Visit to Ed

 8-11-2021 - Wednesday

Another late start morning, but we did get a little shopping done in Bloomington -- a stop at Best Buy for a new GPS for the Jeep, and a stop at Walmart, as usual.  Then we made our way over to Joe and Cathy's office to charge the new GPS.  We got the call from Ed that we had been waiting for, and headed over to Mooresville for a visit with him.  He's not doing well, but it was good to get to see him -- it had been a long time, and we have a long friendship with him.  He and Nancy have a lovely home here, on almost 2 acres.  They have a really nice deck in the back that I didn't get a picture of.  It took almost an hour to get over to their place, a lot of road construction around I-69.

We got back to Bloomington about 6:00 and met up at Cathy and Joe's place.  They have a chair that Joe would really like to put in the RV, and it would actually fit into my color scheme at the house.  Not a recliner, but it was very comfortable.  Cathy said it was made in Canada -- too bad we can't just run on up there and pick one up.

Cathy and Joe have a real flower garden going on, both in the front and back yards.   Another pandemic accomplishment.  The bench behind them belonged to Joe's father.  I didn't get any picture of their flowers, but Dixie would be jealous.

We went to a dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and the colors there would have competed with their flowers.  It was very, very bright!

these are the chair backs

We enjoyed a great meal and great company, but it got late.  It was 10:00 by the time we got back to the RV, and it is very dark out here.  Fortunately, we did find the camper.

We need to get an earlier start tomorrow because we have a road trip planned.  Hot and humid today, same for tomorrow.  

Moving on to Bloomington

 8-10-2021 - Tuesday

We actually did pull out today from Mike and Rachelle's house, and made it all the way to Bloomington, 94 miles.  We got on the road about 11:20, made our way over to I-69 again but went north on it today, instead of south like we did yesterday. We arrived at the Paynetown State Recreation Area, part of Lake Monroe State Park, at 1:07, and by 1:30 had checked in and found our campsite -- electric only (30 amp), but water was accessible just one campsite over, and there is a dump station here.  Joe topped off our water tank, then backed into our "slightly sloping" spot.  The camp sites are pretty roomy, and right now the campground is practically empty.  We got the only site that was available through Friday, but we have to check out Saturday.

the lake is right behind this camper, about 50 yards from our campsite.

this will be full Friday night.

After another night of not sleeping well, Joe and I took a nap after we got set up, then hooked up with Cathy and Joe for dinner.  That was a good time, and a good meal.  They gave us some ideas of places to see in this area, then we drove back to the park.  We drove around inside the park just a little (it wasn't quite dark yet).  

This is the beach, just after dark.  a couple hangers-on still hanging, but the sky was pretty. 

a look at Lake Monroe

the marina

a couple of fishermen

I would have been a little bit jealous of the fishermen, but it was still 84 degrees and miserably humid, so I didn't really envy them -- obviously, they are more dedicated than me, and I like fishing.

Cathy had suggested renting a pontoon boat on Thursday, but it is too hot to enjoy that so we didn't pursue that idea.  They have more work to do this week, so we are on our own for a little while.  but this is a pretty interesting area, some of which I have been through years ago, so we will see what we see.  Joe and I are not opposed to a couple of days that are not busy.

Day 10 (last day) in vincennes

8-11-2021 - Monday

It started raining just after we went to bed last night, and it rained off and on all night and into Monday, until 2:00 p.m.  Mike Carter said we got about  3 inches of rain. Thunder woke me up a couple of times -- it sounded like it was right over our heads.  Didn't see any lightning, but we keep it pretty dark in the bedroom, with the windows covered, so maybe I just couldn't see the flashes, or maybe there wasn't any.

 We are finishing our final agenda items here -- picking up a "tombstone" in Montgomery for my aunt, and taking it to the cemetery at Princeton.  And meeting Stacey for lunch at an Amish restaurant in Montgomery.

We picked up the tombstone in the rain, looks great.  I'm glad to have this off my "to do" list, where it has been for several years.

 Stacey is always a hoot, and today was no exception.  She even bought lunch, and some cookies and Amish peanut butter for us to take with us.  Lunch was great, still raining.  She has a new car (which she got on her last vacation trip to visit son in Arkansas--who works at Red River Ford), but we didn't want to get wet so we didn't get to inspect it.

mouth open, as usual

Then it was off to Princeton to the cemetery.  I'm real happy with the tombstone.

We drove some of the backroads (muddy) around Patoka, then headed to Mike Carter's again.  I had taken an aerial photo of his farm and had it enlarged, so I took it down to him.  School starts tomorrow for him, and his schoolbus was parked in the driveway, all shined up for the first day of school.

