Meramec Caverns in Stanton Missouri

Today we had breakfast at the Flying J and guess what? I had Sweet Cream Pancakes - yum! After breakfast we headed to the Meramec Caverns. It was raining pretty hard so it was the perfect day to sightsee inside the cave!  The underground river runs through the first floor of the caverns and is only a couple of feet deep.  It is strange walking along side the river when you are under ground!  The batguana (bat poop) produced saltpeter deposits which was used in a gun powder formula.  The mill in the cave was blown up duing the Civil War by the Confederate guerrillas of whom Jesse James was a member.  The story is that after the war he and his band used the cavern as a hideout.  There is over 26 miles of cavern but you only see a small portion of it on the tour.   The last part you see is "The Stage Curtain".  The stalagtites (from the ceiling) are 70 feet high, 60 feet wide and 35 feet thick.  They have a dramatic light and musical presentation using the curtain which is very cool.  The temperature in the cavern stays 60 degrees all year long.  Since it was only 48 outside, the cavern was comfortable! 

After our cave and gift shop tour, we hurried back to the RV so I could get some laundry done.  Would you believe the water is turned off because they are working on it!  So I decided to blog instead!

Cave sightseeing and blogging..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Cuba, Missouri

We left Arcola, Illinois this morning and have stopped in Cuba, Missouri. It's raining and in the low 40's but I'm finding Missouri very pretty. There are nice rolling hills and lots of pretty trees everywhere. After we set up the RV we took off to the "Missouri Hick" for dinner (highly recommended by a fellow camper). It is such a cute restaurant. They have a water wheel outside and very rustic looking. Inside they have buckets for lamp shades and the table legs are Singer Sewing Machine Manpowered Pedals! The waitress' shirt says "Missouri Hick Chik". I had the barbeque sampler with ribs, brisket and pulled pork. Ted had the brisket and boy was everything delicious!
After dinner we took a ride through town. There are over 12 murals that the town had painted by local artists of subjects concerning the war and also famous people that have been in town. They are very nice. We drove a little further into Fanning where they have the "World's Largest Rocker"! Pretty funny!

Eatin' barbeque..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Bosch Family Wiener Roast

Yesterday was the 45th Bosch Family Wiener Roast! Todd Bosch's grandmother started the family roast in 1964 to celebrate the family farmers having their crops in and this started a tradition that's gone on every year since. Grandmother Bosch has since passed on and the tradition has been handed down. This year Todd's Uncle passed the wiener baton over to Todd and they had a very successful gathering with over 100 relatives showing up. There were cousins, aunts and uncles galore! Ted and I were the "mystery guests" for the Roast. Finally one of the Uncle's asked Ted, "Just who are you?" We decided we came the farthest for the event!

It was supposed to rain yesterday but the skies parted to a beautiful day. The fire was lit about 10:00 a.m. and roared all day. Being a pot luck there was great food and especially great desserts! I decided I was off the diet for the day and tried a little bit of everything! There were some pumpkin cookies to die for! I think Ted decided that chocolate chip cookies were just the thing to eat! Todd and Shawna have a huge barn and yard that easily held everyone with room for more! There were card tables set up and card games went on all day long. The TV was set up for football (yep, they love their football). There was kite flying, marshmallow cooking, a bean bag game, some football and lots and lots of gabbing!

A successful wiener roast..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Fall in Illinois

The fall is very pretty here in Illinois. The trees are golden and red and quickly losing their leaves. Fall is the time for football and we went to the Tuscola Warriors football game Friday night. The rain stopped just in time but boy was it cold! I had four layers of shirts and jackets, two pairs of pants, two pairs of gloves (except having two pairs cut off my circulations and my fingers were colder so I had to remove one pair), a scarf and knit cap! Stayed warm first half but managed to get cold in the 4th quarter! We rooted the Tuscola team to a victory of 27 to 6!

Yesterday we went to Arthur for lunch at Yoder's, an Amish restaurant. We waited for about 45 minutes for our table - obviously a popular place! They have a buffet for about $6.00. We ate off the menu and three of us had lunch for less than $20! They have a gift shop and sell their donuts, breads, butters and more! HAD to buy the peanut butter. They had it at the dinner table and it is very carmelly (made up word!), creamy and delicious! On main street there is a house with a ton of carved pumpkins and everyone has Halloween yard decorations. Fall is here!

