Friday, July 10, 2020 - Busy morning; Another Afternoon Drive; Dean Grilled Tonight
I guess it's really relaxing at the lake as I seem to be waking later every morning. It was after 5:30 before I could force myself out of bed this morning. After our morning coffee, then our breakfast shakes I spent some time straightening things up in the RV. When we get to another stop I'm definitely going to have to spend a day or two doing laundry. We do not have a sewer hookup here. We've had to be careful with water usage, but typically we make it a week before we need to empty the tanks, so we should be good until out next stop at Melvern Lake, near Melvern, KS.
I talked to our insurance agent this morning about the letter we received from Nationwide that advised they were opening an investigation after having Safelite repair chips in the truck and car windshields. They included a two page document referencing Texas Code. She spoke to someone with Nationwide and they asked if she could get a copy of what we recevied, so I took pictures of them, then sent them to her in an email. She'll forward them to Nationwide on Monday, then get back to me. In the meantime Dean spoke to one of the other companies that had changed the state tax payment from KS to TX - and finally found someone who understood what needed to be done and changed the withholdings back to KS. After talking to both of them I called Escapees back and cancelled the call we were supposed to have at 2 this afternoon. If we do not get it straightened out I'll get back with them.
We didn't have anything planned for this afternoon, so we decided to take another ride to a couple of other areas on the lake we had not visited for several years.
Dean wanted to see if a restaurant we used to frequent by both boat and car over the years was still open - Ozzie's. The last we knew it was for sale but at that time it was still open. We had a hard time finding it - but when we found the road leading to it, there were no trespassing signs posted. It is no longer in operation. A disappointment, but so many cafes/restaurants we frequented over the years have closed. We often would stop at Ozzie's after a day on the lake, setting outside for our meal before heading back to our lake home.
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| Looney Tunes Ranch - notice the characters at the top either side of the Ranch name. |
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| A painted cow. |
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| A giraffe. |
Next we drove the road to Shangri-La. As you make one of the last turns you first see many beautiful homes along a high bluff above Grand Lake. Soon you reach Shangri-la's gorgeous golf courses. Surprisingly several were playing in the afternoon heat. I would rather have been on a boat or swimming. Lol! I was too busy taking it all in and forgot to take any pictures. On the way back we rode through Tera Miranda, another area we visited frequently. They have a great restaurant there. It too had changed and for the good. Next door was the Monkey Island RV Park. Our Escapees camping club has stayed here a couple of times. They finally got their pool built. It seemed to be very busy.
From there we traveled east toward 59 Highway. Years ago there were a couple of really nice small communities on the south side of the lake, east of Highway 59. How time changes places. It was sad to see how many of the properties have declined in these areas. At one time we were interested in purchasing a lot the first place we stopped at, and even met with the owner. I'm so glad we didn't move forward on it, as that area has changed so much - not for the good. From there we moved on down the road to another area that also used to be very nice. We couldn't even recognize much of it from the last time we were there....and again not in a good way. It's a shame because these were really nice areas at one time. I didn't even bother with pictures.
However, we still enjoyed the ride and just being out and about.
Tonight Dean grilled boneless pork chops and a chicken thigh and leg. I baked both a russet potato and a sweet potato. Pork Chops and sweet potato for me, and Chicken with russet for him. Earlier in the day I made brownies. We each had two small ones after our meal.
After taking these pictures, we stopped to talk to another Kansas couple parked at the far end of the park from us. We enjoyed a nice visit with Harvey and Carol from Western Kansas, before returning to Bentley for the evening.
It was a pretty quiet day overall.
Saturday, July 11, 2020 - Granddaughter Sarah turns 4; Chicken Salad Lunch; Afternoon Visitors; Henri's; Wild Storm Night
It was 6:30 before I woke up this morning and it was 10 minutes later before I got up. Dean was even up and I could hear the coffee was almost done perking!!! I made my way downstairs just as he was pouring it. Perfect timing!!
