Saturday - Monday, September 26-28, 2020 - Busy Three Days

 Saturday - Monday, September 26-28, 2020 - Busy Three Days

Saturday, September 26, 2020

We were up early to get things packed up.  Dean needed to get fuel for the truck, so once we had finished doing everything except putting in the slides, I went outside to set.  I wanted to be sure we had a chance to visit with Mark and Brenda this morning before we leave.  Dean left and I was reading something on my phone when I heard something pull up behind me.  When I turned it was Mark and Brenda on their golf cart.  The next hour was full of visiting, meeting some of their friends they were camping with, seeing their rig and a few item's that Mark has made for his new side business.

A fire pit Mark made - the V pieces can be removed and it folds up for easy traveling. 

The picture is a guy fly fishing.  

This is a sign Mark made.  He took a picture of their rig, then using his CNC plasma machine he can cut metal to make a variety of things, including this replica of their rig.  His website is www.schultzengtech.com.   Check out his website to learn more.

Dean and I enjoyed visiting with Mark, Brenda and their friends.  I'm so glad we had this chance meeting to finally meet in person.

We said our goodbyes, I put the slides in while Dean was picking up the electric cord and water hose.  I backed the rig up to the hitch, and after Dean's walk around, we pulled out of Garnett at 9:54 a.m.  

Our destination today is Oswego where we pulled into Kamp Siesta for one night.  We really enjoyed our stay there.  It was a gorgeous day with very comfortable temperatures.  I should have taken some pictures but the only one I got was Dean washing the rig.  He needed a bath very badly.  

Dean washing Bentley.  

We finished up in the afternoon after taking a break for lunch.  Cindy and Elmer invited us to ride along with them to get an ice cream.  We drove to Baxter Springs to Sonic where we each chose our favorite ice cream shake or sundae.  Cindy and Elmer's grandson Kass rode along with us.  It was nice to get to visit with him on the drive there and back.

Kass talking to his mom, Nikki, Cindy's daughter, on our way back to Oswego.

It was a busy day but with much accomplished and who doesn't love ending the day with ice cream?

Sunday, September 27, 2020

We are moving later today, so after I woke up I started putting things away downstairs.  After Dean got up, I went upstairs to do what I could put away there.  I wanted to go to church before we leave.  We are moving to Bernice State Park for four days.  I have a couple of doctor's appointment in Vinita, which is not far away.  I'm not sure in the long run that we shouldn't have just stayed in Oswego, but it sure is a beautiful place to stay with a wide open view of Grand Lake, a place we love.

Dean had a few other things he wanted to do on Bentley, and then he was going to mow the lot.  

It was almost 3 when we pulled out of Kamp Siesta in Oswego for our drive to Bernice, OK, 55 miles away.

It was a cloudy day in the upper 70's.  It began to sprinkle shortly after we were parked in our site, where we will spend four days.  Fortunately, there was no heavy rain until a little later after we had completed setting up. I had thawed some chicken breasts wrapped in bacon a couple of days ago that we planned to grill and have for dinner tonight.  With rain still pending, I got out the Instapot and cooked the chicken in it instead.  I found a recipe that was easy.  I put the chicken in and let the IP do it's magic.  While it was cooking, I added some chicken paste bouillon to a cup of water and let it set until the chicken was done.  After removing the chicken, I added a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch to it, then added it to the IP and let it cook on saute until it thickened to the right consistency.  We had mashed potatoes (instant) and some corn.  It was delicious and quick.  

We enjoyed the rest of the evening; finally just sitting down to rest for the remainder of the evening.  It was nice!

Monday, September 28, 2020

I had an appointment in nearby Vinita, OK this morning for lab work prior to my appointment on Wednesday with the PA at the Indian Clinic.  My appointment was at 8:15.  I was in and out within minutes of arriving.  From there we stopped at Clanton's Restaurant in Vinita, a place we enjoy eating any meal at.  It was a disappointment meal, our first ever at this location.  I had a cinnamon roll, one they cut in slices then it is lightly toasted with icing on it.  It was barely warm.  Dean told me later his hash browns were cold and his eggs weren't much warmer.  He was very disappointed.  We've never had that happen before.  It may be awhile before we try breakfast there again.  

