More Illinois and Lafayette, IN

We drove an hour and a half from Lafayette, IN to Danville, IL, where I spent most of my childhood. The town has lost a lot of industry and many businesses have moved to the north of town. Parts of area look wonderful and others look very neglected. This was a mall where cars were not allowed when my father owned a business here.

This is the mother of my best friend. We took her to lunch and caught up on all the news. She has many interests and reads voraciously.

Ted and I have not found any place that has custard as good as this place. Lemon is my favorite. On a hot, humid Illinois night, the lines are very long here.

Wednesday we drove to Winamac, IN. It is the county seat of Pulaski County, where my Nichols great, great grandparents were married.

A wonderful Clerk of Records helped us find some genealogy information and then sent us to the city library where we searched; for another 3 hours.

Isn't this interesting architecture? This is on a corner of the town square.

Winamac has many homes like this and most are in good repair.

Here is another one.

Look at that black dirt and fields that look as though they go on forever. This is the soil of central Illinois and Indiana. I grew to see it as beautiful and I miss it. It grows almost anything.

Ted and I met in Lafayette, IN where Ted was finishing his PhD in Nematology at Purdue University and I was a Title I Coordinator for Lafayette School District. This is the site of our first date about 29 years ago. We had both gone through divorces and met through a group of singles with Purdue connections. This was the restaurant for Howard Johnson's at the time; where everyone went to dance in the late 1970s. There are now many more places to party.

It was much to our relief that we found Arni's still in business. It has actually expanded to many other sites. This was and is a great place for delicious sandwiches, pizza, and jazz. Visiting Purdue was an opportunity to revisit our memories and appreciate the decisions we made so long ago.

Here is Ted's lab and office during his tenure at Purdue. It is in the heart of a huge campus and not a place the casual visitor would see.

We were married here or very near here on June 21, 1980. It is the Purdue Horticulture Park. There were many more flowers and plantings when were married here, so it took us a few minutes to identify the location. We stood here and renewed our commitment to each other - very meaningful.

Jim, husband of my cousin Lettie, has just been checking out the 1950 Studebaker truck in the parking lot of the restaurant where we are in Springfield, IL.

Cousin Beth and her sister, Lettie came to our coach for dinner after treating us to a great time in Springfield, IL.

More Iowa and some Illinois 4-20-09

Two of the four jacks that level the coach when we are camped have been giving us trouble. Ted has been having to go under the coach and give one or the other a push to get them to retract. Not at all fun when parked in a muddy spot or one with gravel. We stopped at the manufacturing plant near Moscow, IA to get them fixed. Two and a half hours later, we had four new jacks and they didn't cost us a dime. They were still under warranty. This company manufactures the jacks and hydraulic systems for the majority of RV manufacturers in the USA. The plant is non-descript and in the middle of corn and soybean fields.

While we waited for the coach to be fixed, we drove 9 miles to Tipton, IA for lunch in a cute little cafe. This town is another one that has kept its town square and maintains its old buildings. Tipton is also the site of the first public high school west of the Mississippi.

More wind turbine parts on the way. These were at a truck stop north of Galesburg, IL, birthplace of Carl Sandburg. We saw a huge wind farm near Peoria. We don't remember seeing it last year.

This such a typical Illinois farm. I grew up about 150 miles from here seeing these all the time. Look at this sunset and the black dirt. Makes me a little homesick.

Iowa 4-18 and 19-09

We drove I-80 a year ago and didn't see wind farms that are now in abundance between Omaha, NE and Des Moines, IA.

We have spent a couple of nights at Davenport, IA so that we can have some work done on our RV hydraulic systems on Monday. Sunday we visited the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, IA, near Iowa City. He is a president that I knew very little about so this was a very interesting stop.

Herbert Hoover graduated from Stanford with a degree in geology. He became a mining engineer, stateman, and 31st President of the United States. His parents died when he was very young and he was sent to live with an uncle in Newberg, OR. He made his fortunate and then devoted his life to service, a value he learned during his Quaker upbringing. He was erroneously blamed for the depression. Even Will Rogers, a lifelong democrat, was adamamt in Hoover's defense.

His wife, Lou, was the first woman to graduate from Stanford with a degree in geology. She is credited with starting the sale of Girl Scout cookies and was a true partner in her husband's food relief work after WWI and II. She also assisted her husband in the translation of a mining reference that is still a standard today from Latin to English .

While living in China, the Hoovers survived the Boxer Rebellion. Note the gun on Mrs. Hoover's hip she was to use that as a last resort.

This is the 14 x 20 foot cottage where Bert Hoover was born in 1874. There are three rooms and they are TINY.

There is an effort to maintain the town as in was during Hoover's time.

