Travel Log

		Travel Log

09/05/10

This page will be used to let you know where we are and to show a few of the thing and places we are enjoying. We hope you enjoy it and maybe get a laugh or two now and then.

August 29, 2010: Well, we left Lufkin after just going to Sunday School. We had breakfast at Charlie's as usual. Kayden was at Linda's when we got there so we met Tonya for supper as we took Kayden home. It is always a joy to see him and Tonya. On Monday, we were on the road again with Linda. (Brad had to go to Alabama for training). We got into Fort Smith around 2:00 in time to have lunch with Casey before he had to go to work. We stayed at Holiday Inn in our regular room up there. Tuesday morning we met Casey for breakfast before he had to go to school. We drove to Fayetteville, AR and went to the Auto Plax to see what kind of vehicles they had in stock. We have been looking for a 2011 Jeep but no one could come up with one that had everything we wanted in the color we wanted. We even looked at Buicks etc, here in town, with no luck. We had bought our present Jeep at the Auto Plax. The salesman said they had just gotten in an Acura that we might like. I looked down on the ground while waiting for him to bring it around and there were three pennies, face up. I took that as a sign that this would be the car for us and sure enough, we bought it. We left it there to be detailed, etc. We went on to Branson Tuesday and found a motel room, ate supper and went to the Waltzing Waters show. We enjoyed it and got to run the controls for making the water run etc. We slept a little late, but Linda went to get our coffee and snacks from the motel breakfast bar. We took Jezzie with us and wasn't suppose to have her in the motel room. She is so good thou, no one knows she is there. We even took her inside when we ate. Linda has a big black bag with good ventilation and looks like an oversized handbag. We just zip her up in there and take her with us. We were going to see the show on Noah's Ark but we decided not to since we did not know how Jezzie would react to the animal noise. So, we went to the Inspiration Tower, some of the photos below come from there. The weather was wet and cool and the clouds were really rolling in, so we decided to head back to Fayetteville. We stopped at this pottery place below and although we have been here before, we wanted Linda to see it and she bought a hand crafted bowl, very pretty. We all enjoyed looking around at all the things in the shop, it is a very interesting place. We went back to Fort Smith and met Casey for supper before he went to work. Went on to the Holiday Inn to our usual room there. It rained during the night there and the natives said they really needed it. The next morning we met Casey for breakfast before he went to school. That sounds like a broken record doesn't it? Jack and I drove the new car home and Linda and Jezzie in her car. We stopped several times for coffee, lunch etc. The car drives like a dream and it has everything on it that Jack wanted, except the heated steering wheel. On Friday, after we had breakfast at the Snooty Pig in Keller, we started home. I drove the Jeep and Jack the new car. Jack and Linda was concerned with my driving in the heavy traffic there, but I made it just fine. In fact, I was not as tired as I would have been as a passenger. Anyway, we are home and parents to something else (new car) to take care of but we can't wait to get it on the road on a Real Trip. We have to be in Sequin for the weekend of the 18th as our granddaughter, Nicollette, is having her sixteenth party. It should really be a great time. Thank you for watching and following us on this web page and we hope you enjoy some part of it. Love to All and take care.

We took Linda to see the pottery place as we had been here before

The shop is in an old general store (Stamps) Can't remember what the joke was

All the comforts of home The Titanic in Branson, MO

The tower in Branson Looking at town from the tower

We enjoyed the views from the tower even if it was overcast

The Light and Water show was just great

The patterns were really neat Lou tries her hand at the water and light controls

Well, we came to Keller on Monday and spent Monday afternoon and evening new car shopping. The dealer said they had one for us, but when we saw it, decided it was not what we wanted. We left on Tuesday going to Austin with Linda, Brad and Jezzie. We ate a big breakfast here and stopped at Sonic for drinks. We had coffee at Hico and did some sight seeing along the way. We went to the downtown area first and then found a motel. We stayed at the LaQuita in downtown Austin. It was a very nice, big place. After getting settled in, we had supper at a Mexican place but we could not remember the name of it. Then we went to the Congress St. and waited until 9:30 to see the bats come out, but they did not show. Wednesday we had breakfast at the motel and left for Fredericksburg to see the National Museum of the Pacific War addition to the Nimitz Museum. Jack and Brad toured that while Linda and I went shopping. We put Jezzie in her carrying case and took her in the stores with us. No one knew she was in there. We decided to come on home since we did not have anything else we wanted to see down that way. We ran thru some heavy rain on the way back and even had a rainbow to follow us for a while. One end was right by the side of the road. That was so very pretty. We stopped at Applebee's and had supper and of course we took Jezzie in with us in her case. She did all right sitting under the table, but when Linda sat on her case on the bench, she decided she would shake and the bag of course shook with her. But no one noticed it so we were ok. Today, (Thursday), Jack and Brad went for donuts for breakfast. While they did man things, Linda and I went shopping. This time, we purchased things We had supper at Judge Bean's, the best pork chops in town and blackberry cobbler. We will be going home in the morning. We have had a wonderful visit up here as usual.

