The Wedding

We went to the wedding leaving here and going a rural route to avoid the maximum traffic and it was still horrendous! We did arrive in plenty of time and all was well in that regard. I took my camera and as we walked up to the beautiful facility we saw a sign that said no phones, no cameras, and no recording devices so I left my camera and phone in the car. I know that is a big disappointment to many of you as it is to me but every now and then I do obey the rules. My plan B was and is to glean what I can from Facebook when I spot one that I can snip. I have looked but so far the source is dry.

It was a beautiful outdoor wedding under a canopy of several live oak trees. Clear blue sky above and moderately warm temperatures. It took place in the small town of Helotes (hee-low-tees) Texas at the Casa Lejana. http://hstrial-glenvernon.homestead.com/index.html
The groom, Mike Morlan, prepared the meal himself and the food was delicious. Fittingly it was all the makings to put together your own taco. There were snacks in addition to the real food and I saw one youngster pile his snack bowl high with gummy worms!
Lincoln Morlan, the groom's oldest son, aged 2 had a blast! He ran, he danced, he threw rocks and he had the best fun a two-year-old can possibly have. His little brother, Carson, aged 1, just happily smiled at everybody. They were both appropriately dressed in wedding clothes that matched the wedding party.
The bride, Valerie was gorgeous in her beautiful dress and I wish I could show you what it looked like. Maybe soon. It was similar to this one.

We left the wedding party at about 8:30 and the ride home was one we rarely have to deal with in our elderly lifestyle. It was dark, we didn't know the route, heavy traffic, and way out of our comfort zone. We did make it home without incident. 

We are now thinking we will leave perhaps on Wednesday but I am gently pushing for next Sunday to lessen the stress of getting through San Antonio.  Butch will be making the final decision on that one as he is the driver and a very good one at that.

10/18/2019

10/18/19

Today is the day of Mike and Val’s wedding and we are at our friends Terry and Lisa Linder in Canyon Lake. I had planned on us leaving on Sunday but a golf game is taking priority so now it looks like Monday or Tuesday. I always plan to go through cities on a Sunday but the final decision is always up to the driver and golf is his choice this time.

So stay tuned for the next travel day. And I can let you know as long as I have Internet and so far I do.

Winstar @ Thackerville OK

We left Downstream at about 8:15. Our route was west to Stroud OK and then south to Ada OK via 377/99 and then HWY 1 West, to 7 west and the Chickasaw Turnpike. It was a little hairy getting to I-35 that way but the GPS saved our butt once again. There were 4 places we could have turned right off of HWY 1 that would have been a mistake. I can guarantee that we would have tried all 4 without the GPS.
We are now at Winstar at Thackerville OK. We are hooked up and ready to see if there is something we can eat at the casino soon. The Internet is slow but not a surprise. It is working enough to get this posted but not well enough to get me all excited about catching up on all my Word with Friends games. That may not happen till we get all the way to Trophy Gardens. We did find out they have an alternate Internet in the park that you can pay for that will outshine the free one. We will check it out when the need arises. It has no contract and unlimited data. Sounds good so far.
Till next time!!

Downstream Casino

10/15

10 15

We had a great time at the Teeter residence. Amanda, Brad and their two absolutely adorable children,
Elise and Leo live on an acreage south of Harrisonville MO. Elise and Leo spend a great deal of time
outdoors exploring all the crooks and crannies of the property. They have several pets, two indoor kitties
Tora and Lily. One outdoor kitty that started off as a neighbor cat has adopted the Teeters as her new
caretakers. Her name is Cheeta and she requires lots of attention. The new puppy, Betty Davis is a
sweetie but being still a puppy she has some learning to do. She is an outdoor puppy and Brad has set
up with a great outdoor facility to call home in her off-hours.

The neighbors have quite a menagerie at their place and sometimes there is overflow into the
Teeter yard. So far, it is okay because Betty loves chasing the chickens, ducks, and turkeys when
they come through the fence to visit. Hey, they always come back for more so don’t go trashing
Betty for having a little fun, okay?

