Sept. 15th - 16th We took the car, not the last train, to Clarksville, Iowa. (trip total 2730 miles)

For anyone of a younger generation, the above refers to a song from the '60's.

We are at the home of Bob and Jan Longmuir.  Jan was one of three college roommates of mine in 1967 and the only one I've kept in contact with,  We hadn't seen each other for 43 or so years until we stopped by here 5 years ago while on a trip.

We went to a birthday party for a friend of theirs.  Tom said he had received a Facebook message that a high school classmate of his lived in this small town and asked if anyone knew him.  One woman did and gave us directions to his home.  Tom knocked on the door at the Nutt house and Matt was happy to see him.  He and his wife will be at their class reunion this weekend.

Sept. 10 - to Eagan, MN to visit Tom's mom and other family members

Thursday
High 60's
We have a guest room in the assisted living center, The Commons, where his mom lives.
Dinner with her, his sister, and husband.

At 3:00 this morning, someone used a key to enter our room.  Maybe to take a nap on her shift?  The same thing happened last year.  Today management said our 5 nights here were free, rather than $69 per night, and all our meals, because of this incident and since Tom will do a concert on Sunday!  We had asked for a queen bed to replace the double one.  When Tom jumped at the sound of the door opening, he fell out of bed.  We had already been awake several times.  They also brought another easy chair.  Now we are settled nicely.
Friday
It was 48 degrees this morning.  High of 63.  Relaxed around the home.  Tom went for beer with brother-in-law, Bob, and nephew, Zach.  Zach's wife, Lily, is deployed on a cruise missile ship with the Navy.  They were just together a few days in San Diego while her ship was docked halfway through her 7 month tour.
Saturday
Tom played several instrumentals as the prelude to worship here and then sang two songs.  Everyone enjoyed it.  We always enjoy Chaplain Beth's messages.

This home is very nice and serves excellent meals.  Many people never have visitors.  The wait staff are mainly high schoolers and they know all the residents' names and often remember what they want to drink, what their breakfast choices are, etc. 

Many residents are developing dementia and will eventually be moved to the Alzheimers wing here.  Others are in poor physical condition.  Gen is doing quite well, considering she'll be 93 in two months.  Tom's sister, Kathy, decorates her walker for the seasons.  Now she has Fall leaves on it. I saw one of the gray walkers yesterday with white, high top baby shoes with pink lacy socks inside on the bottom of two legs, instead of tennis balls like most people use.  The woman said the shoes are 65 yrs old.  There are several weekly activities, but the highlight for many is the meals in the dining room.

Sunday
Tom, Zach, and Bob went shooting.  Lily would have gone if she'd been here.  She performed greatly on board ship the other day in her shooting.  Tonight Zach said they told Tom they weren't going to invite him anymore if he didn't quit shooting so well.

This afternoon Tom played and sang for the residents here for an hour, which they all enjoyed.

Tonight we spent 4 hours at the brewery/restaurant next door as various brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews and Gen and Kathy came to see us.
Monday
Kathy had a day off and took us shopping and to lunch at the Red Lobster.
In the evening we attended a travelogue on Denmark.  We plan to travel there next summer.
Tuesday
Ate breakfast with Mom, packed the car, and headed out on the 3 hour drive to Iowa.

Staying with two ex sisters-in-law in Iowa

With Greg and Gloria Lincoln in Grinnell

Spent time with two nieces Shelley and Stacia, and great niece Caiti.  All 4 boys had football practice, lots of homework.  Two boys away at college.  It had been close to 40 years since we'd seen Gloria.

A box elder bug flew onto my car door - years since I've seen one.  Several cardinals and a bluebird on porch railing.  Grinnell has a nice downtown and some buildings are being restored to late 1800's facades.  One bank has a beautiful, large rosetta window like we've seen in European churches.

Drove to Des Moines to see our niece, Jessi, at college.  She won substantial academic and basketball scholarships and is a freshman.

Panora

To the home of Patti and Sterling Stoppelmoor.  Patti is Jessi's mom.

Had a nice dinner with her mom and their friend, who was a friend of Tom's brother for many years, too.  74 degrees and 75% humidity!