We returned to Bentley.  Dean wanted to get the oil changed in the truck as soon as possible.  We called Chevrolet in Joplin and were able to get in this morning, which worked out well.  Misti, Haleigh and I are having pictures taken together on Saturday and I still need to find a top to wear.  Once the truck was done, we headed to Kohl's.  There wasn't a lot to choose from, but I was able to return an item I purchased through Amazon.  I ordered a cover and carrying bag for Dean's Blackstone grill, but I ordered the wrong size.  I love that you can return Amazon items to Kohl's.  Our next stop was Macy's at Northpark Mall.  As I was looking around one of the ladies working there said if you need any help let me know.  So, I told her I was looking for a navy top or sweater.  She told me to check in another section but she wasn't sure they had much available in navy.  I walked through all of the women's sections, and happened upon a top I liked.  I took a picture and sent it to Misti.  She like it to, so I bought it.  To make sure there wasn't something else we also visited Penney's, H&M and Maurice's at the mall.  

The blouse I chose.

Dean had a couple of other stops he wanted to make, Harbor Freight to look for a bandsaw blade.  He's looked everywhere for it, but decided he may have to order it.  Since we still have a few gift cards for some restaurants, we decided we'd have lunch at Olive Garden.  We haven't been there in a long time.  Dean chose chicken fettuccine and as I usually do I chose soup, salad and breadsticks.  It was soooo good.

From there we drove back to Bernice.  We have quite a list of items we wanted to order from Amazon.  Cindy was kind enough to let me have them sent to their house, so they are not piling up at the post office if they don't all arrive before we leave again.  It will be like Christmas as we open these up over the next several days.

Since we had breakfast and lunch out, we didn't have a meal this evening, choosing to snack on something instead.

Later in the evening, Brett called or texted to ask what our plans were for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Dean and I just looked at each other - wow, is it time to think about that already?  Time does fly quickly!  I put together an email and sent it to each of the kids asking for their input.  Hopefully, we can come up with a date and time that will work for everyone.  

It was a busy day but much was accomplished and that is always a good feeling.

Friday, September 25, 2020 - Travel Day to Garnett, KS; Happy Birthday Jody: Walmart Failed Me; Peine Family Time

Friday, September 25, 2020 - Travel Day to Garnett, KS; Happy Birthday Jody: Walmart Failed Me; Peine Family Time

It was a little before 5:00 when I awoke this morning.  It is moving day, so while the coffee was perking I put things away downstairs and in the bathroom that I could before sitting down to enjoy my first cup of coffee.  After reading my morning devotional and Bible reading for the day, Dean was up, so I moved upstairs to make the bed and put away the clothes that were hanging in the shower.  I left a fan blowing on them all night so they would be dry this morning.  

Today is my baby sister, Jody's birthday!  Happy birthday Jody!!!

Carla Jo (Jody) 

We were not in a big rush to leave, yet we wanted to get a somewhat early start, since we have over 275 miles to travel today.  It should be an easy, comfortable drive.

It was 9:04am when we pulled out of Winterest City Campground & RV Park, and headed south.  

The only picture I took today was of a field of soybeans.  It's not something you would typically take a picture of, however today the sun was shining on them and I thought it was a beautiful sight.  Dean commented he would have not thought about a field of soybeans being beautiful, but he agreed it was.

A bright sun shining on soybean fields - like a field of gold.  I hope it turns out to be a pot of gold for the farmers this year.

We had a stop to make before we arrived at Garnett.  I needed to print someting so I could fill out a form and drop it off while we are in Oswego.  Unfortunately our printer is out of ink.  When we reached Ottawa, KS, we pulled in to purchase a new cartridge.  Nothing!  In fact there was very little Canon ink cartridges available.  We've discussed purchasing a new and smaller printer...maybe it's time.  When we return to Oswego tomorrow, hopefully one of my sisters will help me out by printing the item I need so I can take care of it before we leave on Sunday.

