October 15-19, 2017 - Sequoya State Park, Hulbert, OK

October 15-19, 2017 - Sequoya State Park, Hulbert, OK 

Sunday, October 15, 2017
We took our time getting around this morning since we cannot check into our site at Sequoya State Park until 2:00 p.m., however we have to check out of Cone's RV Park by 12:00, so shortly after 12:00 we pulled out and drove less than 20 miles to our next stop.  We drove slower than normal, trying to waste a bit of time.  As we pulled into the campgrounds, we stopped at the camp host site and found no one was in our site, so in no time we were parked and unhitched shortly after 1:00.  

We were the first of our Chapter 17 Escapees group to arrive.  After getting everything set up inside we had some lunch and then enjoyed sitting outside for awhile.  The weather was beautiful and we have a lovely location.  There is not a campsite directly behind us so we have a wonderful view of Fort Gibson Lake out our back window to the east so we should see some pretty sunsets while we are here.  While it warmed up during the day, it was cool enough I wore jeans most of the time while we were camped here.  I enjoy this time of the year very much.

We had some beautiful sunsets but this was the only one I took a picture of.

It wasn't too long until our friends Keith & Drena pulled in.  They stopped and visited for a bit before moving on to their site several spaces down the road from us.  Just a short while later the President of our Chapter, Alvin drove in.  He lives in the area and his wife will drive out later.  We had our evening meal on our own, and then gathered at Alvin and Linda's to visit for awhile.


Monday, October 16, 2017
We missed walking each morning while we were at Tahlequah, since the RV Park was not large or in a good location for walking.  We did try to get in steps in other ways but just not our normal morning walks where we try to get in 2-2.5 miles at a fairly decent pace, usually 1 mile in 17 minutes depending on the amount of inclines we encounter.  We want to get back into our daily walking routine, so we headed out as soon as it was light enough.  This area is full of deer and we were not disappointed when we saw these beautiful creatures near the road ahead of us as we left the campground.

This morning we walked the outer road of the campsites in the Seminole area, then followed the road leading to the campground out to the main road, before returning to the campground and our site.

Later today our host for this campground, Phil and Janelle pulled in.  They also live nearby.  Phil loves to prepare smoked meats on his Traeger grill and we are looking forward to what he will be making us tomorrow night at our potluck meal.  

Each day we would gather at Alvin and Linda's rig or Phil and Janelle's (depending on where we could get out of the direct sun once it warmed up) to enjoy each other's company.  We never seem to lack for a topic of conversation.

Later in the day Dean and CarolAnn pulled in, and not too long afterwards Bob and Patty arrived.  This rounds out the 6 rigs attending this campout.  Dean and CarolAnn were not able to obtain a reservation for the entire time of the campout due to fall break starting later this week for the Oklahoma schools, but we are so glad they were able to spend a good part of it with us.  Later most of us caravanned into Wagoner, OK to have dinner at Lopez Grill Mexican Restaurant.  We ate here last year and it was delicious so I was very glad to return.  I have a tendency to be redundant with food choices and therefore selected the same thing from last year - carnitas.  Do you see a pattern here?  Tahlequah.... Wagoner...where to next for more carnitas?

After we returned to the campground Alvin started a campfire and we all showed up with coats and blankets to enjoy the fire and beautiful night sky. 

Enjoying the campfire.

Drena is a real computer tech (or at least as compared to the rest of us).  She shared a site that tells us when we can view the International Space Station in our area.  It so happens it will be making a showing over us this week - including tonight and tomorrow night.  How exciting!  The stars were just beautiful, the company was great, and we enjoyed making smores (thanks to Alvin and Linda who brought the necessary ingredients).  At the appropriate time, we finally located the space station as it went over - what a neat experience.  I tried to take a picture but by the time I got to the camera on my phone and found it's location, it moved behind a tree and I missed it.  Maybe tomorrow night??

By the time I got my camera ready the space station was buried somewhere behind this tree!

We called it a night about 9:00 and returned to Bentley.  Tomorrow is the first official day of the October casual campout.  


