July 11-13, 2016 - Lakeview Campground, Lee's Summit, MO

Lakeview Campground, Lee's Summit, MO

Monday, July 11, 2016

The arrival date for our summer/fall trip in Bentley is here!  I woke up at 3:30 this morning unable to go back to sleep and finally about 4 I gave up and got out of bed.  I still had several things to do before we left so I figured I may as well get busy.  I started a load of clothes and made coffee.  While the coffee was making I read my morning devotionals and some emails.  I puttered around doing this or that and drinking coffee until Dean got up.  I do not like leaving home without having everything put away.  We do not plan to leave Oswego until between 11:30-12:00 and I have a whole list of things to do this morning and we still have to load the food and clothes in Bentley but most of it is ready.

About 8:30 this morning we received a text message from Matt and Megan.  Our 12th grandchild arrived this morning at 8:40 EST (they are in New York) weighing 8 pounds, 11 ounces.  They named this sweet little girl Sarah Ruth.  Sarah is named after her grandma Ruth Miner (Megan's mom). Everyone is doing well and that is where our travels will lead us by mid-August. We look forward to meeting this sweet little girl - our 5th granddaughter.

Finally, at about 11:45 we pulled out of our driveway

I guess I need a selfie stick.  The problem is - I'd probably never have it when I needed it!

and headed east.  Not too far out of town we ate the sandwiches I made for lunch and before long we were nearing I-49 and heading north to the Kansas City area.  We only had to make one potty stop (a nice perk to leaving later in the morning rather than first thing) and we enjoyed a nice drive.  As we neared the city, traffic began to pick up but it wasn't too bad.  We hit I-470 East but turned off of it after just a few miles to head south to Longview Campground.  The campground is part of the Jackson County Park system.  It is a beautiful area with lots of trees and open areas.  There are two loops, with paved roads encircling the entire campground, bathrooms and laundry in each loop, and a playground area near the entrance.  Each loop has about 50-60 campsites.  The campsites are gravel. Some are fairly level but not all, and ours was one of the unlevel ones.  We just added a few extra blocks in the back and on one side and were soon good to go.  Our loop has electric, and although there are no water hookups, there are several water hydrants throughout the park that can be used to fill your water tanks.  There are dump stations on site.  We have 50 amp electric at our site.  It's nice that is has trees on both sides of us that provides decent shade for most of the day and no one is really near us.  The price was a little more than I prefer to pay at $23 per night with electric only but there are not alot of options in the KC area.

Dean finished getting things finished up outside while I set up on the inside, turned the refrigerator on, put out the slides, etc. and then we hopped in the truck for our first stop on this 3 day adventure in the KC area.  We were invited to dinner at our friends Donnie & Janie's.  Their son Jeff, wife Leigh and their 3 children, daughter Lilly and new twin sons Liam and Landry will also be there.  We have not had the pleasure of meeting the twins yet so we are excited to do that.

Janie gave us great directions and we were so glad we were headed west on I-470 and not east.  The traffic was very congested heading east.  We soon exited and seemed like it was no time and we were arriving at our friends new home in Prarie Village.  No sooner than we parked and started getting out than Donnie pulled in the driveway from work.  Janie and Lilly were watching us from the front door. It was good to see them all and we enjoyed visiting with them.  Soon after Jeff, Leigh and the twins arrived.  I had a great time with the twins.  They were the happiest little guys, and I promptly put Liam to sleep - not sure if I was soothing to him or just plain boring!  Lillie was glad to see mom and her brothers, but she sure loves her Ninny and Papa.

I fully intended to take some pictures....and totally forgot!

Janie made an excellent dinner, pork loin roast with a pineapple sauce/marinade, roasted potatoes, asparagus, salad and hot rolls.  As if that was not enough, she also had cobbler with ice cream.  It was excellent.

