It's an Illinois Thing

Since moving to Southern Illinois, we've been a different kind of busy. Not busy like we were on the island, where Dave was at school most of the day, studying most of the night, and I was running around the island trying to find decent food, stay safe, and avoid running over a donkey in the road...or a monkey...or a goat for that matter.

Now, busy-ness is Dave prepping for his big-ole' board exam in the fall while we (mostly the kids and I...and the rare occasion Dave included when we successfully steal him away from his love affair with medical books) explore this new habitat we've found ourselves in...another place that we're living that we only ever heard of once we've moved here...Southern Illinois.

Southern Illinois is a strange place...surprisingly much like the island (in a "twilight-zone" kind of way at times), yet with added bonuses like Walmart less than a mile away, and the most awesome local produce from the neighboring farming communities. It is an interesting place with lots of varying/opinionated/vocalized political views, small-town ideals and traditions, and plenty of unique sights waiting to be visited. I guess we are figuring out that our gypsy-medical school existence equates to being stuck in a vortex of sorts while we bounce from place to place on our journey. We are quickly realizing that just because we are back in the U.S., our lives will still not be any kind of "normal" until we are settled for good in _ _ years. Maybe.

On this occasion, we headed out to Cobden (about 30 minutes from us) to see a Bison round-up. Another experience I've never heard of in a town I didn't know existed. We joined the other 20 people that attended to watch the cattlemen round up hundreds of Bison all morning to administer vaccinations. It was a strange, yet interesting experience. Not sure if it's "bucket-list worthy," but it was a nice...free way to get out of the house and spend some time together.