Omaha, NE 4-13-09

Pauline and Ron owned the company in Omaha that I worked for 23 years ago. We spent the evening with them and my boss at that time, Jill. Ron and Pauline's home is beautiful! You know, it is amazing to me how quickly and comfortably friendships are renewed when you truly connected in the first place.

Jill was such a quiet, gentle boss with a good sense of humor. She guided my work and challenged me to be better than I thought was possible. We were disappointed that her husband, David couldn't join us for the evening.

Kansas City, Truman Library, and walk after dinner 4-11-09

Brunch at YJ's Snack Bar in the art district of Kansas City, MO was fun. The store front is tiny, tiny and hasn't been painted or redecorated in eons. It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It was a fun, funky little place for our breakfast.

The former fire station is now the Visitor Center for Independence MO. The building to the right is the jail and marshal's house that once housed Frank James. Tours of President Harry S. Truman's home are $4.00, but we decided to see the library during the short time we had. I saw some of the interior during the film at the visitor's center. It is only about 3 blocks from their church and 6 blocks from the center of town. There are other Victorian homes for sale in the neighborhood for about $300,000.

The eternal flame is in the courtyard of the Harry S. Truman Library. The graves of Bess and Harry Truman and their daughter and son-in-law are here directly above the flame and near the building in the background. This building contains the office Pres. Truman used after he retired. The office was closed for renovation.

The replica of President Truman's Oval Office. Visitors hear the voice of President Truman describe the room.

General Dwight Eisenhower gave President Truman the globe in this photo. It was used as a centerpiece in many official visitor photos during Truman's two terms in office.

I was surprised by how small the Oval Office really is.

The famous desk plaque. It sits in its own glass case in the foyer to the Oval Office.

Our RV Park has a few short trails behind it.

The little stream ran into a farm field below.

This conch is fungus on the side of tree. We saw a blue heron and a cardinal and heard many other birds.

Poor Rocky, whatever he was, is buried along the trail. Now he is immortalized forever in this blog.

Daffodils are all over the park. It is amazing that they have survived the low night temperatures; a far cry from weather in Pt. Aransas. I am typing this in jean, sweatshirt, and wool socks. Sure miss the capris, short-sleeve tops, and sandles. My pedicure in Tulsa was a waste. No one can see my pretty toes.

Kansas City and Plattsburg, MO 4-9-09

Ted and I went to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City and had lunch with Emily, daughter of my cousin Jane. Emily is a curator's assistant for the European collection. Lunch was very good and Emily gave us some insight into what she does. Note the shuttlecock sculptures on the lawn outside. The museum has one of the Monet Waterlilies paintings. He did a series of these studying the effects of light at different times of the day and seasons.I was born in Kansas City. It is always fun to come back. I like this town.

I am into genealogy, if you didn't already know. This is the grave of one of my great, great grandmothers. I knew that the date of her death that is given in many family trees was wrong because I have a photo of her that was taken after the date given. When we were in Plattsburg (just northwest of Kansas City) two years ago, we couldn't find this marker. It was a real triumph to find it today. Sure enough, she died in 1916, not 1910. The clerk in the county court house had a listing of the graves in this cemetery, making it easy to find this. Tillie's second husband and two of her children are buried near her.

Arthur Bryants is a famous Kansas City BBQ restaurant. We ate here on our way back from Plattsburg. This one is inside the Ameristar Casino off of I-435. It was good, but Ted likes Rudy's in Texas better. We do like Bryants over Gates BBQ, another well known Kansas City place.

Goodbye to Bixby, OK 4-7-09

This is the back of Walt and Cleone's beautiful home outside Bixby, OK. This is the second time that they have hosted us on their "farm".

Walt and Cleone are RVers. Their coach is in the "barn" next to our rig. We are sitting on a pad with full hook-ups that they built so their friends could visit in comfort.

We stopped by cousin Colleen's one last time as we left town. Two other cousins surprised us. That is Tooter (James) and Betty Margaret on the left and Colleen and Ted on the right.

This is Colleen's house. Brent, do you remember visiting Aunt Idella here? She took you into the root cellar.

This MacDonald's is on I-44 north of Tulsa, near Vinita, OK.

Go ahead and laugh, but these trash cans are all over Oklahoma. I think every state should adopt the idea. Well, states with lots of varmits might need lids.

We spent the night of April 7 near Joplin, MO at Carthage. It is where Precious Moments are made and was the scene of 13 Civil War battles. It is now April 8 and we are at Peculiar Place Park in Peculiar, MO, yes, Peculiar. Thank the U.S. Postal Service for that name. Long story. The park roads are named for places on the original Monopoly game and they call the RV dump "Waterworks". The speed limit is 6 1/2 miles per hour. They are living up to their name.