This is what we came to Austin to see, but it did not happen today.

Lou waiting for the bats I hear it gets wet when the bats come

Do you think they will really come out The tour boat awaits the bats

Brad and I toured the Nimitz Museum

The Japanese 2 man sub which made it to the U S shore Brad views exhibits of WWII

Does anyone know what this says Brad reads about the USS Yorktown

How many remember this The plane that dropped the A-bomb

Brad admires the Admiral's Barge Everyone should remember these words (They apply now)

SUMMARY OF OUR TRIP---- We left home on July 13 and returned on July 25. We drove 3686 miles and covered 12 states. some of those we covered on our last trip. We again tried to stay off of Interstates as much as possible and tried to go thru places we had not visited before. We saw some very unusual places and we met some very nice people. In one place where we ate, a gentleman was playing the guitar (and other instruments) and singing, a lady was playing the bass guitar and singing backup. And this was about 11:00 in the morning. They were very good. Several people, when they saw us taking photos of each other, took photos of Jack and I together. We played on the beaches in Michigan, did some short hiking trips, did a lot of turning around and back tracking to see things we wanted to see. The weather was great except when we got into Mackinaw City, it started to rain, but the next day the sun was shining again. The Lord was very good to us and kept us safe as well as we only saw one accident with auto damage and no injuries to speak of. It was a VERY GOOD TRIP (again). We praise God for His love and protection over us. We are glad to be home and don't know how we can top this trip, but there will surely be another one in the very near future, just don't know to what part of the country. We love you all and thanks again for being with us during this time.

Sunday July 25 ----- We got up around 7:00, had coffee. Linda made fried peach pies for breakfast. They are always so very good. I decided to start my diet on Monday instead of today. We left their house about 9:15 on our way home. Stopped in Keller and got gas. We brought Jezzie home with us. We had coffee in Corsicana drove straight home from there. We got home about 1:30 and the house was so hot. We unloaded the car as soon as we could. Paul came over with the mail and we had to go thru all of that. We rested a while and then we had a light supper before church. After church we went to Charlies with Barbara and Chester. Several of our friends were there and we had a chance to visit with them. Home and to bed early. I will talk with you all tomorrow. Good Night and thanks again for your prayers.

Saturday July 24 ----- Well, we started our day at Linda and Brad's with coffee, and then later, bacon, eggs and biscuits. Linda is a good cook. Brad had to go to the airport for a while. We played with Kayden and then he, Linda and I went shopping. Linda had some things she had to get before she left for Florida. We spent the afternoon just visiting and watched Kayden playing in the water out back. Linda cooked a very good chicken casserole for supper with all the fixings'. We all watched a movie on tv and went to bed around 9:30 as we were all tired out.

Friday July 23 ----- This morning we were rudely waken at 5:00 a.m. by the alarm clock in the room at the motel blaring the news. I finally found the off button, but I must have hit the snooze button instead because it went off again in about 15 minutes. Then, I just unplugged the darn thing. I did tell the clerk at the desk that it was unplugged before we left. The motel did have the very best breakfast buffet of any we have been in thou. As we were coming thru the construction area, one of the first places we saw was "Jack's Coffee Shop" but we could not get to it. Caldwell Kansas was a very interesting town as you can see from the photos. We crossed into Oklahoma and had coffee at Enid where I changed blouses (in the car). The Museum of the Cherokee Strip is in a little town named Waukomis and is shown in the photos below. We found the horses below at Bull Fort Park in Hennessey, OK. We did not know this important fact, until we came thru Kingfisher, OK that it was Sam Walton's birth place. Everything in this area is geared to the cowboys and Chisholm Trail. We had lunch at The Round Up Cafe in Chickasha, OK. They specialized in Indian Tacos of Fridays, but were all sold out. At was about 1:15 when we stopped and they close at 2:00 each day, but we did not know that until we were leaving. They gave a free slice of pie with every meal. It was coconut creme and it was good, Jack even ate some of it. We ran into some rain and the clouds began to roll in. We did stop at a couple more places while in OK such as the park below. Jack even had to turn around some more to get certain photos for me and one time, he even drove along the sidewalk. We crossed into Texas about 3:30 and it was raining in spots really good. Got into Linda and Brad's about 6:30. Linda was cooking supper and as always, it was very good. We drove 383 miles today. The roads thru parts of Kansas and Ok are straight and you can drive for miles at a time without seeing much so we did not stop as often as usual. We were lucky all the bad weather was behind us or to our right. We are tired but we have had another good day of sightseeing. I will close this off now and get ready for bed and we will finish this up tomorrow. We love you and thanks again for watching us and keeping us in your prayers. Good Night to all.