We visited for awhile longer, took a tour of their new home and headed to Bentley about 8:30 or so. What a lovely evening we had.  Thanks so much to Donnie & Janie for entertaining and feeding us this evening.  We had a great time.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

I woke up this morning when I heard and felt the wind blowing against Bentley.  I decided to go ahead and get up and make coffee and I listed to the rain and a little hail before it settled into a steady rain for an hour or so.  After coffee we decided we would try breakfast at a restaurant I found on Trip Advsior - Neighbor's Cafe, in downtown Lee's Summit, just a short drive away.  It was still lightly raining as we drove over and then walked a short distance from where we parked to the restaurant. Their downtown area was very nice and quaint.  It seemed to be pretty active with several shops.

As soon as we were seated the waitress took our drink order, and she soon returned with two cinnamon rolls.  I forgot it was mentioned in the TA review that the cinnamon rolls come with each meal. They were very good.  Dean ordered a sausage skillet that was HUGE!  He couldn't eat it all - now, that's a big breakfast!  I tried to be good and ate yogurt, berries, fresh fruit and an english muffin and it too was very good.  It was still sprinkling a bit when we left but I think the rain is pretty much over for the day now.

I recently lost my sunglasses (the kind that fit over your regular glasses), in fact, it's the second pair I've lost this year.  One pair was broken so it wasn't a big loss but losing the last pair really hurt because I hate being out in the sun without sunglasses.  So, we went in search of a Sam's Club.  I like their fit-over glasses.  The one nearest us that we found on Google Maps was no longer open so we just found a nearby grocery store because we wanted some bottled water.  I told Dean we could wait until tomorrow to find the sunglasses.

Our campsite here at Lakeview Campground.

We are expecting company later this morning and I had a few things I wanted to get done at Bentley before they arrive.  On our drive to breakfast we rode around the north and east side of the lake.  It's not real big but is a very nice area.  Once we returned I put things away, helped Dean put out our outdoor rug and chairs and then took care of a few inside chores.  Recently while reading "On the Road to Retirement", one of the RV blogs I follow, the writer John and his wife Sharon had stopped in the Kansas City area.  While there they were contacted by a reader that lives in the area that wanted to meet with them.  The couple are planning to go full-time in a few years and they had several questions.  John and Sharon mentioned the name of the blog of the couple who had contacted them in their post, so I clicked on the link "Our Future in an RV" and found myself reading the entire blog as they discuss their decision to go full-time and their review of RV's to determine what will be the right one for them.  I was intrigued and since I knew we would be passing through KC on this trip I decided to reach out to Mark and his wife to see if they would like to meet with us.  They recently toured some Big Country 5th wheels and they still wanted to look at some Big Horns.  Since Bentley is a Big Horn I thought they might be interested in taking a look at him as well.  They agreed and they will be coming to our campsite around lunchtime today.  We set outside for awhile after that but it was pretty warm, so we retreated to the air conditioning.  I know, we are wimps!

Mark and Karen arrived around noon.  We visited awhile and then had lunch of chicken, potatoes, rolls and then some cinnamon roll cheesecake I brought with us.  We really enjoyed our visit with Mark and Karen.  They are a wonderful couple and we soon discovered we had many things in common, and not just RVing.  Mark has studied the RV life in depth and had lots of good questions for us.  While we still love Bentley there are a few things we have found we might have enjoyed more had we known about them a head of time that they might want to think about before making their final decision.  None are deal breakers for us, however several we could choose to alter over time if we decide they are that important.  Time passed so quickly and in no time it seemed they were leaving - and I could not believe that several hours had passed. We will continue to follow each other's blogs and keep in touch.  I'm sure we will meet up either here in KC or on the road in the future.

Mark & Karen

After it cooled off a bit, Dean and I took a walk around the campground and then had a bite to eat. Dean ate the leftovers from lunch and I just ate a sandwich and a tomato my son gave us before we left. Marc, it was delicious!  I love fresh tomatoes.

Some shots of the campground areas.

It wasn't too long after, we turned in for the evening, and it was not long before I heard it raining again, but this time no storms.


Wednesday, July 13, 2013

After coffee and then breakfast, we got around and headed to Independence, MO.  There is a Sam's Club there and I am still wanting those sunglasses - although I'm not sure I'll need them today since the sky is pretty dark in the northwest. We both received alarms on our phones this morning that Jackson County is under a severe storm watch.

