day 8 in vincennes

 8-7-2021 - Saturday

Yesterday wore us out -- I'm thinking we have jet lag -- so we mostly had a day off today.  We had been discussing going over and dumping our tanks in the rv -- we don't think they are full but they are starting to have an odor and more chemicals doesn't seem to help. so when Joe finally got up, we visited with rachelle for a while, then ran in town for that elusive donut -- at the gas station --, then we unhooked from the electricity and drove over to the rv campground here in town.  we never did talk to anyone there for permission, but Joe just pulled into an empty site, dumped our tanks, and drove back home.  so that's done, and we don't have to make that stop when we leave tuesday.

It took me all day to get the blog done yesterday (jet lag, again), but as I sat at the table typing, a crop dusting plane kept popping up over the hill.  I stood it as long as I could and finally went out to get a picture of him, but by then, he had moved to the other end of the field.  I came in without a picture, then he popped up again, going north and south, instead of east and west like he had been going.  My timing wasn't the best, but I finally did get a picture.

(You can click on the pictures to make them larger)

Joe had volunteered to pick up tenderloins for dinner tonight, so we got to enjoy another family dinner, at least with most of the family.  However, every place in town was either closed, or closing early (maybe because of the watermelon festival, maybe they always close early on saturday -- we don't know), but he and Mike called around and found a place in Princeton that was open until 4:00, so they ordered them and ran to Princeton to pick them up.  some ate at the bar in the kitchen, and we filled up the living room.

Judy Kay was here for dinner but hadn't felt very good, so she left shortly after we finished with the tenderloins.  but the rest of the gang hung around for s'mores when it got a little cooler.

Rachelle and Maura

Judy Ann

the ray family -- Jayden, adam, adelyn

Jaclyn and Maura

Judy Ann and Jax

Mike

Rachelle

Clayton had gone to Indianapolis today with his girlfriend, Haley, and another kid, to play top golf (they said there was a 5-hour wait, but they did get to play [Haley won]) and they rented scooters and rode around Indy.  They got back just before dark.

Tommy and his family had gone camping this weekend, so they didn't get to join us, but it was great to have another family gathering on the carport.  Several vehicles honked as they drove past, and I imagine several of them were remembering past gatherings on this carport.   Lucille was remembered at great length -- there is always some story that applies to a memory of her.  Tonight's story involved her driving -- when she stopped at an intersection where there was road construction and she got out of her car and moved the pylon out of her way so she could get through.  Mike and Rachelle happened to be at that same intersection and asked her what she was doing, and she said, "well, it was in my way."  Good laughs in honor of a great lady.  About 10:00 everyone called it a night, but it was a fun time.

On a side note, Joe Myers picked up my photo of Mike Carter's "grain bin bbq patio" and put in on Pictorial Indiana, and gave me the credit for it.  I will probably be rich and famous by the time we get home, and Mike can start a whole new career when he quits driving the schoolbus.

Our time here is getting short -- time to figure out where we are heading next.

Day 7 in vincennes

8-6-2021 - friday

Today was awesome.  but first, I have a couple notes about previous posts.  

first--the rooster is GONE.  Clayton took it on a road trip to a friends house, and I hope he lives there happily ever after. I bid him goodbye and good riddance.  

second--the huge tanker truck we met up with on our little escapade in the boonies -- when I copied and pasted that photo into facebook, somehow I managed to make it my new screen saver on my computer.  Not On Purpose.  but I get a good laugh now every time I open my computer, and it jumps out at me.  so it's all good.

Now back to today.  today's agenda item was watson pond -- ken snider had promised to take me on my next trip home because I had never heard of it, and we had scheduled that for today.  Joe got up late, and we ran into town -- we both thought a donut sounded good.  well, the donut shop was out of donuts and closed.  we went to the amish store -- they no longer sell donuts.  by now it's 10:45, so he said, let's just go get a real breakfast, so we went to dot's.  they stop serving breakfast at 10:30. we ended up back at the little restaurant on Bunker Hill (back across town--took 5 minutes), so we ate breakfast about 10:30.  turned out to be a good thing, though, because our next meal wasn't until about 6:30.  but that's another story.

anyhow, as we went through town on second street, we saw where they were setting up for this weekend's Watermelon Festival.  I understand it's not a big deal these days, like it was when we were kids and vincennes was the watermelon capital of the world (at least, according to vincennes).

we messed around in town for a while, then it was time to head to Ken's.  He had an interesting, raised  tomato garden, planted in a cattle feeder.  and a lovely house, our first visit here.

and here's where the day became awesome.  Ken said, "we can go to watson Pond by road, or by air."    W H O A !!!  So he took us up in his plane and flew us all over decker township, as well as neighboring communities.  what a thrill!  

getting in wasn't the easiest thing I ever did.

Instrument panel

Pilot Ken

 I-pad showing all airports in the area.  the yellow circle is where we are.

Joe and Gwen in backseat.