The Opera House in Cherokee It was also the strip center

Honoring the Chisholm Trail Notice the cut-outs on the bank building

Don't know what gives with the turtle I guess you need to bring your gun with you

Metal cut-outs are a big thing in this part of the state

Winds were strong as you can see by the hair Wall paintings were outstanding

Paintings were everywhere All the wheels were turning

Just a neat park Lou enjoyed the waterfall

Thursday July 22 ----- Our day started a little later this morning, as we did not have any sunlight coming in our room. The room opened from the hallway and the other door opened into the swimming pool an banquet room area, so the sun could not reach us. We had breakfast at the Outpost Grill (which was also the breakfast area for the motel). All the tables we set up with napkins, silverware, coffee cups, etc, just as thou the whole town was coming to eat. There were two very old stoves that had been restored in the area, one of them was just like one we had and gave to Jimmie. We had coffee at the nearest McD's thou. About 9:00 or so, we stopped at a Jeep dealership to see if Jack could get an oil change and grease job on the car. He can't stand it when he goes over the 3000 miles and we did that yesterday. They could not get to it, but we did look at the new Jeep and might have driven it home, except that it was black with a black interior. Outside Shelby, Nebraska Jack's foot got heavy just as he met a sheriff's car and of course, the officer turned around and those little lights on the top of his car come on. It was a lady sheriff's deputy. She came up to the window and said " the reason I stopped you is because you were speeding". Jack's reply "I was looking at the map and didn't realize how fast I was going". She said "that's why you have cruise control" After checking out his insurance, etc., she came back and said she was going to give him a warning ticket. We talked with her several minutes, really nice and had been with DPS for 34 years, retired and went to work for the sheriff's office. Enough of that!!!! We had a late breakfast at the Corner Cafe in Stromsburg, Jack ate back and eggs again, can you believe that? Another one of those places where the owner is also waitress, cashier, etc all in one. We crossed into Kansas at Chester and immediately saw two large fields of sunflowers and have not seen any more. We finally got an oil change at Salina Kansas and Jack was so relieved. We are in a Comfort Inn in Wichita, Kansas, nice room but not like last night. We do have a large couch with two large foot stools which is different. We had to come thru road construction to get here which we did not know when I booked the room, but it is ok, this is the first time on the trip for anything like that. We had supper at Applebee's, came back to the motel, checked out the pool, had popcorn from the lobby, showers and we are ready for bed. We drove 349 miles today and did some turn arounds, but not many detours, saw some pretty things and sights. There is still a lot to see in this old world. So, I will say good night and will let Jack have this thing back and finish up. Thanks again for your interest and your prayers. We love you all. Lou

This is the lobby of where we stayed last night Lou had to have a little more rest

Farm equipment have the right-of-way A monument to the Civil War ( the bells ring )