Last night Suzy and Bill Bean had Bill's daughter and her family over for pizza and we were invited to join in. We all sat around the kitchen, watched a great Iowa/Penn State football game, watched the baby sing and dance and chatted! The Wii game was also being played in the den.

Family fun!..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Columbia Missouri to Arcola Illinois!

We left Columbia Monday morning a little later than planned! At about 7:30 watching the morning news and weather, the weatherman talked about the surprise storm that was heading across Missouri (and in our direction). They said the storm was moving at about 45 mph but they didn't expect it to last too long. We decided to wait it out since they also said there was a lot of lightning and thunder that came along with it. Boy were they right! Max didn't settle down for a couple of hours he was so scared of the noise! We finally got on the road about 11:00 a.m. The campground in Columbia was very nice.

We arrived in Arcola, Illinois in the afternoon. There aren't many campgrounds around but this is a small one in the middle of this small town. Ted's Aunt is in Arthur, an Amish town about 9 miles east of the campground. On Tuesday we drove over to Arthur, had lunch and looked around some of the shops before heading over to the Retirement Home to see Ruth. When you drive through Arthur you see some interesting things:

We also visited Ted's Aunt Wanda yesterday in the town of Atwood! Today we had lunch with her. She sure keeps you laughing she's such a character!

Last night we drove over to Shawna (Ted's cousin) and her husband Todd's house in Possetum and dropped off Ted's Grandfather's chair and his Grandmother's champagne glasses. We are happy to get the items to them (and out of our backseat)! The glasses are really pretty and I think Shawna was especially happy to have them (they were her Great Grandparents). Her daughter, son-in-law and grand baby are staying with them for a little while so I think she was less happy to see the chair! I got the best baby hit from the sweetest, cutest, prettiest little girl, Aubrey:

Today we visited Ruth again and stopped by to see Shawna's Dad, Bill and his wife Suzy. They are such nice people and we had a good visit with them. We will see them again tomorrow and plan to go to a local football game (I told you they love their football in the Midwest) if the rain stops!

All the farmers were busy trying to get in their corn and soybeans before the rain started today. The farmers were sure busy!

Visiting family and friends in small towns..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Traveling to Missouri!

We left Assaria Kansas this morning and planned our first stop at the Flying J only about 20 miles from the campground! Flying J's are truck stops that also cater to RV'ers! When we were in Albuquerque last April we found that the Flying J Restaurants have "Sweet Cream Pancakes". They are soooo yummy and I have been thinking about them for months and since we had to go right by there on our way out of town, we stopped and I had some. Boy are they good! I did maintain and not eat the whole plate full but still felt a wee bit guilty after all I've been eating lately. Guess what? They now sell the pancake mix! I'm not sure that's exactly a good thing, but we did buy some to see if tastes as good. I'll let you know...

As we were leaving the campground this morning we found we had no trailer brakes which is not a good thing. But if you are in a place like Kansas that is flat at least you don't have to worry about not being able to stop going downhill!!!! Fortunately it was not broken (like it was one time) and Ted was able to reattach the brake line while we were still at the Flying J. There is so much vibration from the bumpy roads that it had loosened enough to come apart and just hang there! Yikes.

Anyway...we are now in Columbia Missouri for the evening. We found a really nice campground and will think about returning here some time. They are apparently going to get very busy this weekend because it is their homecoming game: the Missouri Tigers versus the Texas Longhorns. They are expecting a lot of Alumni as well as Texans to come stay at the campground for the game. Midwesterners definitely love their football!

And I love sweet cream pancakes..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Brookville Hotel

Today we had lunch at the Brookville Hotel. Our friends Katie and Gary had friends and family coming from Texas, Arkansas, Wichita and another couple from Salina for a total of 10 of us, to meet at the restaurant. They serve family style and there is no menu. First they served sweet pickles, candied apples and peaches. The next course was cottage cheese and cole slaw. Then they brought in the heaping plates of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cream corn, biscuits and gravy (no calories or fat). For dessert they served french vanilla ice cream! Everything was really good.

The hotel was built in 1870 in Brookville and purchased in 1894 by the relatives of the current owners. It was moved to Abilene in 2001 by the fourth generation of family where they built a replica of the original structure. Each of the dining rooms are named and the restaurant has grown over the years. They even have rooms set up in the second story and a little gift shop. It is very cute.

