Getting Ready to Leave (Tues.)

Today is the day we start working toward leaving Vincennes.  Joe still has some unfinished "Lucille" projects -- 2 kitchen chairs in the shop; furnace still waiting on parts; replaster under living room window.  Unfortunately, he was unable to move any of these things along.  The chairs still aren't done -- maybe tomorrow.  The furnace guy isn't sure they have the right part but Joe did make contact with someone else who thinks he has the part and that might get taken care of tomorrow.  And Joe didn't hear from the replaster guy.  Maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I moved forward with my projects.  We got the car washed and stopped by the cemetery in Oaktown where my sister is buried.  I got the laundry caught up, and the bathroom cleaned.  And most of the stuff stored under the bed.  And we made a grocery run and picked up just a few things.  Still need to vacuum and finish putting some loose stuff away.

On our trip to Oaktown we tracked down some field-fresh strawberries at McKinley Orchard/Prairie Acres.  These had come in from the field but they told us the strawberries they had earlier came from some "tunnels" they had plants in.  Well, of course, Joe had to go see if he could find these tunnels.  But he did know what they were talking about -- open-ended hothouses.  And we did find some right up Old 41.

We could see strawberry plants and what looked like tomato plants.  Couldn't tell what else was in there.

We headed back out to the house and Joe messed with the furnace for a while but was only able to confirm what he had diagnosed last week.  Lucille was going to the funeral home this evening in honor of a niece, Loretta Holscher.  Fred came out for a while to keep Joe company (which got Joe out of some of his "honey do" jobs for me), then we headed into town for dinner and groceries.

At dinner, one of our former classmates, Faye Hacker Hess, stopped by our table so we got to visit with her.  She was unable to attend our class get-together last week because she had company from out of town, so it was a stroke of luck that we were able to hook up.

We have a short to-do list in the morning and hope to head out before noon.  Weather forecast is for partly cloudy with wind but the storms aren't due until Thursday and Friday so hopefully we will be further down the road by then.  Our first stop is probably going to be at the White Castle in Evansville, so Joe will finally get to have his White Castle hamburgers!!!

Memorial Day (Mon.)

We had done so much celebrating the last two days we were happy not to have any big plans for today.  Dixie and Jim were leaving today and I was surprised to see Dixie at the kitchen window (washing it, of all things) before 9:00 a.m.  I have a birds' eye view of the kitchen window from our dinette in the RV.  Dixie had lots of bug bites from these nasty buffalo gnats around here and that had kept her awake so she had just gotten up.  She had laundry underway and was gathering up things so Jim could load the car.  To everyone's surprise, they pulled out before noon.

So Joe and Joe decided we should go to town for something to eat (breakfast/lunch?  It's noon by now), and since they hadn't been able to find a decent breakfast in Vincennes, they thought we should try Princeton.  Lucille was agreeable to this, so off we went.  The first 2 restaurants to had in mind were closed (one permanently, the second one just for the day we think).  We finally landed at Applebees, and then Cathy persuaded Joe to stop at my Finders Keepers store which was basically across the street.  We put Lucille in a wheel chair and walked the 4 aisles, but she was really thinking we were taking her to a "dry goods" store where she mind find a new blouse, so she complained a bit.  No one bought anything but we did check out the rocking horse again.  It seemed to be missing the post that goes through the head to hang on to, and it was plastic (I think Cathy had one like it when she was little but it was made out of wood), so no rocking horse for Shooter.

We "headed" home but made a couple stops and side trips still searching for fresh strawberries.  Our 20-mile ride to "breakfast" took 4 hours.  Joe was still willing to head up to Oaktown where rumor has it that fresh strawberries are maybe available, but since Cathy and Joe still had to drive to Bloomington today, Joe finally took us home. 

As Joe and Cathy were getting in their car to leave, Mike, Rachelle and the kids stopped by, back from their weekend camping trip.  We visited with them for a little while and after they left, Lucille headed to her chair for a nap, and Joe and I went to town for our last Bobe's Pizza of this trip (Lucille was pizzaed'out).  A thunderstorm blew through just as we got home, with some pretty heavy rain and lots of strong wind.  That lasted maybe 45 minutes, but it blew on out before we went to bed and didn't damage anything that we've seen.  I think the worst of it was further north.

