Our first morning in Minnesota, I got up, dressed, and head into the house to make coffee. It was early, still dark outside, but I wasn't worried about waking my sister because both she and her boyfriend Jim are early risers. The light came on automatically as I approached the door and I was thankful for that. I hadn't thought to bring a flashlight with me and there were five steps down to the door.
Phyllis and Jim have a beautiful house that is like two houses in one. They're renovating the main level and do everything but sleeping on the lower level. It has a full kitchen and bath as well as a laundry room and big storage area. There are two bedrooms but Phyllis works out of one and Rachel, their daughter, uses the other for her doll collection. The lower level is a partially exposed basement so to access it from the outside, there's a stairwell down. (My picture is courtesy of my sweet sister) So I was glad the light came on to light my way.
When I walked into the house, I could smell coffee and the light was on in Phyllis' office. "Good morning!" I call in a cheery sing-song voice which people who are not morning people find irritating.
I heard a chair squeak and Phyllis came from the office. "Good morning," she answers.
"You have a critter in your stairwell," I told her.
She'd already been out for an early morning smoke and knew that. "Yep. He gets down in there and can't get out," she tells me, "I'll take him out and put him in the landscaping after a while. It happens quite a few times during the year."
"Will you wait until I get his picture?"
"Sure." We chatted for a while then Phyllis went back out for another smoke. When she came back, she had some news for me. "There's a toad out there now too."
Aww. She knows the way to my heart. "There is!" and I went out to check it out. By this time, it was light enough for a picture so I went for my camera. Back in the stairwell, I pluck the salamander from the corner. He'd been busy looking for a way out and consequently was covered in leaf-litter and spider webs.
"This won't do," I told him and gave him a bath. I don't know if he appreciated it or not but he kept trying to go up my sleeve.
"Turn around here, guy," I told him. "Let me get a picture then I'll let you go."
I kept my word. I got his picture then took him out to the landscaping and let him go.
Then I went back for the toad. He had a few webs on him too but I didn't know if he'd appreciate a bath so I skipped right to the picture making.
"I have to get to work," Phyllis informed me and headed for her office.
"Okay. What can I do to help?" I asked.
"You could hang my suncatchers up for me."
Phyllis has amassed quite a collection of suncatchers made by someone who loves her dearly, and Jim installed a new curtain rod over the window to hang them on after the first one failed.
Later in the day, Rachel finished her online school classes and helped me hang the suncatchers. (Picture courtesy of Phyllis again.)
Mike joined us and we settled in and played Rummikub and Rack-O for the rest of the afternoon. We had so much fun.
Rachel learns fast and even though she liked Rummikub, Rack-O was her favorite and it's what we were playing when Jim came home from work. "Play with us," we invited. But Jim didn't want to and ended up watching over Rachel's shoulder for a while and asking questions. From there it was a small step to taking a seat and joining us for a few rounds.
When you play games with Mike and me, you'd better be prepared for running commentary, jokes, exclamations, and sounds of disgust as bad cards are drawn, and maybe even some good-natured heckling. We are not quiet players!
Phyllis finished her workday and wandered into the kitchen. "What 'cha playin'?"
"Rack-O!" Rachel exclaims. "It's fun."
"Join us," we invite.
Phyllis contented herself watching over Rachel's shoulder for a while and asking questions. "They wouldn't like to play games with us," Jim told her. "We're quiet players."
Before long, Mike gave up his seat to Phyllis. "Pffft," she says as she drew a card. "Aww, man!" she says on the next round. Jim and I laughed. Phyllis did a great job taking up where Mike left off and our game was full of fun and laughter.
Mike and I hit the road the next day and decided we wouldn't do any more 500 mile days. It's just too much.
"Peg, you're not going to show us a bunch more barn pictures are you?"
I was going to, why?
"Well, I'm kinda barned out," you say.
Okay! Okay! I hear you. It was maybe a bit too much but I loved all of those pictures and couldn't decide which ones to delete. If I draw it out into multiple letter blogs, it'll be Christmas until you hear about my visit with my older and much-adored sister Patti and my beautiful mother. The only other thing to do is get out the knife and be ruthless in culling barn pictures from the next leg of our trip.
And that's what I've done — not to say there aren't a few barn pictures in here, because there are.
Mike and I hit the road early the next morning figuring we might get caught in rush-hour traffic and that's exactly what happened. So I sat back and enjoyed the scenery, such that it was.
Look at these crazy looking power poles. Just from my observation, it appears they used these to change direction of the power lines. Regular poles came down one side of the highway, joined to one of these, crossed the highway to another one then on to regular poles again. For all I know there may be some other reason for these unusually shaped poles.
Just wrong.
There's a goose in the foreground, see it?
Five blades for wind generators.
Oh my gosh! Look at all the old trucks!
There were signs all along one part of the highway saying STOP EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE and Stop this Airport!
Millions of Dollars Wasted! I understand that.
But the next two I don't understand the reference. Maybe you can help me out.
