Friday - July 19, 2019 - Enjoying a Beautiful Day, Reminiscing of Days Gone By and A Fun Evening.

Friday - July 19, 2019 - Enjoying a Beautiful Day, Reminiscing of Days Gone By and A Fun Evening.


Friday, July 19 - Dean played golf this morning and I filled my time with things that needed to be done in Bentley.   I bought a little steam iron (and I mean little).  I try not to buy anything that needs to be ironed but occasionally you just want to do a quick touch up.  I bought a shirt recently that needed just that, so I brought the iron out and it worked perfectly.   

After lunch, we hopped in the car and headed south to Grove, OK.  We were just chatting away as we drove along.  I asked Dean if he was going to drive through Vinita or take the cut off.  He was so engrossed in our conversation he missed the turn at Welch, and would have bypassed Bluejacket if I hadn't said something.  It's not like Dean to do that, so it was a little entertaining.  

Road to Bluejacket, OK

Dean wants to visit a golf store in Grove for a new set of golf clubs.  When we arrived there was a note on the door the owner was next door at a convenience store.  In just a few minutes he arrived.  Unfortunately, we left there a little disappointed because he doesn't sell new clubs.  While he had quite an inventory of nice used clubs, it's not really what Dean was looking for.  He was a very nice guy though and he answered several questions Dean had, so it was not a wasted trip.

Since we were here we decided to visit a few of our favorite haunts.  I believe I've mentioned before that almost from the time we were married we've had an RV or mobile home of some sort on Grand Lake near Grove.  We originally planned to visit Bernice Point - home to the first two travel trailers we owned, but Dean wanted to drive to ShangriLa, a beautiful "community" with many homes, condos, a beautiful new hotel, a premier golf course (beautifully manicured), and a large boat slip. There are also several locations to choose for dining - from casual to fine dining.  It's a beautiful area to just drive through for the landscaping alone.  The last time we were there they were building the hotel and today we got to see the finished project. 

ShangriLa is located on Monkey Island.  If you click on this link you will also find a map of the location as well as the story of how it come to be called Monkey Island.

Beautiful rolling hills on our way to ShangriLa

Some of the facilities at ShangriLa, From Top Left, clockwise - The Golf Shop and Restaurants, Boat Slip, Condo, Hotel, Hotel Swimming Pool

Pictures of the golf course

Sorry for the reflection in this picture - I've always loved this house - including the metal sculpture of the Eagle on top.  What a view of the lake it has!

Crossing the bridge, looking out over Grand Lake, as we leave Monkey Island.

We took a quick drive through Horse Creek Resort, the last place we used as a retreat to get away from the day to day work life.  I grew up going to the Bernice area and it's still our favorite area of the lake.

The water is still high at Grand Lake from rains earlier this spring/summer.  In the bottom picture to the right you can see what we've always called the Unfinished Bridge - at normal levels it's not uncommon to see boats tied up here to fish, or swim.  We drove by the lot we rented.  Someone has replaced our older RV with a new one and looks like it happened recently as there was no skirting around the unit yet.  They are still using the deck we had though.

These pictures are of Eagle's Landing, where we will be staying soon with our local Escapees group in September.

As we began our drive back through Grove, I was so happy to see the Cherokee Queen running again.  I've been going to Grand Lake since I was 10 years old - and I've never rode it.  I told Dean when we are here for the campout I would really love to change that!  I don't know what they offer now, but in the past they offered dinner cruises on the lake.  I hope they still do.  It would be beautiful if it was a clear night.

A great place to find bargains - Cheapo Depo.  This place has been here for a long time!

Continuing on our reminiscing of our time on Grand Lake, we drove back through Grove to visit Lakewood Village, where we owned a mobile home.  As our family grew, and grandchildren came, an RV wasn't quite as comfortable, so we expanded.

Our friends owned this RV and we sure enjoyed lots of fun times with them here.

The unit with the blue umbrella and flag out front was ours.  Dean and I built the deck here, but someone has replaced or covered the wood with vinyl.

This was our view.  We had our boat in the enclosed boat slip.  We loved our time here.  As the kids got older, they didn't come as often and we decided to sell our place and go back to an RV closer to Bernice.

The third from the left is the back of what was our mobile home.  They've added a carport and a storage shed.  We were hoping our old neighbors to the left might be there, but not today.

