Days 4 & 5: Pekin, IL

Enjoying the breezy back deck at Gary and Sara’s house. (Note the new pedicure, featuring OPI’s “Go With the Lava Flow” nail color)

Two very nice days at Gary and Sara’s house. Lots of time to sit on the porch in the breeze and talk and laugh. Aunt Sara had lots of snacks and cold ice tea ready for us, and we whiled away the hours relaxing and rejuvenating after a long drive from Rockford.

The next day, Sally and Cullen came over and we told stories for hours. So good to catch up with family!

John & Gary, April 2021

Cullen Baker in the train warehousing/storage room. The tunnel to the next room is behind the water heater (near Cullen’s left elbow).

Gary and Cullen showed me their excellent setup downstairs — the entire basement level is configured with multiple rooms containing little towns and “miles” of tracks for the trains of various sizes (apparently they prefer HO and N scale trains, for those of you who have knowledge of such things). There are also small holes cut into the walls which the trains use as tunnels to get from one room to the next, so the entire thing is one long train track. There is also a room full of Lego constructions including the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean, the Ghostbusters crew, the Hoth ice cave with Luke Skywalker hanging upside down, and a huge, 20-lb. Death Star on a rotating stand. Crazy cool!

Also took a short drive over to see cousin Dr. Nathan Baker and family — they live in Peoria, which is only about 20 minutes away from Pekin — but the kids were at school and Nathan was away visiting friends on his day off from the hospital. Unfortunately Isidra was on a Zoom class, but she said hi and promised to give Nathan kisses and best wishes.

Sally and Cullen also have a new place in Peoria, and we were able to go by and get the official tour. Also a lovely house! Sally sent us on our way with two bottles of Italian wine (she is a wonderful cousin, did I mention that?), one for Barb and Roger and one for mom and me.

Tomorrow morning up early and heading to the lakes of northwest Iowa…

Sleep well, everybody!