Summer Trip Away from the TEXAS HEAT!!

 We made our travel plans for the summer to include a trip to MI to visit my cousin Karen and husband Bob and attend a wedding there.

We also plan to visit friends Cindy and Tom (who worked at JCP) from Plano, in Wisconsin, and then travel to MN to visit relatives and friends also to celebrate Judy's sister Pam and husband Steve on their 50th wedding anniversary.

The final leg of the trip plan is to visit my sister Judeen and husband Jim and family in the Omaha area.

We left Plano on 7/5 and made a quick stop at this place to get their infamous banana pudding.  But, they didn't have it so we settled for 2nd best - mixed berry pudding!

Then we drove on to Chanute (again!) but this time to have the trailer brakes, suspension, etc. checked.  Now that the RV is 15 years old, we have to consider these things.  We got there late Tuesday, so that afternoon we sat outside and enjoyed the rest of the day - even though it was in the upper 90's!

Had an appointment for Wednesday and everything checked out.  We had planned to be there 2 days in case they would need more time.  Saw this truck at the Grain Bin Restaurant where we always go for breakfast while the RV was being serviced.

While the RV is being serviced, we usually go to this city park and wait it out.

There are those who believe that I was sleeping here, but, as you can see, I was engrossed in the book I was reading!!

On Friday we traveled Eastward to Marceline, MO. to spend the weekend there.   Crossed the Mississippi and saw a couple of barges.

This was our campsite for the weekend - very nice.  Great camp host here.

Little did we know that this is the boyhood home of Walt Disney.  His family lived in Chicago until he was 5 and then moved to Marceline.  They have a great museum here that originally was a train station.

Walt and his sister Ruth.

 Memorabilia...

Walt and his brother reading the Marceline paper.

This teacup ride was our daughter, Julie's, favorite when we went to Disneyworld.

(NOT!!)

Afterwards, we got a Mickey flag.

Trains are very much part of the town here as there were at least 4 trains that went by while we were in the museum!

While sitting outside at our campground, we noticed a bird pecking away on top of our mirror.  All we could think of is that he was seeing his reflection in the metal part of the mirror.

On Monday we drove to Carlock, IL to spend a couple of nights before heading up to Michigan.  

This town of 600 had one gas station and one restaurant.  Diesel here was $5,89 so I opted NOT to get filled up here.  The restaurant was very good.  We did drive into Bloomington to wash clothes at a laundromat.  While there we filled up with diesel at $5.49 and felt like we got a good deal!

On Wednesday we drove to Belding, MI. which took us near Chicago (I-80) and many trucks and slow downs along the way.  

Notice the cloud formation here - very unusual.

We found our way to Belding and the Double R Ranch Campground where we parked for 5 days.  Expensive place ($58 per night) but they do have horse back riding, canoe and kayak floating down a river, etc.  This is 1st time we have stayed here over the weekend, and, we were lucky to get a spot because the CG is full.

Had dinner - taco salad - with my cousin, Karen and her husband Bob.  On Thursday we had lunch with them and talked about old times and looked at old pictures, trying to determine who some of those people in the pictures were!  Went to dinner with them that evening.

On Friday we got together again and we went on a tour of the town.  Visited a very nice library with many murals, etc,

Cousin Karen...

Karen and Bob...

 Have you ever seen "hops" growing before?  This is in the town of Greeenville, MI. 

Saw the Veterans Memorials which included WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, Middle East conflicts, - Desert Storm,  etc.  Also had a memorial for Afganistan.  Because it started raining, we went back to their house and played cards (taught them Up the River-Down the River.  Played 2 games!) and had pizza for supper,

Saturday we went to Jan Gray's wedding with Randy.  We knew Jan when she was married to Tony Huffam and they went to our church.  She divorced Tony and lived in the Plano area for many years.  Her daughter, Joy and family live in McKinney so we saw them all.

Jan has since moved to Michigan (Charlotte) where she has family and met Randy and they married.

Notice line 4:  Exchange of Rings...

It was actually a door knob!!  And Jan had a 'rock' for him!!

Wedding venue took place in this building.

On Sunday we were back at Karen and Bob's house for lunch (taco soup and corn bread) and played cards again (4 games of Up the River-Down the River!!!).

CONTINUED...

Lake Murray, OK

Our first outing this year was to be a 5 day trip up to Lake Murray in OK with friends Nancy and Dave.  Judy had recovered enough from her January back surgery that we wanted to get away for a few days.

We got up there first and found our site, got backed in, and when I went to lower the trailer after having lifted it off the truck, one front jack clicked and would not move.  The motor hummed but that was all!

Nancy and Dave arrived and we talked about what to do which was a ????.  Anyway, we had a nice supper outside on the picnic table and then played some cards.

In the morning I drove into Ardmore and bought a 6-ton jack at Lowes.  By the time I got back to the campground, it was raining.  And it rained all day while I worked to get the jack off the ground and the trailer connected back on the truck.  I made a couple of calls to Hitchhiker Service Center in KS about what to do and then made an appointment to get the jack replaced/repaired on Thursday.

So that evening it had quit raining and we had dinner at Nancy and Dave's RV and then played the PEG game.  A lot of fun.