We had originally planned to leave tomorrow, but I suggested to Joe that we wait until Wednesday so I would have Tuesday to get my stuff done after today's exodus by the others -- laundry, groceries, vacuuming the RV, etc.  So tomorrow will be my work/errand day, and Wednesday we intend to hit the road.  We've finally decided what day we are leaving, but haven't finalized our route yet. 

Rendevous (Sunday)

I heard my picture of Kaylee's 6th graduation did not post, so I'll try that again. I don't know how to enlarge it since it was sent from a smart phone, but I think it should show up this time.

 

Saturday night was a short night but we had plans today too, so we had to get on the move.  Joe M., Cathy, Joe and I skipped church and headed into town for breakfast and then off to the Spirit of Vincennes Rendevousb (37th Annual). As usual, we encountered more farm equipment taking up more than their half of the road.

The Rendevous is a weekend celebrating Vincennes' historical part in the Revolutionary War on the banks of the Wabash River, right next to the George Rogers Clark Memorial (the romantic site of Joe's and my engagement).
 

The Rendevous is quite an event for historic Vincennes, Indiana's oldest city.  We also have Grouseland here, the home of President William Henry Harrison, the first Indiana Territory Governor and 9th President of the United States.     Vincennes has not done a very good job of "exploiting" or advertising its place in history, but the Rendevous is pretty well done.  According to the literature:

       "At 10 a.m., Thurs., Feb. 25, 1779, British Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton surrendered his garrison of 80 soldiers after a siege which lasted less than two days. The victor, Lt. Col. Clark, had led an army of 170 Americans and French-Canadians across the flooded area of present-day southern Illinois in a march to Vincennes.
The Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous is designed to bring back to life the sights, sounds, and smells of late 18^th century and early 19^th century Vincennes"

We had never been to this, and we really enjoyed it.  We walked through the encampment where many of the participants camp for the weekend, then we made our way over to where they were shooting off a cannon, and watched the first of the Battles.

In addition to the participants of the battles, lots of people were dressed in period costumes, including kids, and we saw a few "Indians" in full paint.

We encountered some soldiers on the way to the first battle of the day, and we had been hearing the cannon shots already.

 We passed a lady cooking flapjacks over the fire, and a couple guys making breakfast frajitas (I asked how they were different from breakfast burritos, and they said they couldn't spell burritos).

We passed this green/red flag and thought maybe it was French or something, but we were told it was George Rogers Clark's flag.

We walked over to check out the cannon.  There were oxen over here, and we later saw kids riding in oxen-drawn carts.  

It had started to sprinkle as we prepared to watch the first battle.  Joe M. is taking a picture of me in my neon green raincoat (they dubbed me "Colonial Wilma" but he hasn't sent me the picture yet").  I called them "We of the Umbrella" (as in We the People).

And then the battle began.  There was a lot of smoke from the muzzle loaders and rifles, and casualties on both sides, but our side won.

Next we wandered through the aisles and checked out some of the booths.  All items for sale were "period items," but they were interesting.  I bought some scissors, and a coffee mug for my collection.

Another friend from my school days, Anne Robinson Saxe, hooked up with me for a while.  She and her husband were coming back from graduation activities in Georgia, on their way to their home in Madison, Indiana.  We had not seen each other probably since high school, so we enjoyed our time together.  This year's trip to Vincennes has really been a walk down memory lane for me because I have gotten to see so many people from my childhood.

We enjoyed some of the wide variety of food served (ham & beans, corn on the cob, pie from St. Peters Lutheran Church, strawberry shortcake, pork sandwich), then went back over for the second and final battle.  They had a cannon demonstration before the battle started.

The outcome of the second battle was the same as the first, although we were told that we (the Congressional Army) is not always the victor.  Again, there were lots of smoke, the enemies' cannon would not fire and they tried to negotiate a surrender, but that didn't work out.

There was a real cutie right down the bleachers from us -- we thought he would be a fine "Little Shooter."

