September 30th - Day 14

Staying put today in the Canandaigua/Rochester, New York area. Raining and relaxing and might even get some work done.

20th Anniversary

September 29th - Day 13
Niagara Falls, New York

September 28 - Day 12

Slept in. Rainy. Buster and I went for a walk along Lake Erie. Depart Geneva State Park on Lake Erie. Visit Ashtabula Lighthouse and draw bridge and Point Park.
Head east from OH, to Penn, to New York. Drove through Buffalo to Grand Island which is just south of our destination tomorrow - Niagara Falls.

September 27 - Day 11

Rainy all night. And day.

Drove through Holmes County Ohio (Millersburg, Nashville, Berlin, etc) which has a larger Amish community (largest in the world (?)). Very well kept and picturesque. Saw one buggy on the road and many parked at various homes/businesses.
Stopped in Oakwood Valley OH at Sam's for a rotisserie chicken, milk and fuel. Ate lunch.

Drove to Lake Erie and took pic. Lake very wavy.
Stayed at Geneva State Park on Lake Erie. Rainy.

September 26 - Day 10
Buster's not feeling well last few days so we decide to take a hike to help him. We were told it was a 2 mile hike to a covered bridge and the return. WAY longer - more like 8 miles total. Buster was pooped but seemed to help him feel better. And DH got a peanut butter crunch ice cream from the general store so he was happy. I got lots of blisters from my hiking boots inner cushion having a hole. Bummer. Good exercise for us all though.

And we saw the covered bridge - couldn't walk on as it was under reconstruction.
Got back to campsite after check out time so we are just staying here another night. Almost deserted park now.

September 25 - Day 9
*Museum of the United States Air Force (free! and fabulous)
*IMAX show 'Hubble'
*Toured presidential and experimental aircraft (on base) as well.
*Arrived 9:45pm and departed 3:45pm. Lots to see.

Missed college friend Dayton, Ohio due to our delay to depart. Bummer. She was in St. Louis today. lol.

Depart and drive to Mohican State Park, Loudonville, IN (beginning of Amish country?). It's the weekend and ended up getting the second last campsite. By this time, anything is fine.

September 24 - Day 8

Roadside America sighting - largest waterfall in Indiana = Cataract Falls (20 foot)
Saw an interesting Covered Bridge as well at Cataract Falls State Rec Area

Depart Cloverdale, Indiana and head to Ohio.

Stopped for the night at Enon Beach Campground outside Dayton, OH (I-70 exist 47) anticipating visiting the Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton in the morning.

Made stir-fry sesame chicken for dinner: 'roughing' it in the RV!

September 23rd - Day 7

Depart Grandma's.

Roadside America sighting - Collinsville, IL HUGE Brooks Catsup Bottle

Missed friends in Plainview/Indianapolis, Indiana due to our delay to depart. Bummer. Drove to Lieber State Recreation Area/Cagles Mill Lake state park in Colverdale, Indiana. Very pretty park. Only electric available (no water or sewer hookup at each site) which is different than most Texas state parks.

Eastern Time Zone now.

Dodo dishrag

September 22nd - Day 6

Grandma time! And her cooking - fabulous!
Cute happening: We were playing cards. DH dealt a wild card. Grandma thought he discarded it and called him a 'Dodo'. So funny. Then she 'erased it'. Very cute.

Cute happening #2: We had ice cream drumsticks and the cone was soft like 'eating a dishrag' per Grandma. And we all agreed thoroughly although we've never eaten one. Funny.

The whole day was filled with laughs with Grandma.

Spent the night in our RV in front of her house (she invited us to stay inside of course! but we have a dog and she doesn't).

September 21st - Day 5

Slept in for first day and got up 9ish. Mom was already on her exercise walk. Dad, DH and I sat on the patio and drank coffee. Very pretty cool-ish morning. Mom came back and went and picked all the tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, banana peppers and bell peppers before we even knew she was gone. She's a ball of energy!

Mom and Dad headed to a doc appt and left me with making a Splenda blackberry pie (with blackberries from their garden), a real (sugar) apple pie (with apples from their tree), and stuffed bell peppers.

They just got home from their appt (all's well) as the pies were coming out of the oven. I'm not quite finished cutting up the peppers and tomatoes to freeze for winter use.... got to get back at it.

