Nevada, MO

We had to finally tell our North Dakota family goodbye after a good visit. We all went up to my sister's house in Minot one Saturday to see here and one of my nephews. She supplied us with some home canned bread and butter pickles, peaches, and fruit cocktail. Always good to spend time with family, especially when they live so far away.

One of our rooftop air conditioners/heat pumps died while we were in Bismarck and so we ordered a new one and my son and son-in-law helped me install it. Seem like there is always maintenance to do. Winter was fast approaching and we had a little snow and some cold weather there.

We stopped overnight at Fargo again on the way back to Sioux City and one of my nephews stopped by to visit and left some homemade apple pie filling and some home canned salsa. The pie filling was delicious but I haven't tried the salsa yet.

We stayed in Sioux City for a couple of weeks, doing some fixit projects and visiting family. Time there always goes too fast and it's time to leave again.

After leaving Sioux City on Sunday, we stopped in Des Moines and spent Sunday and Monday visiting our families there. As usual time was too short there, but with cold weather approaching we were anxious to head south. We have stopped for the night at the Osage Prairie RV park at Nevada, MO. As we travel we think back on a busy summer, meeting three new granddaughters, celebrating baptisms, playing games with family, helping with projects, and enjoying good food together. Now we are headed to a new adventure, volunteering at a Corps of Engineers lake at Waco, TX. We haven't been there before so it will be a new area to explore.

Heaven's Helpers Soup Cafe

Our daughter here in Bismarck has been telling us about a soup kitchen up here that is operated like a restaurant. Customers come in and sit down and order their choice of two soups and two sandwiches. There is a box at the door to pay whatever you can if you can. Volunteers can sign up to work there. She and Janice and I worked a shift there on Friday and we enjoyed it and will probably go back again. They are also installing showers and a computer area there for the homeless.

On Saturday, we celebrated some birthdays at the bowling alley and then to Pizza Rance for lunch. After lunch, Janice and I went to the downtown street fair. They have a lot of food booths and we found our favorite Swedish rice pudding at one of them. Sunday's high was over 80 degrees, but the forecast looks much cooler for the upcoming days. Fall seems to be in the air up here. Today was a stay-at-home day. I worked on a couple of fixit projects here at the motorhome and our daughter came out for awhile and played a game with us.

Bismarck

I really need to write more often to keep this updated. I will try to do better. As I said in the last post, the lake was rising. This is the edge of the beach parking lot which is normally about 30 ft above the lake level. It eventually rose another 20 ft, covering the parking lots and all of the surrounding area.

As the water rose, more and more of the road disappeared.

This is the road just past our volunteer campground. The water eventually reached the campground and we all had to move to another campground on the other side of the lake for a few weeks while the water went back down. When the water recedes, all of the logs and debris that you see in the water stays in place and so there is a lot of clean up work to do to reopen all of the areas.

When the water was at it's peak level, the road across the dam was closed for about two weeks for safety reasons and only workers and delivery people were allowed beyond this checkpoint at the end of the dam. The rangers and volunteers all worked several shifts here.

One of the many beautiful sunsets looking across the lake from our campground.

We packed up the motorhome and drove it to Mt.Pleasant for the weekend of Janice's 45 high school class reunion. One of their activities was to ride on float in the Winfield parade. We went to the dinner that night and a get together afterward. The next night we went out to eat with a few of her old classmates. It was an enjoyable weekend and we were glad that we went.

On our way back we stopped at Janice's sister-in-law's house for a visit and caught these two nieces there in town also. I had never met them and Janice hadn't seen them for a long time either. It was a nice bonus for the trip.

When we returned to Des Moines, we dog sat Houdini while the Rices took a trip to Colorado. He kept Janice busy with a lot of walks around the campground.

We were in town long enough to attend the baptism of a new granddaughter.

One of the volunteer opportunities that I had for Saylorville Lake this summer since we were there later than usual was to work their booth at the Iowa State Fair. We wanted to be there for a granddaughter's tumbling performance also, so we made a day of it.

I had never been to the State fair before, so I enjoyed the day. A trip to the Iowa State Fair is never complete without seeing the butter cow. That's right, a cow sculpted from butter!