This picture is for Kayden Lou seems to sit a lot

Just a neat "old building" The Orphan Train covers three buildings

Wednesday July 21 ----- We are on the road again!!!. Did not even do the motel breakfast bit this morning. We really both slept well last night. We found a McD's about 8:30 and had coffee and guess what? the place was filled with OLD people doing the same. We crossed into Iowa and remember I said I loved the red begonias that were hanging in baskets all over? Well, we came across a store in town just after we crossed the line that the front was covered in them in flower boxes. A man was out working on them and we stopped and ask him where we could buy a basket. He sent us to a greenhouse only to be told that they had sold out the last of May. So much for that but I was disappointed. At Forest City, Iowa, we saw another huge field of windmills. There must have been a hundred at least. We get on into Klemme and Galt, Iowa and there were still more windmills. Some of them were right on the road way. We had lunch at a "Bar", cheeseburgers to be exact, in Lytton, Iowa. It was the only place in town to eat. The owner was waiter, cashier and everything except the cook. I think Jack has a photo of it below. We have seen a lot of scenes that would not mean anything to others, but they show how pretty this country side is. We are in a motel in Fremont, Nebraska and it is like being in a log cabin but with all the necessary things. The bed linens are nice and soft of course, but the furniture is made out of white birch or something, certainly not the ordinary motel room furniture. Maybe Jack will put a photo of one of the beds on here. The room opens on to the pool area and it is nice and quiet here. We had supper at the restaurant next door. Brought pies home with us for a snack tonight. We drove 356 miles today, again, sometimes we turned around because we wanted to, and sometimes we missed the road and had to turn around. We are working our way back down to Texas, but I know we will miss this cool weather. The temperature was 62 when we got up this morning. I will close now and let Jack finish this and hope we get to bed a little early (before 10:30) tonight. Thanks again for watching and reading this travel log and for all your prayers for our safety. Feel free to contact us and let us know what you think about it all. GOOD NIGHT TO ALL, LOU

The signs are self explanatory

There still a few old theaters around the country Lou loves the hanging baskets

Forest City, Iowa is where they are made There are many of them out here

Lou rests after lunch Entrance to some estates

This is on a private estate Entrance to a business

This is on a bank building Lou admires the flowers

Lou liked the rustic look

Tuesday July 20 ----- We are in a rut as far as our mornings go at the motel breakfast buffet. The room was much larger in size and was a very nice place, but we did not feel like eating anything. We did have coffee since I don't make coffee in the motel rooms anymore. I did a silly thing one time recently and it stopped me from cooking in the room. It was 57 degrees outside this morning. We were driving along and suddenly saw a family of wild turkeys, two or three grown ones and several babies. We had to turn around and thought they would be gone by the time we got back to where they were, but they were still near enough for photos. We went thru the town of Bloomville and came across this water in the middle of it. Don't know what makes it seem a golden color. We took a detour off the highway going down to the Pairie Dells Viewing Area, and found a really nice stream of water flowing over the rocks and boulders, but the mosquites were bad so we did not stay long. About 10:30 we stopped for breakfast at the Kountry Kettle in Gilman and can you believe it, Jack had sausage and egg again and I had a pancake. It was a small place, the man who owned the place was the cook and his two teenage daughters were the waitresses. We have got to vary our menus of food!!!!. Came thru Red Wing, MI and the flowers on the poles were so very pretty. The next town we came through had rose trees planted in their medium of the street. Very different and pretty. We really can't get over how nice the flowers grow and bloom and it seems that every yard has some kind of unusual yard decorations with flowers. I guess it does not take much to get our attention. We saw more wild turkeys along the road way. We checked into the motel here in Owatonna, MI about 5:00, got everything into the room and went to find some food. Had good pork chops and vegetables at the rest., next door to the motel. We have really lucked out in the area. We drove 334 miles today. We made some changes in our route, make some wrong turns and just simply turned around several times. We have taken more pretty pictures than we can possible put on this web page, so Jack is picking out some and will add more at a later date, that is if we don't plan another trip in the next two or three weeks. Take care of yourselves, thanks for watching this page and thanks for your prayers for our safety. Good Night, I am going to bed and leave Jack with this computer, it is like the camera, I think they both hate me. Ha Ha. Since as soon as I touch either one of them, something goes wrong with it. Anyway, Jack can always fix it up. Love you all. LOU

This turkey was alongside the road Notice the color as well as the reflexion of the sun

Foam from air in the water Now this is what I call relaxing

Painting on factory building at cheese factory Cliff along the road while still in town

Another wall painting This church was not near any town (just alone)

