Enjoyed Being Back "HOME" For a Few Weeks - Departed October 19, 2014; Heading to Elk City OK

Well, it's been several weeks since I posted anything to my blog ..... September 10th to be exact.  Time sure flies when we are back "HOME".

"Home" is Northeast Missouri....or better yet, Monroe City, which is approx. 20 miles from Hannibal, or a couple of hours north of Saint Louis, or 75 miles northeast of Columbia (home of  the MIZZOU TIGERS).

To try to catch up on our life since my last posting (Sept. 10), my memory does not serve me well, but I will touch on the the highlights.  I worked three days a week while we were home at JP's Corner; it was nice catching up with the girls at JP's and hearing about their grandchildren & families. It is a busy place and I mainly did pre-packing of stock to get them prepared for their busy season which is coming right up.  I also helped gather and pack the orders when they needed help with that.

Bob continued his volunteer work for the Corp of Engineers in the park we stayed in.  He gets a lot of walking in while he is at the park and enjoys visiting with the campers.  He knows many of the returning campers by name and enjoys catching up with them since he saw them last.

Our two grandchildren spent the weekends with us, and had school not been in session, they would have been there more often.  They enjoy camping with us, and we enjoy having them with us.  Our granddaughter, Terryn, is 8 and our grandson just turned 7 on Oct. 15th, so they are a good age for camping.  They are old enough that you don't have to entertain them all the time as they play good together.  I have them trained to take off their shoes at the door so even though they are in and out of our Mobile Suite often, we are able to keep it fairly clean & tidy.

While we were home, we took the kids shopping for some school clothes a couple of times.  Terryn loves to get to go shopping for clothes, but Kolton, was like most males....they like certain clothes but are not so hip on shopping and especially "trying on" clothing at the stores. They are both very appreciative of us buying them clothes and shoes and I enjoy seeing how much it makes them happy...love watching them model and show their parents their new outfits.

We always make it a point to take them to their favorite pizza place (Cassano's in Hannibal) a couple of times while we are back.  They have really good, thin crust pizza....cut horizontally & vertically into bite size pieces; the kids can out-eat us when it comes to Cassano's pizza.  Mmmmm, pizza sounds really good right now.

On Saturday mornings we would go to Monroe City to watch Kolton play flag football.  The first game was played in the grassy area at Holy Rosary School. All the other games were played on the new, in the process of  being completed, Monroe City Panther football field which is made of artificial turf.  Those kids thought they were pretty cool getting to play on the new field.  Of course, they only played on a section of the field, as it would have wore out their short little legs playing on the entire field.  It was fun watching Kolton and the rest of the kids play...sometimes they forgot they were playing "flag" football and would tackle their opponent to the ground....what a hoot!!

Kolton's Cheering Section

Kristyn, our oldest daughter, and Terry, invited us out for barbecue and to show us their home in the country that they are renting now.  Terryn & Kolton were both excited to show us their bedrooms, as now they have their "own" room, which they are very proud to have. They, also, have a separate bathroom that they share. Before eating dinner, Bob, the kids & I, walked down to a nearby lake and we all did a little fishing.

Bob & I met up one evening for dinner while we were back with our friends, Ed & Marilyn, and Steve & Cathy.  Ed & Marilyn looked great, as always, and Steve & Cathy were interested in anything we could tell them about becoming full-time RV'rs and about RVs.  It was nice to see our friends again;  plan to get together again soon.

We visited several times with Dave & Marcia at the campground.  They volunteer at the pay booth and are a really nice couple.

Deer and turkeys are sighted a lot at Indian Creek Campground.  We set up a game camera at our campsite and get several pictures.  I took pictures of the turkeys that were gathered right before entering the campground.  It was normal to have several deer cross in the woods behind our site.

We also visited several more times with our parents.

I gave myself a week to get ready to leave, so I did not work at JP's this last week.  I knew I had a lot of errands to do, prepare for the Halloween Walk, & prepare to leave for our winter destination.

One of the most exciting events that we all look forward to is the Halloween Walk that is held at Indian Creek Campground.  This event has been going on for 30 years; started out small and has become larger & larger ever since. The Corp has a designated campground that people can begin reserving in July for the event and within hours of taking reservations, it will be full.  Everyone in that particular campground is required to decorate for the event.  We do not actually camp in that campground; we camp in the first campground.  This is where the actual "Halloween Walk" takes place.  People park their vehicles and basically walk the entire campground to see the decorations and to trick or treat.  Little kids, as well as adults if they wish, wear costumes to the event.

We do not camp in that campground; instead we camp in the first campground.  Most people decorate in the first campground also, but it is not part of the Halloween Walk.  Our grandson's birthday is Oct. 15th so we always celebrate it on the Saturday of the Halloween Walk.  Depending on the weather, we will normally fix 3 large crockpots of soup & have hot dogs & buns available to roast.  Kristyn made vegatable soup with ground meat, and I made chili and a pot of vegatable soup using roast beef.  This year, Kara baked & decorated Kolton's birthday cake & cupcakes.  Kelsey came home for the event & birthday party and she fixed a caramel apple bar with numerous yummy topping to sprinkle over the apple slices on a stick dipped in caramel.  Kolton invited 4 of his classmates (boys) to the birthday party...they looked like they had a great time.  That evening, since it cooled off, I fixed a large pan of hot chocolate to drink.  We had visitors before and after they went through the Halloween Walk.  It was great weather, and a very enjoyable day and night.

The next morning, after the Halloween Walk, we took down all of our Halloween decorations and loaded our truck with Halloween totes, extra lawn chairs, etc. that we wanted to put in our storage trailer.  Brett came by and picked up Kelsey, and we were soon on our way to Kara's where we park our storage trailer. On the way there, Kara called us and invited us to eat tacos that she was preparing for lunch, so when we got there we ate a quick lunch.  Afterwards, Bob unloaded the truck while I put everything in storage.  Soon we were saying our goodbyes to Kara & Dustin and were off to the campground.  We got everything put away inside, closed the slides on our RV, hooked the 5th Wheel to the truck, and then we were on our way shortly after 4:00 pm.  Bob drove to the Ozarks in south Missouri and we spent the night at Riverside RV Park.

   
That about sums it up, but my memory bank is not the best...what happened yesterday or last week, or a few weeks ago just sort of escapes my mind, for the most part ... signs I'm getting OLD, I suppose.

Have a great day!!

jl