A lot of funny things today alongside rout 20.  We began by taking the interstate to Rockford and then followed 20 to Waterloo, Iowa.  We were not on the road more than a few minutes when Henna started laughing about the strange cow (methinks bull) that was trying to jump on his or her friends back.  Corey and I laughed pretty hard at that one. 

A little more down than road we stopped at the restored Apple River Fort which was more legend until a relatively recent dig found its footprint.  A small thing, a lot of houses in my neighborhood have greater dimensions.  But in this fort 60 or so men, women, and children fought off Chief Blackhawk and 200 warriors for several hours until they moved on.  The fort, visitor center, and costumed interpreters were thoughtful and gave us and the two other visitors a lot of attention.  On to Galena where we spent some time looking for parking, elbowing through crowded streets, and waiting for a slightly older teenager and her board trainee to serve us ice cream.  The whole time spent in Galena can best be described as hot, sticky, and crowded.

A couple more hours and we made it to George Wyth State Park where nothing at first worked right.  Henna caught no fish and broke her Barbie rod, it started to rain, and they don’t sell firewood.  We almost moved on to a hotel but after eating some left over sweet and sour chicken things got better.  I traded two beers for a couple of sticks, the rain let up, and brats were cooked over the grill.  Henna then spent a lot of time in the park trying to jump as far as possible from a swing.  That night was also memorable for two things:  the floating Chinese lanterns and a tail-less kitten that begged for food.  The lanterns were very much out of Tangled (you know the scene near the end where she suddenly remembers who she is) and the owners were friendly and tried to talk us into buying some in town.  I do not think air born lighted lanterns mix well in the city.  The kitty cat was fearless and cute and Henna and Corey fed him or her tuna (the kitty ate the whole can).  Right now as I am typing these words inside our tent the kitty is sleeping under our picnic table.  Feels like home.

Note:  Having trouble loading photos, will share later.