2026 June 1-4: Chicago and home

Monday morning: we left Wisconsin to travel to the Chicago area. And through some Chicago traffic. The roads were much busier, Steve had gotten spoiled with the light traffic in the West.

We got the RV to Camp Bullfrog Lake, which is about ten miles from Rachelle and Steve Lindo’s house. Our site overlooked Bullfrog Lake. And there were bullfrogs there as well as many red winged blackbirds.

Camp Bullfrog Lake campground map; our site is circled in blue
Camp Bullfrog Lake entrance
Camp Bullfrog Lake campsite

The Lindo’s joined us for dinner, including Ursa. Evan and Adrian had hot dogs, the adults had brats and hamburgers. Rachelle brought corn (on the cob) that we grilled. We also hiked around the lake and played at the playground (or ‘the stumps’ since the playground consisted of rocks and logs sticking up in the ground.)

Bullfrog Lake Hungry grandsons eating grass
Camp Bullfrog Lake playground
Camp Bullfrog Lake making friends and fishing
Camp Bullfrog Lake playground
Camp Bullfrog Lake playground

When Steve and Rachelle left, Adrian stayed behind for his first solo “Gram camp”.

“Gram camp” consisted of stories, playing Star Wars Uno, some hikes on the lake, bagels for breakfast, playing on the “natural” playground and a kayak ride in the morning. Adrian had a great time, I think he will be joining us for more “Gram camps” in the future.

more fascinated with the card shuffler than the game
Gram camp w Adrian
Gram camp w Adrian
Gram Camp playground
Gram camp kayaking

Instead of staying two nights at Bullfrog Lake, we took the RV to the Lindo’s house so we could see Evan leave for school on Wednesday morning. Adrian rode in the RV, buckled into the couch with Lexie next to him.

RV at Lindo’s
RV at Lindo’s with room for their cars

Staying with the Lindo’s had its adventures. Lexie got loose, and we chased her to a neighbor’s garage. Ursa crossed the invisible fence, and then did not want to cross the fence again even with the collar off!

Adrian played Steve’s trumpet (the second time this trip that the trumpet was played.) The adult Lindo’s went out to eat (date night) while the grandparents had Beggar’s stuffed pizza with the boys. (note: Beggar’s stuffed pizza does not compare well with the stuffed pizza from Chicago proper.)

The RV took off Wednesday morning (after a trip to Gorka’s deli for pickle soup and kishka), crossing Chicago traffic and Indiana.

We stopped for the night at Harrison Lake State Park, 25 miles into Ohio. The campsite was large, but there weren’t enough trees to provide proper shade. We had a final cookout for the trip and finished the evening with Klondike bars. V: We started our post trip cleaning while we had full hook-ups and took some time to chill before heading home to the post trip work of unpacking a fully loaded RV that held 3 seasons worth of gear, food, clothes, etc.

Harrison Lake State Park welcome sigh
Harrison State Park campsite relaxing
Harrison Lake State Park campsite
Harrison Lake State Park campsite

Thursday morning, before leaving, Steve took a three mile hike around the lake. This gave Vicki time to finish her book.

dam forming Harrison Lake
Harrison Lake: looking across to our campground

What an amazing trip! We are really enjoying reliving the memories with this blogspot. We could never capture everything we did, felt, experienced but this is a great memory prompter and we hope you are enjoying our trek across the U.S. as well.

Comments

One response to “2026 June 1-4: Chicago and home”

  1. Rachelle Avatar
    Rachelle

    You got some great pictures of Adrian!

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