We had plans this evening to play cards with Cindy and Elmer, so we headed for home.  

On the way we passed through what used to be Picher, OK.  It makes me sad to drive through here.  It is the location of a superfund site that resulted in buyout of most of the homes there, due to the high level of lead found in the area from the huge chat piles that were mined here.  A few years after most people had moved from the community from the buyout, an F4 tornado pretty much decimated the remaining homes. 

We made a quick stop in Miami, OK to grab something to eat at Braum's - no ice cream today.  We made it to Cindy and Elmer's house at 6:10, just a few minutes late. 

As usual we laughed a lot all evening - and the guys skunked us again, but Cindy and I did manage to win the last game!  

When we returned to Bentley, the sky was so full of stars.  It was beautiful.  I tried to take a picture, but of course it didn't take well, but I did catch this shooting star.  How cool is that!

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words.  I think the first few days of news you don't want to hear is the worse - now we are filling our days with good times and fun things.  This too shall pass!

Sunday, July 14 - Thursday, July 18, 2019 - Feeling Frustrated but Trying to Make the Best of It

Sunday, July 14 - Thursday, July 18, 2019 - Feeling Frustrated but Trying to Make the Best of It

I just haven't had the heart to blog the past few days because of my (our) frustration with the RV disc brakes.  Things happen and I'm trying my best to deal with it, but as the days tick by our chances of much travel before we need to be back in Southeast Kansas are growing slimmer by the day.  At this point, we'll be happy if we just make it to Yellowstone. Our reservation is August 16-23, so time is quickly dwindling.  Part of going full-time was supposed to mean not hurrying to get somewhere.  Most of the time it works.  Our original plans included going to north Minnesota and North Dakota (new states to both of us), but that time frame was cut back.  Then we decided we would just go to South Dakota, and work our to Yellowstone.  Now, we are just hoping we'll be able to visit Yellowstone, taking the most direct route possible, while still having a few days rest in between moves.  Moving every day and driving many miles a day is not our style AT ALL!!  If it's not enjoyable, why do it!  

Sunday, July 14 - I went to church this morning and afterwards all of my sisters' gathered at Cindy's house for a nice two hour visit.  Afterwards I stopped by my Aunt Betty's and cousin, Barbara's home.  Barbara's granddaughter is getting married this week in Branson.  She wanted me to look at three dresses.  After trying on each one, we settled on a printed skirt, a top and a jacket.  We visited for a bit, before I headed back to Bentley.  I did some things around Bentley, but for the most part that was our day.  Dean has been working at the garage, washing/waxing Bentley and golfing as much as he can.

Monday, July 15 - Haleigh drove me to Parsons (good practice for her) to pick up Jaxson this morning.  Kamron had a friend spend the night.  Marc will bring her down over his lunch hour.  Jaxson took swimming lessons a few weeks ago, so I called my niece Nikki to see if we could use their pool this morning.  I'm anxious for him to show me what he can do.  

Jaxson swimming with Nana - what fun!

Wow, he does such a great job!  I was so proud of him.  He loves going under water, touching the bottom of the pool, turning in circles underwater, etc.  It was so much fun to watch him and hear his laugh.  Haleigh took a few pictures for me.

After our swim, we headed home.  Haleigh wanted to make chicken, bacon, ranch quesadillas so we stopped at her house to pick up some tortillas - she doesn't care for our low carb ones.   I was going to stop at Mi Pueblo to pick up cheese dip and chips for Jaxson - it's one of his favorite things to eat - but I forgot they are closed on Monday's.  We went back to the RV and I called Pizza Hut numerous times with no answer but I knew they were open.  Marc was on his way with Kamron, so I asked him to stop by and order it for me.  He said they were packed.  I guess they were too busy to answer the phone.  He stayed to visit for a few minutes then left to get back to work - it takes most of his lunch hour to make the drive both ways.

Shortly after he left I left to pick up the pizza.  After we were done with lunch, we watched Despicable Me - at least Jaxson did.  The girls had seen it enough I don't think they were that interested.

Jax intent on TV, Kamron doing her nails and listening to music.

