Sunday, August 4, 2019 - Seibert, CO ... what? no Internet?

Sunday, August 4, 2019 - Siebert, CO ... what? no Internet?

Today was a LONG travel day for us.  We left Salina at 9:31am (Central Standard Time) and arrived in Sibert, CO at 2:08pm (Mountain Standard Time).....almost 5 1/2 hours.  The last thirty minutes seemed like much longer.  However, for the most part we enjoyed the ride.  We enjoy looking at the views and they are sure wide open in far western Kansas and eastern Siebert.

Leaving Salina and headed west toward Hays, Kansas and beyond!

 There was so much beautiful countryside to see:

wide open countryside

How times have changed - windmills to draw water? and now windmills to generate electricity?  What a comparison!

This was such a beautiful area!

Historical Marker at the Rest Stop

 More beautiful scenery:

As we neared this farm, something didn't look right...two of the grain bins had been damaged in a storm, or possibly collapsed.  

This looked like an old farmstead

We saw many fields of crops

How many cows can get shade from a billboard?  They were sure given it a try!

It looks like this road goes on forever....

 As we got closer I noticed these cars buried in the ground.  Dean said they may have put them there to try and keep the ground from washing away.

Lots of grain elevators in western Kansas:

 We made it to COLORADO!!

It looks like they've had a recent hailstorm and some rain

Our stop for the night - Seibert, CO with another grain elevator.

The park office, restrooms and laundry in the building to the right.  There were 9 spots on this side of the house and with us there were three RV's.  When we woke up in the morning - it was full!  

Seibert's grain elevator

Had to take this picture for the former telephone man in my life....a pay phone at the park!

We were so glad to get parked and set up.  Since we had full hookup sites, I took advantage of it and did two loads of laundry this evening.  We stopped at their local grocery store to pick up a couple of items, then across I-70 to fill the truck up.  We are set for the much shorter drive tomorrow.  

We were pretty disappointed that we had little to no internet service, although our Dish worked great.  I was almost caught up with the blog and now I'm behind again!  It was great for an overnight stop though!

Saturday, August 3, 2019 - Bentley is Moving....Uh Oh, we have a Booboo....Salina KOA are we glad to see you!

Saturday, August 3, 2019 - Bentley is Moving....Uh Oh, we had a Booboo....Salina KOA are we glad to see you!

I was awake a little after 4.  Fortunately, I was able to go back to sleep until almost 5:30.  I couldn't stay in bed any longer...Bentley is moving today.  Dean told me Wednesday evening that he had hitch itch and wouldn't mind leaving on Friday.  Normally, I would agree with him, but I had several things that needed to be done while we were here, so we nixed that idea this time.

After enjoying our morning coffee, we started packing things up. It was 9:22am when we pulled out of Hillside RV Park in Oswego and headed northwest.  Our trip today took us to Altamont, 

A couple of miles outside of Oswego (headed toward Altamont) - cloudy day!

then we took a back road around Parsons to Hwy 400.  

I love to see and watch cows in the fields

Large hay bales.

Love the reflection of the trees and sky in the pond.

This bird had his wings open - trying to dry off from the rain.

We made a bathroom stop in Fredonia where we also bought a few snacks, 

Hotel and Restaurant next to

a Convenience Store with a Subway

It wasn't too long and we were enjoying the beauty of the Flint Hills - I never tire of this area and can't help but take pictures.

The rain came.....and just as quickly it was gone.

Farmhouse - so pretty!

This area is one of my favorite places to travel, The Flint Hills.  It's a good thing, as many times as we make this trip.

You can see for miles!

Metal Sculptures....on

Sculpture Hill

Somewhere along the road after Augusta we pulled off the side of the road because the tire tracker indicated we were losing air.  It wasn't too bad, so we went on hoping we could find a tire shop on the way.

We made it to Andover, to a parking area north of Atwood's.  The stem valve on the tire had a hole in it.  How it happened all of a sudden, who knows?