DH worked on fixing Mom and Dad's wireless internet and fax machine. Quite an effort. And they were appreciative!

Went over to my brother Scott's house to see his wife Cindy, son Ryan, daughter Danielle, daughter Kayla and daughter Heather who was working last night and didn't come over. Gave H her birthday present. Visited. Doesn't C look great?!! You go girl!

September 20th - Day 4

DH set out to play Stag Hill Golf Course for the first time in 28 years with an 8am tee time. He played the front nine, and then picked me up at the turn. Amazingly well kept course for the green fee (like $20??!!). Very beautiful. And drug up a lot of memories for DH. He really enjoyed playing the course and visiting with Jim and Rita.Headed out to Missouri (330 miles) to visit with my family. Thought we'd be in about 9 - 10pm but pulled in at 6pm. Pretty tired though. It was good to see Mom and Dad. They had had a very busy day picking up a tig welder in Washington, Mo then back to Dutzow, Mo for a wood kitchen table. They got home right about when we arrived. Busy Bees!

Put the chickens in their coop for the night...
Started to fix dinner. Brother Scott, Sister-in-law Cindy, and 3 of their 4 kiddos (Ryan (9), Danielle (13) and Kayla (15)) came over and joined us for dinner. C is doing the HCG diet and has lost 36 pounds (yay for her!) and is real happy with her progress. R and D just came for the macaroni and cheese I think. It was good to catch up over some Mudslides (and beers for the boys).

Pretty warm here in MO so had to use air conditioning to sleep. Probably need to be heading more north for cooler fall temps.

September 19th pm - Day 3

Ended up driving by Stag Hill Golf Course where DH worked while in college. Stopped in and... ta-da... the same PGA Golf Pro from 28 years ago, Jim Gregory, was still there. DH recognized him. Jim's wife Rita remembered DH from all that time ago. Small world.
Made a tee time for the next morning and hit the hay for the evening. Too many early mornings!

September 19th - Day 3
Nice cool evening made for good sleeping in RV.
After Dede made 300 muffins, we got up at 7:30am to ice. Scott took to church to welcome the new pastor.

Had a 9:30am tee time at the Salina Country Club. All 6 of us went. I was the only one not playing. It was a hoot - the 7 years old boys were actually pretty good! It was a little overcast, dew out on the grass, and chilly. The greens were just sanded so not everyone was able to play their best round but fun was had by all. Beautiful course. And the flowers were super!
Dede ordered up hot chocolate drinks at the turn - I could get used to this Country Club living!
Finished about 1pm and headed to the Country Club patio for lunch. Afterwards, the Ryans were headed to the boys soccer game and we were headed out for Manhattan, home of Kansas State University for DH to reminisce.

Septmber 18th PM - Day 2

Depart late. Dog tired after having the run of Mom and Dad's land....
Arrive 7pm-ish in Salina, KS and head to Country Club for dinner. Great visit with Dede, Scott and their twin 7 year old boys Collister and Will.

September 18th - Day 2

Up early to load horse trailer for Dad to go to the Kansas Senior Rodeo Finals.

Visited with Mom on her screen in porch overlooking their land. Very relaxing morning. Delicious homemade cobbler like only Mom can make for lunch. DH tried Mom's new Zero Turn Radius lawn tractor....vroom vroom. Hopefully DH won't get any ideas...

Headed north to Salina to visit coworker and fam...

September 17th-LAUNCH! Yay! Day 1 of our adventure!

Left home base early morning and headed to southeast Kansas to visit DH's parents.

Roadside America site: HUGE cross (south of OKC?) Arrived fairly late - long drive. Visited.

September 16th - It's here.

We are the proud new owners of a specially manufactured just-for-us HappiJac. Yay! DH has it installed and we are about to (finally) pack!

September 14th - Part made and being shipped!

DH spoke with the manufacturer and knowing we were waiting to leave pending the part arrival (and it being our 20th Anniversary Trip), they moved us to the head of the line and made the part for us this morning. And it is being wrapped and shipped 2nd Day UPS today! Yay! Some people just go above and beyond for others!!

September 13th - Failure To Launch

Jack on camper failed when trying to load it onto truck. Long story short, manufacturer has to make a replacement for us. Delay, delay, delay..... Luckily we were flexible although it now looks like we'll miss some family visits along the way due to re-scheduling. But it's up in the air.