Haleigh was looking at her foot......     oh, and by the way notice those shiny windows!!  Haha

Dean played golf this morning and then took the truck to Parsons to have a new controller put on the truck.  In an earlier conversation about the disc brakes with Michael, he said we needed to pull the truck at least 20-30 miles per hour, not just test it while sitting in the park. Of course, we've usually only made it about that far when the brakes have failed.  So when it was time to take the kids home, we packed up the RV, loaded the kids in the truck and drove to Parsons.....we were barely in the city limits (20 miles) when the brakes QUIT working AGAIN!!!!  You can imagine our disappointment and frustration!!! 


Marc met us at the Stockade Travel Plaza at the north end of Parsons.  After the kids were secured in the car, they left and we headed back to Oswego - slowly.  We were just sure that we would be leaving tomorrow and now we are back at square one.

Dean called Michael on our way home.  MIchael said he wanted to talk to one of his installers and get back with us, so we'll wait to hear from him.  Later he sent a text that the installer would be calling us.


Tuesday, July 16 - First thing this morning I had to call the campground where we hoped to be staying tonight.  Our Escapee camping club is having their monthly campout this week.  We did not originally plan to attend because we expected to be further north - but since we were here, we decided it would make a great first stop as we headed north.  So, I was very disappointed having to cancel today.  It's over 100 miles away and we just are not comfortable pulling the RV with only the truck brakes.  

Dean didn't play golf today hoping we'd hear from the installer, but the call didn't come until this afternoon when we were driving to Pittsburg to pick up our mail.  When Dean explained what was happening, he immediately said it was the pump (actuator), which is what Dean has felt like it was from the beginning.  Dean doesn't email much or even use it often, so it was late afternoon when he happened to see an email from Michael advising they would be shipping us a new pump.  When he asked how long it would take to get it, I was aghast at "around the end of next week".  We are not even sure about a time for the installation, once it arrives.  The clock is ticking - will we get to travel at all this summer?

On the up side, we received our new TireTracker in the mail today.  Our old one that was five years old quit working at the end of our last trip.    We are anxious to try it out, but.....when will that be?

I took a few pictures on the way to Pittsburg and our way back to share some sites and things to see and/or do in our area.

My Grandpa and Grandma Stapleton lived about 4 miles south of Hallowell so we passed by and Angelo's a lot over the years.  Grandpa loved the big round chunks of cheddar cheese they bought at Angelo's....and all of us grandkids did too! 

About 3 miles east of Oswego, is Angelo's Deli.  This is an icon in southeast Kansas opened by Angelo Sachetta in the early 1950's.  His Angelo's Special - deli sandwich, is loved by many and even though Angelo and his wife have passed on, their secret sauce recipe and choice of meats and cheeses were passed on to new owners and are still great today.  I just had one last week and I can attest, they are still delicious!

Our mail location.

 Big Brutus - I still enjoy seeing this shovel, as it brings back many memories of our childhood.  Click to find out more about Big Brutus.

My dad loved to take us to the site where Big Brutus was digging when we were kids.   I loved visiting there and watching the HUGE chunks of dirt/coal it would pull out of the ground with its shovel.  It was truly a marvel to watch.  We have some old home movies when it was still working, taken in the 60's.  If you haven't visited Big Brutus you should make the trip.  It's well worth it.  

Just a short distance down the road from Big Brutus is Claythorne Hunting Lodge.  We didn't drive by it as we were on the highway, but less than two miles north of this sign you will find Claythorne Lodge, which is internationally known.  Click on it to learn more.

The City of Oswego's airport, located two miles east of Oswego.

What a beautiful day - new crops coming up under a beautiful cloud filled sky.

On the left going up the hill is the northern side of our new property.  It begins a little further up the hill from the road leading off to the left.  The back part is almost all woods.  While working there Dean has seen deer, along with a number of deer tracks in our yard.  We look forward to enjoying a lot of nature in the future.....I'm thinking birds.  I do love them, and the deer....we look forward to it.

Well, no matter the situation, at least we are in Oswego where we are around friends and family.  We are safe here and we have a great place to park under my cousin's watchful eye!  I'm not sure when we will be back on the road again, but when we are, we're sure to have a great time!

Wednesday, July 17
Today, I made up my mind I needed to quit thinking of moving and getting some things done.  I decided to tackle our budget and get it brought up to date.  I made huge strides, but will still work on it again tomorrow to finish it up.  In between I did other things around the rig - just to get up and move every so often.  Dean played golf, so it was a pretty quiet day and evening.

