HOME AT LAST

Well, almost home at last. It is Monday, October 17th and we stayed last night at a great campground on Grand Lake a few miles south of Vinita, OK.
Today we traveled to Lake Texoma to spend the night there before coming in to Plano tomorrow.  The reason we are staying at Texoma is because on Tuesday morning, we have an appointment at Discount Tire in McKinney.  We need to replace the tire that was damaged a few weeks ago back in BC.  And we dont want to get parked at a CG only to have to pack up again to drive to have it replaced.
Then, we will be at the Spring Creek Campground in Plano (on 75) for a couple of months.  We decided to go here this time to be closer to DR's, church, etc.  And Julie and Ken and the kids are in Allen now (off Bethany) so it will be more convenient for us.
See you all soon...

Pipestone - Minneapolis - Pipestone, MN

On Monday, Oct. 10th, we drove to Pipestone to spend a few days in my hometown and visit relatives.  The turkeys are still roaming the CG.  We saw 9 of them.

We had dinner that night with my cousin, Gary and Sheryl Serie and then came back to the CG to get caught up on each other's families.

On Tuesday night we had dinner with my uncle, Harold and Edith, and then went back to their house for awhile.

On Wednesday we drove out to my cousin's (John and Jerrie) farm to see him for a few minutes.  They were busy combining beans and wanted to get finished before the rains came.

Thursday we drove to Minneapolis to see Judy's sister (Pam and Steve) and families.  We had a great time while there.  Judy and Pam went to lunch with a couple of her high school classmates that she hasn't seen since graduation. 

From right to left - Karen Sorensen, Janet Petersen, Judy, and Darlene Sorensen (Karen's sister).  Karen and Darlene are Judy's cousins.

Pam with the group...

We also had lunch with her cousin and another classmate.

Pam and Steve took us to the Mystic Casino to see Aretha Franklin.  She gave an outstanding performance.

We went to a barbeque at Lauren and Ben's house on Sunday.  Steve enjoyed the ribs and didn't even spill any on his shirt (notice the bib)!!!

The day was so beautiful we sat outside most of the time and had a fun time with Violet who is 18 months.

We also had a great get-to-gether with the Pivec daughters and their friends.  Mia and Henry (the two kids that Pam babysits for, also ate with us as they were staying with Pam and Steve while their parents were in Las Vegas for the weekend).

Molly and Zack...

Stephanie and Jesse...

And a shot of the tree in front of Pam and Steve's house.

We found out that my Mom's cousin, Barb Appeldorn, passed away earlier in the week, and, her daughter, Claudia, was going to have a dinner for the relatives and then an open house at the Calumet Hotel on Friday, the 14th.  So we decided to come back thru Pipestone on our way home rather than take I-35 out of Minneapolis.

We got to see several more relatives and were glad that we could be there.

After the open house, we drove to Sioux Falls for the night and had dinner with Judeen and Jim again.  On Saturday we all drove down to Sioux City, IA to meet up with Judeen and Jim's daughters' Alison and Katie and their hubbys.

Judeen and Jim...

Katie and Tim (who live in Sioux City)...

Alison and Eric (who live in Omaha)...

After a couple of hours of good food and conversation, we left and started south towards home.

On the road again...

Sioux Falls, SD

After we left Rugby, we continued east across ND and spent a night just west of Fargo.  The next day, Saturday, we made it to Sioux Falls and our campground.  We have stayed at this CG before as it is very nice and has full hookups.

After getting set up, we went over to Judeen and Jim's for dinner.  Judeen had made pork roast in a crockpot and everything was delicious.

On Sunday we met up with them again after church for some great Chinese food.  We all came back to the CG and Jim got to see our trailer for the first time. 

He had had hip problems for many years and has not been able to be out and about.  But in July he finally got the ok to have hip replacement surgery and it has done wonders for him.  He is so mobile now.  And because everything went so well, he will have the left hip replaced on November 1st.

It is great to see him back on his feet again!!

It seems like whenever we get together, we like to eat, so for supper we went to a local Italian restaurant and had some excellent pizza.

On Monday we left Sioux Falls and drove to Pipestone, MN to visit with relatives and friends.

Rugby, ND

From Williston we drove to Rugy, ND.  Didn't know this before but Rugby is famous for being the geographical center of North America.

Apparently the wind blows good here because there are alot of wind turbines in the area.

We had two reasons for stopping here for the night.

1) It was about a day's drive from Williston.
2) (And most important)  Before we left TX in March our granddaugher, Emma, wanted us to camp overnight in ND so that we could put a sticker on our US map showing that we had been there.  And, then she found an article in her American Girl magazine about a special turtle in Dunseth, ND (that just happened to be about 30 miles north of Rugby. 

So, after we got setup in our CG, we drove to Dunseth and here are the pictures of the turtle:

Totally made out of wheels!!

Needless to say, we were impressed and are glad that Emma suggested we see it!

Williston, ND

On Saturday, Sept. 24th, we made our way accross the rest of Montana and into North Dakota.  On the way we saw many trains headed west.

From freight trains to...

Amtrak (sorry about the picture - he was going pretty fast!).

When we got to the outskirts of Williston, we were amazed at all the activity going on.  They have started drilling for oil again and that's about all you see.  Trucks, man-camps, oil equipment, tankers, drilling equipment, pumpers, etc.  It is a bee-hive of activity.

This particular drilling equipment was put up about 3 weeks ago and before we left it had been taken down and they were ready to put in a pumper and start pumping.

Williston is unable to keep up with the influx of men and equipment coming into town.  Apartments are full, very few houses for sale, campgrounds are full, etc.  The businesses in town can't hire enough help - McDonalds is offering $16 - $18, but can't get anyone because they all want to work in the oilfields.  Walmart is the same way - sometimes pallets of food get brought out and never gets on the shelf before it is gone.

Anyway, we met Chris and Bob Risberg in the Walmart parking lot and then followed them out to the Lutheran Camp.  They have been there all summer working as Mission Builders (along with 4 other couples) adding a huge addition on to the recreation hall.

We got a nice campsite with water and electric hookups.

On Sunday we went to church with the group.  It was an unusual service in that it was "Polka" Sunday so all the hymns were sung to polka music!!  What better musical instrument to have than an accordian???

 
At the end of the service, they recognized the Mission Builders as it was to be their last time at church.

And, of course, we stayed for coffee and goodies.

After church, the four of us went to a restaurant for breakfast.  Of course, it was very busy - we waited in line for about 10 minutes before getting a table.  When we paid for our lunch, there was a sign that said:  " If you have problems with the service, see below."  And there was a box there with job applications!!  We thought that was an interesting touch!

We headed out to do some exploring and found Fort Buford which is where Sitting Bull surrendered (in the building below).

There was a cemetary with graves for those who died there in battle or for other reasons.  Judy thought that they were very descriptive so she took several pictures.

The fort has been maintained very well.

This gentleman was in 'period' costume and told us all about the fort and trading with the Indians.

We had coffee made over the open fire from that pot.

He showed us how he makes these belt sashes in his spare time by doing something called card weaving.  You can see the cards right near his hands.

Sunset on our way back to camp that night.

On Wednesdy, Sept, 28th, we celebrated Thanksgiving since everyone would be leaving at the end of the week.

While the finishing touches were being made on the meal Ron played the piano and Chris played the violin and a few of us sang.

 The following day, Thursday, we said our goodbyes and left to continue our journey, headed for Sioux Falls, SD to visit with my sister, Judeen, and her husband, Jim.