Still here!

 yep we are still here! Thought I would take a few moments to recap and update.  

Since the big adventure with Mom to Kansas, we spent the summer doing summer things.  Mom worked a couple of big puzzle projects, tended flowers attempting to keep them from wilting in the heat, and continuted to bake cookies for Andrea's counseling office and her friends.  Peter worked 40 plus hours each week from 3:30 PM to midnigth in a cold storage facility.  He spent multiple saturdays at a local waterpark, included me in three Braves games, and took Mama Millie to church most Sundays.  I had a grand time "traveling" about the US with the kids at the preschool during our summer theme, Snapshots Across America. It was one of my favorite summers as I led weekly art and sensory activities as well as planned some fun sensory experience rooms and big events.  The Tea Party, Fiesta with Pinata, and the Annual Dayschool Dash were some of my favorite.  This year we added the ocassional visit of Inflatable Animals at some of our special days.  At the Dayschool Dash we concluded it with a teachers race in which all participants wore an inflatable costume.  I proudly came in last in my lobster costume.  It is NOT easy to run in an inflatable lobster costume!

For the month of August I spent my work time digging out from under the rubble of summer as there was not much time to "put things away" and process from one event to another.  I also spent a lot of time thinking and planning for this school year.  I have returned to visiting in the classrooms and love being with all our kids each week.  Outside of work I stay busy with family and friends, home care, life upkeep , and my yard. I grew Zinnias this year and have so enjoyed having fresh cut flowers in my house. At this point, the heat has about brought us to the end of "fresh cut flower" season.

As I have often said, I think of things regularly that I would love to share with you.  Many times I have started to write only to get side tracked or fall asleep.  I was determined today just to write a little something.  I am headed to the beach on Thursday afternoon for a long Labor day weekend at the beach with Emily, her fiance Jeremy and her 3 kids (now 6, 6, and 5).  This will be mine and Emily's 2nd labour day trip with the kids to the gulf coast.  We invited Jeremy to help us even out the odds so we aren't out numbered by them. I am looking forward to the trip.

Folks often ask about Prter and Mom.  I think they are both doing well.  Mom is quite independant  keeping herself busy and I am so grateful for her wonderful neighborhood of friends.  She will be 90 on October 1st and I have had to promise I would not throw any birthday party.  She says our June trip was her birthday gift.  When people ask about Peter I often say it is like watching someone on a highwire, tightrope.  He is managing his job, his car and his money.  Honestly he is doing real well.  And yet I see things and hear things that make me anxious, anticipating that the slightest slip could cause a devastating fall.  Currently he is considering a job change that might mean less coworker interactions (a  frequent challenge) but would mean fulltime driving. It does stir up anxiety.  I pray God's will be done and that Peter will be wise moving forward.  I am always grateful for your prayers for him.  Knowing others are praying relieves me of some of my anxiety regarding him.

It's time to run some errands and work towards packing for the beach - woo hoo! Thank you as always for being interested in us and praying on our behalf.

Mom just finished this challenging 1000 piece puzzel

Braves vs Mets

An evening at the local Botanical Gardens

Pete and Rufus' most excellent adventure

 One of the fun things about our trip, was traveling with Pete the Cat (my faithful travel compaion for many years) and mom's new friend Rufus.  When the trip was all over I made mom three photo print books to help her enjoy remembering and share the trip.  One book was all photos of people, one was of just random sights and selfies, and the others was the trip through the eyes of Pete and Rufus.  That book is probably my favorite.  So I am going to share some of those photos here.

 

A week later

 It's been a week since we returned from our big adventure.  I was tired all week.  Work was busy and I could not get motivated to put my home in order.  But at this point, I am unpacked, the yard has been maintained, Peter and I spent time together going to a Braves game yesterday, and I have mom's pictures printed so she can share the story of out journey. 

There are many stories and "trivia" that may not be of real interest but in case it is. . .  I am going to share a few here.

• We traveled just over 2,500 miles going through 8 states in 9 days.
• 2 of  the destinations on one of our travel shirts are now inacurate.  We drove by Memphis  without stopping and never made it into Kentucky choosing to go back home via Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.
• We almost ran out of gas once, The computer on the car said we could have gone 8 more miles when we finally found a gas station. 
• I was pulled over by the police once.  I was going 34 in a 20 in a small Kansas town. Fotunately he let me go with a verbal warning. This story like the one where we almost ran out of gas is much funnier told in person. 
• We refilled the gas tank 8 times on the journey managing to purchase gas in every state we passed through including Tennessee which we porbably spent a total of 30 minutes in the whole trip.  This was not a goal but something that thrilled me when I realized it none the less.
• Loves Truckstops was one of our favorite places to stop.  They typically had a great selection of stickers and magnets as well as the bathrooms were usually in the same location at each stop.
• Mom and I each have a collection of 10-11 stickers on our water bottle representing every day of the journey plus an extra one or two.
• I ended up with 8 magnets from our trip.  Collecting magents on trips is something Peter and I started years ago.  Thus next to gas and lodging, one of the biggest expenses was our sticker and magnet collection.
• Something I wish we had done was keep a list of how many Dollar Generals and Sonic's we passed .  I also wish we made a list of the names of towns we went through.  Some were so not pronounced the way they were spelled and others were just plain funny.
• The best coffee I had was one I found at a little coffee shop in Wamego KS.  It was a cereal milk latte called "The Breakfast Club."  So yummy
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• Wamego KS is where my grandma lived when I was growing up.  If you are ever traveling through the eastern part of Kansas, I recommend it.  Wizard of Oz museum, a restored theatre from the early 1900 and great coffee. 
• You can go 80 MPH on the Oklahoma turnpikes!
• We saw 37 family members and long time friends.
• We took a lot of clothes that we never wore because we just kept rotating our Roadtrip shirts.  
• If you don't like crowds, don't stop at a Buc-cee's on Sunday afternoon.