Gary and Butch played golf on Monday and Susan was able to play hooky and came to see me.
We had a great visit with getting caught up on family and friends. 

Brad has a shoulder injury that has been surgically repaired and now he is recuperating at

home and fixes the most delicious meals. He knows his way around the kitchen and the grill.

On Tuesday we met up with Gary and Susan for breakfast before Susan had to go work.
Gary had the day off and took us to the stellar Community Center they have in Harrisonville.
They have so many things to do there that everyone would be able to find something that
would interest them. (Insert link)They have two pool tables so the three of us played together
on one of the tables. It is a three-way game and if you want to know how it works I will explain
it at another time. All three of us won a game. I really like the game.
So now we are at the Downstream Casino with lousy TV reception and that is why this entry
will be so wordy.

In Harrisonville MO

We had an uneventful, easy trip south from Jefferson today. Left town about 8:30 PM and arrived at Amanda and Brad's place at 2:00 this afternoon. We are parked and settled in with wifi and electricity. Brad and Amanda have a lovely acreage in the country. The kids, Elise and little Leo love it too and play outdoors a bunch. Susan is traveling home from a wedding in Chicago and Gary is working. Gary is a dispatcher in Harrisonville so he now has a whole different set of stresses.

We will be here till Tuesday when we will venture south to the Downstream casino near Joplin MO. Our next leg after that will be to the Winstar casino at Thackerville OK. Followed by a trip to Canyon Lake staying with friends Terry and Lisa Linder until after Mike and Val's wedding in San Antonio. We will either stay a day or a week in Canyon Lake. We like to go through San Antonio on Sunday morning. We are leaving that decision open for now.
Till next time...

Leo's Birthday

Today is Leo's birthday and since we have our ducks in a row and we are ready to depart in the morning we were invited out to share his birthday treat. How could we go wrong with Keri making it? French Silk Pie was his choice and a good choice it was.

No Internet for now

Usually, I wait to disconnect our Internet until after we are gone but this year I had to return equipment
for the first time. So here I sit on the day before departing without any Internet.
When faced with this situation in the past, I write the entries and then post them later.
And that is what the plan is this time as well.

It has been very wet the past couple of days and we had about 3 inches of rain overall and we were
sitting in the middle of a lake but the rain let up and has dried out some. It dried up enough for Butch
to get the last mowing done. For a while the sun came out and gave us some relief from the cold.
The thermometer read a cold 31 degrees at 6:00 a.m. After all the hubbub that takes place in the moving
and preparing the house for an unoccupied winter is now done and I think a nap is in order.

Iowa Trivia season ends for us

Last night  Dugan, Sharon, Karla, Devon, Butch and I played trivia at the casino and we played it very well! We came in second giving up our third place win for the first time all summer. We indeed played like a team with participation by all six in attendance. It was SOOOOO much fun!!

Butch and I are wrapping things up with departure scheduled for Sunday morning. This morning's outdoor temp was 35 degrees and it is expected to be lower than that the next two mornings. Oh, how I hope they have miscalculated how low it will go.
This morning we got our flu shots, went to see if we could vote ( ballots aren't in yet), took care of blending our two lots in preparation for building a garage next Spring, and filled the car with gas. When we came home Butch started in winterizing the house and garage.

When we were getting our flu shots there was another couple getting theirs two and we started a conversation. They were from Jamaica Iowa, full-time RV'ed for 10 years, go south every winter (Mesa AZ) and we had a whole bunch of in common things. After we walked away Butch went back and asked their names. Gordon and Jan Van Gundy. Butch said we used to know a Jan Van Gundy. It was the same Jan! She was married to Ron Morgan when we were very, very young and we ran with them a bit. She divorced Ron and Married Gordon and they have been married for 55 years! It was great reconnecting after all these years. We hope we can reconnect again next Spring when we return. Jan was a bunch of fun in her youth and I am sure she still is and it will be great getting to know Gordon too.