We arrived at Garnett's North Lake Campground at 3:01pm.  We had made a reservation online a few days ago, so we pulled into Site 20 and were soon setup.  Dean contacted his siblings in the area to see if they would want to come to the RV Park for pizza this evening.  I sent a text to his sister-in-law Connie to invite her as well.  Connie is coming out after work, and the others will arrive around 6pm. 

We had not been here more than an hour, when our electricity blinked off, then came back on; then on and off again.  We turned off and/or unplugged everything in the rig.  Dean went out to look at the surge protector to see if there was a code.  It was giving us a previous error code, and we could hear a crackling noise inside like it might be sparking, and showed low voltage.  You might remember we had a similar issue while we were at Eureka Springs.  When the maintenance crew came they discovered a faulty breaker.  Once replaced we never had another problem.  The next step today was to call the Garnett City Office to let them know what was happening.  They sent a crew to look at it.  When they arrived, they changed out the breaker and fortunately we did not have any more problems the rest of the evening. The surge protectors are expensive but it has proved it's worth twice this month.  If you do not have a surge protector for your rig, I would recommend you check out Mike Sokol's electrical articles on RVTravel.com.  You can subscribe to the blog for free, or go to  https://www.rvtravel.com/author/mike/.  You will find articles about many RV related issues, including ways to test the electrical plug-in's at campgrounds before plugging your rig in, if you do not have a surge protector.  It could possibly save you from having repairs to, or the loss of an electrical appliance.  We experienced this ourselves, when we lost our microwave a year or two ago because of an electrical issue due to the plug-in being wired incorrectly.  

We had a wonderful evening visiting with Dean's brother, sisters and sister-in-law, enjoying pizza and later a fire in our Fire Genie.  We enjoyed a couple of hours or more before they headed home.  We haven't seen them since last November when we met up with them for dinner one evening.  Unfortunately, Covid stopped those get togethers this past spring.  They do a video chat with each other every two weeks to keep in touch.  Their sister Ruth Ann, who lives in Illinois, has the opportunity to join in on those calls. 

After they left, we put away the chairs, and Dean kept an eye on the fire until it was out.  We were sitting inside, thinking about calling it a night, when my son Marc texted me that a friend of his and her husband were camping right across from us.  She follows our blog and recognized our rig as soon as she saw it, he said.  What are the chances?  I thanked him for letting me know, as I want to be sure and tell them hello and visit with them, before we leave tomorrow morning.  

We are parked right along Garnett Lake, and the wind has really been blowing this evening.  When we arrived it was 85.  I opened the windows inside.  It didn't take long to drop the temperature with the wind blowing in.  I can't remember the last time we turned the air conditioner on and it has been great.  

Tomorrow morning we will pull up Bentley's jacks again and return to Oswego for one night.  

Thursday, September 24, 2020 - Staying Busy in Winterest, IA

Thursday, September 24, 2020 - Staying Busy in Winterest, IA 

One of the reasons we chose to spend two nights here was for the full hookups.  We needed to get the laundry caught up.  I was able to do 2 loads yesterday, and over the course of early morning and until now at 9:22pm I was able to do 5 loads.  It is surprising how quickly laundry adds up, especially when you do not have full hookups and are on the move. 

I slept late (for me at least), it was after 5:00 before I crawled out of bed.  I took laundry downstairs last night so I could get started first thing, hoping to get two loads out of the way before we left for our planned excursion today.

While we were at Menard's in Goshen several days ago, I found a really nice spray bottle for my mixture of dawn and vinegar to clean the shower.  I've tried several other spray bottles, but none of them really worked well.  This one seemed like it might hold up and it did!  The last spray bottle broke the first time I used it.  This morning I sprayed the shower down really well and while it didn't look as good as I had hoped, most of that was because there are water stains on the outside of the sliding doors too.  The next time we have a few days in Oswego, I'd like for Dean to take the doors out so I can clean them outside with the dawn/vinegar mixture and rinse them well.  

After showers and two loads of clothes washed, dried and put away, we headed to downtown Winterest.  As we left the park, I had to take a picture of this beautiful motorhome.  