We finally headed out but we had spent the bulk of the day here.  We had to stop at the grocery on the way home so Joe M. could get the ingredients for a rhubarb/strawberry pie he wanted to make, and Cathy picked up the makings of lunch meat sandwiches for dinner.  Fred and Judy came out and we did get in 3 hands of cards, but we were all pretty tired.  We are just having too much fun -- we need a day of rest.

Graduation Parties (Sat.)

Today was a busy day.  First of all, it's Cathy's birthday.  It was a very full day but we eventually got around to celebrating the birthday. I found her the perfect t-shirt at my great little antique/flea market store in Princeton that I discovered the other day, which btw is called "Finders Keepers."  In case you can't read it, it is a "Red Solo Cup, I fill you up, let's have a party" t-shirt -- I thought it was spot on for Cathy.

This is graduation season and we had two to celebrate today.  Our nephew Bobby Sullivan (who lives here in Emison) had a son (Braydon) graduating from North Knox Friday night, and our nephew Tom Froeschke had a daughter (Ashley) graduating from South Knox today.  We missed the Friday night graduation, but Joe went to Ashley's graduation along with Lucille, Jim, Dixie, Joe M. and Cathy.  At the same time, I headed into town for a picnic to celebrate Braydon's graduation with my nieces and nephew, and their families.

Braydon got a scholastic diploma and plans to go to VU this fall.

It was great to see Bobby and his family again -- it had been a few years since we had been together.  And his sisters enjoyed spending some time with all of them too.

Holly and her son Jayden, along with her new husband, Brad Dane, were here, and Amber was here with Julian and Emma and a couple of her friends.  Michael and Dana had brought all three grandkids with them from Chatanooga for the picnic (Jayden lives in Vincennes and Julian and Emma live in Arizona), and his mother, who lives in Vincennes, joined us.  Bobby and Jennifer had their granddaughter, Gracelyn, with them since the mother (Tasha) was at work, and their younger daughter, Haley were also here. 

Stacy's husband, Bob, did not join us because he had gone to Evansville to buy a new Harley.  We hoped he would stop by to show it off, but I guess he had to take it to the "chrome" shop so maybe he didn't bring it home.

The kids (and adults) spent a little time on the playground together.

After we had out chicken, potato salad, bean salad, baked beans, chips, brownies and graduation cake, we headed out to the next party, which was down at Decker Chapel -- Ashley's graduation party.  On the way, we came upon this tractor pulling 4 nitrogen fertilizer tanks -- thankfully it did not pull out in front of us.

Everyone had already begun eating at Tommy's when we arrived, so we visited a little while, then the big volley ball game began.

Joe watched for a while, then decided he needed to participate.  Fortunately, Ashley's boyfriend is an EMT and he was there, so I didn't worry too much.

Joe gave it up before he got hurt, although he may not be able to get out of bed in the morning.  Next on the agenda, in honor of Cathy's birthday, was chicken dinner at Ireland, Indiana -- a little town about an hour away that Joe and I had never been to before.  We took a scenic drive through rural Indiana, and had a nice meal at The Chicken Place.

By now it's getting on toward 9:00 p.m., but the town of Jasper is just a few miles on down the road, and Joe and I don't think we have ever been here before either, so we did a little scenic drive through town.  Cathy said this is probably one of Indiana's prettiest towns, and it was very well kept.  We never saw any residential areas that were not well kept, lawns mowed, houses painted, etc.  The courthouse alone was pretty grand, and a Catholic Church on down the street was also exceptional.  The third picture is a historic grist mill right on the Patoka River here (it was closed). 

We finally headed home, it was just getting dark and Joe spotted a deer right beside the road (I missed it).  We had left a vehicle at Tommy's so we had to detour back to his house to pick that up.  By the time we got home it was about 11:00, just about 12 hours since we left this morning.  But the day wasn't over yet.  Jim, Dixie and Lucille got back about an hour before we did.  Jim and Lucille had gone on up to bed, but Dixie had birthday cake with candles all ready for Cathy, so we then had some angel food cake with fresh strawberries, and Joe M. and Cathy had a glass of wine. 

It was a fun day but we were all pretty tired.  The bed felt pretty good!