Tuesday, October 17, 2017
This morning we didn't have to walk far to see our four legged friends - they were right outside our back window.  We are fortunate that no one is parked near us at our site and they were enjoying this open area.  (You may need to enlarge this picture to see all of the deer)

After our morning walk we returned to Bentley.  Tonight is our potluck dinner.  I am making a low carb blackberry cobbler.  After breakfast, a shower, doing a little housework around Bentley and making the cobbler, we didn't walk down to where the others were parked until after lunch.  We spent the afternoon visiting with everyone.

Our host Phil got an early start this morning around 7 to begin smoking the pork butts he will have for us at our potluck this evening.  Everyone set around his site today - moving as the shade changed.  It was quite warm during the day and we were enjoying the sunshine.  A little before 5, everyone left to get their potluck dish and bring it back to Phil and Janelle's.  Their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren joined us for dinner.  

Linda was having a fun time with their grandson - as they raced to and around the fire pit.

There is one thing everyone in these camping clubs do well - and that is cook.  We never lack for good food and tonight was no exception.  The other thing we do well is visit - never seeming to lack for something to talk about, often related to camping in some way or another, where we've been, what we see, computers and apps, working on problems, etc. with lots of laughing thrown in!  What a great time we have.

After our dinner and everyone had taken their leftovers back to their rigs, we joined up at the fire pit again this evening with plans to seek out the space station again.  Tonight I was better prepared for pictures than the previous evening.  

Now, this is enlarged significantly and you cannot see the shape like we could as we watched it move across the sky, but this white dot is the space station!  You can check out the website to find where and when you can view the space station here.

 And we enjoyed another nice campfire.  

A great ending to another beautiful day.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Once we had our morning coffee and it was light enough we headed out for our morning walk where we saw our friends again.

After our morning walk this morning, we were on a mission.  Recently, we've noticed that every time we leave home or a campground one of our slides and some of our jacks have not come all the way in, or up.  If we wait a few minutes and try again they always finish coming in or up but it may take a few times of trying before they completely retract.  I was reading Facebook a few days ago and I saw a post from one of our fellow Heartlander's, (Heartland is the brand of our RV) Mike where he shared how he had recently replaced a 50 amp circuit breaker so his slides go in and out without stopping a few times.  I passed this on to Dean, so today we headed into Muskogee to the same RV supply store we visited last year while we were here when our toilet broke.  For less than $6 we now have slides and jacks that work just like they are supposed to.  Thank you Mike for sharing your RV repairs and making it such an easy fix for us!  We are not sure if we are jinxed while here with RV repairs or blessed that we've been able to get the fix or repairs as needed so quickly on short notice.  I've decided I'll go with the blessing!!

So great news, about 3 this afternoon I received a text message from a couple that has looked at the house a couple of times now and they made an offer on our house.  We are pretty excited that maybe something will happen here and we can move on with our plans for a full-time life in our Bentley for the next several years.  

Dean and I decided to take a walk around the campground after lunch and we walked down to the lake and followed the shoreline.  It was such a beautiful day.  We enjoyed watching some pelicans and seagulls.  

Advertising son Marc's hobby business!!

Fort Gibson Lake shoreline at Seminole Campground 

Today was another day of visiting with our SKP friends, and tonight we are having a weiner roast at the campfire.  Dean and I brought hot dogs from our local locker.  Once we had some of Matt's dogs we prefer them over others we have tried and we wanted to share the goodness!  Everyone seemed to enjoy them.  After all, is there anything better than cooking over an open fire?  Phil and Janelle added some chili and fritos.  We had other condiments and toppings including ketchup, mustard, relish, onions, cheese, jalapenos, along with a few other dishes and desserts.  I made loaded deviled eggs - cooking the eggs in my instapot - the only way I will ever make hard boiled eggs again.  Someone mentioned how much they missed Carolyn's (a member of our SKP Chapter 17 group) deviled eggs.  I've never made "loaded deviled eggs" before but decided I'd give it a try and while they were not as good as Carolyn's they were not too bad.  We missed you Carolyn!  It was another great meal!  We will never go hungry at these campouts!