I called several tire places trying to find someone who could fix it for us.  In the meantime I called Jarred to ask for his father-in-law's phone number, hoping he knew of a place since he works in Andover.  Jarred was on the road, returning from a trip to Kansas City.  He sent me Bill's number.  I called and sent a text, but he didn't see them until later.  Next, I called Heath to see if he might be able to drive over and take his dad along with the tire to a place to have it fixed - once we find one (which we did shortly after I called him).  I called at least 6 or 7 places - all no's, we can't help you.  Dean called one more shop after he found one more online and they said sure, bring it over!  Thank you Lord!  It happened to be the same place that Bill suggested to us when he saw my text a little later. 

Heath showed up about 20 minutes later.  They loaded the tire and were gone barely twenty minutes.  Dean said the guy took the tire, told them to go in and have a cold water and he'd have it done in just a little while - and he did.  We were so thankful we had such a good experience with this business!  We had been in the lot near Atwood's for almost two hours when we left, and while the temperatures were not horrible - the humidity made up for it.  

We thanked Heath for coming to our rescue.  Again, I just have to thank God this happened where it did.  We could have been headed north on I-135, or tomorrow while we were on I-70, but we were able to get off the road safely, and Heath was only 20-25 minutes away.  God always takes care of us.  I prayed before we left that he would be with us, and he surely was!

These clouds were pretty awesome!

I sent this to my kids - they knew where we were!  Their dad lives in the area and they've seen this many, many times over the years.

As we neared the park, we noticed this museum, with a church at the back of the property.  If we had more time I'd love to visit it.  It had quite a few old pieces of farm equipment that I'm sure Dean would have enjoyed seeing.

Jerry leading us to our site.

The rest of the drive was just fine.  It was 4:08pm when we pulled in the drive of Salina KOA, and were we glad to see it.  Dean was happy with the nice pull through site they lead us to.  The air conditioner came on, and we enjoyed just resting for a bit before I heated up the leftover chicken pot pie from last night for dinner.  

See the Tin Man on the lot.  

I didn't see this when it was full of kids.  Dean happened to look out the window as it went by.  I bet they loved riding in it.

After dinner we took a walk around the park.  We loved the various street signs that had a Kansas theme.  

I've been working on the blog ever since we've been here, except for fixing dinner, walking and cutting up some fresh peaches for an evening snack.  They sure were good.  It's now a little after 9.  We are both worn out from the week and today's events.  Tomorrow we are headed west on I-70 to Siebert, CO for another overnight stop.  

Friday, August 2, 2019 - Busy Day, Getting Things Done

Friday, August 2, 2019 - Busy Day, Getting Things Done

I was up around 5:30 and immediately set to work.  After making the coffee, and getting my desk set up to work at, I set down with my first cup of coffee for the morning.  Mmmm good!  I was on a mission to update our budget for July so I started right in and had it completed by 7:30 or before.  

Next big item was to download forms from Escapees to change our mail service.  Our cost overall will be nearly the same; however, we can have every piece of mail scanned and sent to us via email.  We can then either choose to have them destroy it or mail it to us with a date we select.  I love that option and wish we had looked into this before, but what's done is done.  It took some time to get through the forms, and I made a couple of calls back to Escapees with questions before I finished completing the forms.

It rained again this morning, so poor Dean lost out on golf four days this week.  He really enjoys playing and I know he was looking forward to it.  

Once Dean returned we had lunch.  I had him sign the paperwork for the mail service, then he followed me to my sister Jody's office so she or one of the other insurance clerks could notarize our signatures.  Next stop was at the courthouse to get voter registration cards, and then to the bank to put some things in our safe deposit box.  

I've been wanting to make a chicken pot pie.  I used to make these years ago, but it's been so long I don't have that recipe anymore.  I found one by searching the internet and Dean and I have both determined it is a WINNER!  I used pie crust, chunks of chicken, frozen vegetables of carrots, peas, corn and green beans, and added a mixture of chicken broth, milk, flour, butter, salt and pepper.  WOW - while I won't make it often, because it's not on our low carb diet it's a great comfort food for an occasional meal.  Sometimes you just need that!

