A Day Off

 WHERE ARE WE? Neosho State Fishing Lake Park, Parsons, Kansas

We woke up this morning and it was so peaceful and quiet with birds singing and fish jumping in the lake.  What a picture perfect morning.  I had no urge whatsoever to go anywhere today.  We had a couple of nice coffees and enjoyed our surroundings.

This sort of shows where we are located on a little peninsula overlooking the lake.

Archie loves it here because he can run free and explore.  There are some cows across the way that he likes to bark at until one of them moo's and then he high tails for home.

Susan even played catch with him for a few minutes.  He is good for about 3 throws and then he just walks away from the ball.

I did a bunch of computer work today because it is the end of the month.  Bank reconciliations are always fun too.  

I also got all my meds sorted out.  One of my meds comes in blister type packs but I hate leaving them that way because they take up so much room.  Each pack of 30 pills comes in a box as well so they are really bulky.  I take them out and put them in a bottle which makes distributing them each 2 weeks much easier.  

And they all fit into this bottle.  What a colossal waste of wrapping cardboard and plastic.  Can we not figure out a better way to distribute medicine???

Anyway the day passed without much fuss of muss.  We enjoyed the relaxation and should be ready to move again tomorrow.  Good Nite!!

Found a Nice Lake to Live Beside

WHERE ARE WE? Neosho State Fishing Lake Park, Parsons, Kansas

Another nice day to be on the road.  Going to be hot so inside where there is AC will be a good thing.  Here is our route today. We are 1800 kms into our trip.

We travelled in 4 different states today!!  We started in Iowa then crossed into Missouri, then a little jog into Nebraska and finally Kansas.  I missed a photo of everyone of the state signs so I robbed them from the internet.

The whole days travel was through rolling hills and farmland with lots of corn.  By the end of the day we were starting to see some corn harvest going on.  We skirted the Missouri River for a while which made for some awesome scenery.

Stopped for a quick lunch by the river in a nice little State Park.  This stately old tree is still hanging on down by the river.  Even a fire couldn't make it give up.  I hope I'm like this tree in my old age, not much going on, not much to look at, but still holding on!!!!

We have been on 59 highway for the most of our trip, and it is a fabulous highway.  No shoulder in lots of stretches but smooth pavement.  They seem to have lots of money for repaving their highways in the US and even their county roads are paved. We sure could use a lesson on road maintenance back home.  

The afternoon was a hot one so we just kept driving so we had the AC. 

We ended up in a little roadside park by a lake.  It is a couple miles off the highway and will be a dark quiet place to spend the night.   Good Nite!!

Little House on the Prairie Visit

WHERE ARE WE? Oakland, Iowa

A leisurely start to our day again today.  We are actually doing about double the kms that we like to average.  The weather is nice and the wind is cooperative so we just keep on trucking.  I am maintaining about 55 mph so there is ample time to see the scenery.  Here is where we went today.

We made a little detour from Highway 59 this morning in order to visit the town of Walnut Grove.  Anybody know why we wanted to see Walnut Grove?  Yup your right,  Little House on the Prairie.  Now none of the show was shot here and none of the characters of the TV show are from here, but the show is based a little bit on the life of Laura Ingles Wilder and her family when the came here in the 1870's.  In my mind, this was the Walnut Grove we learned to love while watching the series, so I had to cross this off my bucket list.  

I coughed up the $10 to tour their little museum and I think it was worth it.  There was not a whole lot to see, but what was there stirred something inside me because I have been lucky enough to see the end of the pioneer era and lots of the things in the museum were things I remember seeing being used in real life.  Wow I am old!!!  I will just do a quick photo dump with short explanations where necessary.

Mary, Pa, Maw, Carrie, and Laura Ingles 

an old hardware setting generally part of the General Store

One Ringy Dingy!!! Different show!!!  Lily Tomlin

Sod hut that settlers built to get through a couple winters

Typical kitchen.  Ours was much like this.

The actual fiddle Michael Landon used as Paw in the show

Then we came to the school house.  The one room school I went to was a little bigger than this one but much the same concept.  We still had some of these old desks in ours but the wood stove was a thing of the past when I started school.  We had up to 13 students ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 8.  

I remember the old globe.  Now I need one to chart my travels.

The teacher was a very busy person but the older students chipped in by helping the younger ones learn what they needed to learn.  The reason I am singling out the school is because a little while ago I reconnected with one of my grade school teachers.  You know how some teachers made a big impression on your young mind?  Well Mrs. Williamson was one of those teachers.  She taught me and others at Huntly School in grades 5 and 6 I think.  She was a very kind lady but took no guff from us goons.  We were not goons but our Tom foolery did land us in hot water occasionally.  She taught us how to handle all sorts of life's problems and I thank her for that.  Even today, I am going back through this blog to make sure the spelling and punctuation is acceptable. lol  Mrs. Williamson recently lost her husband of 60 years (Lloyd), and the funeral will be tomorrow.  I have been praying for comfort for her and her family as they say their goodbyes.  Thanks Mrs. Williamson.

I hope she doesn't mind me using a couple of her photos.

Mrs Williamson and their family

Lots of beautiful scenery along the way today and we got into some nice rolling hills.  There is corn for as far as the eye can see on the farmland.  We crossed into Iowa today.  I didn't realize, but Minnesota is a long state.  It is as long as North and South Dakota combined.  

Tonight we found a nice old Lions Park that hasn't seen an overnight camper in a long while.  It should be quite quiet and dark here tonight.  

While I was writing about my school day's I have to take a second to apologize to my school friend David McGill because we went right past Ile de Chene and it didn't even dawn on me until now that that is where he lives.  Sorry bud!!! You were probably working anyway but my bad!!!  

And no matter where we go, there is a sunset.  Good Nite!!

Walmart in Marshall MN

WHERE ARE WE? Marshall MN.

Beautiful day for a drive in the country.  Here is where we went today all the time following Highway 59.

Our Motto is "chasing 24C".  We almost made it today but it was still a nice day.  We drove for a couple hours and then pulled over and had a couple hour break.  May of had a little nap, not telling!!! 

We are in the land of corn and peas.  Lots of it on both sides of the road and lots of combines in the fields.  Actually we got far enough south today that we saw some corn being harvested for silage. We are sure glad we decided to take a lesser highway cause we are just meandering along at about 50 mph and taking in all the rural scenery.  Lots of beautiful countryside outside that buggy windshield.  I forgot my ladder so don't know how I will get them off.  

We ended up at Walmart in Marshall Minnesota for the night.  Walmart is not very busy and actually quite quiet.  Good Nite!!