I like to play my free cell game while I drink my coffee, so I enjoyed doing that this morning. We are supposed to have a call with our granddaughter Sarah to watch her open the birthday gifts we sent to her. Sarah is Matt's daughter in New York. She turned 4 today and was in charge at her house today. It was so cute - she told her 6 year old brother what he had to do and he did it because SHE was in charge today, and he did. We bought her a little case of real little girl makeup and a ballerina dress. She was having a good time applying it to herself and her older brother. Then she modeled her ballerina dress. She was so darn cute.
I wish I would have thought to take a picture when she was doing the makeup too. I ordered both items from Amazon and had them sent directly to their house. You always wonder if they will be as nice as they look. Megan was impressed with the makeup kit. It came with brushes, and various types of face and eye makeup, and lipsticks. It came in a nice little case that zips up for carrying. You can see for yourself that the dress fit her perfectly. She was twirling around - so cute!
Daughter Misti called near the end of our phone call. She has taken a full-time job as a Physical Therapy Assistant in Ponca City, OK and will be moving there by the end of the month. We talked about a variety of things - moving her, when, what she was getting rid of that I might be interested in, what to do with some of the things she wants to keep but didn't have room for, etc. We will be back in Oswego on the 17th and we will be helping her prepare for and make the move. I am so excited for her, but I'm also sad she will not be in Oswego. However, Have Trailer will Travel, and we can visit if we want by just hooking on to Bentley and heading southwest.
After we got off the phone, I made chicken salad for our lunch, then we drove to the nearby Dollar General to buy a bag of potato chips for Dean. He had a sandwich with the chicken salad. I made a bed of lettuce, topped it with half of a sliced avocado, then a big scoop of chicken salad on top. Yummy!!!
At 1:30 our friends Bob and Patty Nance stopped by to visit with us. We had set up chairs outside but it was too hot and humid to be outside, so after elbow bumps versus hugs, we went inside to the air conditioning. We had such a nice visit with them for the next 2.5-3 hours.
By 5:00 or so we were getting hungry. I had noticed a little place as we entered Grove the other day called Henri's. When I searched Google I discovered it was a burger place with home cut fries, so we decided to try it out. Dean chose a cheeseburger with a fried egg on it and I chose a bacon cheeseburger and we each had an order of the fries. We picked it up at the window, then we drove to the large boat parking area on Carey bay not too far away, where we found a little shaded area in the back corner of the parking lot. With the windows down it was quite comfortable to eat our meal. The burgers were very good, and the fries were okay - they did not quite compare to those at MJ's in Altamont, KS.
After finishing our meal, we drove down by the homes along Carey Bay before returning to Bernice SP. I remembered it was supposed to rain but wasn't sure when. I opened the Weather Channel on my phone to see what the forecast was to find they were calling for serious storms back in the Oswego area. The forecast said up to 70mph winds and hail that could be as big as golf or baseball size. Around 6:30 I sent my sister a text asking how the weather was, she didn't answer, so I sent a text to my daughter - no answer, then I sent one to my son - again no answer. I was beginning to get a little worried. I waited awhile and called my sister Jody. She told me they had been hit hard with the storm...she said it's really bad. Oh no. Well, of course we were concerned with the garage and the trees there. Cindy finally called me later when she noticed I had called. Their electricity was off and the internet was down. Later my son called. They were going to Oswego to eat at the Mexican restaurant but it was closed since the electric was out. They drove around town and sent me some pictures. I tried to call Misti again after I hung up with Marc, and she finally answered. Both she and Haleigh were okay. She wasn't in town when the storm came through, so was surprised to see what had happened while she was gone.
Dean and I decided we would drive to Oswego to look at the garage to see if there was any damage. However, by the time we reached the south edge of Vinita they were calling for another storm with similar weather, so we decided to turn around and go back. We had to go out of the way a bit to skirt it. The lightening was really something. I wish I could have caught a picture of it. While Marc was in Oswego, he drove by our property, then let us know it looked okay. The storm came in from the northwest and while it probably had the most extensive damage, there was damage through most of the town. As far as we know, no one was injured. We are thankful for that.
