Illinois Railroad Museum and Volo Musem

Another weekend trip for me and Nick, this time to the Chicago area. We first stopped at a pizza joint called Bruno's Pizzeria in Elkhart, IN, that I had seen online, since it was along the way. It was a carry-out only, but I had some tools for us to eat outside on the picnic table following our one-hour wait, "for the cheese to melt." This is the first ever pizza I would describe as 'obnoxious'. It was good, probably weighed more than five pounds, and Nick finished nearly all of it over two days after shoehorning it into our hotel fridge 'college style'.

First day was the Illinois Railroad Museum, which has nine buildings packed full of old engines, cars and equipment. We lasted about three hours, and left with our usual t-shirt and some good photos.(I tired out earlier and sat watching some woman wrangle her kid outside the diner while Nick covered the last hour of engines.) Impressive setup, and as Nick says, 'love the smell of oil'.  We had lunch at what we expected to be a fancy steakhouse overlooking a golf course, but turned out to be another elderly cafeteria attached to a Del Webb community. Admittedly, food wasn't bad, and it put Nick into a three-hour nap which ended our day.

Second day we headed north of town to the Volo Museum, an eclectic combination of classic cars, historical exhibits like jukeboxes and RVs, tractors, and some family-focused stuff.  Again we toured about three hours and had seen most of it. The Titanic exhibit was small and borderline silly, unless you consider sticking your hand in cold water exciting. The vehicles were all for sale which was a unique twist, but all over-priced and more fun to see than shop (too many families bouncing strollers off the cars.)  I fell in love with a 1961 Buick Electra 225, Nick picked the 1969 Shelby GT500. See, enjoy, and then go home without buying, that's our thing.

Stopped at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, IN on the way home, one of our favorites, the Amish buffet. Even before I ate myself sick Nick had mumbled earlier that I could 'cosplay as a walrus', so it's clear I need to get serious about reduced caloric intake.  Overall my annual checkup was good this time around, although the AI transcribed the voicemail from my doctor as, "...come in for bloodwork before your disappointment", so even AI knows I'm out of shape.

In the background Nick is winding down his summer class at MCCC, with two weeks remaining, he's holding onto a 'B' (he'd have an 'A' if he could turn his assignments in on time). And Brandi made us an impressive shish-kabob spread for Father's Day, so we ended the weekend as it started... over-eating.  

Cedar Point 2026

Fayling brought the boys into town for a week, and we filled a weekend. Todd and Nicole's oldest son Aiden graduated from high school, along with his nephew Ben, so we celebrated the graduation on Saturday afternoon with BBQ, then headed to the bowling alley for video games and food. It's fascinating how the quick-witted exchanges and general potty humor never seems to fade, we can still keep up with each other quite well thirty years later (and catch up on all the inter-connected gossip from the people in our youth who have fled the country for drug trafficking!) 

Sunday we went to Cedar Point as a posse, with three of Todd's four: Ben, Nick, Avery, and then Seth and Thatcher, and of course our Nick. Todd's kids love the coasters, so I wandered off with them to see how the old rides have fared: Steel Vengeance (formerly Meanstreak) has been retooled and is much smoother, Gemini is still a favorite (I yelled alone, the new generation just sit and ride), the rest of the boys did come along on the Mine Ride, and we took the Sky Ride across the park. I don't know how these kids eat fried cheese all day and still function. What a great bunch of kids, all of them, for conversation (Nick and Aiden's idea of a good time is debating tolerances in soldering techniques, meanwhile I'm telling crude jokes with his dad) and just easy with which to spend a day.  Avery owes me a bracelet from her side business, in exchange for the five 'Obama bucks'. It was a little like herding cats, but we got everyone there and back, finally to Bubba's late for a snack before bedtime.

In between we managed to take the Corvette out as Seth is gaining interest in 'old cars' and it now qualifies as old. He shot a few photos of the cars, and Thatcher took photos of almost everything we saw all weekend. But ask him what draws him, why he shoots the images he does, and there's intent behind every shot. 

East Broad Top Railroad

Nick and I took a weekend trip to PA, turned around in barely over 24 hours. We drove out to see the East Broad Top Railroad in Rockhill Furnace PA, which is a small rail museum in the center of the state. He was able to ride along in the engine, and I was in an open car in the back, following a technical tour of the shop where they repair and fabricate parts for many of the US railroad museums and operations. It was a good tour, and Nick did some networking. in the photos of Nick aboard the engine, the fact it was named Nick is a coincidence. The second photo here is inside the shop where Nick is looking on to one of the six steam engines being refurbished. (Don't comment on his pants!)