Sometimes what I write has limited interest to many people. When those times happen I am usually making notes for myself so I can come back and review. For instance, it might have been better to leave earlier this fall with the weather changing so fast and severely. That has been true the past two falls.
Last years post on the very same day!!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11

Last prep day

Tomorrow we will be headed south. Butch is doing the final touches of getting the house ready. I am doing a couple of loads of laundry in the motorhome to make sure a seal hasn't dried up or some other pending problem hasn't reared its ugly head. So far so good.
One of the very oddest of coincidences is that we left last year over 5 weeks later than this year and the weather is exactly the same! In the thirties! Nothing like little reminders to tell you it is time to skedaddle for warmer temperatures.
Tonight is our last trivia time at Hyvee for 2018 and our number one guy with an encyclopedia for a brain will not be there. We are going and we will do the best we can. It should be interesting even if it is painful.
Tuesday we voted for the mid-terms, gave our internet a shut-off date, paid our second half car insurance and went to Ames for our last dermatology appointment. Mickey invited us for supper at her house and it was delicious. Her new kitchen is beautiful.
The rest of my today will be readying the inside of the motorhome for travel. That may sound easy but when you have to think about and how everything might move if jostled it becomes more of a puzzle. It is a puzzle with which I am very familiar.
Back to work!

View from the Motorhome.

I took this early this morning. It is what I see when looking north from where I sit while on my computer.

Quick Note

Just a quick note to tell you we are still working at getting things wrapped up here and getting ready to head out early Sunday morning. So much of it is a timing thing- you know, cannot do this until we do that sort of stuff. List making is very important these days.

Leo and Keri hosted a very nice going-away party for us Sunday with many of our dearest family and friends in attendance. Wonderful food! How could it be anything but wonderful with Keri at the helm!
So early to bed for me so I can get started on tomorrow's list before first light.

Ancestry Sale

I saw an ad for DNA testing on Ancestry.com so Butch and I submitted our DNA and we received the results yesterday. This gives us something to do when it is raining but I am sure it is going to slow up the moving process.
Butch and I both thought we were mostly German and it seems we are both mostly not! Butch is 71% English and I am 79% English. I have 16% Scottish and Irish with a smidgeon of Norway and Sweden thrown in. You think you know what your mama told you but you may be off base just a bit.

My biggest surprise so far is connecting with my paternal father's side. My father was adopted when he was 3 months old by Sam and Anna Brock. His birth name was Van Horn. I grew up knowing that my father's name was Francis Duane Brock but I found one entry that had his middle initial as W so I wondered if perhaps his birth name was actually Francis Walter Van Horn. I wondered specifically because his father's name was Walter. Perhaps Sam and Anna changed it or perhaps it was just an error. I knew my paternal birth Grandfather Walter Van Horn was a twin and his brother's name was Wesley and when I checked close matches on DNA I located cousins on Wesley's side. I have contacted them through Ancestry.com so we will see if it results in any more info. Just that quickly it became exciting.

My paternal grandfather's marriage info. Good grief!! I just looked up Franklin Township. It is COOPER IOWA! Butch was born in Cooper. So was my mother and now I can add my paternal grandfather. Cooper has played a significant role in both of our lives.

And now back to the moving process!

Fall transition

We are in the process of moving from the house to the motorhome and we are about one-third done. Rain and cold will delay the process and we have had both. We also do not want to go crazy and do it all in one day as that can be a bad scene and scare the neighbors. I am a firm believer that we have an unknown number of decisions we can make in one day and if you exceed it all hell breaks loose. We are not in danger of that. Just sayin'.
Today is starting off cold. Some would say "ah pshaw" but for me, 41 degrees is not in my comfort zone. I am hoping it will moderate some so we can get this show on the road.
Till next time...

RV Battery Cells

Butch has struggled to fill our battery cells in the RV batteries. I plan to save this tip for him.

I am all about making life easier!