We left Des Moines on Friday before Labor Day and headed to Sioux City. This little rascal crawled out from under the motorhome when we started it up to leave.

We spent the weekend in Sioux City doing a few fixit projects and visiting our family members there. Our son-in-law was running a game convention in town that weekend so we spent a few hours there on Sunday afternoon. 

Now we are in Bismarck, ND to spend some time with family up here and getting to know our new granddaughter. I'm sure that time will pass quickly and we will have to leave much too soon. 

Saylorville Lake

Time to catch up on the blog. Our time in Sioux City went too fast again. We enjoyed our time there with frequent visits to the motorhome by the various members of the Wilson family. The rains kept the grass growing so mowing was a weekly job. Cut and sprayed a bunch of invasive trees in the backyard hillside. The Wilsons and I put in a garden and tried to keep the weeds out. Did a little work on the motorhome and Jeep. Had a plumber come out and replace the water heater and install a water softener so we finally have pretty good water there. Found out we had a small hole near the drain in the kitchen sink causing it to leak, so we found a nearly new one at the Habitat for Humanity Resale store and installed it. We caught up with a few of our friends, and Rebecca and I enjoyed a few trips to the grocery store and a trip to the dump together. The time went fast but we really enjoy the time spent there. The last week two cousins from Des Moines stayed with them and rode back to Des Moines with us.
Now we are settled into our campsite in the volunteer village at Saylorville Lake. I started working here yesterday and will be working Mon-Wed each week. So far I have been planting prairie plants, working on a remodeled pond in the butterfly garden, mowing and weed eating. A lot of new faces here both with the permanent staff and the volunteers.  Due to all of the recent rains, the lake is rising.
Beaches are flooded and closed along with some of the boat ramps. The water may reach volunteer village and if so, we will all be moved to another campground temporarily. We hope to spend time with each of our Des Moines families while we are here and also just relax at the lake a little.

Back in Sioux City

We left Hamilton, MO and drove to Sioux City on Sunday the 22nd. We have been busy here with Dr. Appointments, catching up with friends and family, and doing odd jobs around the house and motorhome. We passed some snow piles in the shady areas on the way here, but it looks like spring has arrived here finally. Normally we go to Saylorville Lake for a couple of months on our way here, so we aren't used to being here for spring. Our new granddaughter here is just a cute in person as she was in the pictures. She doesn't like us to hold her much yet but she is glad to smile at us when her mother holds her.

Hamilton, MO

We made it to Pittsburg, KS Tuesday afternoon and our friends from near there came by to visit and we went out to supper together. We went to a new restaurant that they hadn't been to yet and the food was plentiful and delicious. Wednesday we drove over to their house and spent most of the day with them. It was great to catch up with them and what they have been doing. Thursday we drove up to the Pony Express RV park near Maysville, MO. We parked the motorhome, hooked up the electric and headed over to Hamilton, MO.  Hamilton is the home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company which occupies several building on main street.

They even have a store called Man's Land with recliners, TVs, and a pool table for the men to rest while the rest are shopping.

 It worked out for us to be there the same day as our daughters who are having a sister retreat this weekend. They were all looking beautiful in their matching sister retreat sweatshirts!

It was really a special day for us to be back with them again and meet our newest granddaughter, Lucy!

Friday, Janice and I drove back over to spend time wandering in the shops and I had a short nap in Man's Land. We stopped at Baskin-Robbins on the way home for some ice cream. Today we spent a quiet day in the campground and went to Mass at 5:00. Tomorrow we should make it to Sioux City.

Heading to Pittsburg, KS

Wow, I'm a little behind with this blog. We arrived in Carrollton, Georgia on Friday, April 6. All of Janice's sisters came over on Saturday for a visit. We had a good visit with Mom and left the following Thursday and stopped in Gadsden and spent the weekend with Vic and Phil. As usual, we enjoyed our time there and it was too short as always. Janice and Vic had a good time quilting and Phil and I went to the Collinsville flea market on Saturday morning. Yesterday they had to go back to work and we drove to Trumann, Arkansas. It was a long drive for us and we overnighted in a Walmart parking lot. Today we hope to make it to Pittsburg, KS to visit some friends.