We started our journey on July 7th and took 2 days to get to Chanute, KS where we go for service on our RV. Had a front jack problem again and had to have a new one put on. Also had the tank dump levers replaced as they were originals and were starting be hard to open. Had the suspension checked out as well and all was good.
We got to Lake Benton on Saturday, the 11th and got set up for 2 weeks.
My cousin, Judy Lee had passed away back in January and wanted her ashes buried by her mother in the Pipestone cemetery. Her mother, Louis Klinsing, had passed away in 2011 and wanted her ashes buried in Pipestone on her mother and father's grave. So that is where we buried Judy's ashes. Needed to contact the city to arrange the burial - digging the hole beforehand and then filling it in afterwards.
Gary and I arranged to have a ceremony at the grave site on Saturday, the 19th. We invited the Serie family and cousin Paul Smith. Everyone was there - 11 people in all. It was a very nice service put on by Judy and me and Wayne.
Afterwards we went to the Pizza Ranch for lunch. We were in a back room by ourselves so it was perfect for a get together. We were still there at 5:00, and the manger said that if we had lunch there and were now going to have dinner, it was half price!
Next on the agenda was for Judy and me to arrange an Appeldorn reunion (of sorts). My cousin, Karen Ware, from Michigan was going to be in town for a class reunion so we decided that we should have a reunion because most of the relatives had not seen her for years. So we arranged to meet at the American Legion in Lake Benton on Saturday, the 26th. There were 13 that were there. We had seen Karen several times over the years since we visited her (and her husband, Bob, who had passed away last year) in our travels.
Interestingly, Karen's brother, Denny from CA also came. And I had 2 cousins and their husbands whom I hadn't seen in probably 50-60 years!! So it was much needed reunion.
We left Lake Benton on 7/28 and drove to Waterloo, NE (suburb of Omaha) to see my sister, Judeen, and her family. Had breakfast the next day with Judeen and her daughter, Alison. Alison's husband, Eric, was working and couldn't be there unfortunately. In the afternoon Judeen came out to the campground and we visited. On Wednesday Katie and Aliza and Judeen came out with lunch for us. We played a new game that Aliza likes called BANK. We left on Friday, 8/1 and drove to to a small town in MO for a night and then on Saturday we got to Branson where we spent 3 nights there. On Tuesday we left and drove to West Memphis, AR. for 3 nights. Right on the Mississippi. Watched the tugboats push barges up and down the river. Did not realize that over 175 million tons of freight are barged on the river. Petroleum and petroleum products, iron and steel, grain, rubber, paper, wood, coal, chemicals, and gravel are all shipped on these barges.
We left the 'river' on Friday and drove to Chapel Hill, TN to a campground about 20 miles from Belinda. Her daughter, Bailey, was going off the college (U. of Tennessee-Chattenooga) and we wanted to be a part of it. Belinda rented a minivan and we got everything loaded on Sunday and left for Chattenooga. Spent the night in a hotel there. Belinda and Bailey went early on Monday and unloaded. Then they came for us and we went back to her dorm and helped setup. She is is a room with 3 others. They share a common area - kitchen and living room. Each girl has her own bedroom and then shares a bathroom with one other girl.
We came back to Belinda's Monday night and then spent the rest of the week with her.
We left on Monday, the 18th, and are started making our way home. We had the last 2 weeks of August open (no DR appts, etc!!) so we yook our time, spending a week along the Mississippi again and a week at a campground inTexarcana, TX before getting home on the 2nd of September.
Hope to upload pictures eventually!!
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