9/15/17 – 9/18/17: When we returned to Buffalo after our trip home in August, we left Kate’s car in Rockford, IL, with her daughter and son-in-law. So we went there next to pick it up to use on the rest of our road trip.

On our way to Rockford, we made our first stop for the night in Williamsport, PA. Williamsport is the birthplace of the Little League and home of the Little League Hall of Fame. Just a little south, in South Williamsport is where the Little League World Series is held every fall. To get there from Bethel, we travelled through the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. With the fall colors just starting to peak, the wooded hills and valleys were spectacular.

The following day we travelled to Howe, IN, and stopped there for the night. The hotel clerk tried hard to persuade us to go to Shipshewana, which is in the heart of Indiana Amish country. The town has many shops and restaurants and hosts the largest flea market in the Midwest. We arrived too late for the flea market, so we opted to just have dinner out in Sturgis, a couple miles north of Howe. We have to give a shout-out to the Fiesta Mexicana restaurant there; we both agreed it was some of the best Mexican food we’ve eaten!

We arrived in Rockford on Friday morning, returned the rental car, and went to Samantha and Brad’s house. They were both working, so our day was spent doing laundry and just relaxing from the long trip from Kingston. On Saturday they had a wedding to attend, so we spent our day doing more laundry, playing with our grand-puppy Jordy, and eating at Portillo’s. We love Portillo’s, and will go there any time we can (we ate there three times that weekend)!

On Sunday, Sam and Brad wanted to go to the “Pec Thing”, an antique and flea market held at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds in Pecatonica (about 20 miles south of Rockford). This was perhaps the largest flea market we’ve ever seen. It is held in over 100,000 square feet of indoor space and on about 40 acres of outdoor space. For those that have seen “American Pickers”, imagine if Mike and Frank invited a couple hundred friends and they all brought their “treasures” to sell. However, we quickly found out that nobody was willing to haggle! We stopped at several vendors whose price was as seen – take it or leave it. So, we mostly left it… Still, we had a good day of perusing antiques and other people’s junk.

We also stayed there Monday, as our last visit with them was short. While they worked, we ate more Portillo’s and played with Jordy. It was a nice visit, but still felt too short. We knew we’d be back there for another short visit in a few weeks, so we left on Tuesday for Rhinelander, WI, to visit with Pat’s Mom.

Pics of Rocford