Quick Tip

A simple way to fill your coach battery cells

Are your coach batteries difficult to reach to fill the cells? Head off to the drug store and pick up a water bottle with an “enema” hose and fitting. Fill the water bottle with distilled water, hook up the hose with the shut-off clip. Now lead the “business end” of the hose to each cell and use the shut-off to open/close the fill-up flow.

Theresa's Birthday

Today is my sisters birthday. She was born on September 30th, 1952. I was 9 years old and I remember the day quite clearly. Tonight Butch and I were watching the weather report on the evening news and I told him the weather on the day Theresa was born was a nice day. Just then the guy said it was a warm day today at 87 but a record was not broken because in 1952 the temperature reached 90 degrees! Imagine my surprise at that strange coincidence.
💖Happy Birthday, Theresa!💖

Facebook Fun!

I found this ad on my Facebook page. They were selling T-shirts of course but I just wanted the picture so I snipped it as you know I always do. Later I got the idea that Butch would have liked me to actually buy him one. I knew he and a few other Brookers would really like this T-shirt or at least the message on it.

Mice in your RV?

You may want to read this article. I would love to hear of a first-person account of someone who has tried this method. Let's all go to the zoo!!
We are fighting ants at the moment. I wonder if it works for ants?

https://www.rvtravel.com/mice-invading-your-rv-lion-poop-to-the-rescue/

Today’s thought

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” ―J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter author

Dead or not dead

Well, the dead phone came to life the day after I bought a new one. I probably would not have known had they not told me to erase all personal info from the dead phone before turning it in for trade-in value. It perplexed me because how do you erase something that is dead? Besides their reasons, I was not comfortable sending a phone with all the info intact through the mail to God knows where. So I tried again to revive it and I assume it needed a vacation because it started working. So I erased it. I reasoned that if it happened once, the dying I mean, then it could happen again so I felt better about buying a new phone. I do like the new one. It is the same brand- Pixel 3a. The features have come a long way in three years time. They rave about the camera on this one so of course, I will have to give it a run for my money.

Zimmerle connected

This past Saturday we had an event at our house. It is loosely called a girls day out and it started a long time ago now that I think about it. My Aunt Ruby lived in Jefferson just a few blocks from where we now live.  My mother and Aunt Ruby were sisters-in-law and very good friends. When it came to pass that they were both widows they would take trips together. Aunt Ruby was the person I would go visit with about all the things you really want to know about when you are young but not yet wise. I know many of my cousins felt the same way about her. And my cousins have told me they felt the same way about their Aunt Fern, otherwise known to me as Mom. So in the course of time, we were all scattered to the four winds but every now and then we would get together at a restaurant in Jefferson for a girls day out. A Zimmerle connection was the glue that bound it together. Since we have moved to Jefferson in 2010 we have revived the tradition with gaps here and there. Both Aunt Ruby and my mother have passed but there are a number of cousins, mostly female who still attend. We had a most pleasant afternoon. Those attending were my sister Theresa, her daughter Tara with her BF Mark, my cousin Phyllis and her niece Joanna, my niece Karla and her son Devon, and my cousin Liesa. Unable but really wanting to attend was my sister Myrla. Her dog Hewy is in the process of dying and she could not bring herself to leave him alone. Those who know her would not be surprised.
We had a very fun afternoon and we hope to repeat it next year.

Dead Pixel Phone

I had to do a search to see how old the dead pixel phone is and it is 3 years old, almost exactly. I thought it was older than that but the "Oh well, it is what it is, comes to mind." It is dead and that is the bottom line. A new one has been ordered and I hope it gets here soon. They tell me it will be here between September 27th and 30th. Yikes! So I guess calling Butch's phone is your best bet if you need to get in touch with us or there is always email. There is never a good time for this to happen but better now than when we are en route to Texas.
An added note; I have been through all the tech support on the old phone. I have tried all the tricks to wake it up and none of them have worked. Now I am weighing the options of getting insurance on the new one. Is it worth $5 a month to have it insured? Hmmmm.