Wonderful Week Visiting Family in Missouri

Broken kitchen slide! We drove to what seemed like the other end of the earth to Ace Hardware for some parts. I was looking down and told Kevin we would exit to the right at exit #1. I look up and he is getting in the middle lane. “Did you not hear me say right at exit 1?” He started laughing so hard – he said I sounded so funny. A sign said the lane ended and so he was moving over but it didn’t end and I had looked up right as he was moving to a center lane. The whole thing made us laugh quite a long time and later when he thought about it. HA 

Towboat & Barge, Mississippi River, Fisherman’s Corner Campground, Hampton, IL 09/23

Kevin worked on the slide and I walked around. I took pictures of Mississippi River and Lock & Dam. I saw a tall white thing and thought it must be part of the lock. Soon I looked and the white thing was out a ways and pushing 4 barges! It was a towboat. I was thrilled! First one I have seen on Mississippi River! There was a bench right there so I sat and just watched. The towboat puffed some black smoke and I thought it was kicking into gear but it actually stopped for about 10 minutes. Then it started moving (without black smoke). What fun! 

Kevin said it is so hard to get under the 5th wheel and actually work upside down and backwards. He was greasy and sweaty when done. I am so thankful he knows had to fix things. We doubled checked with the nice camp host and yes, the check out time is 4:00pm. That is so nice, I think! People can do stuff during the day and not have to leave early. We drove to East Moline to John Deere Pavilion. Lots of old buildings around that have been converted to apartments, offices, and retail. The pavilion is a display of old and new John Deere. Having both of us growing up on hobby farms, it was fun to see the experiment first tractor. John Deere came to Grand Detour, IL in 1836 after losing two blacksmith shops to a fire in Vermont. He and his partners spent the next ten years developing a steel plow. They built the business and in 1848 he moved it to Moline, IL.  He died in 1886. Pavillon isn’t a big place and didn’t have a history video, which we thought they would have. 

1918 Walker Electric, Truck Museum, Walcott, IA 09/23

Back to the campground and got hooked up. On I-80 we went about 25 miles or so to stop at “World’s Largest Truck Stop”. A great store, nice and spread out. Reminded us of Buckee’s. Kevin had heard about a truck museum here so we went looking for it. Even though we passed a worker, he refused to ask where it was. Out the building we went, walked around the entire outside and then saw it way on the other side of the street and parking lot. Truck Museum is free. It has displays around the edges and walls of things like pictures of old gas stations, gas pumps, station signs, etc. The video “theater” had no closed captions so we walked out of there and into a humungous room filled with all sorts of trucks of all ages. It was fun to see Kevin and his memory of a few. (Yikes, how old are we?!)  They had nice display signs that I thought gave great information and some fun stories about the trucks there. As we were leaving, Kevin asked if I had cash for a donation. Yes, and then I walked back through the door we had just come through and dropped it in a cute donation box that looked like a truck tool box. Kevin laughed because he thought the clear radiator donation box at the front was cuter. Too late! HA 

We got to Bass Farms and what a cute place they have decorated for family fall activities. The lady directing customers knew we were there for Harvest Hosts harvesthosts.com and pointed where to park. It was overlooking the area and we parked next to another 5th wheel but never saw the people. Got set up, no hookups, and walked to the barn store. We bought some queso, chips, local locker shredded beef and BBQ that is frozen, and apple cider donuts for tomorrow.

Took our time getting ready and pulled out around 9:30am. Apple Cider donuts weren’t too flavorful. Traveling back down to I-80 we then took the country roads.  Our destination was Princeton, Missouri where are niece, Lucy, her husband, Sam, and their family live. (You will remember we were here last year at this same time.) We knew Lucy and family wouldn’t be here until later this evening but they told us we could come anytime. We got there around 2:00pm. Backed up the entire side driveway without having to pull forward at all. We have learned a thing or two since we were here last year. Ha! We drove to Casey’s gas station and ordered a pizza. The lady working saw us signing. Her 8 year old girl is hard of hearing due to large tonsils and drainage. They want to learn American Sign Language so I told her about lifeprint.com and how we learned most of our ASL through that website. Casey’s fountain drinks weren’t working and you should have seen the looks on other customer faces, including Kevin’s! In fact, he had fun conversations with several of them that the world had ended and they agreed. HA Took the pizza home (footnote 2) and wow was it good! Lucy and family showed up around 6:30pm. It is so great to see them! We went inside their house and they had their weekly family meeting where they went over schedules. Then we watched Chiefs play Jets. It started at 7:20pm and at 1/2 time Kevin and I went home. Everyone was tired.