There was a website on one of the signs and it appears they are trying to take a farmer's land and he isn't happy about it.
Another small town with most of the main street stores closed.
Someone got TP'd.
♪Someone's getting a tick-et! ♫
Itsy was happier sitting on the floor by Mike's feet. He was okay with that as long as she didn't get in his way.
And since her car seat was empty I let Ginger ride there. That was way more comfortable for me and she didn't seem to mind as she snoozed away the trip.
Pallets for your Pinterest projects.
Sod farming.
You know something? I said something in my last letter blog that bothered me when I read it a few days later.
"What's that, Peg?" you ask.
Well, coming into Jefferson City, Missouri there's an old prison. I took a picture of it the last time we passed it and we passed it again, so another picture.
I told you it was an old women's prison. That's not to say that the women incarcerated were old, it was to say the building itself is old. I guess I should have used a comma, eh?
A barge on the Osage River.
It was hot so the cows cool off by getting in the water.
Then we were at our destination. A campground below Bagnell Dam at Lake Ozark.
We went into the office and I have to tell you that I did not enjoy that at all. The people running the place smoke and they smoke inside. It was horrible smelling and gave me a headache. At one point, while we were waiting for something or another, I excused myself and stepped outside for a bit of fresh air. They sell t-shirts in that little shop and you know they're going to stink. I'd never buy one.
After we settled the bill, Mike and I went to park the RV. Pulling up to our site, Mike looked it over and the sewer connection was toward the front of the lot. "Peg, I don't think our sewer hose will reach," Mike said. "Will you go back up to the office and get us a different site?"
"Sure. Which one do you want?"
We looked the other sites over and Mike made a decision. I walked back up to the office. "Can we have a different spot?"
"Sure. Pick any site you like."
It was the off-season so they would only have whatever campers rolled in to spend the night. Mike expertly maneuvered the RV into the spot we'd be in for the next few days and we set up house. After a while, we heard a great big KER-THUNK!
"What was that?" Mike asked.
"I think something hit the roof."
We went outside and realized we'd parked right under an oak tree. And what do oak trees have? Acorns!
"Peg, they'll break the skylight (in the bathroom) or damage our solar panels."
Mike and I walked all the available 50 amp sites, there were like six or eight of them, and found one that although it was under a tree, it wasn't an oak tree. You know how I know?
"You know your trees?" you guess.
Oak leaves are distinctive but no. I scanned the ground for acorns.
"I knew that," I hear Momma say but that's 'cause she knows me so well.
"I'll go back up to the office and tell them we're moving."
We were just a couple of spots over from the only other RV in the campground. And that's not to say there weren't any other campers because there were. There were three or four families camping in tents. But I wanted you to meet our neighbor. This is Thor... maybe it was Thunder... I don't remember anymore, but he's just a pup. Seven months old. Isn't he handsome!
One of the first things I did was to hook up Ginger and walk around the campground. I got some pictures for you.
Rose of Sharon.
Old, gnarly tree.
The electric company that owns the dam also owns the property below the dam where the campground is and they lease it. Ameren employs a security company to patrol the campground every two hours. This guy stopped to visit because he likes dogs.
And this guy was living in the campground too. I watched him come out to forage and as soon as he'd hear a car or someone coming, he'd take off for the weeds.
Our friend Margaret was kind enough to let us borrow her van for the couple of days we were there. We loaded the china and went to see the kids that night.
"I want to visit with the china and take pictures," I told Kevin and Kandyce.
We unwrapped box after box after box. Phyllis, Jim, and Rachel packed it well and nothing was broken. They used Styrofoam plates as dividers between the plates. Isn't that a clever idea!
Once everything was out, we discovered we were one plate short of having two sets of 12. 24 dinner plates, salad plates, dessert plates, and saucers. I don't remember which one was missing.
32 cups but only 24 saucers. "That's in case you break a cup," I guessed.
A few of the plates were chipped. Two or maybe three of them and that's because Clara, Kat's grandma, used her china.
Four salt and pepper shakers — two different styles, two gravy boats, two milk pitchers, and two sugar bowls. The serving dishes and platters were a different story though. I don't think Clara had those or the candle holders. I think those were in the set Mike and I bought Kat.
What a mess we made!
"Look Mimi and Pop-pop," Andrew says.
While we were busy unpacking the china, Andrew got out his play mat and cars. All of his cars were lined up on the road. "Is he a little OCD?" I asked Kandyce.
She laughed. "A little bit!"
Pop-pop bought this play mat for Andrew more than two years ago before we moved to Pennsylvania. It's nice to see that he still enjoys playing with it.
The next day we were up and moving before the mist was off the Lake.
I see The Oak Ridge Boys were in town. At least their tour bus was.
We had a lot to cram in the next two days, a lot of people we wanted to see. One of them was this gentleman. This is Mike Page and he's not only a prominent businessman on the Strip, but he's also a benefactor of the Strip, donating his time and money to make it more successful for the other business and more enjoyable for the tourist.