Another entry was added below and pictures inserted in prior August/September entries

Sept. 3-7 Reunion with Doug and Cindy Greenfield McGraw and Cheryl Burt Johnson in Pacific, Missouri

Thursday:
By the time East High's 50th reunion committee picked a date for a reunion, Tom and I already had reservations with our friends in New Hampshire.  I talked to Cindy and Doug and Cheryl, asking them if we could have a mini reunion at Cindy's.  I left my hometown for college for 1-1/2 years, returned for 2, and then left for good. These three are basically the only classmates I've corresponded with.  Doug was in the Navy and he and Cindy were married November 1968, the same weekend as my sister, Linda, and Bob.  I was Maid of Honor for both of them.  Cindy and I had spent many evenings together, missing our fiancés, since Tom was away with the Air Force.  Tom and Doug saw each other one day in Vietnam!  Later, we were stationed at Andrews AFB, MD. and Doug was stationed at Camp David, so we visited.

We saw Cheryl and her husband in San Diego about 12 years ago, but hadn't seen Doug and Cindy for 27 years-on the same trip that we saw the Bossarts in Illinois.  These two couples basically live on either side of St. Louis.

We've been so anxious to see each other.  On January 1, 2014, Cheryl's husband, Bruce, fell off the roof of their home and died later that day.

It was only about an hour's drive from Collinsville to Pacific.  We drove onto the McGraws' beautiful 6 acres and Cindy came out for hugs.  Doug is working part-time in his pastoral counseling firm and was at work.  We visited and looked at all of Cindy's quilting projects while waiting for Cheryl to arrive from outside of Nashville.  Oh, what hugs there were then!  Doug came home and Cheryl, Tom, and I met him in the living room.  Pastor Doug had told us to be prepared to drink lots of beer, wine, and hard stuff these 5 days, so we showed him we were ready! 

Lots of visiting until we finally had to give in to go to bed.

Friday:
We drove to a small town on the Missouri River called St. Charles.  It has houses dating back to the late 1700's, a church from the 1789, and lots of cute shops and restaurants.  I've never seen such adorable Halloween items anywhere as several stores sold.  We all found several cute things to buy and had lunch at the haunted Mother-in-Law restaurant.

 

More visiting all afternoon, then Doug made a great dinner and Tom sang and played guitar for them.

Saturday

After Doug cooked breakfast, we drove down to Busch Stadium-home of the Cardinals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                               Cindy wanted to be the tallest for a change.

                                               Then onto the railroad Union Station:

Doug drove us through the version of Central Park here.  The World's Fair was once here.  Beautiful art center, fountains, and other buildings, in addition to a zoo.

We ate pizza at their favorite place and then we spent the evening with us teaching them how to play Golf and 5 Crowns card games.

Sunday

We attended McGraw's beautiful church and enjoyed the whole service.  Then he showed us his firm's pastoral counseling office across the street.  It is in a very nice 1920's home that was a convent at one time.  We visited Cindy's mom, who is 99.  We hadn't seen her since 1969.  She said I look like my mom used to.  They worked in the same department store in our hometown in Iowa.

Cheryl kidded Cindy about wanting fried chicken, so I cooked an old fashioned fried chicken dinner, with mashed potatoes and milk gravy.  Cindy fixed green beans with bacon grease.  We acted silly and all had to wear aprons with chickens on them.  They thought they'd get some credit for fixing the dinner-wrong!



Monday

 

We watched a doe and her fawn in their yard.  Had a relaxing day and then their kids and grandkids came to meet us.  A brother and sister-4 and almost 3-sang a song in Spanish and another one in      Chinese!  For those of you out of the loop, these are the languages parents now want their children to learn and they are teaching them in preschool and kindergarten. 

Tuesday

 

Well, hello, huge daddy long leg spider on my car seat.  Sure glad he was visible before we drove off.  Hadn't seen one in many years.  Lots of hugs and promises to get together again in just a few years.

With Bruce and Jo Bossart in Collinsville, Ill.

This couple was the first military couple I met when we drove to Rapid City, S.D. after our honeymoon-12 days of so after Tom returned from Vietnam-in 1969.  They were also the first Southerners I'd met.  She's a little short woman and she always said we were quite the pair:  I was great ole big and she was little ole bitty.  And it hasn't changed.  We last saw them on a trip through here 27 years ago-way too long.