Kevin Cheering At The Softball Game, Princeton, MO 10/23

Monday night was senior night at the softball game. Lucy & Sam’s daughter is one of four seniors on the team. Before the game, Lucy put together everything teens/college kids would like to eat. 🙂 Sam grilled burgers for after the game. It was fun to see 5 of their 6 kids that evening. Plus there were college friends that came along, too. Lucy & Sam gave them a great home cooked meal. Lots of laughter and good time.

Tuesday night was another softball game. Lucy & Sam’s daughter is the catcher so lots to watch. It was fun, warm out, and they won. Then back home where Lucy made zucchini lasagna. Very yummy.

Hand Down, My #1 Favorite Mexican Restaurant: El Nopal, Bethany, MO 10/23

Started sewing some things for Christmas. Lucy came in and out throughout the day and just hung out with us in HOWE (footnote 1). It was really fun. Later we left with Lucy and met Sam in Bethany at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Seriously, this one is the best of all I have tasted. The white queso over the chicken chimichanga is so delicious I can hardly stand it! I remember last year, we were here 1 week and ate there twice. HAHA 

“Telegraph” In The Bricks, Princeton, MO 10/23

Homecoming parade. We  went to the town square and waited. I saw a building that had in the brick the word “telegraph” so took a picture. A lady walked up to Kevin, “Did you take a picture of my building?” All in good nature fun, she invited us over. Turns out her business is the title company. The title company started in 1847. The building was built in 1890-something. They got the contract for the telegraph and had to have the building built within 1 year and they did. This lady has worked here 41 years. She took us inside and there are papers everywhere all in organized piles. She showed us the original skylight and then some of the huge books. I asked if the titles were on a computer and she said no. Makes me worry about a fire! Yikes. It was neat to see the small writing – “ink was expensive” she said, “so they wrote small.” You can see when a new person would take over by the change of handwriting. She got out one of the first books…land/plots for title dating 1847. Wow! I SO wanted to take pictures but I think it was private names. Later, after we left, I thought perhaps those are public records and I could have taken pictures. Darn – a real lost opportunity. She was a talker and we loved listening. We had to scoot ourselves out because we didn’t want to miss the parade. We went back to where Lucy and Sam were sitting and soon the parade started. It was the sheriff, ambulance, homecoming court, and then a float for each grade. It was small parade and soon we saw them go around the blocks outside the town square again. That was nice – otherwise the parade would have been done before even starting. We stopped at a meat locker and Lucy got steaks. I got 2 packages of hamburger and some pork steaks and beef sticks. I had nothing in the freezer since the fridge got fixed except for the package of pulled beef from Harvest Host Bass Farms. Later Sam grilled the steaks and they were delicious! Next it was time to bundle up again and head to the homecoming football game. We were playing a #1 rated team and I was thinking it would be sad to lose a homecoming game. The game was so much fun to watch! Lucy had said we could go home after halftime if we wanted but the game was good. Our side ended up winning 36-18 or something. So happy for them.

Fresh From Countryside Bakery, Jamesport, MO 10/23

I wanted to go to the Amish community in Jamesport. I have great memories of going to Jamesport with my mother-in-law years ago. First stop was at Countryside Bakery. You can smell the bread and cinnamon rolls outside! We bought cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, cheddar bacon bread, and oatmeal cookies with thick cream frosting inside. We ate a cookie in the truck. Then went to H&M which is on the other side of the bakery. We at first weren’t going to buy anything but then I saw their Amish homemade noodles and just had to get some. Then we got some trail mix and some bacon cheese. 😃 I noticed solar panels outside and some lights inside. It used to be dark inside with no lights. That is nice for them. 

From there we decided to drive around his old home town. Heading to the farm outside of town we discovered the highway was being rebuilt. Not covered over but completely redone. Kevin said, “Why are they tearing out and rebuilding that new road?” He thought for a second and then continued, “It was a new road when I was little.” Hum….that was probably 45 years ago. HAHAHAHA

We had a WONDERFUL WEEK with Lucy, Sam, and their family. They are so kind, loving, fun, great cooks, and a real joy to be around. Can’t wait until next time.

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.