Monday July 19 ----- The weather was much better this morning than it was last night, so we got coffee in the motel breakfast room and went out on the patio area and watched the sea gulls beg for food. Saw one of the local ferry boats docking next door to the motel. We found the post office in Mackinaw City and mailed some photos from our last trip to my sister (Rachel) in Atlanta and niece (Bobbie) in Ohio. We crossed on the bridge and of course, they were working on parts of it, but I think we got some good photos and videos any way. We found a gift shop that had a lookout point for viewing the bridge and we did that also. We had breakfast at 11:00 or so at the neatest place. Mary's Bakery and Cafe. It was just a small place, but had hanging baskets of flowers across the front that were just beautiful. When we got inside, we heard music and a man was playing the guitar and a black lady was playing the bass guitar and he was singing. They were very good and he could play more that one instrument, they also gave us a CD of their music, no charge. Jack had bacon, egg and toast again (can you believe that?) and I had a sticky pecan roll that had about 900 calories in it to say the least. We heard on the radio about bad weather coming our way, so we went a little further north and west than we had intended to before we started south. We did run into rain but not like we would have had we taken the more direct route that we had intended to. We found a nice memorial to veterans at Munsing MI. right on the coast of Lake Superior. We crossed into Wisconsin at Bruce Crossing at about 5:00. I called ahead to motels in Rhinelander and found a room for the night. We passed some small motels, but I told Jack they had no doubt been booked for months. This is big hunting, boating country. We had supper at the Log Cabin Rest right across from the motel. Very good food and surroundings. Came back to the motel, checked out the pool area (did not get in thou) and will be ready for bed soon. We drove 341 miles today. One year ago today, Jack was very sick, his fever was up to 104 and having cold chills at that. I called Kevin before church services and ask him to have a special prayer for Jack. The church prayed for him, Bro Charles and Bro Ron came to the house after church and prayed for him. On Monday, the next day, we took him to Tyler and they put another stint in him. And it is still working good today. I am so grateful for people who pray and their prayers are answered. I am grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ for saving Jack and bringing him this far. We thank all of you for prayers for our safety as we travel. I did not mean to write this much, but some things need to be said more than once and our THANKS TO ALL OF YOU can not be said enough. Good Night to all and we love you, LOU

Water Falls at Lake Superior State Park

Lou likes the cool shade

We enjoyed the falls Lake Superior on an overcast day

Sunday July 18 ----- Well, we slept in a little bit this morning, didn't get up until about 7:30, we had coffee at the motel. There was really so many tourists in the dining room, we could not get around. Ha Ha. We found the nearest Mc. D's for some good coffee. About 10:00 we found a spot for breakfast. The Flap Jack Shack in Traverse, Jack had bacon and eggs and I have a chocolate chip pancake. They were very good. We went down to Norwood, a very rich part of town. The houses were outstanding and very pricey. We have only driven 164 miles today. We went from beach and water to trees and orchards again. Seems cherries is one of the biggest crops up here. There are little stands selling them everywhere. We got into the Welcome Center at Mackinaw City and the weather turned really cool. Jack had put on his sweater, but it was not quite heavy enough, so we opened the suitcase, got his a long sleeve pull over and he changed his shirt in the parking lot. We went to the Old Light House on the beach and bought some post cards. Those things have been hard to find up here. Since the weather had turned off cold, and it was getting more cloudy, we decided to try to find a motel room and we lucked out and found a room at the Comfort Inn right on the water. Sure enough, it started raining as we were checking in , but we managed to get everything into the room before it really came down. We ate supper at the Pancake Cafe and guess what, Jack had breakfast again and I have strawberry pancakes. Are we stuck or what? We had planned to eat at the Dixie Saloon, but could not get a parking spot and it was raining to hard to try to walk anywhere. We are going to get in bed early tonight. I washed my hair and showered while Jack was doing the pictures and now he has taken a shower while I have been typing. So I will let him have it back and we can both go to bed at the same time tonight maybe. We love you all and thanks for watching our trip with us, it has really been a nice one even with the rain today. Good Night, Lou

Our first town this morning Breakfast (The food was outstanding)