The campground has really been filling up as many young camping families are moving in due to the fall school break here in Oklahoma.  It's nice to see the kids having a good time but the noise level has definitely increased!  

After our dinner, we enjoyed another campfire, but this time Alvin fired up his pellet fire pit.  Dean and I really liked the idea of this as the wood burns down entirely, and then the two parts stack together for easy storing that takes up little space.  You can take a closer look at the pellet fire pit on Amazon here.  

Thursday, October 19, 2017
After our morning walk, we showered and were ready to head to Tahlequah with our group to have lunch at Restaurant of the Cherokees.  I have to admit I wasn't really excited about going here - mainly because I wasn't sure if there would be anything on their buffet for me to eat and stay within my low carb diet, but I managed to do pretty well and the food was really good.  I started with a decent side salad to help fill me up so I wouldn't eat much of the other items, and then I had one piece of fried chicken - a leg, some pork loin with a small amount of cornbread dressing and lots of green beans.  While I didn't stick entirely to my diet, I tried to limit the carbs and I didn't eat breakfast this morning to try and balance out my total carbs for the day.

After thinking about the offer we received on our house yesterday, as you can imagine it was constantly on our minds yesterday afternoon, evening and we woke up thinking about it this morning.  We decided to submit a counteroffer and I sent a text before we headed to lunch.

Afterwards we enjoyed visiting the gift shop next door before heading back to our campsite.  This is our last day here and we enjoyed visiting with our SKP friends one last time before we pack up and head home tomorrow.  

About mid-afternoon I received another text and the couple wanting to purchase our house  accepted our counter offer.  We will meet with them tomorrow evening at the house to discuss the details and get a contract signed so we can begin the process of closing on the sale.  It's one of those things you want to happen so bad and then it does and it's like wow - now what?  Fortunately we have little left in the house to either pack, give away, sell or dispose of so it can be finished in a week or so pretty easily.  However going through everything in the two garages we have, finding somewhere to store it for a few months until we return from South Texas in April, making a decision on where we will domicile (an address that will determine where we vote, obtain our driver's license, etc.) and most of all handling the address changes and banking changes we will need to make are what I believe will be the most time consuming.  But we are up to the challenge or we wouldn't have moved forward with this plan of full-time living.  Divide and conquer will get it done.

We enjoyed our last evening together with our friends around one last campfire, before heading back to Bentley.  Earlier today I worked on getting some things put away in preparation for leaving tomorrow so it shouldn't take too long to finish packing in the morning and we hope to be back in Oswego before 1pm.

Friday, October 20, 2017

We were up and out for our last morning walk here in Sequoyah State Park this morning before we had our breakfast and finished getting things packed up.  We were ready to pull out around 9:30.  We walked up to say goodbye to everyone and while I was still visiting Dean walked back down to get Bentley, then he stopped to pick me up on his way out.  We made a stop at the "dump station" to dump our waste before we made the trip home.  Our drive home was pretty uneventful and we pulled in shortly before 1pm as we planned.

My plan at this point is to try and write something everyday as we compete the process of becoming full-time RVer's.  I'd like to have this as a diary of sorts of all that goes on in the next 40 days or so as we complete the sale, rid ourselves of what is left, how we deal with it, etc.  I think it will be interesting to review once this phase of our lives moves into the full-time lifestyle.

Stay tuned!

October 12-14, 2017 – Cone’s RV Park, Tahlequah, OK & Side Trip to Mount Vernon, MO

October 12-14, 2017 – Cone’s RV Park, Tahlequah, OK & Mount Vernon, MO

I'm sorry for the time lapse in posting this.  Unfortunately, Verizon notified me I had used all of my 20gb of hotspot on my phone in less than one week.  I'm not sure that is possible since I never went over when I only had 10gb when I used the hotspot for the entire month, and I had barely even used my hotspot this month.  But that lowered the speed to like 600 kbps and in the middle of trying to finish this once we returned home, Windows 10 decided to do an update as I was trying to finish it - you can only imagine how long that took at these slow speeds.  By the time it finally finished I was too tired to add the pictures.  Since we had plans the past few days this is the first time I've had a chance to get it completed.  Hopefully I can get caught up soon and get back to regular posts.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

