FROM BELVIDERE, ILLINOIS TO BEAVER DAM, WISCONSIN

I was up at 5am this morning to a temperature of 50 degrees in the 5th wheel. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what the outside temperature was, however, according to weather bug it was 37.4 degrees at the airport here at 8am.Thank goodness for the down comforter. What are we thinking of!! What the heck are we doing heading north?! We should be beating feet and following the "snow birds" heading south.
We arrived at Jim and Sharon Derivan's home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin yesterday around 1pm. We had taken a little side trip to Belvidere, Illinois in the morning to visit the town where the Derivan clan had lived for approximately 8 years when Robert was a young boy. We drove past their old house and the neighborhood where the Derivan boys spent their young years terrorizing the neighborhood and the neighbors.Some of the stories that Robert has told me make me wonder how they managed to live to their present ripe old ages. Like - sneaking out from school (parochial, no less) at lunch time to smoke cigarettes in a grain silo nearby. or shooting arrows into the air and having them stick in the roof of a house near by - just because the lady who lived there kept calling the "cops" on them. It seems the local police made practically daily visits to their house because of some "mischief"
or trouble they got into. Who would have thought these good catholic altar boys could be such devils. It was, however, not just the boys who had run ins with the police. According to Robert, Shari and Nancy, when they were maybe 3&4, were found one day wheeling their baby carriages down the street "buck naked" on their way to town. I'd better quit with the stories before I get myself in trouble! He can tell you some whoppers when you see him. After a fashion, with a lot of help from Jim, Kim (his sister) and a neighbor, we managed to get the 5th wheel parked and leveled along the side of Jim's driveway. Robert has quite a few relatives in this area and we hope to be able to visit a few before we head south to our "winter" home. We met two of Jim and Sharon's children - Jared and Jenna. Jenna is 10 (going to be 11 on Wednesday) and was fascinated with our 5th wheel. The afternoon was sunny and warm and we spent the afternoon visiting and catching up with Jim, Sharon, Kim and her husband, Donn Luell. Robert had not seen his cousins in 34 years so there was a lot of catching up. Jim barbecued burgers and chicken on the grill and we all headed inside for dinner. It was starting to get a little chilly out on the deck by now. We continued visiting and reminiscing through dinner and into the evening. These guys have so many stories. We headed back over to the 5th wheel around 8:30pm. Everyone is off to work and school today, so we plan on visiting his cousin, Linda. We may possibly drive over to Fox Lake where the Derivan's lived when Robert was born until he was around 6 and his dad, who worked for Green Giant, was transferred to Belvidere, Illinois. Of course, we must be back here for the Packer's game this evening - dressed appropriately,however, Sharon said no "cheese heads" can be worn in her house.