We've had a great visit with Gary and Katie this week and enjoyed seeing some long-time friends of Aunt Lucille's today. We have plans to stop and see Martha in Kerrville, TX and June (Lucille's cousin) near Dallas, TX when we get down there.

Fried chicken in a grand hotel..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Spending time with friends in Salina

On Thursday night Ted and I joined Gary and Katie for their oldest Grandson's football game. Their Grandson Cade had a good game, but we felt sorry for the team they played. They are such a small school they didn't even have enough players for a separate defense and offense. Some kids played the whole time! The score was 54 to 0. They almost scored but didn't make it. After the game we went to dinner at Timberline. Every time we go anywhere with Gary and Kate, they always know several people. The result of living in a small town all your life and being very involved in the community.

On Friday Ted and I had some errands to run and I got my nails done. In the nail salon was a gentleman getting a pedicure. He looked at me and said I think I know you! I mentioned Gary & Katie's name and he realized we met at dinner on Wednesday night! I felt like I fit right in!!!! Friday night we joined Gary and Katie at a charity dinner for the Presbyterian Manor. Aunt Lucille (my ex-husband's aunt) had lived there when they came and got her from California. We had quite a nice dinner.

Today was Katie's quilt group, the "Silver Needles" quilt show that she and her team have been working very hard on. One of the ladies had a cancellation and so Katie invited me to tag along. The quilts are amazing, so much hard work and time.

We had a wonderful lunch of salad and wraps, that they did themselves. And of course numerous kinds of homemade cookies for dessert! Each hostess was responsible for decorating her own table. There were a couple decorated for Christmas, an Alice-in-Wonderland table, a pin cushion antique shoe table, fiesta ware table and more...

After lunch there was an auction of 59 items to raise money for the group. They use the money for charitable purposes in the community as well as for their group. I bid on several things but finally was successful bidding on a Christmas Table Runner. It was a fun day!

Having fun and giving to charity..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Salina, Kansas

Ted and I are in Salina, Kansas visiting friends, Gary and Katie Weis. We went to Gary's favorite Fried Chicken restaurant last night and had a good dinner. It's been fun catching up on what's been going on in their busy lives the last few years! They have three married children and the five grandchildren keep Katie busy, along with her church and quilting projects! It's still cold today and cloudy but at least it isn't raining!

Ted, Katie & Gary!



Susan, Katie & Gary!

Visiting friends in Kansas..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Salida, Colorado

After a very enjoyable stay in Mesa Verde, Colorado we headed to Salida, Colorado. Friends, Pam & Jonathan Pullen, mentioned that they were looking at Salida as a possible retirement site. It was on our way (sort of) so we headed to Salida. It is very scenic countryside along the way and in the distance we could see snow. We are watching for bad weather in case we need to make a quick turn south! There are several mountains around Salida that are over 14,000' elevation and we passed over one of them on the way there! The snow in the distance soon became close up! Fortunately, we went through around noon and the snow was only on the side of the road!

We found our campground and were parked right next to the Arkansas River. We got in about 4:00 and it was 40 degrees! By morning it was 20 degrees with ice all over everything. After we thawed out we took a drive around Salida. They have a nice downtown area that looks like their are in the process of revitalizing it. They have antique stores, boutiques, art galleries, cafes, sporting stores and more. The housing was interesting in that they don't really have "tract" housing developments but rather sell lots in an area and people put whatever kind of house on their lot that they want; such as victorian, sante fe, modern and large or small. We were somewhat surprised that housing costs seemed higher than we thought they would be, averaging around $300,000 (from the window of two real estate offices). We did see some deer wandering through the housing areas and got a picture of a buck just sitting behind someone's house!

We had lunch in a restaurant called "Bounty". Really good food and very friendly with a cute gift shop inside. Overall we found the town really friendly and homey. Not really any department stores but Denver or Colorado Springs aren't far away and if you are an outdoors person, it's great! It did get very windy in the afternoon and one local mentioned that it happens frequently. Anyway, Pam and Jon will check it out!

Pam did ask if we would take a look at the B & B that they may stay in when they visit. It was really cute with big feather beds! It was very nice.