Thursday, July 18
Today I was on a mission to get the budget finished.  I am up to date at this point and happy that it's no longer nagging at me.  I did get out yesterday to go by Cindy's.  She had some more fresh tomatoes and cucumbers for me.  I have to be careful, and she does too, not to eat too many tomatoes.  The acidity in them causes us both to have cold sores.  I used to have them horribly as a kid because I ate so many of them.  I guess I've learned to pace myself as I rarely have them these days.  Dean played golf again this morning.  That is a good thing about being here - he is making use of the annual membership we buy.  He's definitely got his money's worth out of it this year and it's good for him to get out.  I'd say to get some exercise, but since they drive their carts almost to the point of each swing - I'm not sure how much he really gets!  Lol!

Tonight I cooked half a slab of pork ribs in the Instapot, then Dean put them on the grill with a thin coating of barbeque sauce.  By the way, I found a sugar free BBQ sauce and Hellman's has come out with ketchup that has only 1 gram of sugar.  We no longer use much BBQ sauce or ketchup so it's great to have products we can use occasionally.   While the ketchup is pretty sweet - I use Worcestershire sauce on my ham/cheeseburgers to cut the sweet down, as I rarely eat a bun anymore.

The ribs were delicious and very, very tender.  We also had green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers.  I guess we were too full as we never even had any of the fresh cantaloupe I cut up earlier today.

Saturday, July 13, 2019 - Work Day and Ice Cream Time!

Saturday, July 13, 2019 - Work Day and Ice Cream Time!

When I woke up this morning, Dean was already out of bed.  He rarely gets up before me.  When I glanced at the clock it was almost 6:45.  No wonder he was already up!  

I laid a load of clothes out last night to wash this morning so I took care of that before pouring my first cup of coffee.  Then I set down to finish the blog post from yesterday.  

We started talking about what we wanted to get done today.  The RV windows need to be washed both inside and out.  I have three plaques I hang on the walls each time we stop.  Currently I take them down when we move, and then re-hang them.  Today we will hang them permanently.  They were all gifts from very special people, with special meanings to both of us.  (Update:  we were only able to hang two of them.  The third one had felt on the back of it, so we need to find a way other than using command strips to hang it.)

I put the leftover pie from last night into freezer containers for another time as well as the individual cobblers I made for snacks.  It's nice to have something we can pull out when we need a little sweet.

Dean spent most of the day outside washing the rig - he worked in the shade until it got too hot once the sun was directly on him.  After lunch, he went out again after the shade moved to the other side.  He'll finish up another small area tomorrow morning.  We shared the window washing - he did the outside and I took care of the inside.  I decided it would be a good time to also clean all of the mirrors in Bentley.  They definitely needed it.  

I need to start looking at our travel plans which of course have now changed again - and until we know for sure that all is well on Monday, it's possible they will change again!  However, I like having at least a loose plan of where we are going.  Our goal is to make it to Yellowstone by August 16 - we have reservations there for a week - so everything leads there.

Dean grilled some burgers for dinner.  I cut up a cucumber and sliced a tomato to go with them.  Simple, but a very good meal.

My sister Cindy called just before we were getting ready to fix dinner to see if we wanted to go with them to get ice cream later.  Sure we will, so I'll call her when we are ready and they'll pick us up.  Dean wanted to shower so as soon as he was done, I let Cindy know they could head our way.  We drove to Galena to Dairy Queen.  I ordered the same thing for Dean and I - his a medium and mine a small, but when I started eating it, it didn't taste anything like the one I had a few weeks ago.  I think she made the wrong thing but it was good, and I didn't want to wait for her to make another one so off we went.

We drove through Lowell, Baxter Springs, and Chetopa, KS on our way home.  Sorry I didn't take any pictures.  We were too busy talking!

Back at home I'm going to start looking at campgrounds for our trip until I get tired.  

I hope your day has been wonderful.  I feel like we accomplished several things today.  It's a good feeling....and it has been a good day!

Friday, July 12, 2019 - Packing Again; Chevrolet Service Center; Back to Oswego; Invitation for This Evening; Resting and Catching up the Blog in the Meantime

Friday, July 12, 2019 - Packing Again; Chevrolet Service Center; Back to Oswego; Invitation for This Evening; Catching up the Blog; Great Evening.