The trees are turning!

Our first stop was at "John Wayne Birthplace Museum".   We bought our tickets, then looked around the gift shop, before the next "movie" played (every 15 minutes).  His daughter narrated the first part of it, followed by many clips of him in his movies, picking out highlights of some of his famous parts.  John Wayne was one of my dad's favorite stars and Dean is also a big fan.  When I was in High School, I read the book True Grit.  I was excited to see it made into a movie with John Wayne in a starring role.  I've watched lots of John Wayne movies in my lifetime between my dad and Dean, so I have to say I enjoyed this almost as much as he did.

After the movie clips, we entered the museum itself.  Marion Robert Morrison - John Wayne.

This was an amazing likeness of "The Duke".  His eyes were so life like I felt like he was staring right at us.  Lol!

Of all the things in the Museum I was really touched by this letter from Maureen O'Hara to John Wayne (by then deceased) in honor of his 100th birthday - specifically the 5th section of the letter where she wishes he was there to help heal this wonderful land. He was a Patriot and loved the United States.  This was written in 2007.  What would he think today?

I also enjoyed seeing Wayne's Grand Safari Pontiac station wagon, he drove around California.  My Papa Blackledge sold Pontiac cars for nearly 50 years.  I loved the comment that he preferred comfort and safety over show!  

This is the stethoscope used by the doctor who delivered John Wayne.  He was a whopping 13 lbs at birth!

40th anniversary cake for movies he starred in during this time frame.  He had quite a group of stars around him at this celebration....you can enlarge this picture if you want to check them out.

The Museum

Our next stop was at a location behind the Museum honoring the Military and POW's.  While John Wayne never served his country in the military he starred in a number of military themed movies.  He had a very high respect for the Military.  

Enlarge this to read his words placed on the rock.

In honor of the POW's of our country.

Birthplace home of John Wayne

The docent at his birthplace home told us Marion did not like his name, because he was teased.  His dog's name was Duke.  At some point someone asked Marion his name and not wanting to tell them Marion, he said Duke.  That's where it started.

By now we were hungry.  Before we left his birthplace home, we asked the Docent about the Northside Cafe.  She said she had not eaten there in many years.  You might remember the Northisde Cafe is where Clint Eastwood went to eat in the movie Bridges of Madison County.  We decided to go ahead and eat there, since we knew nothing of other restaurants.  I ordered a reuben, which is probably my favorite sandwich, and one I rarely eat.  It was delicious!  Dean chose the pork tenderloin.  Today I even mentioned it to him, but it turned out to be just okay.  I will take the blame for that choice.  HAHA.  The homemade chips that came with it were quite good though.  We passed on the dessert.

I didn't realize this picture was out of focus until later.

Dean's sandwich looked great - but no flavor at all!!!!

While downtown I wanted to take a few pictures - starting with the cafe itself.

The famous 4th stool from the entrance to the door.

as seen here.

As we left here we walked around the square, to take pictures of the Madison County Courthouse and check out the downtown businesses.  

Madison County Courthouse

We stopped in the Ben Franklin store.  I was curious to see the layout.  I was so happy to see that it was just like the Ben Franklin's I remember.  I love these wonderful stores of bygone days that bring back so many memories from my childhood.  

We didn't visit, but I thought about all of my quilting friends.  Another special thing about Madison County are the number of quilters and quilt blocks on barns, garages, etc. throughout the County.  There was a fabric store on the sqaure, and Ben Franklin had an entire section of their building dedicated to material and sewing supplies.

These beautiful flowers were everywhere on the sqaure and the side streets just off the square.  It really brightened the downtown area!

Before we headed back to the campground we made a stop at Frostee's for some ice cream.  I chose a chocolate marshmallow sundae and Dean had a butter pecan shake.  They were okay.  My sundae didn't begin to compare with the ones I used to have at Rigg's Rexall in Chetopa.  I had visions of that deep chocolate covered with that thick, creamy marshmallow creme - while what I ordered was good enough to eat, it did not come close to my vision!  LOL!