On Monday, October 12th - Teddy's birthday - we left Salida and ended up in Garden City, Kansas. We drove through mountains for an hour or so, following the Arkansa River. When we got close to Kansas we drove through the town of Royal Gorge. We could see fog in the distance and it was very foggy and a cold 38 degrees when we drove through the town. It stayed cloudy and 43-44 degrees with frost on the bushes for the rest of the drive into Garden City.


Today is a relax day. We haven't really had a day "at home" so we decided today would be a great day to get laundry done since it's drizzling and cold. We do have to go fuel up the truck but other than that we are "in" today!

Staying toasty and warm..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Cliff Palace Tour - Mesa Verde Park

Today we had an 11:00 Cliff Palace Tour in Mesa Verde. We got there early and were looking around when guess who we ran into???? Our bicycling friend, Herzl! He was on the 10:30 Cliff Palace tour. Herzl is heading down the ladder to begin the tour. It was nice to see him again.

While we were waiting for the tour to begin, we were able to look below and see the cliff dwelling that we were going to be touring. The Cliff Palace is the largest dwelling in the area of 33 dwellings. There are 25 living rooms in the Palace! One clan of 10-15 would occupy each dwelling. One reason this dwelling might be so large is that other cliff dwellers may store supplies there also. They grew corn, beans and squash on the mesa above while building the dwelling below. They had at least 6 months of winter so they had to grow as much of their crops as they could to store for food for the winter. They also weaved their baskets, made their pottery and turkey feather blankets.

Pete, our guide arrived, and after introducing Flat Stanley our tour began. We learned a lot of things about the life of the Pueblo Indians that lived in the cliff dwellings and the area. 60% of them lived on the mesas while only 40% lived in the cliffs. It was a very interesting tour! It is hard to imagine how hard they had to work to not just to survive but to thrive (as our guide told us)! Heck, it was hard enough for us to walk up steps and ladders through the rocks at 7000 feet, they have to climb up and down the rocks daily!

For those of you who don't know who Flat Stanley is, kids in the 3rd or 4th grade read a book about him and then make a paper "Stanley" and mail him to friends, family or people all over the world. They take Flat Stanley places and take pictures and then they make a report as to where they have been with Flat Stanley! We were in Portugal at the walled city of Los Obidos and a grandparent had a life size Flat Stanley with him!

Seeing amazing cliff dwellings..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Road to Mesa Verde National Park

I think I mentioned that on Tuesday night it was supposed to be 29 degrees with a chance of rain. We poo-pooed that idea because the sky was clear. When I took Max out around 11 p.m. still clear! Around 5 a.m. heard a bit of rain on the roof and thought maybe some hail...instead we had some snow!

On the way to Cortez, Colorado we passed through the "Four Corners"! The land where the four corners meet, was found to not be the exact spot of the four corners, but has remained the spot for tourists. It is on Navajo land and some time since Ted came here as a child, they have started charging $3.00 per person to visit the spot. They also have booths set up for selling their wares. We did pay but didn't visit any of the booths.

We arrived in Cortez, Colorado and set up camp at the Cortez KOA campground. Today we took off to the Mesa Verde National Park. We arrived at the entrance when a gentleman with a bike asked if we could drive him and his bike the 15 miles to the Visitor Center. They were working on the road and would not allow him to ride his bike. Unfortunately we have the back seat full so he had to ride in the back on the spare tire with his bike. I did give him Max's pillow to soften the ride a bit! He was clearly unhappy they would not allow him to ride his bike!

When we got to the visitor center we spoke with him and he thanked us and was quite happy to have the ride, he would have had a difficult time with the road and found it is quite a steep road up the mountain! Dr. Melmed (Herzl) is 72 years old and originally from South Africa! He has lived in Denver for 33 years and is on a bike trek to Phoenix. His wife follows along in the car and meets him at hotels. She was about 2 hrs behind with the car. He has logged almost 5,000 miles on his bike in the last three summers and believes in eating healthy and exercising! It works for him! Herzl has a blog of his trek. Check him out at: www.herzl-biking.blogspot.com It's a great blog!

After we booked our tour for tomorrow, we were going to eat at the Lodge but the cafe was closed. We then decided to head to the Ute Mountain Casino. They have a nice campground there and hotel. We ate dinner and then did a little gambling. Ted sat down at a Jaws machine (again) and on his first spin got the bonus and $74.00! After all was said and done we came out of the casino $37.00 ahead! That's a successful gambling trip as far as we are concerned!