We were up early this morning.  I wanted to shower before we left this morning and there are a few things I'll still need to store.  We enjoyed our two cups of coffee, then I readied a few things before finally showering.  We pulled out of the RV Park a little after 8 and pointed the truck toward Parsons, KS.  The drive this morning was a little slower without the trailer brakes.  To be on the safe side we drove at 55.  We arrived about 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment at 9.  Dean went in to let them know we were here.  

They have someone that will shuttle us somewhere while we wait for the work to be done.  Since we didn't eat breakfast, we asked them to take us a short distance to Pizzo's for breakfast.  Dean asked the driver about his job.  He comes in about 7:30 and sometimes is there until late shuttling people back and forth, and sometimes to their homes until the work has been completed.  It probably happens at many dealerships but we had never heard of anyone doing this before.  It's a great service for their customers.

While we were waiting for the waitress to take our order, Neal Cruse and his dad came in and set behind us.  We enjoyed visiting with him.  Neal has been involved with physical education and athletic programs at Oswego for many years.  Most of our kids knew him from their involvement in sports while they were in school.  The restaurant was quite full so we were surprised that our food came so quickly.  As usual, Dean ordered the same thing he always does and I ordered French Toast.  I love this dish but since I'm trying to reduce the carbohydrates I haven't ordered it in a very long time.  I'm glad I chose it as it was very tasty! 

Once we were done, I called the Chevy dealership and our driver was back to pick us up.  While we waited in the service lounge, I took out my laptop and worked on updating the blog, at a small table I was able to work at.  At least I felt productive!  Lol!

It was about an hour and a half later when they came in to tell us the controller on the truck was not working.  They will order a new one and it will be delivered on Saturday, however the service department will not be open again until Monday.  We are scheduled to have it replaced at 1:00pm on Monday.  We accepted the news much better today - we just had to "let it go" and "go with the flow".  I will be adjusting our travel route again.  We've lost another week - and to keep our trip where we are not constantly moving we'll have to cut out a few stops.  In the big picture that is okay.  We will still have a great time and enjoy what we can.

On our way home I texted both Misti and Marc, and my sister Cindy to let them know that now we were not leaving until Tuesday.  Cindy responded and said do you want to play cards tonight?  Of course we said yes and I told her I would bring the dessert - she has made it the last two times, so it's definitely my turn.

For lunch I had a meal replacement shake and I made Dean a sandwich and cut up a cucumber for him.  Now I'm glad I took Cindy up on it when she gave me more cucumbers and some tomatoes yesterday.  Yummmm!

After we got back and set up AGAIN, and had our lunch I started looking through my recipes and nothing sounded good.  I wasn't really in the mood to cook, so I called Circles Pecan at McCune, Kansas to see what pies they had available.  They were baking an apple pie then so I told them I would take it.  Dean and I drove the 25 miles there to get it.  It looks delicious and I hope it's as good as it looks - it was still warm, having only been out of the oven a short time!  I've heard great things about their food and pies from my graddaughter Kamron, but this was our first time there.  They have a nice dining area and a large area where they sell a number of products.  We took a look around.  Dean found some cheese curds so we bought a package of those as well.

We returned home, where I finished up the blogs for the past three days and posted them, then started work on this one.  It's now 4:30 and I'm pretty well caught up.  I read a few blogs until it was time to leave for Cindy and Elmer's.  

We played our normal three games of pitch and they guys beat us 2 out of 3 games.  As usual there were lots of laughs.  Everyone agreed the pie was very good.  The crust edge was a little overcooked but the pie itself was great.  Of course I bought some ice cream to go with it - perfect snack.

Another wonderful day, getting things done and having a great time with family.

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - Thursday, July 11, 2019

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - Laundry!!!; Clinic Visit; Checking out the New Roof; and Checking off my To-Do List.

I woke up a little after 4 this morning.  I had several things I wanted to get done and I could start now!  Laundry is the big job for today and between doing other things I needed to stay somewhat close to the RV most of the day so I could keep it going.

Dean found this little shovel in our storage unit to scoop the pellets (the bag behind it) for his Fire Genie.  He repainted it so it would be all "purdy".  The tub in the left foreground will hold the pellets.

I left at 7 to drive back to Vinita to meet with the NP Betty to go over my lab test results.  Besides making a reduction in one of my medications (yea!), I got an updated shingles shot and new refills on all of my prescriptions.  Now they can send everything to me at once, instead of spreading them out every few weeks.  It is a nuisance having to figure out where to send medications when you are on the road and need to have them sent to different addresses.  If I can keep them coming all together it will be easier for me and I would think the pharmacy as well.