After a couple of cooler days, we enjoyed one more morning of temperatures in the upper 40’s-low 50’s for our morning walk before we take off for several days to our next RV adventure.  We walk at least 2 miles every morning (weather permitting) in our city park in Oswego.  We really have one of the most beautiful parks for a community our size.  It is located on an approximate 100’ bluff overlooking the Neosho River Valley, there is a beautiful overlook constructed of native stone situated right at the edge of the bluff where you can capture some beautiful sunsets, watch eagles fly and enjoy some beautiful scenery.  One of my favorite views is the sunrise hitting the morning fogs as they hang in the valley area. 

Upon completing our walk, we returned home to complete our list of to-do’s before hitching up and heading south to Tahlequah, OK.  After breakfast, I did part of my “packing” – or putting things away for the drive.  We like to have bottled water with us when we are attending rallies for the convenience of not having to worry about leaving one of our drinking glasses somewhere, so I needed to stop at the grocery store.  I noticed they were on sale for $2.88 for 24 bottles, so I picked up 2 of them.  When I got to the counter I discovered as a Facebook special they were only $1.88 each so I was happy about that. 

We had left a note for our mail carrier to deliver our mail today, and then to hold it until we get home the end of October.  I had ordered some prescriptions on Monday and was hoping to get them before we left.  Our mail carrier usually arrives around 1-1:30 but evidently either changed her route or was running late today and we finally decided to leave close to 2:00.   My daughter went by and checked later and while we had a little mail, there was no RX.  Oh well, we will be home next Friday for a couple of days before taking off again, so we’ll pick it up then. 

We decided to take US Highway 59 (rather than the horribly bumpy Highway 69) towards Tahlequah.  At Chetopa (8 miles south of Oswego) we turned south onto Highway 59 and drove the 2 miles to Oklahoma, when we noticed a sheriff’s vehicle and a deputy in the road stopping people just before the state line.  It was our old neighbor William.  He asked if we were headed toward Grove and when we said yes, he told us we might want to turn around and take a different route.  They were rerouting traffic due to a gas leak between the state line and Welch, OK.   So, Dean pulled onto the state line road, backed Bentley up, turned around and we headed back north.  Fortunately, we can go east through Chetopa and pass through the now “ghost town” of Picher, OK to Miami, OK, through Fairland, OK then south on OK Highway 125 a short distance where we intersected with 59 highway that leads us through Grove, OK.  After spending so much time in Grove during most of our married life we always enjoying driving through and seeing any changes that might have occurred – and we did that today.  A few new restaurants and storefronts but overall it has not changed too much since our last trip through.  We did enjoy seeing some of the beautiful white pelicans that are frequenting Grand Lake of the Cherokees right now.  They are always a delight to watch. 

The rest of our drive was enjoyable although a little longer due to the twisting roads but it was a nice ride through the countryside.  This is one of the things about RVing that we love the most is getting off the Interstates and making use of US and State highways to enjoy the scenery.  As we drew closer to Tahlequah, we enjoyed following Highway 62 along the Illinois River (known for it’s canoeing) to the east and Hanging Rocks, part of the Ozark Mountains on the west.  It was a beautiful drive winding down through this stretch of highway.  Unfortunately, the trees were not quite turning well enough for a big showing yet but it won’t be long until they will be.  Here are a few pictures I took on our drive from Tahlequah to Mount Vernon:

This is our first visit to Tahlequah and I’m excited about visiting for a few reasons.  ''

Welcome to Tahlequah

The street signs include the Cherokee Indian language as well.

