"See You Later, Hunter" Day

 Last night after I had finished the blog, Hunter, Carol and I played a final couple games of "Crazy Cards."  Keegan played with us for awhile and then Jason took his place.  It was a great way to end our long day.

 Carol and I and Keegan ate breakfast about 7:30 and then waited for the rest of the crew to get up, pack up, and eat.  Around 9:30 everything was complete and we took pictures and give him our final hugs.

Memaw and the future aerospace engineer.

Memaw, Hunter, Papaw

The brothers showing some love to each other.

The Ozee Family

We left the motel areound 10:00 a.m. and the Ozee Family left soon after headed for the campus to find Hunter's assigned parking space and the having their final goodbyes.  We stopped at I-80 for gas a late lunch.  Before going home, we stopped by St. John's Hospital to visit Carol's brother Don who had surgery on Tuesday.  We arrived home around 7:00 p.m.  

It was a good three days and even though we are tired, it was worth being tired.  We are retired so we can spend tomorrow catching up.  Our next trip will be September 8 when we will take the motorhome to Southern Illinois to visit with my sister Betty and her husband Mark and see that part of Illinois.  We are looking forward to traveling again even if it is just to Southern Illinois.

Moving In Day

Today is Keegan's 14th birthday and he celebrated with family by moving his big brother into his dorm room and running here and there.

Keegan ate breakfast with Papaw and Memaw.

Later in the morning, Hunter ate breakfast with Papaw and Memaw

First look at his new dorm room.  His roommate is from Minnesota and we didn't meet him until later in the afternoon.

This is the dorm his room is in.  His room is on the second floor.

  After moving Hunter in, we made a Target run to pick up some items he needed to finish his move in.  We also spend time driving around looking for parking spots on the campus as Hunter had some additional things to do as relates to getting enrolled.  The estimated enrollment at the university is 30,000 and it seems that each student has a car and looking for a parking space!

The middle of September, we are bringing the motorhome to Iowa and camping and traveling around Iowa.  This will replace our normal 4-6 week fall trip.  One of the parks we are staying is Ledges State Park which is located about 15 miles from the university.  We decided to drive to it and check out the camping spot we will be in.  When we pulled into the campground, this Cybertruck was setting near the entrance.  We would not have know what it was except Keegan was with us and he knew immediately what it was.  He was excited to see it.

Kara, Jason and Hunter are still at his dorm room putting together furniture to finish his move in.  We and Keegan came back to the motel to rest and relax  It has been a good day.  I am glad we got to see the campus where Hunter will be spending the next 3-4 years preparing for his career in aerospace.  I think Hunter is staying at the motel with us tonight so we can play a few more games of cards before his life will turn more serious.  Tomorrow we will all pack up and drive back to central Illinois.

The Ozee Family.  Life as they have known it is about to change but they all will adjust.

Off to College

 Today is a special day for two guys in our family....Carol's 79th birthday and Hunter heads to Iowa State University and move him  into his new dorm.

The great thing about my blog is that I have a new, much faster computer.  The bad thing about the new computer is that there is a learning curve to getting my blog done.  I discovered that some of the pictures did not download and those that downloaded where in reverse order.  So here our day starting with the last pictures I took and ending with the first pictures of the day.

We toured Iowa State after it got dark and Hunter took this one.

We rode a railcar for two and one for four.  This is the one for four with the oldest people and the youngest.  Even though the railcar is battery power, some pedal power is necessary when going up hills and to get started.  The way back was mostly up hill slightly so Hunter really got a workout keeping the car going up the hill.

There was a beautiful full moon tonight and a nice sunset.

Part of the track went across streets in Boone.  At rail crossings, a guard would flag us to stop when a car was ready to cross the track.

This little house was set up along the track.  

This is the end of the line.  Everyone exited the car and the crew put the railcar on a roundabout and turned each car around.  We then got back on to return to the main station.  This is the view from that turnaround.

The turnaround was named "Rose's Landing."  I liked that because it reminded me of my mom whose name was also Rose.

View of the river from Rose's Landing.

A small part of the railroad track passed farms but most of it was forested.  We saw a total of  four deer.  One of the deer crossed the tracks in front of us.  It moved too  quickly for me to get a picture.

That is Kara and Jason ahead of us.

Jason and Kara in a two-seater.  Only one of the riders actually  controlled the speed and stopping of the car.  Jason and Hunter were the lucky ones in our group.  Their legs and knees got a workout.

Our group waiting for time to pass to board our railcars.

After taking this trip we are official "rail explorers."

Our usual stop when we take I-80 through Iowa is I-80 truck stop.  

Hunter's best friend, Mason, came to the house to say his final goodbye to him.

  Hunter is blessed to have such a good friend as Mason.  Mason is a sophomore at Millikin University so he is staying in Decatur.

Three of these cars formed a caravan to Iowa State University.  This is loading up.  Tomorrow we will unpack and move him into his new dorm room.

This is the happy group before they left Warrensburg, Illinois and drove to  Ames, Iowa.

It has been a good day.  The weather was perfect....not too hot or too cold...no rain...only blue skies and large, puffy white clouds.  Hunter and Kara drove a car, Jason and Keegan drove another, and Carol and I brought up the rear.  We got to the Best Western around 4:00, unpacked, and then drove to "Ride the Rails" in Boone, Iowa which is less than 10 miles from Iowa State University.  After riding the rails, we drove to campus town for pizza at Brick Pizza.  The pizza is handmade and brick oven-baked.  It was very good.  Now we are back in our rooms and all but me is asleep.  This blog has taken longer than usual because of the learning curve of the new computer.  I do love the fact that it is very quick.  I am sure I will adjust.