After returning to Oswego, I went home and started another load of laundry.  I decided to drive by our lot to look at the new roof Broc put on our garage while we have been gone.  It really looks good.  We are thinking about going ahead and adding siding, new garage doors, windows and a new side door as well.  Then it will be done and we can concentrate on other things we want to do at the lot this fall.

I returned to the RV where I kept the washer/dryer going all day long.  In fact at 7:41pm the last load is drying.  Almost everything is put away and we'll do the rest of it in the morning.  

I had several phone calls and things to take care of as well.  Cindy is going to pick up hearing aid items for Dean at Sam's, so I called to be sure they would set everything aside for her.  Cassandra is so nice and always willing to help out.

I had a package I needed to return so I took care of that.  Since I forgot to take my new insurance card to the clinic with me today, I called them to provide that information - a copy is now in my purse as well.

Last week I called to make reservations for us at Sand Hills SP north of Hutchinson, KS.  Our granddaughter Dacy will be competing at the State Fair again this year with her horses.  I made a reservation for Friday through Sunday.  While visiting with her at Brett's I decided we better add a day to our reservation and arrive on Thursday.  We aren't sure if she will have an event on Thursday but there's a good chance she will have events on Friday morning, so rather than miss out we're just adding a day.  The campground is really nice and really close to Hutch, with full hookups.   It's at the north edge of town and very quiet.


Dean was outside so I snapped these pictures of him and our Wineguard Pathway X2 Dish.  We like the Pathway so much better than the Tailgator we had for five years.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - Moving Day to Longview Campground, MO; Whoops, We Turned Around; Disappointing Day; But Ice Cream Makes Everything Better!

We pulled out of Hillside RV Park at 9:35am this morning.  We didn't make it very far and we immediately received a message the trailer brakes were not connected - AGAIN!  It's been  three weeks or so that we've been dealing with this.  We decided we would go ahead and head toward Hwy 49 but we changed our reservation to south of KC, rather than trying to pull it through heavy traffic.  We had not driven more than 20 miles when I told Dean, I don't feel good about this, what do you think about just turning around and going back to Oswego.  He agreed with me so that was an easy decision.  

On the way back these clouds were forming in a line southwest to northeast.  The wind was really blowing as we drove from Hallowell to Oswego.  You could see the rain off to the southwest, but we only got some big drops for a short while - it wasn't too bad until.....

We pulled back into the park around 10:45am.  It didn't take us long to setup and get inside, before the rain started here.  Fortunately it didn't last too long.

I have to admit we were both really disappointed today when the brakes did not work again.  Dean has messed with them so much.  We are ready to leave for more travels.  On the way back Dean called Michael, the owner of the company where we purchased our disc breaks.  After discussing it he sent an email with steps for Dean to check to see if the actuator was working on the disc brakes.  After spending quite a bit of time going over these, and several tries, Dean finally decided that must not be the problem.  Next step, he called Chevrolet in Parsons to see if we could bring it in and have them go over it.  They set the appointment for Friday at 9am.  They want us to bring the RV with us.  We sure hope they will be able to figure out the problem - and that we might be able to leave from there on our way north.

We were both a little down in the dumps the rest of the morning.  We are glad to be here in Oswego where family is, but disappointed about the delay in our plans.  We cancelled plans for our Colorado trip back in mid-April and we've been waiting to leave ever since.  We did break out of our funk a little later in the day and enjoyed taking our granddaughter Haleigh with us to Chetopa for ice cream, after she got off work at G&W, our local grocery store.  Ice cream has a way of making us a little happier!  Lol!

Sun setting out by the golf course in Oswego before we headed to Chetopa

Another shot near Chetopa

Things happen, and maybe this is God's way of telling us the timing is not right for us to move now.  Tomorrow will be a better day!  (This is something I've told my kids and myself.  When something occurs that bothers them or me - after a good night's sleep I've always found what seemed so bad yesterday, never seems as bad the next day).

Thanks for following along.



Thursday, July 11, 2019 - Happy Birthday Sarah; Keeping Busy; Preparing to Move Again

Today is Granddaughter Sarah's birthday.  She is now 3 years old.  We celebrated her birthday before she and the rest of her family left last week to drive back to their home in Grand Island, NY.  We sent her a birthday wish this morning, via Mom and Dad.

