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!

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.