We are leaving Oswego tomorrow (Saturday) morning.  I have to say we are a little apprehensive after sitting for so long, but we do feel like the brakes are working and everything is going to be just fine.  Our first stop will be at the Salina KOA RV Park.  

Thursday, August 1, 2019 - Doing Stuff at Bentley, Aunt Lil's Funeral and Visiting with "The Boys" Afterwards

Thursday, August 1, 2019 - Doing Stuff at Bentley, Aunt Lil's Funeral and Visiting with "The Boys" Afterwards

I kept busy this morning doing laundry, paperwork and cleaning.  Dean was at the garage piddling - he's in heaven when he's there.  It rained so he couldn't play golf today which was a little disappointing for him.  We've had quite a bit of rain this week - 4" one night and some lighter rains off and on.

I rode with Elmer, Cindy and Crystal to the funeral home in Chetopa.  Dean will join us later.  They are holding a visitation with friends and families before the funeral.  It was good to see many people we don't get to see on a regular basis.  

Rod Monroe did a wonderful job officiating at the funeral.  He has been a good friend of our families for many, many years.  

Afterwards, I rode with Dean to the cemetery.  Again, it was good to visit with different friends.  Afterwards, the boys invited us to stop by Aunt Lil's house to visit for awhile.  We stayed for an hour and a half, and Cindy took me home afterwards.  It's hard to say goodbye to someone you love.  She was ready to go and let us know that, but she will be missed!!  

Dean and I rode out by the golf course to visit with Misti for a while.  We wanted to see her before we left.  Afterwards, we stopped at Mi Pueblo to have dinner before heading home.  

Another bittersweet day!

Friday, July 26, 2019 - Wednesday, July 31, 2019 Catching Up

Friday, July 26, 2019 - Wednesday, July 30, 2019   Catching Up

Friday, July 26, 2019 

I want to back up a few days to give some background that was not included in the blog prior to this.  On Monday (July 22), my sister took my aunt to her doctor.  After her appointment she was admitted to the hospital.  Tuesday when we went to Parsons to take wood to Marc, Dean and I stopped to see her.  She was feeling much better.  It was a great visit with her as she was "Miss Chatty Cathy"!  

On Friday, July 26, I rode to Joplin with Cindy and granddaughter Kennedy to meet her daughter Melissa in Joplin.  Kennedy spent the week with Cindy.  Melissa had to be in Joplin so it worked well to meet up with her there.  After we dropped Kennedy off we headed to Sam's.  

On the way to Joplin, I told Cindy I'd like to go see our Aunt this afternoon.  So after we returned to Oswego, and had some lunch, we decided to  leave for Parsons around 3.  I made a strawberry dessert before we left as we are going to play cards with Cindy and Elmer again this evening.  Cindy picked me up a short time later.  When we arrived at the hospital our aunt was asleep, but after she woke I saw a big change from Tuesday to today.  Our cousins (her boys) had been in and out throughout the day.   She told us they were going to move her to the Columbus Hospital tomorrow to their swing bed program, so we'll plan to go over there this weekend.  We didn't stay too long as she was tired from the physical therapy she had the last few days.

We made it back to Oswego just a short time before Brett, Logen and Emilee came by with Brett's trailer to help Dean move some things.  Logen stayed here at Bentley with me while they took care of the moving.  She drew me several pictures of dresses while we visited.  She's a real cutie with a pretty remarkable vocabulary for a 4...almost 5 year old!

After they left I threw together something for supper and we made it to Cindy and Elmer's a few minutes after six.  They recently replaced all of the closet doors in their house.  They had three closets with 2 sets of double louvered doors for each closet.  Cindy wanted to know if Dean could use them to make shelving for all of our tubs.  He said sure, so we loaded them up before we set down to play cards.  This will be a great savings to us, so we were thrilled they offered them to us.  Thanks Cindy & Elmer!

Cindy and I had a great evening, winning 3 out of 4 games against the guys!  The last game of the evening - Cindy and I really skunked them, beating the guys 54 to 0!!!!

It was a bittersweet day - a good time with Cindy, Kennedy and Elmer, and a sad day knowing our aunt is not feeling well.


