Friday……
Beautiful morning…AND day!!!! Finished throwing a few more things into TheHowserHouse…like OUR pillows….and then hooked her up and drove away. It is such a LONG way to Sam Baker State Park……..all of 38 miles!!!! So, in less than two hours I was backed into our reserved site and the umbilical cord was attached, slides were out, awning out, and the patio set up. Yep……..an easy change of scenery. I had a bite of lunch, drove up to CG #2...signed in and picked up my site paperwork, and returned to TheHowserHouse and spent most of the afternoon sipping a fresh pot of Fr Roast coffee and reading a book.
The 1st Lady arrive about 5:30pm…..I already had the charcoal lit and turning gray and soon the hamburgers with baked beans were ready. Of course…..you know me….I had my dark red medicine to wash down the burgers and beans. By the time we ate it was beginning to cool down rapidly and so we took a quick walk around this campground…..eyeballing the sites we liked…..and returned to our home on wheels. With no trouble I managed to get the tellie going and with the antenna I picked up the ONLY station available down here in the forested valley…..Cape Girardeau….which is NOT my favorite channel as far as news reporting goes!!! Anyway…….I read a book for about three hours and I finally finished it!!
The night became pretty cool as the clock ticked off the hours and by EARLY morning I had to get up and turn on the furnace. Soooo…….
Saturday….
Went back to sleep after turning on the furnace…..and before long I was back up and turning on the coffee maker. Another incredible, gorgeous day arrived with such a clear blue sky with no clouds. The steaming cup of coffee really tasted good as the air had the chill of the night still hanging around the FILLED campground. Smoke soon was rising from the different camp sites as families and senior citizens began to light their fires to rid the morning of the coolness.
We had breakfast at the outside table and then decided to take a walk. Followed the bicycle pathway almost 2 miles up to the other campground here in the state park. It is the older of the two and the sites are closer to each other than the cg we are at. Like ours, this cg is full also…….EVERYONE likes to be out in their tents and RVs at this time of the year……..WOW…can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this!!!
So, after a small stop at the Visitors Center to use the facilities, we walked back the 2 miles to our cg. The 1st Lady put on her face…..and we were off to Patterson, MO…..a very, very small community about five miles from here. Even tho it is sooooo small, there is a really neat little “Tea Room” there completely decorated in the Victorian style……and it just oozes atmosphere. I had eaten lunch there a couple of times last year while on the campaign trail, but I wanted the 1st Lady to enjoy a lunch there, sooooo…..we did!!! VERY good, but they seem to have down-sized their menu which was disappointing. However, if you ever stop there order the Coconut-Walnut cake……..OH MY……it is die for!!!!
We decided to drive on down to “Old Greenville”……a community that was completely moved after the building of the dam which created Wapapello Lake (sp???). The foundations, the sidewalks, and the tree lined pathways are still there, but all the buildings were moved in the early 1940’s. But….our main objective was to check out the Corps of Engineers campground there……..couldn’t believe it….they have 110 sites and the cg is exceptional!!!!! We must spend a long weekend here sometime…..it is right beside the river which becomes the northern edge of the Lake…….a great place to enjoy and let the time disappear.
While there……I had moment of panic!!!!! I discovered that for the second time in my Life…..I had left my camera bag hanging on the chair in the tea room!!!!! Where else did this happen????? In Firenza (Florence), Italy a few years ago…….after I had taken toooooooooooo much of my dark red medicine!!!!!!!!! And that time……well, it was a loss of over $300 worth of camera!!!!!!!!! So, we hurried back to Patterson….and walked in just as they were closing, and the ladies working there smiled and said….”We know why you are here!!” Yep…..they had kept it for me……I had met all of them last year while campaigning for State Representative……..WHAT a relief!!!!!!!!