I feel like we learned a lot on this trip and are ready to take another one!

Signs

One of the really fun things about traveling 2500 miles by car across 8 states is all the signs we came across. On my next cross-country road trip, I plan to keep a journal of all the names of towns that amuse me or befuddle me as I wonder how it is pronounced.  I also hope to do a better job of capturing pictures of signs.  Here are a few signs I did get on this trip.

In Oklahoma I followed the sign to Will Rodgers birthplace.
At the end of the road, we found a sign that it was closed.

This was a funny signs in the Wizard of Oz Museum

Saw this sign just a few minutes before I saw this. . . . 

The population here isn't as high as one might think.

This next one was my favorite

A few minutes later saw men in orange jumpsuits working in a large garden,
but no one was looking for a ride.

 

What happened to day 4-9 . . .

 It really was my desire to blog daily while Mom and I were on our big adventure.  I was doing well until Day 4, when we started managing a very busy social itinerary.  I got behind, and when I couldn't catch up, I abandoned the plan.  We are back home, and I do want to share some of our travel story.  Instead of a daily account, I will make a few "theme" posts.  In a nutshell, it was a great adventure!  Mom was very pleased with the trip, accomplishing the goal of visiting friends and family all the way to Kansas and back.  We are so grateful for safe travels and a fun time together.  

I will kick it off with the selfies. 

Day 1 - Buccee's stop in Leeds, Alabama

Day 3: Leaving Royce and Brian in Mena, Arkansas

Day 4: Leaving Barb and Don in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Day 5  Outside the Wizard of Oz Museum, Wamego, Kansas

Day 5 -In front of mom's childhood home Hoyt, Kansas

Day 6 - Dinner with Cousin Tonya

Day 7 - visiting with Uncle Delbert and Cousins

Day 7 - Laudner's Monuments - looking at headstone options (for me)

Day 8 - cheese store outside Springfield, Missouri

Day 8 Lunch with cousin Terry in Springfield, Missouri

Day 9 - heading out on last leg of Journey - Hampton Inn Jonesboro, Arkansas

Day 9 - last stop of the trip - Buccee's Leeds, Alabama

Driving Aunt Millie Day 3 Monday

Cousin Brian fixed us a great  Breakfast monday morning. We said goodbye and headed out around 10.

 It was a beautiful morning and the sights along the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma we're beautiful and sometimes amusing.

At 2:30, we arrived In Tulsa Oklahoma at the home of Don and Barbara Hood. Mom and barbara have been friends since 1961. Mom and Barbara stay in regular touch through text and phone calls however they had not actually been together since some time in the late 1970's. Barbara and Don took us to Fish Daddys to eat then we toured their backyard garden until settling into the living room for the evening. Their son Jason with wife Aubry and daughter Dallas came to visit. Dallas had just had her sweet 16 birthday party so it was fun hearing about that. I found a kindred spirit in Aubry. She told me about the fun sights in Tulsa including the Route 66 stops nearby. I added one of them to our travel plans for Tuesday. It was a lot of fun to connect with this family that has been a part of our story though at a distance for so many years.

   

Driving Aunt Millie Day 2 Sunday 7th

Sunday morning started with a nice continental breakfast at the our Hampton Inn. As we were packing up our car, next to us was Mike and Frank. They are from Atlanta and recognized our license plate. It led to a fun conversation. They were headed to California on a big motorcycle trip. They liked our road trip shirts so we shared some information about how they could get some made. Meanwhile , Pete and Rufus climbed on the back of the bike to get a picture with grumpy bear. It was all a fun way to start our journey out. 

We made one stop at Love's gas station. I'm a big fan of the Love gas station, the truck stop ones especially. The layout is the same, so it's easy to find the bathroom. And they have stickers and magnets. So far , we've been able to collect a new sticker each day for our water bottle.

At 2 o'clock, we arrived at my cousin Royce's beautiful place in "the middle of somewhere few have seen" Arkansas. It's near Mena AR. The last two miles found us on roads reminiscent of the roads in Uganda. I actually was excited to dodge some potholes just like old times. Royce and her son, Brian met us at the car with umbrellas as it was pouring rain. For most of the afternoon and evening we sat around the table eating and talking.

The rain cleared enough for us to ride around the  beautiful property in Royce's truck. We met horses Jack and Tucker.

I had not seen my cousin nor her son brian in over forty years. It was lots of fun catching up and learning about their lives there in the beautiful Arkansas hill country.