Friday, March 20, 2020 - Dean Works on the Car; Getting Bentley in Order; A Trip Down Memory Lane; Quiet Evening at Home.

Friday, March 20, 2020 - Dean Works on the Car; Getting Bentley in Order; A Trip Down Memory Lane; Quiet Evening at Home.

Today was a special day - no rain, no RV travel and we are in a park where we know we can stay as long as we want.  With all of the park closings, I have great sympathy for many RVer's looking for somewhere to stay in place for awhile, or those who are trying to get back home.   

After breakfast Dean headed to the garage.  My car would not start yesterday.  After finally getting it started, he left a slow trickle battery on it overnight.  He wants to get it out and drive it today.  With all of the rain and mud, he didn't want to try getting it out of the garage yesterday, but he will drive it home at noon.

While he was gone, I did one last load of laundry, swept the floors, and stored things I use to pad or pack things during our moves.  It felt good to have everything in its place.  

When Dean returned with the car, we had a light lunch, before we took off for our drive.  We left the park heading south to Chetopa (KS).  Of course we had to drive by the river.  (I may have told this story before, but for those of you who have not heard this....  When we were dating, I suggested to Dean that we drive to Chetopa one day.  As we entered town, I asked him to drive by the river.  Of course he did everything I asked him to do back then, so he went straight to the river, and then just drove right on by.  Well, that's not how we go to the river.  We drive by, stop and look at how high the water is and look to see if anyone's fishing, etc.  I said wait a minute, you drove by so fast I couldn't even see which way the water was running.  He's never forgot that!)  So today we slowly drove by, giving me plenty of time to see how high the water was, what the fishermen were doing, etc.  It was pretty exciting as the river was quite high from the recent rains, running fast, and even though the water is a little higher than normal for good spoonbill snagging, it appeared a number of fisherman were giving it a try.  The spoonbill season just started this past weekend. Fishermen and onlookers had to park along the highway across the bridge, then walk through the flooded park to get to an area where they could fish from the bank.  

Neosho River at Chetopa, KS

Closeup of the area where they are fishing

If you enlarge this picture, you can see the trucks along the highway just across the bridge.

As an aside, I need to tell you that as a child I spent quite a bit of time with my dad's parents, Merle and Lucille Blackledge, or Nana and Papa to my sisters and I.  My Papa loved to fish and spent a lot of time at the river.  Every night they would take a drive around town, sometimes out in the country, or even a nearby town.  I don't think there was a time I was with them, that we did not drive by the river, park the car, and watch people fishing, or just to see how high the water had risen after a good rain, etc.  It was just something that brings back many good memories to me.  Fortunately, Dean doesn't mind letting me relive my childhood memories!

From Chetopa, we drove east on Hwy 166 toward Baxter Springs, then turned at what we have referred to as Conard's Corner for as long as I remember.  Dale Conard owned aand operated a pecan company here, and my mom worked there for a short while when I was in grade school.  We headed north at the corner (SW 90th St.) to take another drive down memory lane.  Many memories along this road as well.  My mom's parents, Lawrence and Maggie Stapleton lived on this road and we drove it many, many times.  Three of my mom's siblings and our cousins lived nearby this area at different times over the years.  As we drove along the road I reminisced about the time we were driving to my grandparents for a Sunday meal, and we were running late.  On the way, and almost to the point where they were replacing the old crooked bridge, my mom said, "Oh Donnie (my dad), I forgot the bridge is out."  Needless to say it was a few miles out of the way once we backed up, to go around the section in order to reach Grandma and Grandpa's house.  I'm just glad she said it before it was too late!  Lol!  I think I even had dreams about that for awhile.

As we drove by my grandparents old homeplace I took this picture. 

Grandma & Grandpa Stapleton's Farm

So many memories here.  Their house burned several years ago after they were gone.  Grandpa's shop (the block building on the right) looks as if it has held up pretty well over the years except for the door and a few of the windows, but the structure itself doesn't look too bad.  I remember when they built the hay barn, and playing around the grain bins.  The beautiful green field next to it was one of the fields Grandpa planted every year.  I can remember walking across that field with my cousin Barbara, digging our toes into the dirt to cool our feet on a hot sunny day. They had several apple trees out by the barn.  Grandma would make apple pies, apple cake, apple dumplings, apple butter, etc.  I'm hungry just thinking about the wonderful food she used to make; and her rolls....well, that's a whole different story.

We continued along the road until we reached Hallowell, where we headed west, back to Oswego.  About a mile or out of town, we neared the Neosho River bridge on US 160.  We could not believe how much the water had risen since yesterday.  It's starting to run out into the field on the east.

As we approached the river 

Looking down river as we cross the bridge - and looking back to where the water is flowing into the adjoining land.

As we came up the hill we turned left to stop at our garage.  The truck was there and Dean had a few things he wanted to do before he headed back to Bentley.  I decided to take a slow drive to Riverside Park, where I snapped this picture.  

Spring has sprung in the park!

It was nice to be back in our hometown.  As I pulled up to Bentley in the car, I had this sudden thought, I do not have my key to get in.  It never occurred to me to bring my purse along on our drive, so I called Dean.  Fortunately, he was about ready to head back anyway. 

Once I was able to get inside, I worked on the blog until it was time for dinner, then warmed up some of the leftover stew.  

I settled in to work on the blog, while Dean watched TV.  Then he turned to a Hallmark Movie, thinking I'd like it he said - and I did.  It's been difficult to get this finished so I can post it tonight.  I'm a sucker for Hallmark movies!

The temperatures are supposed to drop below freezing tonight (28).  Dean just left to go out to take the water hose up overnight.  According to our weather report, we should not have anymore freezing weather for the rest of this month and into the first few days of April.  After such a nice day it's hard to believe it will be so cold tomorrow.  Apparently more rain is on it's way - my weather app indicates it will start again on Sun-Tues. 

Goodnight to all!  I hope your day is wonderful!

I'm thankful for all of the wonderful memories that sprung up on our drive today, and for my  husband, who enjoys those drives through the country as much as I do.