First of all, Tahlequah is the Capital City of the Cherokee Indians, second, my friend Karen lives here (who I have not seen in nearly 30 years) and third, I will finally get my follow-up PFT and CT scan so I can hopefully begin reducing the prednisone I’ve been taking for almost 6 months.  As a Cherokee, I am very interested in the history of the Cherokee Nation and Tahlequah is full of it so we intend to visit a few places while we are here.  I am very excited to see my friend Karen again.  When we were married to our former husband's we spent lots of time together and her son and my daughter were born a few months apart, so we shared the excitement of having our first babies together.  After Karen and her family moved to California we didn’t see each other as much but we have stayed in contact on Facebook.  Of course, I am very anxious to get these tests done and I’m expecting good news that will cause my doctor to begin taking me off prednisone.  I feel great even though I am experiencing some side effects from the medication.  The sooner I can quit taking it the better it will be. 

We pulled into Cone’s Quick Stop – a convenience store where we check in and pay for our site.  The RV Park is located behind it – mostly hidden by a few buildings and some trees.  It isn’t anything fancy but it is clean with nice easy to access hookups, grassy sites and a few small trees.  They only have two of four rows open for use.  It appears the last two rows have not yet been used.  There are only 5 sites taken when we arrive out of the 20 that are open.  It appears to be a great location for just a few days.  The rate is $25 a night for full hookups/50 amp.  We select site 9 because we think Bentley’s slides will fit best among the trees at this site.  It was slightly unlevel, but that was remedied by placing a couple of boards under the tires on the door side of Bentley.  This is not that unusual, and we try to be prepared for it.  We were soon set up and had the AC running.  Karen texted me about the time we pulled into the campground to see if we had arrived yet.  We will go pick her up later and bring her out to see the RV and visit a bit.  In the meantime, we had dinner – leftover chili from a night or two ago.  I like an easy meal on a travel day.  After cleaning up the dishes, Karen texted she was ready so we drove in to pick her up.  I wanted to check out the hospital location and where I needed to go tomorrow, so we drove through and Karen was helpful in providing some directions.  We gave her a tour of Bentley when we arrived at the campground and visited for an hour or so before taking her back to her house.  It was great getting caught up on our lives.  Tomorrow evening we will have dinner together and have an opportunity to visit again.

Friday, October 13, 2017

We slept great last night with the windows open – such a nice breeze.  What a great time of the year!  We have several hours before my first appointment, scheduled for 11 this morning, so we took our time getting ready.  I made eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast and did the dishes.  We had our showers and about 10:15 we headed to the hospital.  I wasn’t sure if I would need to fill out any forms or provide any information so we wanted to arrive early enough to allow time for that if needed. 

W W Hastings Hospital, Talequah, OK

What a busy place this hospital was.  We had to park in the back 40 to maneuver Maxx (our truck) into a spot, but that just gave us more steps for the day!  

Dana, the Pulmonary Testing technician had called me just as we arrived at the RV park yesterday to remind me of my appointment.  She had provided directions on where to find her once we arrived at the hospital.  Our first stop was at the registration area where the nicest lady quickly had me in the system for both tests.  She was so pleasant and visited with me a little while getting things set up.  We moved down the hall to the Pulmonary Testing area.  I noticed a sign on the door that indicated the technician would be back soon.  Within 5 minutes or so she arrived and took the sign off and then turned around and said my name.  We got started a little early and it took almost an hour to complete the testing which is a lot of taking big breaths, blowing out as hard and long as she instructed me to, and lots of puffing in and out with big breaths out and in afterwards.  They shut you in a little enclosed area for one of the tests which evidently cause some people to be claustrophobic, but it didn’t bother me. 

We had a little over 4 hours until the next test, so we returned to Bentley for a little lunch and then we drove slightly over a mile from our campsite to the Cherokee Heritage Center.   There are several things here we wanted to see but were only able to take in two of them due to the time available.   (On our way to Tahlequah, I checked to see how far we are from Sequoyah State Park and found it was only 17 miles.  That’s our next stop for a casual campout with our Escapee friends.  Now that we know we are so close we will plan to return to Tahlequah a few days before or after our stay here in the future.  October seems to be the month for a campout here.  Three of our members live in nearby Wagoner and one of them hosts this annual campout each year.)  Now that we know we will often be close to Tahlequah, we can plan to take a few days to visit here in the future to see Karen and enjoy learning more about the Cherokee Nation.