Isn't she a beautiful Princess Sarah?

I woke with a new purpose today - to do some things hat will keep me busy, so I am not dwelling on the brake issues.  

Dean planned to golf this morning and I'm glad he has another opportunity to do so.  I wanted to get the car from our garage, so we left a little after 8:00 to pick it up before he left for the golf course.  

Last night we discussed moving the couch and chairs back to their original locations in the RV.  I think it's a good idea as we have a little more room between the dining table and our recliners versus the couch that was almost against the table.  When Dean returns we will work on that.

I went to Cindy's this morning.  She put new closet doors up in their bedrooms and hall closet.  The old ones were stained doors to match the woodwork.  She painted all of the woodwork white before they moved in several years ago. She's wanted to change the doors out for several years, and finally got them finished a week or so ago.  It really looks nice.  We visited for awhile before I headed back to the RV.

After lunch Dean and I tackled the moving job - and I took advantage of the opportunity to vacuum both areas before switching them around.  I think it looks better this way and Dean does too.  

Todd brought me a container of blackberries he picked here in the park from some bushes he has.  I wanted to make blackberry cobbler.  Dean isn't overly fond of blackberries, so I decided I would use peaches for his.  While we were in Branson I bought 8 custard dishes, so I used them to make (4 each) blackberry and peach cobblers in the convection oven.  When we have a sticks and bricks home again, my oven will be convection!  I love that it does not heat up the house.  In between baking each batch, I warmed up leftovers for our dinner in the microwave, then finished up the cobblers.  

I love the covers that came with the custard dishes.

We took the car back to the garage this evening.  Tomorrow morning we will head to Parsons to the Chevrolet service center with hopes they can get our brakes working again.  We have high hopes they will find the problem and we will be on our way.  We have decided that when we leave Parsons, we will only go as far as Nevada, MO (less than 100 miles) stay the night, and if it is still working the next morning, we will only go to Longview Campground at Lee's Summit, MO (less than 90 miles).  Rather than travel a long distance we are going keep it to short days for awhile, just to be sure the brakes are working okay before we get too far. 

I saw Todd as we were leaving to take the car back, so I invited him down later for one of the mini blackberry cobblers.  After we returned, he stopped by, and we all had a nice visit.  Soon after we called it a night.

Today was a better day.  We are thankful for family, and for the opportunity to travel, even when we have a bump in the road.  

I hope your day has also been good.

Monday, July 8, 2019 - Spending the Day with Sister Cindy - Lab Work; Visit with Niece Melissa; Shopping; Visit with Stepdad Larry & Verna; Happy Birthday Party in Parsons

Monday, July 8, 2019 - Spending the Day with Sister Cindy - Lab Work; Visit with Niece Melissa; Shopping; Visit with Stepdad Larry & Verna; Happy Birthday Party in Parsons

I had mentioned to Cindy a few weeks ago I'd like to visit her daughter Melissa before we left.  She and her husband remodeled their home sometime ago, but we weren't around when they had a party and invited everyone over.  So we decided that since we wouldn't be far from her house today we would drive over  after I have lab work in Vinita, OK at the Cherokee Health Center.  It's about a 45 minute drive to Vinita, and another hour or so from there to Neosho where Melissa lives.  We arrived around 9:15 (my lab work was at 8 - and it didn't take 10 minutes, if that).   The major remodel was their living room and kitchen.  They knocked out the walls into pretty much one LARGE room.  Talk about a kitchen you can LOVE!!!  A huge island and LOTS of cabinets.   It's a great place for entertaining for sure!  We got to visit with her and both of her girls Hannah and Kennedy too!!  Thanks for taking time for us Melissa!!

We stayed about 30-40 minutes before we headed north to Joplin, MO.  I needed to make a stop at Sam's to pick up batteries for Dean's hearing aids, and he wanted a part to clean them as well.  Unfortunately, the lady who does this is not there on Monday's.  Cindy has to come back tomorrow for some other things, so she is going to pick them up for me.