When we got out of the car I immediately heard hundreds of cicadas chirping in their large trees-hadn't heard those for years.  While unloading the car, I was bitten in 3 places by mosquitoes or something and the bites itched for several days, no matter what I put on them.

We basically sat and visited, but were able to drive around Scott Air Force Base and then tour a VC-40 with their son who flies dignitaries around in them.  He'll retire this month after 26-1/2 years as an AF and AF Reserve pilot!  We fell in love with him the first week we knew them, when he was 2.  He convinced us we didn't want to wait long to have a baby.  Tom attended his Air Force Academy graduation in 1989 and was the first non-commissioned officer to salute him!  His dad retired as a Lt. Colonel and that is also "Little" Bruce's rank-two Lt. Colonel Bruce Bossarts on the same base at one time a few years ago.

One night we had dinner with Dan and Judy Matarrazo.  Dan was Tom's commander at Fairchild AB in Spokane, WA. in the '80's.

Our two month U.S. road trip/cruise August, September, October 2015

August 27th
We had an uneventful 9 hour drive to Tucumcari, N.M.  It is a town of about 5,200 on Route 66, which has definitely seen better days.  Several motels and restaurants line the route.  It was advertised as the town of murals.  We drove around and around and found 4.  We were disappointed that it wasn't similar to a quaint town in Washington-Toppenish-which has over 40. 

August 28th
When we pulled back onto the interstate this morning, we saw a railroad repair facility, which, hopefully, offers some good  employment.

We drove into Texas for a short distance.  A billboard advertised a restaurant that serves 72 oz. steaks-free if you can eat it all!  Several miles of black-eyed Susans lined the highway and countless miles of wind turbines filling fields.

Outside of Groom a HUGE white cross could be seen from blocks away.  When we were beside it, it appeared to be on church grounds.  Across the yard was a large mound with the Calvary scene, complete with figures on the crosses.

Crossed into Oklahoma-ditches and medians were all planted with bright green grass- a lovely sight for these Arizona transplants!

Stopped in a small casino for lunch in its Route 66 café.  One wall had the route sign surrounded by all the license plates of the states through which the route runs.  I was surprised to see an Illinois one and Tom said it starts in Chicago.  Is there no end to this guy's knowledge?  Our trivia playing friends know that answer!

 

Passed through Yukon, OK., where our son lived for awhile many years ago.  Then kept driving through, in and out of so many reservations of tribes we've never heard of.  Three I wrote down were the Kickapoo, Sac and Fox.  Next we saw an exit sign for Lotawatah Road.  We wondered if it was a play on words, or a sign of occasional conditions, since it appeared to run next to the large lake there.

Soon we entered Arkansas.  Its rolling hills and deciduous trees reminded us of the Midwest.  When we lived in Wichita, we visited this state and were told that the Arkansas River is pronounced AR Kansas (like the state!)

Tonight we are in Van Buren, AR., relaxing, talking to friends we'll see soon, and preparing for several fun-filled days with them coming up.

We stayed with Dick and Pam Carey for 2 days at their home in North Little Rock.  Dick and Pam lived behind us on Eielson AFB, outside of Fairbanks from 1977-1980.  Dick and Tom were in the security police squadron.  We camped many weekends and spent a lot of time together during the long, cold winters.  Our kids were early grade school age and toddlers.

We visited the Little Rock National Cemetery, The Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery, drove past the Clinton Presidential Library, and visited a military museum.  Pam bought the two Vietnam vets new hats.

                                        Tom used a .50 caliber machine gun like this at DaNang, Vietnam.

The Puge Mill, built in 1832.  It was used in the movie Gone With The Wind.

September 1st

We're driving about 6 hours to Illinois.  The highways are lined with deciduous trees, so there is no scenery.  Sometimes we can barely see fields behind them.  Once I caught a glimpse of a valley with hills behind it.  Signs indicate there are towns, but we sure can't see them.  We commented that is so different from driving in so many states where you can see for miles in every direction.  Some strange place names we saw were Pig Trail Scenic Byway and Toad Suck Park.