While there are 4 different areas we could visit, we didn’t have time to see all of them today.  We chose to take a walking tour with a young lady who explained many of the Cherokee Indian traditions to us.  We viewed both a summer and winter house.  The summer house was a long rectangular structure that was constructed of young trees and mud.  They could put water on the inside walls to keep the inside cooler.  There was seating around the outer walls that was also used for sleeping and several within a family could live within this hut.  The guide told us that the women owned the homes and a husband would join the family of his wife.  The children are taught at a young age how to work within the village and one task would include making pottery, and she explained this process to us.  Thatched seating was constructed along all the walls of the house and besides seating it is also used as the sleeping area for all who lived in the house.

Next, we visited a winter house which is a round structure which usually sets lower to the ground to keep it warm during cold winters.  There was only one opening and the outer wall extended out beyond the inner wall a significant distance to keep the cooler temperatures from entering the house.  An open fire could be built in the center of the house to heat the structure and for cooking purposes.  Again, seating was around the outer walls and these were used as sleeping areas.  Animals pelts were used as blankets to keep them warm. 

Other things we learned about were blow guns and darts, games they played such as stick ball that resembles the modern European game of lacrosse.  Two young men gave a demonstration of how the game was played.  A large pole is in the center of a large playing field.  A fish was attached at the top and if you hit it you received points, a small piece of wood extended above it and hitting it provided several points and if you hit within a range marked just below the fish would also provide some points.  The ball was made from either a rock or large nut (walnut possibly) and wrapped with soft leather.

Watching arrowheads being made by one of the Cherokee was quite interesting.  It’s apparent this is an art that demands much time and thought.  It was impressive to watch him use various ways to strike the stone to take off small and larger pieces for a completed arrowhead.  It’s great they are keeping these practices alive for future generations to know and learn.

After our tour guide explained how bows are made two young Cherokee men demonstrated their use by shooting several arrows in to a large round hay bale.  One of the young men definitely had better aim than the other and it was impressive to watch them.

The final stop was the construction of canoes.  Most canoes were made from cottonwood trees, a soft wood.  They would begin to remove the bark and cut into the tree and burn out the hollow until it reached the depth and width they wanted.  Depending on the size of the tree, it could carry quite a few.

We found this tour very interesting, and I apologize for not getting pictures of these various stops.

Finishing this tour, we still had a small amount of time before I needed to return to the hospital for my second test, so we visited the museum inside of the Heritage Center.  The only thing on display today was a depiction of the Trail of Tears.  It was quite moving and extremely sad to see how these folks were treated, being uprooted from their homes in various places around the United States and forced to move through difficult conditions to reach their new homes in Oklahoma.  The stories told by family members of the hardships along the way were heartbreaking.  There was a large number who died in their journey through very harsh conditions to reach their new home.  It was a sombering experience to say the least.  Here are a few pictures:

Enlarge these pictures to read the plaques.  It's hard to imagine the difficulties and pain they went through.

Leaving the Heritage Center, we could not help by notice these large greenhouses.  I'm not positive, but it appeared these houses were full of poinsettias.  

We headed back to the hospital and arrived in plenty of time to find the Radiology Department where we waited for my name to be called.  It wasn’t long when a technician called out my first name.  I walked with her through a maze of halls and doorways for the test.  When we reached the door where the CT Scan was to take place she asked me for my full name and when I said Peine, she asked me again and to spell it.  She said I’m sorry but that’s not the name I have – what are the chances – 2 Cheri’s to have a CT Scan at almost the same time, so back through the maze I went to wait a little longer.  It wasn’t long though and they returned to get me and this time asked for my full name before they took me back.  In less than 15 minutes I was done with the test and we stopped at the Medical/Legal Office to fill out paperwork that would ensure my doctor in Joplin received a copy of both the PFT and CT Scan results.

We had over an hour before we would meet Karen so we returned to Bentley where we enjoyed having some time to relax.  At 5:30 we drove to Karen’s and then stopped at a Mexican Restaurant she recommended.  It was quite good.  I had one of my favorite dishes – Carnitas.  Dean had a burrito I believe and we both thought the food was quite good.  Afterwards we asked Karen if she would mind directing us to the historical downtown area of Tahlequah and give us a bit of a tour and she was agreeable to do so.  Here are a few pictures I took in the area.  It was beginning to get dark so some of these are not the best and of course we were moving when I took most of them, so the quality is not great and I apologize for that.

