Alton Relatives

On Sunday, April 25th, I rolled through St Louis, Missouri, and their Gateway Arch.  We have visited this before so I didn't stop this trip.

I was on my way to an RV park in Bethalto, Illinois, which is close to all of my relatives in the Alton area, but when I arrived I found that it was less than satisfactory.  Since there were no other parks listed I drove over to my cousin's (Cathy Czarnecki) house in Dorsey, IL, and discussed the situation with her and her husband Jim.  They offered to let me park in their driveway, but Jim has a lot of projects going and has to be able to get several vehicles with trailers in and out.  While we pondered the situation, my cousin Larry Card (Cathy's brother) arrived with his wife Jan.  My cousins Jackie Dalton and Freda Rae Maher also came to the house and we sat around reminiscing for several hours (Larry, Kathy, Freda Rae and Jackie are brothers and sisters whose dad Ray Card was my mother's brother).  Confused yet?  Larry is a gentleman farmer with approximately 60 acres nearby and said that he had plenty of room to park my rig at their place and so we settled on that plan.  I was originally going to stay in my camper, but Larry and Jan convinced me (it wasn't too hard) to use one of their spare bedrooms during my stay.

On Monday morning, April 26th, Larry and I wandered around some of his wooded acreage hunting for morel mushrooms.  While we got some hiking/walking execise, we got skunked on the mushroom front.  I remember as a kid hunting these mushrooms with my parents.

After lunch of fish sandwiches (they were delicious) at Larry and Jan's favorite pub (Dick and Barbs) we drove up to the river road and hiked along the Mississippi River for about three hours.  Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures.

On Tuesday, April 27th, Larry, Jan and I met Jackie and her husband Gary in Grafton, IL, for lunch and wine tasting at the Grafton Winery.  Grafton is a small Mississippi river town that has become an attraction for all the local yuppies and tourists.

After lunch Larry, Jan and I went hiking at La Vista park.  This park is a nature preserve and the trail runs from the River Road up to the park.  The round trip is about two miles.

Jan fixed a delicious stir-fry dinner and we spent the rest of the evening reminiscing with Jackie, Kathy and Freda Rae.

On Wednesday, April 28th, Larry and I drove up to Beaver Dam State Park just north of his place and hiked around the lake for about an hour and a half.  During the hike we continued to look for morel mushrooms, but no luck.  We did run across several geese and their young broods.  The parents didn't seem to want us around so we gave them a wide berth, but I did manage to sneak a couple of pictures.

On Wednesday evening the whole clan helped Jim and Cathy celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary at Angus Bailey's Restaurant in Carlinville, IL.  A good time was had by all.

On Thursday, April 29th, Jim and I wandered around another part of his acreage searching for morel mushrooms.  We came up empty handed again so he and I drove down to Dick and Barbs and consoled ourselves with another fish sandwich.  After lunch Larry, Jan and I went to Pere Marquette State Park just outside of Grafton, IL, and hiked the trails in this park.  The trails lead up to several peaks with excellent views of the Mississippi river.  This area is also known for having morel mushrooms, but again we got none.

On Friday morning, April 30th, Larry and I helped his son-in-law set some roof joists on a home that he was remodeling.  In the afternoon we again went hunting morel mushrooms by the creek on the northeast side of his property where his daughter said that they had found them in the past.  Success!  We only found a few, but enough for a "mess" with dinner.

Jan made stir-fry for dinner and battered and fried the morels in butter, yum!  On Friday evening we all met at Cathy's house for homemade icecream and fresh strawberries.  Of course we bragged to everyone about how good the mushrooms had been.  There were tornado warnings all evening, but I don't think that any came close to us.

On Saturday, May 1st, we all gathered at Freda Rae's house for a family get together.  Freda Rae had invited some of my other cousins from around the area and we had a wonderful afternoon reminiscing.

Here's a picture of the whole crew taken when Sharon and I visited in 2008.

On Sunday, May 2nd I departed Alton heading west.  I'm not sure of my next stop, but I will miss all of the genuine love expressed to me by my Alton family.  See you on the next post.