Me and Ken in the front.
      

and we are up!!!

decker chapel church and community center.  

wonderful view of the countryside -- not much civilization down here any more.  Ken said there is really only one farm way down in the Neck now -- the witsman's.

wabash river on the right, watson pond to the left of it.  the last house I lived in down here was probably no more than 3-4 miles from it, but I had never heard of it and never been to it.  the airplane wing cuts off the end of the pond, but it does not connect to the river.

I love this picture-this is the Neck -- where the wabash river and the white river come together.  I wish I could get the airplane wing out of the middle of the picture, but you can see the difference in the color or the rivers, white river is always muddier.  then it becomes the wabash, and joins the Ohio river in evansville.

this is claypool pond.  the farm at the very top is Mike carter's (just right of the middle).  the houses on the left are on the hill where I used to live.

Here's a great view of the winding white river.  that farm in this picture is Mike Carter's place.

Here's the cropped version of Mike's place.

tommy froeschke's place

the old cannonball bridge over the wabash river (it looks better from the air than from the car when you are crossing it)

Ken said, "take off is optional, landing is mandatory."  and we have landed!  the 4 of us pulled the plane up to the hangar to get to the gas pump.

Ken re-fueling.  No, we did not go back up.

He has a classic aircraft gas pump.

what a great time we had!  One I never expected, in my wildest dreams.  And one we will remember forever.  we were in the air almost 90 minutes, flying about 150 mph, about 2000 feet above the ground (2500 feet above sea level, Ken said).

after he got the plane put away, and we looked at his toy hauler and some of this other "toys", we went in and visited with Ken and Gwen for a while, then headed back to the rv because we still had another engagement tonight -- dinner with Mike and Donna, and Barbara and Maurice, right across the rivers where they come together, at that Twin Rivers Restaurant.  (No time for lunch today).  so we were home for about 15 minutes, then headed out again.  dinner was great fun, lots of laughs, which is always the case with this group.

everyone ordered dessert except barbara and Mike.  donna told Mike she got the strawberry pie for them to share, but Mike assured her that he only wanted one bite.  However, here he is on Bite No. 4!

such a fun night.  It was almost 10:00 when we got home, but what a great day.

Terre Haute/Brazil - day 6

 8-5-2021 - Thursday

today would have been my mother's 97th birthday, so happy heavenly to Mom. 

today was sort of a happy/sad day.  we drove to brazil for lunch with Amy, the daughter of one of my best friends, Diane Braden, who I lost to covid in October.  we had the opportunity to share memories and talk about Diane, her life and her death.  I so appreciated Amy meeting us, and then we followed her to the cemetery to Diane's gravesite.  Very sad. But Amy looks wonderful and it was great to get to see her.

On a happier note, we drove from there into Terre Haute, past the house we built (which is looking very good).  They even paved the road in front of our old house.

the garage and lot beside the house

Our next stop was a visit with Audrey Williams, my long-ago babysitter and the "second" mother to my kids.  She just turned 80 last month and has her share of health problems, but is looking good.  We had a good visit, caught up on our kids and her kids, grandkids and, for her, great grandkids.  She has a "picture gallery" of her kids that takes up an entire corner of her living room.  

I asked her how many "babysat" kids she had "raised," and she said she had counted them up, and it was 275!!  wow.  Some were short-term, but many were long-term and, like ours, lifelong friends.  She is quite a lady.

(see how much taller I got this afternoon.)

Joe took off and drove around Terre Haute while I finished my visit with Audrey.  When he called and said he was in the parking lot, I told Audrey that he probably didn't think he could find her apartment again, so she laughed and said she would walk down with me.  We had a nice visit.

We headed back to Vincennes, stopped at the other Bobe's Pizza (on 6th street) for dinner, shopped a little at Kohl's, and got home about 8:00.  Oh, we also drove through that campground and found out we can dump there by just pulling into a campsite and hooking up to the sewer there -- they do not have a separate dump station.  I don't think we have run into that before, but at least we now have a plan when we leave.

A busy day, but a good day, and another checkmark on my list here.  The weather continues to be good, although there is a slight chance of rain in the next few days.    

day 5 in vincennes

 8-4-2021 - Wednesday

Today was the day I look forward to the most when I am back home -- a drive to decker chapel with barbara.  we always have a good time, and lots of laughs, and we don't get lost, although we don't always know where the road will come out.  today was no exception.  and it was an Excellent Adventure down Memory Lane.

we drove down 6th street, over the levee and along the Wabash river, with a few side trips along the way (back to where her house used to sit, past where I lived on the hill, then down another lane past where a house used to be that I lived in).  this lane became today's adventure.  we continued on past where the second house on this lane used to sit, where rex davis used to live.  But the road past his house continued on.  I had never been down it as far as I knew, but she thought she had, so she drove on.  It really was just a lane but had been recently graveled.  I said probably there was an oil well back there, and that was who had put the gravel on the road.  Anyway, we drove to the end (maybe not the end, it did continue on, but no gravel, just mud holes).  Barbara had been worried about where she would turn around, but I told her that if oil trucks or tractors came back here, there had to be a place to turn around.  And there was.

 We decided not to go on down the other little road, and she got turned around and headed back.  We went just a little ways, and this HUGE oil tanker suddenly comes around the corner, between the 2 cornfields.  HEART ATTACK.  