Saturday, July 27, 2019 

This morning was catch up for me.  Laundry, cleaning, working on a few blog posts and looking into options for changing our mail service.  We haven't been real happy with our service so we are looking at various companies who provide this.  I need to make a decision soon as we'll have three months to get changes made before our current plan ends.

It was a busy day but my mind wasn't entirely focused, as all I can do is think about our aunt and her boys.


Sunday-Monday, July 28 & 29, 2019 - Big Loss for Our Family; Visiting with Friends and Family

After church, my sisters and I met at sister Jody's where we had some great conversation and a really good dessert.  When I returned to the RV Park, I talked to my cousin, my aunt's youngest son.  He told me we really needed to go see his mom.  I called my sisters and we spent the next couple of hours visiting with our aunt - and her boys before we left for home.  When we went to bed, I had my phone on the shelf next to me, but for some reason I must have shut my sound off at sometime and forgot to turn it back up.  I went to bed early because I had a really bad headache.  I woke up at 2am because my neck and upper shoulders were hurting.  I picked up my phone and took it downstairs.  That's when I noticed I had a text message - it was from my sister Cindy - my aunt had passed away around 10pm.  We knew it was coming - but you are never fully prepared for it.  So many thoughts of her and memories floated through my head.  She was the baby of the family.  My mom (3rd of 5 children) and Aunt Lil were very, very close.  When my mom died 26+ years ago, our aunt stepped up and became "our surrogate mother" for all of these years, a pact made between the two of them many years ago.  They agreed if something happened to one of them, the other would step in and "mother" the children of the other.  She did that so well and was such a blessing to all of us.  I know how hard it was for our aunt to lose my mom, her best friend, and she never, ever let us down!  Thank you Aunt Lil for all you did for us.  We love you forever.

Aunt Lil and her boys

One of my favorite pictures of both of these special ladies - my sister Cindy and Aunt Lil - Aunt Lil told us at the hospital my mom once told her that Cindy should have been her daughter she was so much like her; - she really was her mini-me.  

Aunt Lil and her sister, Aunt Wilma

Aunt Lil with sisters, Aunt Betty and Aunt Wilma

Aunt Lil and husband, Uncle Gary

Aunt Lil and brother Uncle Richard.

I took some Ibuprofen when I first came downstairs.  After sitting for a couple of hours my head was not hurting as bad, so I returned to bed and managed to sleep another couple of hours.  I told Dean I would be going to the chiropractor this morning.  I'm not sure what I did, maybe it was just the stress of the past several days, but I was ready for it to go away!

I was able to get an appointment for 8 this (Monday) morning.  Thirty minutes later I felt a little better - but I knew from past instances like this I would probably experience some more pain before the day was over.  It is usually the next day before I feel normal.  We had several things planned for today though so we kept moving, and I think it helped that we did.

We met our Escapee friends, Keith and Drena at Downstream Casino in Joplin for lunch at 11:30.  We haven't seen them since before their visit to Colorado in June. It was great to  isit with them.  We really appreciated them thinking of us while they were in the area.  They have an appointment in the morning to have their tires aligned in Pittsburg, so this is a good stopover for them.  We had a great lunch and visited for nearly two hours.  Thank you both for your kind words and asking us to join you.

Our next stop was in Joplin to see my step-dad and Verna.  We had a very nice visit with them as well, before we needed to head back to Oswego.  

We weren't home too long when Brett and Emilee stopped by.  We had a nice visit and they shared 3D pictures of the baby they are expecting in January.  Yes, we are going to be grandparents again - #14, and with Logen #15.  Wow!  Six children between us and now 15 grandchildren!  

We suggested going to eat, but everything in Oswego was closed (except Pizza Hut - and we just had that Sunday).  So, we threw out a few options and finally decided to follow them to Columbus where we had a great meal at Los Lunas, and enjoyed visiting over our wonderful meals.

We had a very full day!  It helped for me to keep busy most of the day.  I don't think you are ever prepared for the loss of someone that is so special in your life - even when you know it is coming - and; we didn't expect it to happen so quickly.



Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - Bentley Gets Fixed!  Preparing Food and Riding with Cindy to Vinita, OK

I woke up with NO PAIN this morning!  I am so thankful.  It started hurting Friday evening and gradually got worse over the weekend, so it was wonderful to wake up feeling good this morning.

Today is the day Bentley is going to be repaired.  Dean and I were up early to make sure things were packed up and ready to go by 8:30 so Bentley could travel to Chetopa to have the actuator for our disc brakes replaced.  We are optimistic this will be the final fix.  

All of this time, we've wondered why we were having all of these problems - but I truly believe in the power of God, and now I'm certain he was keeping us here for a reason.  I would have been heartbroken to have missed the opportunities I had to visit with my aunt over the past week.  Now, I am so thankful that we were still here.  He has shown me so many times over the past two years that if you trust him he will always be there for you - even when it doesn't seem like it might work out.  It reminds me of this song "Trust and Obey - for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey."  I am happy in Jesus today that we decided he wanted us here for a reason so we trusted him.  With trust, our attitudes changed from being upset with the situation to one of being happy with our circumstances, knowing God had us here for a reason.

Dean took the RV to Chetopa and I headed to Cindy's.  My sisters and I are taking food to our cousins later today.  I made a spice cake - one their mom often made for them.  Cindy is making sloppy joe's and I bought paper products for their family to use over the next several days.  Crystal made no-bake cookies (she makes the best) and everyone loves them, and Jody also made a cake.

Dean called me shortly before Cindy and I left for Vinita to let me know he had picked up Bentley.  We had discussed earlier he should take the long route back home to make sure everything continued to work.  He drove a little over 50 miles before returning to the RV Park and the brakes are working!  Woo-hoo!  They have usually quit before we hit 50 miles, so this is good news!!

Cindy had an appointment at the Cherokee Clinic in Vinita, so I rode along with her.  She was in and out in about 45 minutes.  She wanted to make a stop at Walmart, so I picked up a few things while I was there as well.  When we returned to Oswego we took all of the food down to Aunt Lil's house, where the boys have been gathering each day.  They invited us to stay and eat with them so we did.  It was great to just visit with them and go through some pictures and papers the boys had found, sharing a few stories.  Dean and I left a little early.  I had only been back to Bentley for a few minutes all day, and I really needed to unpack and get things back to normal.

It was an early night in the Peine RV - we were both tired after a very full day.


Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - Phone Calls; Visit with Friends; Remembering Our Aunt Lil; Mail Call

Dean headed to the garage this morning to "piddle", and I did a few things here at Bentley - including making some calls about mail service, and visiting with a couple of friends (Dennis & Pam, and Joyce) about their mail service.  When I visited with Joyce, we also discussed meeting up with them at Yellowstone in a couple of weeks.  We have decided to wait until Saturday to leave Oswego.  We are meeting Joyce and Frank at Yellowstone where we will spend a week.  I am sure it will be a great time.  We are hoping to see wildlife and beautiful scenery, with stops at Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Tetons and Flaming Gorge in northern Utah, ending at our main destination of Yellowstone.  I'll be glad for the opportunity to take pictures of scenery and interesting things along the way to share with you all - versus only sharing our daily routine and little side trips.

I fixed leftovers for lunch today - I'm trying to use up stuff in the refrigerator.  At 1:00 I met the boys and Cindy at Aunt Lil's house to talk to Rod Monroe, who is going to officiate at Aunt Lil's funeral tomorrow.  We shared many memories, shed a few tears and many laughs.  Thank you guys for asking us if we wanted to attend.

Dean and I headed to Pittsburg after that to pick up our mail.  My new globes for the lighting over our kitchen island had arrived, as well as my new health insurance policy and  insurance cards. 

It's just the angle I took the picture, I guess - they really are straight!

Dean was looking for a part he needed for the lawnmower and we bought another large plastic tub for more storage.  We may have a sale on tubs someday if we ever get them emptied!!!

We made it back about 4:30.  I made supper - hamburger patties with cheese, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.  Yummmm!  

It was a good day remembering so many wonderful times with Aunt Lil and her boys - some of our best friends!