We ate a small local place in the middle of nowhere, the Path Family Restaurant in Shade Gap, PA, where the waitress was likely on the last job of her career (and still younger than the patrons).  The old-people food was good, but needed salt just to have any taste.  We then hustled back home after one overnight stay.

Spring 2026

There's an area in downtown Ft. Wayne called The Landing, with a dozen or so restaurants, a few blocks from the ballpark. Nick and I made a couple trips down there this spring, trying out Bru Burger and Mercado for some street tacos. So far, so good. We've got a routine parking garage that has an attendant, an ice cream place mid-way along our walk, and did a Friday evening at Parkview Field to watch the Tincaps play the Lansing Lugnuts. Nice park, cold hot dogs.

Nick was solid on his mid-terms, and then wrapped up the school year while I was in Cypress, CA on a GM Foundation clinic, so Brandi brought him home. Unsure if his roommate from this year, Owen, will return to IT next year, and there's still two possible dorms where Nick could land.  Nick's got a couple other guys that he could consider if needed. He just started a summer online course at Monroe Count Community College to makeup a Calculus class in preparation for his sophomore curriculum. Booking the class was a mystery, and Stacy at the college wasn't much help either, but Nick is covering the class times and passing the assignments, so we'll get it behind us.

Otherwise it was a couple months of the little things:
Brandi baked us a cake, a trial run from Grandma Little's inherited cake pans.
We went on a date night before Easter to dinner, Cabela's and visit to the Russel Stover store for three lbs of chocolate. There was a  40 lb chocolate rabbit for sale, but we resisted. And the trip to the resale store was a bust when the crazies came in, but Brandi made up for it later in the month with a nice haul from the Goodwill, finding some new jeans and sweatshirts.
More frequent heavy storms coming thru this spring, and I was able to get four cars in the garage during a hail storm. That was a small victory.
I had lunch with Duncan in Birch Run, a nice dive bar and a chance to drive his new BMW X5, which I was careful not to hit any cows while tearing across the countryside.
Brandi is in Atlanta here at the end of May for Thatcher's HS graduation. His graduating class is nearly the size of Nick's college.
And except for the swimming pool, we're caught up on the spring task list: sod is moved, mower is tuned, trees trimmed (although removing the anchoring stakes requires 2.5 hammers, proves my son, the engineer), and on and on.

Really, it was a tough run the past few months, with relatives in the hospital and Gabe's funeral. I was able to spend quality time with Ethan and see everyone for a few days, but it weighs heavy on the mind.

Pictures posted so far this year.

Jason
 

Winter 2026

Brandi took a short trip to see family in Atlanta, and I visited Nick for a Lenten Friday mid-month.  We tried Big Eye Fish in Old Ft. Wayne, and the Hop River Brewing Company next door.  It was a slow time for the Olympics so we only had Curling to watch. We did get some free pizza from the table next to us, required to check out the local pizza options.

Nick's spring break at home was the most significant event of the late winter, although following about a month of absolute frigid weather and heavy snow, we went to 70 degrees instantly. Nature is such a mess. And so is our yard, which has hundreds of flags preparing for the laying of more unnecessary underground fiber-optic cable.  Our yard looks like the UN. Along with our roof which is losing shingles from the high winds of the past week.  

Nick came home for a week, and generally hit all of his food stops and took naps.  He joined me for a road trip to the NTEA Work Truck Week show, for work, which I attend annually with a couple guys from my team. I was nervous his credential wouldn't clear, so of course he got in fine and my media credentials got flagged, despite it being maybe my tenth year in attendance?!  Nick got to meet Eric and Pete, but he wore out after a couple hours on the floor.  He's not ready yet for the 8-10 hour day on one's feet working the clients. We stayed at my usual hotel, he experienced Amore for the first time (agrees it's the best Italian food he's ever had), saw the Disney movie Hoppers (we loved Diane the shark!) to pass some time (which I will do when I travel), and then enjoyed the trucks, powertrains. upfits, etc. at the Indiana Convention Center for a day.  Well, half-a-day for Nick, who took a nap in the media lounge from lunchtime onward, with a hot pretzel mixed in.  We hit Chicagos Pizza of Indy on the way home, which is not what it says it is, but it fed us.

When meeting the guys, he impressed them with stories of doing brake jobs on steam engines, which warms the heart of any engineer. He goes into details of 67" iron wheels, 50 lb steel pads, and the three men it takes to make it happen.  Gotta admit, the work he's doing is impressive (well, volunteer, not work, he hasn't gotten to the paid work part, yet!)

And the rest was the little things... Lenten fish runs, Brandi and I visited Nick for an afternoon and watched the IT Basketball team play in their home gym v Madonna University, and Brandi baked me a cake (our first official cake from Grandma Little's cake pans) and then a pie for my birthday.