Mike had lunch with one of his cronies and I had lunch with three of mine! These are my Curves gals; ladies I'd met while working at Curves and who stay in touch with me.
Laurie is sitting across from me and she and her husband own a business in Lake Ozark too! She and her husband own the helicopter tour business. I was on it. I took a helicopter ride when they first opened years ago.
Barb is next to her and we just connected. My heart saw hers and fell in love. She's retired and she and her husband do a lot of motorcycle trips.
Next to me is Linda, my best girl and birthday twin (almost). Her birthday is a few days after mine and we were born the same year. Linda was also a coach at Curves and owns a business on the Strip. She took over Bob's Sunglasses when her father died.
"What's next for you, Peg?' one of the ladies asked.
"Well, when we get home, I'm jumping on a plane. I hate — hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate! to fly! I'm going to see my mom in Arizona."
Laurie laughed. "Are you trying to tell us you hate to fly?"
We all laughed. "Yeah, but I'm going to put on my big girl pants and fly anyway 'cause it's been more than three years since I've seen her."
I enjoyed my hen party with these fine ladies more than I can say.
Another thing I really wanted to do was to visit a couple of thrift stores. Paw's Place, an animal benefit thrift store moved to Camdenton and I had no plans to go that direction so I didn't get to go there. But I did go to Hope House.
"Did you get anything?" you wonder.
I did. I got a couple of things. But mostly I find their prices are too high for a secondhand store. I was walking from the sale area in a back room to the main store and walking past the trash can I see a whole stack of CD's they were discarding.
"Mike, look," I said picking a few up. Just then a lady came out from the sorting room. "Can I have the cases?" I ask.
"Sure. Have at it." And she went back inside.
"Aww, Peg!" Mike said and left me there while he went into the store. I think he was embarrassed but I pay good money for CD cases! And these were free! There were empty boxes sitting nearby. I got a box and picked out as many CD's as I could find. Once home I found there was some good music on these CDs! Score!
I took Ginger for a walk in the afternoon. See the guy fishing? I think the steel is leftover from the building of the dam in the 1930's.
They often leave fish on the shore. Look at the teeth on this guy.
This is Yellow Ironweed.
I've never seen this one before so I had to look it up. It's Wood Sage and it's in the mint family. It's been used in medicine to help breathing and digestion. What an unusual flower with it's large lower lip and antlers.
This guy is named Common Buckeye Butterfly.
These are Mist Flowers.
The local police department uses the campground for gun practice. This old building has been shot up a few times.
We spent Friday evening with our friends Gary and Ellie at the Outback Steakhouse.
The Strip at night.
The next day was Saturday and our last day of vacation.
We fell back on an old tradition we practiced when we lived there. Saturday morning breakfast with our best gal, Margaret at the Golden Corral.
Our favorite waitress, Sue was still there and it was nice to catch up with her as well as some of the regulars we'd become friends with.
Doris and Chuck.
Betty and Ken.
We drove around our old plaza again. "Look Mike, that post you put on the corner is doing its job." It keeps people from wiping out the awning post.
That evening Margaret took us out to my favorite restaurant for dinner. Bentley's is a family-owned restaurant that's been in business for more than 30 years.
I was going through my pictures and find this one of Andrew. I have no idea what that face is all about. It wasn't the roll though because he ate two of them.
After dinner, we went back to our old place and had ice cream at Grandpa's Ice Cream. You may remember that Ed and Barb own the business. Barb is a fabulous artist — she's a fine artist and I own two of her paintings — so painting cartoon characters is like easy-peasy for her.
I love the family she painted for outside her business and it's so cleverly designed. Each of the faces can be opened up for your face to fit in or left with a cartoon face. That's way better than having empty black holes!
This is the Kraft family. Kandyce is in the green, Kevin is in yellow and Andrew is the dog — this time. He tried on several of the faces but not the girl.
"Come on, Andrew." I cajoled. "Do the girl next!"
"NO!" he says.
The ice cream shop wasn't very busy at the moment. We got our ice creams and sat at a table. When Ed was done serving some people who came in after us, he joined us.
"Hey, wait. I've got somebody I want you to meet." Ed went to the closet and opened the door.
I took Ed and Mike's picture with 'The Donald'...
...then Andrew wanted in on the fun.
By the time Andrew got back to his ice cream it was melting and he stirred it up. He's giving me a little 'side-eye' here as I took his picture.
It was starting to get dark and Margaret wanted to get home. I caught this sweet hug from Andrew.
When we left I finally got Andrew to try the little girl — but he wasn't happy about it!
Sunday morning and we were on the road. I took a picture of the sun coming up over the campground as we crossed the dam.
The kids met us for breakfast and I have to tell you, I miss this face.
We made it past Indianapolis, Indiana before we stopped that night. I took well over 500 road pictures and I could probably pick out quite a few to show you, but maybe we'll skip it. What do you think?
Let's call this one done!
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