July 3, Day 18: Rockford, Illinois to Madison, Wisconsin to Rochester, Minnesota

We woke up from not a stellar sleep at our Super Eight Hotel. The clerk announced last night there was no breakfast because “Covid canceled it.” We found this amusing because the day before we had had a very full breakfast.

Luckily, the plan was to continue on to our friends Melinda and Kathy‘s house about an hour down the road near Madison, Wisconsin. We spent some very nice time chatting and catching up. We figured we hadn’t seen each other since our wedding which was now 27 years before. Amazing how the time zips on along. We were delighted to tour the house they designed and had built. It was a lovely house, built two specifications to really be disability accessible.

Kathy passed on going out to breakfast, but the other three of us had a delightful breakfast at Luke’s Café. So many things to get caught up on, family and friends news, what our lives are looking like these days, and we had to discuss politics at least a little. So nice to see Patti‘s best friend from junior high and high school. We talked and talked, and finally had to hit the road. We had about a 3 hour drive to Rochester Minnesota, where Patti grew up, and her mom, brother Perry, sister Paula, and some of their children still live.

Patti's mom has been looking forward to this visit for a long time and had been shopping and cooking to make sure there was plenty of food that we could enjoy. Due to Covid, we had not been able to be in Rochester for nearly 3 years. So nice to be together with family again.

We were happy to see Perry and his wife, Jodie.  Paula, her husband, Tom, and their sons, Jackson and Issac, surprised us.  We had hoped to see them and they had traveled to see us.  Wonderful!  We spent time talking in the living room and then Perry and Jodie stayed for dinner while Paula’s family went home for dinner there.  A tradition for the family is to take walks in the large park that is just across the street from the house.  Often the excuse is to walk the Perry’s dog, but it is such a good time to talk.  On this walk we also saw a young buck deer.  At the end of the evening the house became quieter as it was just Patti, Dick and Joan, Patti’s mom.