I even got inside it.  It looked huge, and I asked Mike if it was bigger than the ones we used to ride in.  He said, yes, this is a 66 passenger one; our old ones were 44 passenger.  Mike said the backs of the seats are high now, and he can't see the kids.

    We went inside and visited with Mike and Donna for a while, then I did a little rock shopping.

I left with a pocketful, so I might get arrested again.  I even took my rock picker with me this time.  But Donna needed some rocks for Sunday School, and I helped her "pick" some, so that may keep me out of trouble with Mike.  Donna even used my rock picker.

When we left there, I directed Joe down to where we had the encounter with the fuel truck.  Joe said, "what were your girls even doing on this road?"  Well, we were going down memory lane, I guess.  Instead of turning around like Barbara did, we took the road on out, back to the "main" road.  It was very muddy.  This morning's heavy rain had washed the Jeep pretty good, but now it's worse than ever.

We headed back to the house -- Jaclyn had come out with the kids to say goodbye, and we all visited for a while.  Jaclyn brought me a keyboard for my phone that Adam had, and we messed with getting that set up.  Meanwhile, Clayton offered to run the Jeep to town to wash it, so Joe gave him $20 and he and Haley took off.  The Jeep looks good now, but Joe didn't get any change back.  LOL.

We are still undecided about our next destination, but I talked to Cathy and she suggested we come over to Bloomington to Lake Monroe for a few days, so that is probably where we will head tomorrow.  We have enjoyed our time here immensely and had great visits with family and friends.

day 9 in vincennes

 8-8-2021 - Sunday

On our way into town every day, we pass this potato field right here on decker road.  we saw it last week, and one day we passed a truck loaded with potatoes (don't know if they came from this field).  but suddenly the field is plowed under, and small potatoes dot the entire field.  I said they sure miss a lot when they harvest them, (we think they are grown for potato chips), but that evening it was the consensus that they had not harvested them -- just plowed them under.  don't know why, but there are sure a lot of potatoes out there.

  We had two agenda items today -- meet the newest member of the Koby family (as well as the two others whom we have never met), and sunday dinner at dana's, in honor of Mike's birthday.   

So here is Lianna Blake Koby, born 7/30/2021, held by her mommy Ashley.

Her husband, Alex

and two-year-old son, Benjamin.  Ben is currently sick with "hand, foot and mouth," that he picked up at day-care, so we only visited for a short time, and just stayed on the porch.

But ashley did let us hold the baby, who is perfect, and beautiful.

My turn.

group pictures

Lianna started to open her eyes, so we took more pictures.

Reluctantly, we said our goodbyes and left.  I had a stop to make in town, but got railroaded -- first time since we have been here.  But then, we went on to Dana's at Emison, and got railroaded again!  Twice on the same trip.  Happens a lot here.

We see the watermelon buses every day when we are on the road, but behind a building just before Emison, we came across two convertible ones.  Haven't seen the convertibles in action but will keep an eye out now.

We had a lovely dinner at Dana's, with her, Michael and Holly.  Dana is an excellent cook, and home-cooked meals when we travel are a real treat (cause I don't cook much).

birthday cake

Dana and Holly with Buddy

and here's Buddy.  Who really like to chew on everybody.

we spent the afternoon here visiting, then took pictures again.

Holly left, then Dana and Michael offered to drive us over by Holly's -- Holly's husband raises asparagus, along with melons, and we had never seen an asparagus field. So off we went.  The house is Holly and Jake's, and the asparagus fields are right behind it.  The harvest is over for asparagus this year, so the plants are just let go for now, but they come back every year.

Jake's family uses migrant workers, as does everyone else back here (can't get anyone else to work), and they provide single-family homes for some, and a "hacienda" for others, like a bunkhouse in the old western days.  Here is the hacienda.

We got back to the house, and went our separate ways.  Joe decided to drive over toward Bicknell, to try to find the last house I lived in before we got married (52 years ago).  We drove up and down several roads but never did find it -- I assume it's been torn down and replaced, although it was a very nice house, and on a cattle farm with silos.  Finally, we got back to the house.  Mike had bbq'd chicken and they were just now eating, so we grabbed a plate and ate again.  Visited a little while, then called it a night.  

I decided my tiredness might not be from jet lag -- more likely from the allergy pill I had taken the last 2 days.  Rachelle told me it makes you sleepy and you are supposed to take it at night.  Well, that makes sense, especially since I am tired all day and can't sleep at night.  So I will switch that around, and probably be a ball of fire tomorrow!