This river runs through town (like San Antonia, TX) No sun for tans today

Lou checks out the sand A back lagoon

Sem carts are very expensive ($15,000) World's largest cherry pie

Lou"s mouth was watering for pie We spent the night here

Mackinaw Bridge Mackinaw Lighthouse

Saturday July 17 ----- Well, we slept well last night and started our day about the same, except we did not spend too much time with breakfast at the motel. We did stop at the first Mc D's for coffee of course. It took us a while to get back on the right roads, since we were at a crossroads of 96 and 196. Jack kept getting the two mixed up and even with a GPS and map in my lap, it still took us a while to get back on the route. Never the less, we did and while driving out of town, we saw the street lights were hanging over the middle of the road instead of on a pole like ours are. We drove thru some really interesting residential areas. We saw a bridge with flowers planted in planters on the railings, very pretty Jack will put a photo of them later, if he has not already done so. (I don't always check the pictures before I start writing) We had breakfast at Mike's Landing, a bikers paradise. Got down to the water and sand and it was very pretty. Most of the cars we see in the parking lots, etc., are from Michigan. We drove by lots of fruit trees and could not tell what they were growing, until we got to the Cherry Festival and they had blueberries, apricots, etc. We bought some cherries at Hoxeyville, MI. We drove the coast line until we had to head inland to find a motel room. By that time, we had gotten into the mountains, which was snowboarders and hikers country. Saw a sign that said "Bears, next 7miles" It showed the mommy bear and three little bears following her. It does not take much to get my attention. We stopped early today, about 4:15. We are on the fourth floor of a nice Comfort Inn in Cadillac, MI . We walked across to a Mexican Rest. Very much Mexican, and we saw a young waiter bring out 7 plates of food, 6 on ONE Arm and holding one. We watched to see if he would at least drop one, but he did not. Spent some time at the pool area just relaxing. Jack loved the heat. There is a nice outside sitting area and we went out there for a few minutes. The wind was blowing and the weather is really nice and cool. I will close now and let Jack finish his thing. Stay well, everyone and we are doing the same. Love to all and thanks for your prayers. Good Night, Lou. I forgot to say that we only drove 253 miles today.

These are some of the flowers on the roadside Lakeside view

This is where we had lunch This is the road to the sand dunes

The beaches sure were being used as it was the week-end

This is a flock of swans feeding One of the many resorts around the lake

These are the room numbers on the doors in the motel where we stayed

Friday July 16 ----- We did the usual thing this morning. Seems like we are in a rut for the morning routine. Anyway, when we left the motel the temp was around 72 degrees. Thought Jack would freeze. We found this First Baptist Church at Goodland. Stopped in this small town to mail some things to my sister, Rachel in Atlanta and niece, Bobbie in Ohio. Thought these store fronts were really neat. We toured Indiana State Park and tried to go to see one of the old home sites which was in the woods and as soon as I stepped into the wooded area, the mesquites came to meet me and started having dinner. We got out of there in a hurry. We were traveling on one of the roads with a question mark, and we came upon park workers spraying on some of the weeds in the marshy areas, maybe for the little guys. We crossed into Michigan and stopped at the Welcome Center, got some helpful information. We are in a nice Best Western in Grandville, Michigan. We walked next door and across the parking lot and had a steak at Brann's Steak House, a lot like our Appleby's. went down and sat in the swimming pool area for a while. I failed to get the mileage so I don't know how many miles we traveled today. We have seen some beautiful country thou and will do the same thing tomorrow. I will close this off and let Jack finish up so we can get into bed. Jack will have a lot more photos to put on this page after we get home. It is hard to know just what to put on here and make it interesting to all of you, but I hope you will all keep watching and reading. Will try to do better tomorrow. Good Night to all and thank you again for watching this page and for keeping us in your prayers. Love you all, Lou

This church was built in 1856 Street view of one of the small towns

These cattails were at an intersection Lou walks along the trail to an old homestead

This house is being restored. It was hauled in on a barge for the Chicago World fair in 1933)

Another one of the many beaches Yes, the road did curve around it

Lou does her movies from a comfortable position There are always two lookouts

Thursday July 15 ----- We got up about the same time, had a snack at the motel (this is getting to be a routine) and crossed the Missouri river at Mokane, MO. The road was hills on one side and corn fields on the other. We drove over a road thru the corn fields to get down to the river. Was surprised to find the Lewis and Clark Trail ran along the highway. It was really a nice ride thru there. We found a Mc'Donald's with large American flags all around the top of their building. We took a video but no still photo, the wind was blowing them straight out. We stopped at a Flea Market, I bought a table (yes, a table, small one) and a ring. The ring we can handle, the table we have to move with the luggage. Had lunch at the Atlas Cafe and then we found the place across the street and just down the road called "Poppie's Trading Post". Jack will post some photos of it I am sure. We saw two windmill farms, one near where we are staying in Kentland, Indiana at the Home Town Inn and the locals say they go on for miles. We had supper at the Good Table Rest near here. Very good food. We traveled 362 miles today. Don't know how far it is to Michigan but I guess we will reach there soon. We are having a great time and the weather has been wonderful, did run into rain today but it did not last long. The storm went behind us. I will close now and get to bed, we are beginning to be night owls as it is now 10:00 and Jack is not finished with this. He just wanted me to write and go to bed and let him put the photos on here. Good Night to all and hope you enjoy the trip with us. Love you and thanks for praying for our safe trip. Lou.

