July 21 - Kansas

Actually in Kansas but there was no Kansas sign,
will try and get one tomorrow

We arrived in Kansas City on Saturday the 19th and have pretty much been going nonstop ever since. Saturday was mostly filled with eating and catching up on several years of not seeing each other.  Sunday was church, Sunday school and then out to lunch (Italian food) with Larry and Charlotte an a dozen or so of their friends.   After lunch we came for naps and more chitchatting.   Today Charlotte and I went to the mall (I did not spend a penny!!!!) While the guys ran some errands, then we all went to Cheddars (wish they had these in Arizona) for an early supper.  While at the mall we went into a store called "The Lego Store'. I had never seen anything like it.  In the 'old' days when our kids were younger Legos were just coming out. We bought a box of assorted Legos and the kids used their imagination an built stuff from scratch.  Today everything is sorted down into boxes - "Iron Man", "Star Wars", Ninja,etc. ...there like putting a puzzle together.  Totally amazing!  But in thinking about this I thought 'where is the imagination in all this?"  I was appalled also in children's clothing stores to see skinny jeans and crop tops for kids as young as 3-4 years old....no wonder when these same girls turn 13 they are trying to act like they are 21 - what happened to t-shirts and simple t-shirts or cute little dresses?  OK, off my rant for the day.

Tuesday we will be going to Jamesport a small, local Amish town  in Missouri.

The weather here was great the first couple of days but today has been a lot more humid....hoping it is not too humid tomorrow.

July 20 - Nothing Like Camping

Couldn't resist when I saw this on Facebook - although we are not totally camping we are staying half our nights in KOAs which are a camping-like atmosphere

July 18 - Musings as We Wind Down

What a whirlwind it has been.  Although we thought we planned it for a good 3 months +. we are now discovering we will probably be home by mid-August at the latest....maybe somehow we can stretch it out to the 30th but it looks unlikely.  We've visited with friends/relatives for so long that I'm sure some of them have felt we wore out our welcome.  We've done a lot of 1, 2, 3 night stays in KOA's so we could see parts of the country where relatives/friends did not live.  We've also stayed a night or two at Holiday Inns.  We're headed tomorrow to our friends in Kansas City where we will spend several days  After that it will be a slow trip home.  We have mixed feelings about ending this but it's been an awesome time and we are looking forward to getting back to normal....just wish it would cool off in Phoenix before we get there.......110 temps do not appeal to us.

And although the 110+ temps and monsoons/haboobs/rain) does not appeal to us it's much better than the humidity we've discovered in the east, south and mid-west!  Our few nice days - weather-wise - were in Joplin Missouri.  We had cool temps (cool enough for a light jacket) and drizzling rain.

Our next stop is good friends in Kansas where we plan to stay until Thursday....we always have such a good time with these friends we have no doubt it will be more fun and laughter.

Some pictures from various places....

Phone Booth in Ohio

KOA in Sheppardsville Kentucky

Fireworks in Georgia

Sunflowers in Kentucky

  

July 16 - This and That

When we started this trip we began with the intention of relaxing, visiting friends and seeing parts of this beautiful country we'd never seen before.  We are well into our 7th week on the road.   The trip will probably not be quite as long as we first anticipated....but it will be no less fun than we expected.  We watch the news on TV and aren't in any rush to get home....much rain and monsoons there.

We are currently relaxing in Missouri....we're having beautiful weather here...the temps have been in the 60's and 70's compared to the 90's we had last week in Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.  It's truly kick-back time!  Our cabin overlooks the lake and ducks run free....it's so fun because there are even a mommy and daddy duck with six babies  As well as sitting around and feeding the ducks we took off for a few hours, had lunch at Cracker Barrel , then Howard went to the movies "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" while I took in some serious shopping at the Joplin Missouri Mall, and outer shops. 

Ducks Out for a Walk

 Mama duck and baby ducks getting ready for feeding;
ducks in back talking over other things

 One happy duck....hmmmm, 6 happy baby ducks and a coupe happy female ducks

July 14 - More Pictures - Kentucky, Missouri

Churhill Downs

From front: Doris and Otis (Sister/Brother)
Sherry Otis' daughter
Howard and Ken (Doris' husband)
(Doris and Otis are aunt/uncle of Howard)

University of Louisville
(Lyons Ave where Archie Warren grew up
 was located on now UL property)
Archie was Howard's grandfather

Sunset over St. Louis Missouri

July 13 - Pictures from Tennesse - Kentucky

7-8-2014 Tennessee Border

7-8-1204 Tennessee River

7-8-2014 Entering Nashville TN

7-8-2014 Country Music Hall of Fame

7-9-2014 Kentucky Border

7-10.2014 University of Louisville

July 10 - 11 Long Lost Relatives and Ancestry Iinformation

Up early on Wednesday morning we met with the hubs Aunt Doris (daughter of Archie Hillary Warren and his second wife, Lillie).  Archie was married twice the first time to Emma. Emma bore him 3 children - 2 boys and 1 girl.  But sadly Emma died young (age 29) after purchasing some medicine that was no good from a medicine man.  Archie eventually remarried....and he and his 2nd wife had 2 more boys and a girl. Lilllie died at the age of 39 from a blood clot on her leg.  It's an interesting story that spans years of 1900 time.  The story continues at a later date (if anyone is interested).,

Howard, Kenneth and Doris, moi

Aunt Doris and hubby Ken were our tour guides yesterday Wednesday and Otis/his daughter Sherry joined us the next day.  We went to Cheddar's (popular eating place) for supper Wednesday night.  And then Doris and Ken took us to their son's home in another part of Louisville where we visited for hours on end.  Back to our KOA by 10pm we were exhausted.

Preparing to quickly jump into bed and get some shut eye as the next day was going to be just as busy as this one - I managed to lose her footing and take a tumble....leaving me with some aches and pains but hurting my pride more than anything else.

A little sore on Friday we hit Ken and Doris' house about 10am, Otis and his daughter joined us a little while later and we talked, exchanged notes, and had fun for several hours before going to lunch at Denny's,  Saying our good-byes to Otis and Sherry we then hoped in the car with Doris and Ken for a quick spin around the University of Kentucky campus and many sports fields....these same fields were the place's where the Warren children of the early 1900's went to school and played.  Doris and Ken have lived within 5 miles of where they grew up so many years ago (1930's).  It was a fun and interesting day.  But sadly all good days must come to an end and we left around 4pm for Branson, Missouri area....with a stop in St. Louis to get a good nights sleep.

Spending Saturday night in Springfield Missouri and then onto Branson to see what the sights and the day have to show us.

Having trouble uploading pictures....will post more of Kentucky when we get a better internet connection.