We returned to the campground, after filling the truck up with gas for our move tomorrow.  We didn't have dinner tonight, choosing to only have an apple later in the evening since we had ice cream.  I worked on the blog post, and did three more loads of laundry, while Dean did some pre-preparation for our move tomorrow.  It will be a long travel day from Winterst, IA to Garnett, KS tomorrow.  We will stay overnight at the North campground in their city park.  We will visit with Dean's siblings that live in the area.  We look forward to seeing them.  

Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - Winterest, Iowa - What A Wonderful Town and A Beautiful Countryside

Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - Winterest, Iowa - What A Wonderful Town and A Beautiful Countryside

This is great sleeping weather since I added a quilt for additional warmth on these cool nights. The coffee sure helped warm us up.  We were ready to pull out of West Lake Park at 8:25am.  We probably would not have been ready this early, but we decided to stop and eat breakfast on our way this morning.  We were already hungry!  

I'm sure these are weeds but they sure put a bright spot in our morning.

Only a short distance from the campground we made our stop at the  World's Largest Truck Stop, Iowa 80.  We chose Gramma's Cafe.  While there are several restaurants and fast food facilities we chose the first one we came to.  The food was quite good.

Cute coffee cups/sayings

We were both happy with our breakfast choices.

Dean had eggs, ham, sourdough toast and hash brown casserole.

Eggs, biscuit & gravy, and a half order of fries.

A few pictures I took along the way

When I looked at this later, that's when I noticed the motorhome next to the silo.  It was the semi that caught my eye.

Kinzie Farm Equipment - neat ideas to draw attention to their product

We saw a number of beautiful farms.

We traveled I-80 again today.  A very busy Interstate.

All of a sudden clouds appeared - however, no rain!  Yea!

Our site at Winterest City Campground & RV Park

We thought the GPS had directed us wrong since there was no campground where Bobbie led us, but later we discovered it was RV Parky that led us astray.  Their directions led us to South 10th Street.  We discovered the park was instead located on North 10th Street.   We had made our reservations online, so all we had to do was find site 10 and it did not take long at all.  It's a very nice campground, with decent space between rigs.  We were soon set up.  We even set  outside for nearly an hour enjoying the beautiful afternoon, before we left to explore the area.

Several years ago on our way to New York to see Matt & family, we noticed a sign advertising John Wayne's boyhood home.  I didn't remember the town but thought it was in Iowa.  I did a little research and discovered we had time to fit a stop here in our travels as we make our way back to Kansas.  Unbeknownst to either of us, as we approached the county where Winterest is located, we discovered it was Madison County and they had a number of covered bridges.  Yes, Winterset is the location of the movie Bridges of Madison County.  We enjoyed visiting three of the bridges in the area this afternoon, and then happened on a fourth one later in the late afternoon/evening.

Holliwell Covered Bridge

Loved this metal horse sculpture 

The small community of St. Charles is using this former church as their Welcome Center.  The stained glass was beautiful!

Imes Covered Bridge - these bridges are really interesting to see.

I asked Dean stop here so I could take a picture of this hillside.  I wished I could have just walked the field.  It was so beautiful.

The most well known covered bridge in Madison County - Roseman, famous from the movie Bridges of Madison County with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

These are some really incredible structures.  We have enjoyed visiting these beautiful structures.

On our way back, we turned a corner and this hound dog was running right down the middle of the road toward us with his ears flapping and his tail wagging.  It was just hilarious and cute all at the same time.  I had to take his picture.  

And, somehow on our drive, Dean managed to find a golf course....lol!  It was a beautiful course.

We made a stop at a local grocery store Hy-Vee, for a few groceries that we needed for our dinner tonight.  We had taco salad and it was a perfect light meal.

After cleaning things up, we decided to walk across the road to the city park.  This shelter house was really amazing.

Here's our campground - can you see Bentley?

And we found another covered bridge - Cutler-Donahue Bridge

We walked the loop around the park where the last thing we found was this original log cabin.

We enjoyed our day and look forward to another great day of discovery tomorrow.