Some flowers along side of road Bridges over the MO River

This is a hiking trail rest area (trail is the Lewis-Clark) There is no town near this church

This is a steak-house and has all of the outside walls painted like this

Would you believe this is a bar and grill Reminds me of my childhood days

How would you like to live here Another wall painting, the man on the latter is part of it

This is Poppie's A real hornet's nest

Another neat court house Just a small part of a huge windmill farm

Wednesday July 14 ----- We had a light snack at the motel, and then went to Hardy's for something else. We decided to go over Boston Mountains outside of Fort Smith since we had not been that way for a long time. The photos below will show some of the area but the trees have grown up so that you could not get a good view of the valley below. It was really hazy also. We found this neat bridge over the river and it was one lane, but would you believe, there were other cars wanting to cross. We got lost (maybe not lost) just didn't know where we were, several times. I missed the roads and we had to take a different route, which up here, that is not easy to do. I had a map and a GPS system in my lap and still managed to do it. Maybe tomorrow will be different. We are in a Holiday Inn here in Jefferson City, MO. We had a late lunch and brought part of it with us, we finished that off for supper and then we went next door to a Perkins Rest for dessert. I had lemon pie and Jack of course, had a brownie with ice cream and hot fudge. I have showered and washed my hair and now Jack is doing the same. We drove 346 miles total today and Jack had a blast because he was going up and down and curves at times. We are having a good trip and we thank you for your prayers for our safety. Love you all and GOOD NIGHT. LOU

This is a school administrative building in AR. Gift shop on Boston Mountain

Silver Leaf RV Park which we used in years gone by Back on the (back) road again

This bridge in a one lane bridge over this river

Lou tries to find us a way out of here Countryside in MO

Rock formations in the Ozarks

Where we had lunch (food was very good) Looks like a fun place ---- we did not try it

Tuesday July 13 ----- Hello Again, here we are on the road again!!!. Yes, we left Lufkin this morning about 9:00. Jack went for his usual coffee time at Charlie's while I finished packing. I did most of it last night. We only decided to travel again on Sunday and we are going to Michigan or there about. We saw a commercial on tv about how nice Michigan is this time of the year. I said to Jack " we should take a trip to see it. His reply " Lets go" so here we are. We stopped for lunch at the Pitt Grill in New Boston, had BLT and Grill Cheese they make the best. We drove this route many times while Linda and children lived in Fort Smith. As we drove, we reminisinced about those times of driving up here. We got into Ft Smith about 4:30 and met Casey for supper before he had to go to work. He hurt his knee yesterday water boarding and was on crutches. He has to go to school tomorrow so I don't know if we will have breakfast with him or not. He will stay up late after work studying. Anyway, we enjoy every minute we can. We are in the same room at the Holiday Inn Express where we stayed just two weeks ago. The desk clerk said" welcome home". Will go now and work on my photos from the last trip. Love you all and thanks for your prayers. Email or call us if you need us.

This is where we had lunch (New Boston, TX) We have traveled this road many many times

This must have been a disappointed person Lou checks to see if she wants to indulge

TRIP SUMMARY:

We left Lufkin on June 14 and returned on June 27. We went through 13 states and drove 3542 miles without incident of any kind. Jack has taken about 700 pictures and I did a lot of videos on my camera. We saw country side that we had not seen before as we stayed off the Interstate as much as possible only driving on it when we needed to get to Ohio before too late. We did not figure our time that day. It has been a very good, relaxing trip even thou we did drive so many miles. We took our time, changed our routes, stopped when we saw something interesting and turned around a lot. The weather was nice all the way, ran into rain a few times, but just short showers. The flowers and yards through North GA, KY, Ohio, IN and IL were outstanding and very colorful. Of course, the weather is not as hot as we have here in Texas, and the grasses are different. We are grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for a safe trip and we thank each and everyone of you who prayed for our safety. We hope we have given you a laugh here and there as you have followed us on this trip. We look forward to another trip soon but for now we have to take care of things around the house such as yards, flowers, doctors appointments and of course, washing and ironing clothes. Jack has his work cut out for him. Thank you all again and we love you. Jack will be posting more of the photos we took in the days ahead so keep watching this page. GOOD NIGHT TO ALL, WE LOVE YOU, LOU AND JACK