These clouds caused us to turn around and return to Bentley. We'll drive to Oswego tomorrow morning.
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| This was taken as we made our way back to Bentley. |
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| Then the rain came! |
We returned to the park. It was a long day and the ending was a little stressful after hearing about our community and what it had been through. It was 16 years ago on July 4 that a microburst came through Oswego. There wasn't a block in town that did not have damage, with damage to houses, garages, vehicles and/or trees. Many of the streets were damaged due to large trees falling on them. That was a long several months trying to get things cleaned up and trees removed. I don't remember the volume of trees but the tree damage was piled up on a good part of a 5 acre plot the city owned on the west side of town.
Sunday, July 12, 2020 - Drive to Oswego; Helping Sister Cindy & BIL Elmer; Working on the Blog; Another RV Meetup;
We were up around 5:30 this morning - having our coffe, then our shakes, before getting around to drive to Oswego. We wanted to check out the garage - specifically getting up close to check the siding and behind the garage to be sure no windows were broken, to be sure there was no hail damage.
On our way through Chetopa I took a picture of my Papa Blackledge's old garage. It still has B&D Motors on the window. I loved going to the garage and seeing him. He had one of those old pop coolers - 10 cents a bottle. Many times Papa's good friend Harry Utes and his brother Eldon (my great uncle) would be in there visiting with him. Harry would give us each a dime to buy pop in the cooler.
However, when we arrived we immediately noticed there were not even any leaves, whole or partial, laying on the ground like almost everywhere else in town. We realized as we parked and walked around the garage we were extremely fortunate as it seems the hail had stopped before reaching. What a blessing! We pulled the car out and drove it around town to be sure the battery stays charged up, since we'll be gone for another week.
We took a drive through town. Some places literally looked like a war zone and we noticed several houses had damage. The Catholic Church Steeple was broken and laying on the portico of the church, Roofs were torn off of the Old VFW Building, the Old Hospital and a few other buildings. Not wanting to get in the way we headed to Cindy and Elmer's. Cindy had been out helping Elmer but she was overheated and had gone inside to cool down. Dean went out to help Elmer finish up before they came in and Cindy gave us a sandwich. We didn't stay long. Elmer was going to the golf course to help with cleanup out there next.
Here is a picture of hail picked up in Oswego compared to a $1 bill that I saw on Facebook.
Here are areas where damage occurred:
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| The street in the park was covered with leaves the hail beat from the trees. |
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| These flower beds were looking great a week or so ago when we last walked. They were beat down. |
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| This is metal that was ripped from the front of this building in the downtown area. |
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| Trees behind the caboose were broken and many limbs had to be removed. |
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| Tree down in front of houses, blocking the sidewalks. |
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| At least 1 or 2 trees down in this location |
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| This is near our old house - the house across the street had several trees down. |
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| This is the backyard of our old house - the wooden play swing set was damaged, as well as the tree in the picture. |
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| A fairly new industrial building the south end was blown out. The storm came from the northwest - this tore away from the southeast. |
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| A Labette County structure that was demolished |
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| The Welcome to Oswego sign at the west entrance to Oswego - the middle of the sign is gone. |
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| Elmer & Cindy's garden ... hopefully some of it will come back - but it was beat down pretty bad. |
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| A tree fell on this house. |
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| The old high school building that is now a hunting lodge lost trees. |
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| A tree against the front of this house and in the yard. |
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| This is our lot - we were extremely fortunate there was no damage. I did not notice damage to the houses near us as well, other than tree limbs that had been pulled to the street for pickup. |
I had texted Todd earlier to see how he fared at the RV Park where we stay. He said they were really blessed as they had no damage. He was getting ready to go around and pick up limbs. There were only a couple of minor things but nothing compared to what others had.
When we returned to the garage, Dean walked upstairs to make sure the upper windows were not broken and this is what he found.
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| Hmmm...a little bird got i through a broken screen. She was on the nest when Dean got to the top of the stairs and quickly flew the coop! |
We put the car in the garage, then we headed back to the lake.
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