Cherokee National Capitol

Tahlequah City Office Complex - former Armory

Building on Campus of Northeastern State University 

It was late so we did not get out and walk the university but it's something I'd like to do in a future trip as it was a beautiful campus.

"Taken from "Tahlequah Visitors Guide":  As you enter Northeastern State University’s Tahlequah campus, the paved walkway leading from Muskogee Avenue will take you on a path that embodies the history and heritage of NSU. From the bronze sculpture of Sequoyah, noted 19th century Cherokee diplomat and creator of the Cherokee syllabary, to the clock tower on Seminary Hall that is a symbol of this institution, you will participate in a very unique experience. Northeastern State University was founded as the Cherokee National Female Seminary. This historic link to the Cherokee Nation and Indian Territory make Northeastern the oldest institution of higher learning in Oklahoma. The original Seminary was built in Park Hill south of Tahlequah and destroyed by fire on Easter Sunday 1887. On May 7, 1889, the Cherokee National Female Seminary was dedicated north of Tahlequah, where it would continue to provide learning opportunities for young women for 20 years. Seminary Hall is now the historic centerpiece of Northeastern State, and each year on May 7, descendants of Seminarians gather to observe Seminaries Homecoming in honor of our first students."

After dropping Karen off at her house, we returned to Bentley where I spent time straightening things up, then relaxing before heading to bed.  It was really great seeing Karen again and we look forward to future visits when we are in the area.  Tomorrow is another big day for us.  I asked Dean to help me remember to get a picture of Karen and I together before we left, but we both failed to follow up.  Very disappointed in us!!

Saturday, October 14, 2017 – Mount Vernon, MO

You might remember me mentioning our friends we met in the Kansas City, MO area, Mark and Karen.  We’ve met up with them twice now while staying in KC, at two different city parks in the Lee’s Summit area.  Mark’s family, the Adamson’s, built a log cabin in 1858.  I’m sorry but I do not remember the original location.  Several years ago it was moved from the original site to Mount Vernon where it now sits next to a former church, which is used as a museum, community center and a wedding chapel.

“From the website:  Jones Memorial Chapel is much more than a wedding chapel.  The half-century old stone community building in Mt. Vernon, MO is not only home to a wedding chapel, but it has a reception/community meeting room available for rent, a museum and, on the same grounds, a pre-Civil War cabin.” 

Jones Memorial Chapel

As I noted, the cabin was constructed and owned by some of Mark’s ancestors, the Adamson's.  For the past 15 years or so, Mark and his sister Mary have spent their weekend at the cabin during Mt. Vernon’s annual Apple Butter Making Days (ABMD), where they dress in period clothing, showing folks the construction of the cabin and to share how families lived in this time period.  It is a beautiful dog trot structure, which provides two living quarters with an open area between the two.  When the structure was moved here they built a roof over it with large eaves to assist in preserving the cabin for many more years.  I took several pictures as shown below.  

Mark and his sister Karen in their family's log cabin.

Names of the Adamson's stenciled onto the ceiling boards.

What a beautiful view!

 Pictures below show some of the construction of the cabins. 

View of the Adamson Cabin from the road.

We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the cabin, and meeting not only Marks’ sister Mary but also his cousin Mary.  She is involved with the museum located next door in the Jones Memorial Chapel, which we also visited before leaving.  I took several pictures there as well and was really impressed with these beautiful velvet horse covers that were donated to the museum.

At the bottom of the cover you can see the straps that allow the cover to be strapped on the horse.

Names hand stitched into the cover,

along with an animal that looks like a "rat"?, 

flower

and a hummingbird enjoying the fruits of his/her labor.

Underside of the cover.  Such a beautiful piece.

Interesting drinking fountain - I've never seen anything like this before.