Sunday June 27 ----- We had breakfast with Brad, Linda and Kayden at the motel. Visited a while longer with them until Kayden got tired of being inside. We all left the motel about 9:30. I took care of Jezzie while we were there. She and Kayden are too much together. See my shoes in the photo below? These are the shoes I was wearing yesterday when we hiked up to the highest point in AR. I still can't believe we made it all the way up and back down. Jack and I decided to go to Hot Springs while Linda and Brad went back to Keller. We had to travel over about 35 miles of the road we drove over Sat getting to the State Park. We found sights along the road like the bear below, the campgrounds had signs reminding everyone to keep their food supplies in their cars. We did a u turn in the street to get the photo of the memorial and then we saw the cop sitting at the service station. But he was reading a book, maybe the Bible. The drive to Hot Springs was curves and hills, same as before, but the scenery was beautiful. We just had to stop at the CCC camp site. We found the cafe in Hot Springs that have the best fried green tomatoes. We had stopped there on another trip and I wanted some more. It is The Home Plate Cafe, all baseball decorations. The turkey and dressing was wonderful also, but the tomatoes were the really drawing point with me. There was a lot of traffic and since we have been to Hot Springs several times before, we decided we did not want to buck the other sightseers and it was too early to get a motel room (12:30) or so, we decided to come on home. We wanted to stop at a church along the way, but the only ones we could find were Catholic or Pentecostal, so we put on the CD made by our church's choir and enjoyed it. We got home about 7:30 and will try to get in bed early. We have really had a GREAT trip and tomorrow I will write a summary of it all. We only took 600 something photos so Jack will have a good supply to use in the days ahead. He is already planning our next trip out but we have to get some things taken care of before we go again. Thank you all for your prayers and concerns for us and we are really fortunate that we made 3542 miles without incident of any kind and only saw a couple of small accidents such as the motorcycle rider down. The Lord has been good to us in everyway and we can't thank HIM enough for that. If you have comments on the web page, you can always email us at: jack28965@consolidated.net. We would love to hear from all of you. Love to you all and Good Night. Lou

Lou said so-long to Jezzy A carved bear alongside the road

Remembering the troops Most younger people will not remember CCC

This was the recreation hall Lou admires the work

Looking throughout the site Side walks still good from 1941

Lou likes the shade This says it for that time in life

This was a business sign for a rock company A great cafe in Hot Springs, AR

Hot Springs, AR Ready for a "Duck" ride in the river

Saturday June 26 ----- We got up about the same time as usual. Only today we had a real breakfast at the motel, gravy, biscuits, etc. Casey met us about 8:30 and he ate breakfast with us. We drove to Paris, AR, for the Butterfly Festival. It was a festival with all the music, vendors, etc. We took some photos there as you can see. Casey enjoyed watching the girls and Kayden wanted a tattoo, one that washes off, thank goodness. We then went on our way to Magazine Mountain State Park and the highest point in Arkansas. Along the way, we stopped at Shirley's Outback Rest for a water break. As you can see in the photos below, we decided to hike up to the highest point, which was almost a mile. Can you believe that Jack and I could do that much hiking? And Linda and I did not have on hiking shoes. We had to stop and rest a bit but as you can see from the photos. And the photos do not show how rocky and steep the trail really was. Anyway, we made it to the top an found a shorter way back down but it would have been steeper to go up that way. After that we went over to the visitors area and toured the headquarters for the park, saw all the butterfly exhibits. They have a really big new Lodge with a wonderful view of the valley. We had a picnic lunch in the park, compliments of a movable hot dog stand. It was nice and cool thou. The rangers had set up tables for the children to color butterfly pictures, look at exhibits, etc so Linda and I took Kayden to several of them. We drove 139 miles total, but we really did enjoy it and it was a fun day. Got back to the motel, Casey had to go to a birthday party, Linda and I took Kayden to the swimming pool while Brad and Jack rested. It started raining right at supper time, so we ordered food and ate in the motel dining room and had the place to ourselves. Linda, Brad and or went to their room and she put Kayden to bed. He walked almost all of the way up the trail so I know he was tired. While Jack was working on his photos, I showered, washed my hair and got ready for bed. So, I am going to turn it back to him and he can finish whatever it is he does to the page after I do the typing. Again, thank you for your prayers and for your interest in this page. We will have a lot to talk about when we do get home. Love to all Lou