72 years old and still biking..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Grand Canyon North Rim

We left Hurricane, Utah on Sunday morning with a view of the full moon! It was a pretty drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We saw some deer in the meadow outside the park. We had no hookups (electricity, water etc) to do so the set up went quickly and by early afternoon we were walking around the north rim and to the lodge. It was 45 degrees at 2:00! It was low 30's when I'd walk Max in the mornings. Quite chilly! The gas and batteries maintained our heat and cooking so we were snug as a bug in a rug!

On Monday we took a ride to Point Imperial (8803'), Roosevelt Point, Walhalla Overlook and ended at Cape Royal. The picture of the rock from Pt. Imperial was on the postcards I purchased from the gift shop. The north rim canyon is less crowded and less commercial than the south rim. There are not as many spots to view the canyon, but what you do view is beautiful! You can't see it in the picture but through the "Angels Window" you can see the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon. Teddy Roosevelt was instrumental in securing the land for the government which later became a national park.

We enjoyed shopping in the gift shop at the lodge. We bought a couple of wine glasses, a cute pink jacket for Susan, a magnet and some postcards! We had dinner in the dinning room one night. Ted tried the "Bison flank steak". He said it was pretty good and he'd have it again! I had the prime rib and it was delicious! Of course we visited the saloon and you can even take your drinks out to the patio overlooking the canyon!

On Tuesday we went out of the park and down the road to the Kaibob Lodge, very small, and also refueled the truck. They mentioned it was supposed to be 29 degrees that night and possible showers! But looking at the sky, all was clear! We got back to the campground and had dinner and decided to go down to the lodge for a night cap. They have a very nice port! It's good for digestion you know, at least that's what our French chef told us in Paris!

North rim of the Grand Canyon...

St. George RV Campground

Here is a shot of our campground in Hurricane, Utah from the top of one of the hills.

To the west the view is of the very red sandstone rock. Just beautiful in the mornings when the sun is shining on it.

Tomorrow we leave Hurricane and head for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Neither of us have ever been there before and are looking forward to it. We're not sure if we will have cell/internet service there so if I'm not posting, you will know why! We believe it will be a bit chilly there. It's been great here, 70's during the day and low 40's in the early morning hours (when I walk Max)!

Enjoying the view..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Zion National Park

Today we went to Zion National Park, about an hour from where we are camped. We parked at the Visitor Center which was not easy and took the shuttle bus around the park. There are seven stops along the way. There are a lot of hiking trails in the park and apparently a number of people who climb the huge rocks. We didn't see any climbing today but years ago Ted had watched a guy climbing who fell. Fortunately he was tethered and didn't fall too far. We visited the Zion Lodge, rooms start at $159.35 with cabins at $173.35.

We had lunch at "The Grill" on the balcony overlooking the grassy area with beautiful canyons on both sides. We also looked around the gift shop. The next stop was the Zion Museum where we watched a Zion Orientation movie. In the movie they describe how millions of years ago the area was flat and how the wind blowing the sand from the desert formed sediment and built up the huge rocks forming the canyons. Water then flowed through the canyons causing rocks to change again. Wonder what it will be like millions of years from now????

Seeing natures wonders..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sky Mountain Golf Course

Yesterday morning we played golf at the Sky Mountain Municipal Golf Course. What a spectacular golf course. I'm sorry my pictures do not do it justice. The beautiful back drop of sandstone rock mountains and the green course is just breathtaking! We played golf with Dori. Dori has a home within walking distance of the course and also a home in Park City, Colorado where she teaches swim lessons in summer and ski lessons in winter. She's a great golfer and could teach golf if she wanted to. She even gave me a couple of tips that helped my game! We sure had a good time.

I told our friend Stach about our golf game and he said "Golf on a beautiful day with your husband.......priceless! I think he nailed it!

After lunch at the golf club and coming home to let Max out and get cleaned up, we took a drive to Zion National Park. Zion has become a big tourist area. Apparently they have 3 million visit the park each year. Outside the park there are lots of tourist shops and restaurants. They also have an I-max where we saw "Treasure of the Gods". A movie with beautiful photography of the canyon lands and a story of the Mormons settling in the valley. We took a look around one of the shops and found a couple of small Christmas gifts! Tomorrow will go into the park.

Enjoying a game of golf..."Ain't Life Grand!"