As we neared Sam's we could see the clouds getting even darker and it looked like it might be raining in the distance.  Dean also wanted to get his glasses adjusted while there and we needed a few other things as well.  When we came out the sky was much darker.  We started toward our next destination, the "The Presidential Library of Harry Truman".  Several blocks before we arrived the wind started to pick up and the rain came.  We set in the parking lot for at least 15 minutes or more before it let up enough to get inside.

I really enjoy learning about the history of our country and especially that of our country's Presidents. I thoroughly enjoyed our time here and could not believe that it was 2:45 when we left after arriving at 11:00.  It seemed like the time just flew by, but Dean's stomach was telling him it was time to go long before that - although he never said a word!

Here are several pictures I took as we followed the docent.  He explained each section of the library to us.  It was fascinating.  I enjoyed the tour but could have easily walked through it again just so I could have read all of the other information provided.

Painting by Thomas Hart Benton.  It depicts the 3 trails that originated in this area - the Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail and the California Trail.  

Presidential Portrait of President Harry S. Truman

The famous "The Buck Stops Here" plaque that Truman kept on his desk at the White House.

The back side of the sign above.

This is the ceiling of the exact replica of the Oval Office - showing the Presidential Seal.

A letter from a young black woman asking Truman to continue working to improve the civil rights for blacks in America. 

An exact replica of the Oval Office during Truman's Presidency.

Grave marker of President Harry S. Truman

Grave of Bess Truman, Harry's wife.

President Truman's office in the Truman Library.  This is where he worked after his Presidency until his death.  At that time, they added on to the west part of the building.  The open book on his desk is the Bible.  

Truman was faced with many heavy decisions within the first 4 months of his Presidency.  Up to that time Roosevelt had not involved him in the happenings of the world issues, so he walked into the Presidency unprepared for what he was facing.

Truman being sworn in as the President of the United States.

This flag was made from silk parachutes that belonged to Korean war prisoners and was presented to Truman after the end of the war.  They had to hid this flag in prison.  The docent mentioned how difficult this must have been for them to do considering the size of it.

Enlarge this picture and those below to read the information shown.

This statue of Truman is life size.  He was a fairly short man.

As we were leaving, I asked Dean if he was hungry and he just looked at me like - "Are you crazy?" That's when I realized how late it was.  I suggested we try BBQ since we are in the KC area - and home to some of the best BBQ in the country.  He was all for that but had no desire to drive far to find a place.  We searched our phones for the best BBQ close to us and found "A Little BBQ Joint" just a short distance away.  It was good, but I don't think it was good enough we would add it to a list of favorites.  He chose the mild sausage dinner that came with 2 sides.  He chose potato salad and cheesy corn.  The corn was delicious and the sausage was very good.  I know because he let me taste them!!  I chose the brisket sandwich with fries.  The fries were very good (a battered type) and the brisket was just okay. It was tender but I wasn't that crazy about the rub they used and I also wasn't that fond of their BBQ sauces.  Dean tried the brisket as well and he didn't care for it either.

All of the seats are reupholstered car seats and they were VERY comfortable.  

Notice the bar made with the front of the car shown.

Afterwards, we made a quick stop at Wal-mart to pick up apples, grapes and hot dog buns.  Before we left Oswego, we got some of the famous hot dogs we keep hearing about from the Oswego Locker. We are anxious to give them a try.  So either tonight or tomorrow night they are on the menu!

My thought on this trip is to blog at the end of each stay.  We plan to stop at 14 different locations before arriving in New York.  We will move on tomorrow morning, heading to Omaha, NB.  We plan to spend 3 nights.  John and Sharon of the blog "On the Road to Retirement", that I noted earlier, basically took almost this same route just a few weeks ago and mentioned a campground near Omaha that we hope to stay in.  It is a first come, first serve campground so we won't know until shortly before we arrive if we will get a site or not, but I have a couple of backup places in case this one does not work out.

My dad was born in Omaha and lived there until he was about 5.  I wish I knew where they lived so we could try to find it; but there is no one to ask about it now.  While I do have one great-aunt that is alive and she might have known at one time, I doubt she still remembers the address since it's been over 75 years ago.

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