A Year of Gratitude - Illinois

Monday greetings.

Did you all have a enjoyable weekend?

Yesterday I watched my 9 1/2 year old grandson pitch his little league travel team

baseball game!
Yes, he did awesome.
 They did win that game and the next.
Unfortunately they suffered a loss in the final of three games to come in second.

Wildflowers and Country Roads

will have new posts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

starting today.
Friday's post will be "quiet inspiration",
few words, one awesome photograph from my favorites.

Now on to Illinois!

Happy hubby in Rochelle, Illinois
Rochelle Railroad Park

Oct 2010
Part of our two month road trip, some new and some "back to" favorite places.
Can you see how much hubby loves photographing trains?
He loves "N" gauge (really tiny gauge) model trains, he loves tourist trains rides,
he loves train depots, steam engines......
golly he just plain loves trains.

Oct 2005 found us in Rochelle as a "side trip" surprise for hubby.
It was beyond cold!
I had no idea when I researched Rochelle, this park would delight hubby so very much.
The park is built on the eastern quadrant of the diamond crossing between UP (Union Pacific RR)
and BNSF Railway mainlines between Chicago and points West.
The park was made for railfans to have a safe vantage point to view and photograph and yes,
chat about trains.  It is open 24/7 and between 18 and 50 trains pass through in a 24 hour period.

So in 2005 we pulled into the parking lot and heard the scanner announce a train
grabbed our camera and due to the cold temperatures and the wind chill, hubby
could not get his camera focused before the above train roaded past!
He was beyond bummed at himself.
We waited in the car for almost an hour but no trains approached the crossing.
I was still working and as usual packed a lot of states into a small block of time
and had to leave Rochelle and Illinois for Indiana.
I felt so bad as we heard the whistle of a train about 4 blocks from the park,
tried to get back again, but.....missed that train totally!

So in 2010 when I retired, Rochelle Park in Illinois was a BIG part of my planning.
We spent the night in Rochelle so hubby had plenty of time to enjoy
this wonderful park.



This is the side of the viewing platform closest to the diamond crossing behind hubby.

I so love planning special "side trips" for this man.

Selfless almost to a fault, the only times he  HAS to FREE to do his thing, is two weekends a

year, and this pertains to his love of Amateur Radio.

So although it is harder and harder to find "N" gauge model train displays, I have always tried

to find either or both trains and amateur radio side trips.

I so love this guy........but I think if you have read my blog for long, you sort of already knew this, hehe

So much so.......

that in 2010 after

 Rochelle,  we headed to Des Moines, Iowa

for those covered bridges of Madison County.

After Iowa, we headed East again to make our connection in the middle

of Illinois to head South toward home.

but........

I am looking at the map, thinking.......smiling a lot

caused it dawned on me I was retired at that point, finally and so.........

I asked hubby if he wanted to go back North, back to Rochelle one more time!

(we were only about 2 hours South of Rochelle at the point)

So we turned North instead of South......

Back to Rochelle again!

Yes, I love trains myself.

Hubby and I both had the Lionel models when we were children.

I love the tourist trains.

I love finding what resonates with me in anything I do.

Such as these wildflowers near the tracks.

Waiting for the next train to come along!

Did I mention that there is a scanner with loud speaker in the park with radio traffic

on both railroads?

My cochlear implant does not always do well with public address systems

and so while it was loud, it was not clear. I  just followed everyone else to side

they were moving to! hehe.

Wednesday we will be at another "side trip" location in Illinois which also turned out to

spectacular.

(I admit I am very good at planning our trips, hehe)

This was not about trains, but was historical and beautiful.

You won't want to miss this on Wednesday.

From my heart to yours, may your day be blessed.

Lynn