Back to the cg we came to recover from thought of am almost losing a second camera the same way as before!!! Well……..when we parked in front of TheHowserHouse and as I was walking around the truck, I looked down and there was a fresh cigarette butt….with the ashes still attached…..laying on the ground. I told the 1st Lady that this was unusual as someone must have been in our site/area. She thought it must have been some of the older kids who are here with their families……but I thought it rather strange…..????
It wasn’t 30 minutes later when I came outside to sit in the sun…..reached over to put my coffee mug on the little table and there…………….there was a pack of Marlboro cancer sticks!!!!!!!!! SOMEONE HAD BEEN AT THEHOWSERHOUSE!!!!!! It was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears………..except I didn’t leave any porridge! Sooooo, the mystery deepened as the day progressed……..I asked around to others close by our site if they had seen anyone stop at our place, or walk through our area, etc., etc. NOPE……no one saw a thing.
Finally, the guy across the street said he had seen a Cadillac drive by slowly 2 or 3 times but didn’t notice that they had stopped there. In my mind I began to think it might have been son #2, Jeremy/Jay……..it was just like something he would do because he ALWAYS leave his used butts on the ground and oftentimes leaves his pack of cigs and forgets about them. Hmmmmm……????
We went on with our afternoon…..gathered some firewood for an outside fire….and enjoyed the evening as the full moon came up right over the trees in front of TheHowserHouse!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!! We started the fire…..enjoyed it for a couple of hours in the moonlit night and then watched a bit of tellie news and read the rest of the evening away.
Sunday……
Up earlier this morning…….we got ready and went up to the state park café…..a really neat little stone building overlooking the Big Creek flowing by. The back room is delightful in the fall mornings as it is all French doors ALL AROUND two sides of the room so the view is spectacular!!!! We had a delicious breakfast there and returned to TheHowserHouse for the rest of the beautiful morning. And then…….The Marlboro Mystery entered it’s last phase……….a brown Chrysler Seebring convertible pulled up…..and I was correct…….Jeremy was here from Evansville, IN. He had come down yesterday with a neighbor but we were gone sightseeing and he didn’t realize he had left his pack of cigs, as I suspected.
So we talked, we walked, and then we drove down to the “Old Greenville” area so he could see it. Stopped on the way back at a couple of flea markets along the roadside and then returned to the cg. Jeremy soon departed as he wanted to watch the Cards play at our stick and brick, and then he had to return to Evansville as he had an important campaign business meeting in the morning. Then he has to fly over to Wash DC for a couple of days of meetings at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters. A busy week for him….as usual.
Late afternoon, the 1st Lady left for the home stick and brick……with things to do to prepare for teaching this week. I had a quiet evening in the cg…….I believe there were perhaps 4, maybe 5 rigs left after the mass exodus from the cg during the afternoon. It was VERY quiet…..and VERY nice as darkness settled over the park…..and the bright moon came up again.
I read, listened to the Cards, and watch a bit of the tellie prior to turning in for the night.
Monday……..
A WONDERFUL morning with a guest for “coffee in the park”!!! Yep…..an individual who has played a big part in my Life……from being a former student in the 80’s, to becoming a band director and then becoming my associate band director here in the high school, which has then led to the two of us becoming very good friends….he drove down to spend the day with me at the park. We had several hours of great conversation….and finally, some time whereby we didn’t have to watch the clock which allowed us to do some “catch-up” of our own.
We had coffee, talked, went around the huge park (his first time there) for a brief tour, and then grilled some burgers before I had to pack things up and head back to the stick and brick. A really good day!!
This evening, I had to be at the monthly Board of Education meeting for several hours……quite a bit of discussing to do there. AND….the CARDS won!!!!!! Wow…..thought it was all over after last night!!!
Then tons of emails concerning the Cedar Creek RV Club doings……..still have many to answer this evening, or perhaps in the morning when my mind is better suited to thinking and answering them.
A few pics will be posted in the morning…..so keep checking.
LIFE IS GOOD…..and I certainly hope for all of you, too!!!
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