DH and KC left early this morning headed out to help with the Youth Mentor Hunt for the Republican Valley Chapter of Pheasants Forever. KayCee has bright shiny teeth and all of her maintenance shots she had done yesterday. I have taken some time today to wash windows, vaccuming the new carpet and basically having a day to organize. There's a football game on this afternoon and hopefully we will get to watch it. Go Big Red! Yes, I'm still a die hard Husker Fan!
In looking back over our summer travels, we came back across the mountains from California in May, stopping in Nevada,Wyoming,Kansas,Nebraska,Iowa,Missouri,back across Kansas, ending in Fountain Colorado on October 9. The trip across Donner Pass was trying and very rough. We traveled approximately 300 miles per day for 6 days. That is too fast and will try very hard not to do that again! Blame that one on the NHRA Summer National Drag Races in Topeka! One thing that is dear to my heart is Drag Racing, on both the sporting and professional level. We have met and made some very dear friends and I have received my mailing for seating for the 2010 Arizona Nationals. We will be there for sure the end of February. Topeka holds a very sad memory, in that we lost our dear companion Wyatt. Our 14 year old German Shorthair. Thankfully, we found a very caring Veterinarian, and Pet Creamation Service. The daily care and comfort that we provided for our young female shorthair somehow made the grieving process a little easier. Again, thank god for our racing family helping us through that one. After saying goodbye in Topeka, we headed for Nebraska, where our family increased by two. Our youngest daughter gave birth to twins prematurely and we spent about 3 weeks visiting with family around our home area. Tad and Danica are a real blessing for the Dossett family! We then met up with a musician friend from our days in Arizona last winter. He is originally from Nebraska City and was in town playing for the annual Cherry Festival. Located in the south east corner of Nebraska, Nebraska City claimed their fame by the origination of Arbor Day and tranportation of goods on the Lewis and Clark trail at the Missouri River. We made our way into Iowa where we made a big wide circle of the state. The first stop was in Osceola at Terribles Casino and RV Park. From that base, we visited the birthplace of John Wayne and the Covered Bridges of Madison County. Experienced a Maid Rite (loose meat sandwich). Just as Nebraska has an exclusive Runza Sandwich, the Maid Rite is exclusive to Iowa.
We stayed in all kinds of RV Parks, from a city park, to a quaint shaded park adjacent to a Drag Race Strip. In the Center of Iowa we had to have some repairs to our generator and spent four days at a Cummins Dealer in Cedar Rapids. That gave us the opportunity to see all the damage and rebuilding of that city after the severe flooding of the Cedar River and the Central part of Iowa from 2008. We spent the week of the 4th of July at the famed Amana Colonies in a very nice grass RV Park with room to host Rallys and rigs of any size. They had a nice fireworks display, postponed until the 5th by rain the whole day of the 4th. We had several Traditional meals in their Dining Halls. Everything was served family style, with cottage cheese, pickled beets and saurkraut at each evening meal. Not a McDonald's in sight or any fast food. In northern Iowa, we visited the memorial site, crash site and the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. Famed last performance location of Richie Valens and the Big Bopper in the 50S, and still a working ballroom that was hosting a performance by Randy Travis the day that we were there, his big Prevost in the parking lot. We toured the Winnebago plant at Forest City and stayed in a rural RV Park about 4 miles from town. We traveled across the top of the state on a state highway and landed in Arnolds Park Iowa. A Resort town on the edge of Iowa's "Great Lakes", Lake Okoboji and Spriit Lake. We stayed in a new RV Park that had a nice rural Location. The rest of the swing through Iowa was back across the lower tier of counties, taking advantage of the customs of the Amish and Mennonite communities and enjoying their crafts and wonderful baked goods. Right before leaving Iowa, DH had to bend over and put his back out in Mt. Pleasant. My heart sunk, we got a recommendation for a Chiropractor and went directly there. He had several adjustments, and I was prepared to stay there for the usual required month for him to recover, and all in all, it was cut down to two weeks. South into Missouri we went, stopping to tour Hannibal, with their claim to fame with Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. The famous caves and museums, and a dinner cruise on a river boat was the highlight of that stop.
We stopped off and drove into St. Louis to see the Arch. DH took the trip to the top, but with my fobia of heights, I waited below. Once across to Marshfield on the way to Branson, we had a little shopping to do, at Camping World and Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, drove on south in the toad because I had a funny feeling about the RV Park where I had made reservations. Good thing we did that, as I would have been very unhappy there, it was too far away from all the activities in Branson. We ate at Lambert's, (home of the Throwed Rolls) and they came around with huge stainless steel bowls of fried okra...YUM. Found a small park, (Oak Grove Campground) we loved this place. Awesome shows, lots to see and do.
We drove and toured the surrounding area around Table Rock Lake. Had company there for a few days, and got to show her around. We enjoyed the Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and Silver Dollar City with all their fall foliage and decortions. Back toward the barn in Kansas, we stopped and toured the Wizard of Oz Museum and hung out for their Oztoberfest at the town of Wamego. Being not far from Ft. Riley, we got to see the Mounted Color Guard for that Army Post. Our son was a member of the Mounted Color Guard at Ft. Carson in Colorado, so we always appreciate seeing them. We had some yearly maintenance done on the coach in Colby KS. and stopped off in Goodland, witnessing the first snow flakes of the season. Of all the places that we went this summer, I am really impressed with Iowa and it's lush green and groomed fields. I loved Arnolds Park and in Missouri, I could see us spending more time in Branson. The run to the barn in Fountain Colorado to get the coach tucked in was done with just hours to spare. The next day was freezing rain and slick roads abounding.
We will hang out here at the sticks and bricks for a few weeks while DH gets his fill of pheasant hunting and I try some new wild game recipes. We will visit friends and relatives and enjoy the holiday season before we grab the coach and head south for the remainder of the winter. We are still loving life and being retired. It's been a weird summer all around weather wise. Who knows what the upcoming weeks hold, but I'm prepared to hibernate if needed. I don't like cold. Stay tuned...usually here there's always something going on.
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