fellow in the back checks each of the cleaned oysters and puts them back into the cage and this process is repeated again and again until you have a pearl.


After our tour at the pearl farm, we found this charming little beach restaurant and had nice lunch and a pleasant walk on the beach.

Guaymas Carnival Mardi Gras 2007 The Policia, clearing the road for the parade
The three Amigos- waiting for the parade to start
Still no Parade keep waiting
Just in case you are hungry these guys have snacks-

Still waiting for the paradeFianally the parade begins, this band marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena,
CA
This is one of the floats
This is the second half of the above float