Our next stop was Khol's.  I had recently ordered some things from another company but they didn't work out so I wanted to check out what Khol's had.  I did not have any luck here either.  When we left there we stopped at Schlotzsky's for a sandwich.  They do make a good sandwich.  We set in the shade in my car with the A/C on to eat it.  Our next stop was at the Mall.  I needed to get a birthday present for granddaughter Kamron.  Even though her birthday isn't until August, I want to give her birthday present to her tonight, since we won't be back until mid-September.  I wasn't able to find but one of the things she had on her list, so I'll give her money to use toward something else.

While we were at the mall, I sent Verna a text to see if they were home.  She said yes, come on over for awhile.  Fifteen minutes later we were there.  We had a nice visit for 40 minutes or so.  They needed to leave for a doctor's appointment and I have things to do at home before "the party" tonight.

After returning home, I did the morning dishes (I rushed out before Dean was done), changed the sheets on the bed (doing laundry this afternoon and tomorrow) and did a little cleaning before we had to leave for Parsons.

Today is grandson Jackson's 7th birthday.  We are meeting Marc, Jen, Kamron and Jax at El Pueblito.  Jaxson loves cheese dip, so Mexican is always his favorite place to eat.  We picked up Haleigh and Isaiah and took them along too.  What a fun evening we had.  Marc's birthday was in June while we were gone - so he got his card tonight too.  I also mailed Heath's birthday card today - his birthday is also in June.  As I mentioned earlier Kamron got hers tonight as well.  I think I'm caught up with everyone now.  Whew!  August is right around the corner......a few more birthdays on the way!

Beautiful clouds this evening

Jaxson as Papa was giving him his presents.

The restaurant waiters came out to sing Happy Birthday to him.  When they put the sombrero on his head - he slid right down out of his chair, under the table.  He's pretty shy!  Dad had just picked him up in this picture.

He gets embarassed easy but the picture below

shows he still had a good time!

Sunday, July 7, 2019 - Working on Bentley; We All Head Home; and Away We Go

Sunday, July 7, 2019 - Working on Bentley; We All Head Home; and Away We Go

Dean headed in to see what was up with the troops while I did some preparation for our move today - assuming we would be able to move, if the brakes start working again.  He went out right away this morning to try the magnet out.  After messing with it a short while it worked!!!  Woo-hoo!  Let's hope this is the trick that makes it continue to work too!

When he came back, he told me that everyone wanted to go to Pittsburg to Harry's Cafe for breakfast.  I'm not one to pass up good food, nor is he.  It didn't take us long to get ready.  It's about a 20 minute drive from Brett's house.  We took up two large booths with out crowd.  Harry's is known for their cinnamon rolls and I've always wanted one.  I felt guilty ordering it, so I cut mine in half when it arrived and shared it with Brett, Emilee, Tucker and Dacy at my table, and then part of what I kept for myself with Dean later.  It was really delicious and HUGE.  I had plenty to eat even though I share more than half of it.  Everyone seemed to be quite happy with their meals.  

Sam was really trying to win Dacy over:

He is such a sweet baby!

The rest of the crew - Matt and family

Brett, Emilee, Tucker and Dacy

Princess Sarah and her Tea Set with Mommie

Telling Dacy goodbye.  

On the way back, we saw a few of the PSU Gorillas as we drove through downtown and on north.  Megan told Josh that his daddy, Matt was a gorilla.  Josh said he was a gorilla until he became a daddy.  (It was much cuter when he said it!)

Back at Brett's Matt and Megan loaded everything up, and pulled out around noon.  They plan to make it to Indianapolis, IN this evening, and finish the drive home on Monday.  After they left, we finished packing up.  Brett has prepped land next to where we park the RV for a small building.  With the rain we were concerned about the RV pulling out over the ditches he had to dig, so he and Brett put down boards for Bentley to go over as we pulled out.  I think it was a wise idea.  We had no problem getting through it but I think there would have been some big ruts had we not used the boards.  We said our goodbyes and gave hugs, then headed back to Oswego for a couple of days.

It was 2:00pm when we pulled in at Hillside RV Park.  We got the jacks down, unhitched and I put out the slides.  Just a short time later Haleigh called to see if we might want to go eat somewhere.  We told her sure, and away we went again!  While the RV was cooling down, we picked her up and headed to Parsons.  I needed a couple of things from Walmart and she did too, so we ate at the Subway there.  It's one of Haleigh's favorite places.  When we returned the RV felt much cooler and we relaxed the rest of the evening.  Ahhhhh!