You can see he takes up the whole road.  after we started breathing again, barbara said her first thought was "how is he going to back that thing up".  Then she realized he wasn't going to be the one backing up!  I have to say, backing up is not at the top of barbara's skill set (neither is it mine).  She may have taken out a few corn stalks, but she finally got far enough back so that the trucker very nicely pulled way over to the side and got past us.  We can't imagine what was going through his mind, but I'm sure none of it was good.

we were close!!!

Continuing on, we got back out on the road, came down another hill, and a big old road grader was in front of us, taking up the whole road.  we stopped and considered that for a while, but remembered there was a little Y there, so we went around the Y and got in front of him -- he did stop for us.  sure seemed to be a lot of traffic down here today.

we worked our way back to the river road, and continued on around, to where the Wabash meets the White river (called "the Neck"), reminiscing along the way about whose house used to be where.  then we stopped at Claypool Pond, another house I had lived in, and walked over the levee.  My, they have cleaned that place up, torn down the old cabins and the house.  The water was really low, but the grounds looked great.

we know we are trespassing when we go here, but we figure we "know people" so we think we are ok, although Barbara thought she heard a car out on the road and worried that someone would call and turn us in.  from the top of the levee, I took a couple pictures of "God's Country," including the hill where my favorite house I lived in was located.  It has since been torn down, and the topography of that hill has changed, and the new houses don't even face the same direction as my old house.

I used to walk over to claypool from the house on the top of that hill after school, all the time.  It was my thinking spot, I guess.  and I may have mentioned it before, but the crops in Indiana look great this summer.

From there, we headed on to our old school bus buddy, Mike Carter's place, which is really beautiful.  I think he has lived in this house, or at least on this property, his entire life, and is more than content to finish his life right there.  He has a wonderful bbq area that he and his son designed.  If barbara could figure out how to fit one in her back yard, she would have one of these.

And Mike and Donna have a hot tub!  I never saw Mike as a "hot tub" guy, but who knew!

Mike mentioned that his son has cameras aimed at their back yard, I guess to keep an eye on the equipment, animals, and his parents.  but Mike figured out he can't go out to the hot tub naked.  and that's a good thing.

I didn't steal any rocks this year, although barbara did try to get away with a couple, but they were too hot to reside where she had hidden them for very long, so she confessed.  We had a great visit.  we had talked a few times over the last couple of years about drawing the inside floor plan of decker chapel school, as we remembered it, the next time we got together, so we did that today.  Mike gave us paper and pencil and told us to go to our corners and draw how we remembered the layout, and he would grade them.  barbara thinks she got a higher grade than me (which she probably did--she knew more about the boys bathroom and locker room than I did).  anyhow, it was a good time, and we shared a lot of laughs.  

the air conditioner in barbara's car had quit working a few miles back, but when we left Mike's, it started working again, thank goodness.  she dropped me off at the house and went home to fix dinner for us (like she hadn't had enough of me already).  she and Maurice had us in for a home cooked meal, hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, corn on the cob, baked beans and baked macaroni, plus 2 cakes plus strawberries with angel food cake (3 cakes I guess).  It was delicious, and we had a good time.  we finally said goodnight and headed home, but it had been a full day, with lots of laughs.  

day 4 in vincennes

 8-3-2021 - tuesday

today's excellent adventure was lunch with our classmates at Montana Mike's.  there were 12 of us, and we spent almost 3 hours, reminiscing and laughing about high school days.  the food was good, and the company was excellent. It was fun catching up with everyone, and of course there is always a lot of conversation about our aches and pains.  thanks to barbara again, for putting this together during our time here.

we had dinner at Mike and rachelle's again, rachelle worked in a meal in her busy day of taking Mallory to a doctor's appointment in evansville and taking her niece home from the hospital.  Jaclyn and adam and their kids came out for dinner, so there was a bunch of us.  when I went into the house, Jaclyn and Mike had everything under control, just as rachelle pulled into the driveway.  since is stays daylight so long, we sat outside on the carport (just like the old days) until 9:30, even though tomorrow is a work day for most of them (work days -- the "not so good old days").  the kids go back to school next week, so their "work days" are almost here too.

It was another nice day, 62 in the morning, 80s during the day.  I'm glad we missed last week's heat wave.  every time we leave the house, we meet several watermelon buses loaded, and we always see wagonloads of cantaloupes just up the road at brads.  Yesterday, we met a truckload of potatoes too.  It is definitely harvest time here -- Joe's favorite time to be here.  tomorrow is my trip to decker chapel so I will see what that part of the country is looking like.  I always look forward to that drive, and of course, barbara is my chauffer again.  we have lots of giggles when we drive into our past.

Parking the rv here at Mike and rachelle's works out very well for us.  but that rooster has to go.  we are definitely not on the same wake-up schedule.  He starts crowing about 6:30, then a train comes by -- I'm thinking the rooster and the train are on the same schedule.  It has been a long time, if ever, that I got woke up every morning by a rooster.  and I'm done with it already.