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!"