A velvet quilt that was worked on by a family that included four generations.  Maybe the same family that created the horse cover?

Of course, as we always do when visiting with Mark, and after hearing the history of the cabin, the conversation turned to RV’s.  Mark has done some very extensive research as he and Karen prepare for retirement and the full-time lifestyle and shares it in his blog Our Future in an RV  We always enjoy visiting with them and was sorry Karen was unable to join him on this trip.  She stayed at home to care for their dogs.  We plan to see them again in the spring when we attend the annual Escapade in Sedalia, MO – which is not too far from them.

Prior to driving to the cabin, we did stop in downtown Mt. Vernon to check out their festival.  Dean is not a fan of crowds and we soon discovered Apple Butter Making Days draws some huge crowds.  We were just in one part of the festival area and I’m sure there were well over a thousand people – possibly even two, where 100 (plus/minus) food and various craft booths were set up, along with a band which began their entertainment shortly after we arrived.  The streets were packed with folks and you could barely walk between the row of booths set up either side of the street.  The booths wrapped around a squared area, and behind the main street was a large open area where many picnic tables were set up for people to sit and eat the many goodies on sale.  This area was almost entirely full of folks enjoying the food being served by numerous groups.  We chose to buy our lunch from a booth being operated by the local Lion’s Club who was serving fried fish, cole slaw, chips and a drink.  The fish was amazing and was a very wise choice.  I ended up knocking my cole slaw over but really didn’t need to eat it anyways since I’m sure it didn’t make it to the menu for a low carb meal.  I gave my chips away to a young guy sitting across from me and he was happy to take them.  There was more than enough fish to fill me up.

We set down next to a man, along with a family of three on the opposite side and a woman who was sharing their side of the table.  I was sitting next to the lone man.  He asked me if we were from Springfield and I told him no, we were from Southeast Kansas.  He said Oh, I was going to tell you about a restaurant there.  I asked him to please share it as we passed through Springfield often.  He told us of RD’s on Campbell, north of the James River Expressway that also serves fried fish and other great menu items.  The couple across from him was also from Springfield and they whole heartedly agreed.  I’m anxious to try it out next time we pass through there.  I asked them if they had tried the new restaurant around Ozark, MO, Café B-29.  Neither the man or the couple from Springfield had heard of it.  I explained I had seen a sign on a billboard as we passed through Ozark on our way home from Branson a few weeks ago.  After looking it up on Facebook I was now following their page and hoped to try it out in the future.  They were both going to look in to it.  Isn’t it great the information you can share if you just take the time to start a conversation with someone?

Somehow, during our conversation, I discovered he was also an RV’er.  I encouraged him to consider joining our Escapees group but unfortunately, I didn’t have any information with me that I could leave with him, but suggested he look it up on the internet if he was interested. 

We walked back to the truck so we could search out the log cabin for our visit there.  I copied and pasted the address of The Jones Memorial in Google Maps.   After we had driven a considerable distance that was leading us north of town, I double checked the address and evidently didn’t get quite all of the address pasted in and it was taking us on quite a drive.  I re-entered the address and after a nice drive through the countryside north of Mt. Vernon we drove to the correct address of the museum and log cabin that was not that far from the downtown area.  Oh well, it was a pretty drive and we always enjoy a drive in the countryside.  It was a warm day so we also enjoyed the air conditioning after walking to and from the downtown area before getting back out again.

What a nice day trip this was.  Thanks to Mark and Mary for showing us their family’s cabin and to his cousin Mary who took time to point out special items in the museum and answered our questions.  As we prepared to leave I told Dean that if he would drive from Mt. Vernon to Aurora, MO I would drive from there back to Tahlequah, OK.  I need to do this more often to become comfortable driving our large truck in all types of traffic as well as pulling Bentley, especially in tight areas, such as where road construction is taking place, and there was LOTS of road construction to maneuver through on the roads back to Tahlequah.

We arrived in Tahlequah around 7, where we stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for a bite to eat, before returning to Bentley.  We relaxed for a while and it wasn’t long before we were crashing for the night.  Tomorrow we will be moving less than 20 miles to our next stop.