Survivor – Sheridan, IL Part 3

I’m continuing this saga from Part 2 (which can be found here.)

I just started laughing. After everything else we had been through to get this weekend get-away, we now had no clothes other than what we wore and the three shirts (1 for Gene and 2 for me) hanging in the car.  Luckily my toiletry bag is large and has its own handle, so that was in the trunk with the cooler.  But, the good news?  We had a full cooler of wine, cheese, and a bag of fresh fruit.  We’d make it.

We took our meager belongings to our room, which is on the golf course at the Holiday Inn-Fox River, and pulled the curtains open to see – a cement retaining wall.  Then, to our further dismay, we could hear the people in the room next to us talking. Every word. As if they were in the room with us.  Yes, it was going to be “one of those weekends”. 

We had asked at the front desk where the restaurants were located on the property only to be told there were none.  But in the water park there was a window where you could either order pizza or a Subway Sandwich.  Ahhhh – no.

We looked in the brochure on the desk and it mentioned an Italian Restaurant called Francesca’s.  At this time its 7:00 p.m., we’re tired, hungry and irritated. We shuffled ourselves off the Francesca’s to eat.  It’s next to a gas station just off the property and you need to be looking for it, due to its size. Entering the tiny establishment, you can see it’s compact, old but the smell is tantalizing and my stomach was growling. We squeezed ourselves into one of the tiny tables and waiting for our dinner.

There were some younger folks sitting at a table behind us and I turned and asked them if there was a Walmart close by.  We were relieved to hear there was one in Ottawa, which was only 1 miles away.  Our food came, (we each had Italian Beef sandwiches which were very good), we decided to go to Ottawa and purchase the smaller things we’d need, (make up, a brush and comb, some hairspray, a pair of leggings or jeans, etc.). Luckily I had most everything else in my toiletry bag.  I don’t say this often, but thank goodness there is a Walmart in most every town.

$115 later, we were on our way back to the hotel.  We found a movie to watch and we fell asleep exhausted.  Tomorrow was a new day.

The toilet ran all night, every time someone in the hotel opened the front door, every door in the place rattled so it constantly sounded like someone was trying to break into our room.  A long night and to top it off, when we got up, all I wanted was a cup of coffee – our coffee maker didn’t work.  My sense of humor and adventure is quickly depleting to something no one wants to spend the weekend with.  I can do tired, but no coffee?  No, not happening.

We showered and dressed and went to the Check-In building and told them what was going on.  We were given a new room on a different floor with a view of the golf course and a coffee maker.  It took us all of 10 minutes to move (no suitcase – 😝) then we decided to head out and see what there was to do in Sheridan, Il.

Short trip.  So, off we went in to Chicago.  Gene was born in Chicago (Berwyn actually) and his favorite restaurant as a boy was Mr. Novi’s.  He and his sister talk about Mr. Novi’s quite a bit and his mom’s birthday was coming up, so we thought we’d go have a great Italian Beef sandwich, buy some to bring home and treat Shirley (Gene’s mom) to an Italian Beef dinner for her birthday.  Easy trip, it rained but traffic was fairly light, our tummies were full, our Italian Beef in our cooler and the weekend was looking up.

We came back to the grounds at the hotel to walk around and see what there was to see and take a nap.  The grounds have so much potential.  There are horse stables, an indoor water park, a golf course, etc.  But, most is in need of repair or “sprucing up” but, apparently, that is all in the works.

Sunday came and it was time for our “presentation” and we were prepared to tell them about our experience then we were out of there.  This was going to be good.

Stay tuned for Part 4.

3 thoughts on “Survivor – Sheridan, IL Part 3”

  1. Can’t wait to hear the rest. I never heard of Mr. Novi gonna have to see if there is one near me and check it out.

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