On Wednesday Judy and I drove up to Chanute, KS (350 miles) and spent the night at the city's free campground.  On Thursday they fixed the jack and we drove to Muskogee, OK for the night and then home on Friday.  Not exactly the relaxing time that we had planned!!

Minnesota and Beyond - August and September

 Our last trip of the year was to Minnesota, Michigan, and finally Nebraska!!

We left Plano on 8/2 and drove to Chanute, KS to have our electric jacks checked out - everything was OK.  From there we made it to Onawa, IA and stayed overnight at the ON-UR-Way RV Park.  Nice place for a stopover.  

The next morning we drove into town, found a great little local restaurant and had breakfast.

We got to Lake Benton the next day, 8/5 and parked at the Hole in the Mountain RV Park.  We've stayed here before and really like the site and the surroundings.

Lake Benton is home to many windmills;  the area is called Buffalo Ridge.

If you followed this 'wind farm,' it extends from South Dakota (which is about 25 miles NW of Lake Benton) all the way down into Iowa.

When you travel in 'farm country' you are bound to come upon one of these monsters?  It has arms that extend and is driven in crop fields and fertilizes them.

 A farmer outside of Lake Benton raises elk.

Anyway, we enjoy coming up here because I have relatives and friends that we visit.

We usually eat together and then sit outside and talk or even play cards.  In this picture are Chuck and Coleen, Gary and Shirl, and myself.  Judy took the picture.

And, what's a campout without a bonfire, of which we had many!

My 60h (should have been last year but got delayed) class reunion was held on Friday and Saturday.  Checking in was somewhat unusual - we made our name tags and then were given a list of all who have died - 48!!  But it was fun to see those that (haven't died)  that you haven't seen in a long time.  There were 23 of us present.

The second night we had dinner at the Hiawatha Lodge which is in Hiawatha Pageant Park.  Years ago the Song of Hiawatha play was presented here every summer, but was  discontinued on 2008 after 60 years.

It's a beautiful setting - pictures don't do it justice.

Met up with several relatives at Pizza Ranch in Pipestone.

My cousin, John, is in the yellow shirt; his wife, Gerri, is second from the left.  Back right is Edith, Harold's (deceased) wife; cousin Claudia, cousin Karen (Gene's wife) and Judy.

Karen had brought one other couple that Judy and I did not know.

Had a good time catching up...

Can't make a trip to town without visiting the Pipestone Fort.  If you ever get the chance, this is a place to visit.

We also made it over to Flandreau, SD for dinner one night with Claudia.  Good food.

Judy, of course, tried their long island ice tea!

Had to make a stop at the liquor store and Judy found these!

We did spend a few days in Minneapolis (actually Minnetonka) with Judy's sister and family.  It happened to be a grandson's birthday (Mathias) so they had a pool party.

It was a great day for a party - sunny, warm, and a lot of people got in the pool.

Judy took pictures of the families:

Pam and Steve...

Stephanie, Jesse, Mathias, and Crawford (Meehan)...

Lauren, Ben, Violet, and Alice (Styba)...

Unfortunately, they were not there, but this is Matt, Jenelle, Marcus, and Graydon (Pivec)...

Pam found a bunch of cousins (Linds - on the Sorensen side) that she and Judy had never met.  Had a nice luncheon with them.

We had a great time there but had to leave and get back on the road because we had a schedule to follow!!

Next stop was Belding, MI where my cousin, Karen and husband, Bob Ware, live.  

We hadn't seen them since 2019 so it was nice to catch up.  I guess we always have food on the mind because the evening we got there, we went out to dinner with friends of theirs.  The next day we went for brunch at a neat, local restaurant.  This was part of their menu:

Judy had the lemon poppy cakes that were delicious;  I had the normal pancakes (not at adventuresome as Judy!!).

We did find a local farmer selling fresh fruits and vegetables.  We opted for peaches which were really good.

We also made it back to the restaurant the evening before we left.

Next stop on our itinerary was Waterloo, NE (Omaha) but it was about 700 miles away, we had to make one stop and because it was Friday before the Monday Labor Day, we had to find a campground about half way.

We did end up in the Sunset Campground in Hillsdale, IL which was about half way.  We got an end spot so had this view.

Our spot backed up to a bean field.  Nice beans - look at how Judy compares:

On Monday we left and drove to Waterloo.  Got our usual spot at a state park campground.  (Sorry, didn't have a current picture).

But the next pictures show how deserted the campground was.

We picked up Aliza (my sister, Judeen's granddaughter) from school and brought her out to the campground (because she wanted to come out there!).

She went through our toy chest and played with just about everything.  We finally played Sorry and she won.

Went out to supper with Katie, Tim, Aliza and Judeen the evening before we left.  Enjoyed catching up with them too.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see Jim or Alison and Eric.  Maybe next time...

The campground does have several cabooses that can be rented.  They sleep 6 and are quite nice inside.  

Judy likes to take pictures of old barns.  Here's one that didn't make it!

And, FINALLY, our trip home consisted of stopping about half way which was Carthage, MO (near Joplin).  Nice campground.  We got this premium end site that already had chairs around a fire pit. 

And, now we are home for awhile...