Goodbye and Hello to Bridgeton

On Monday, we said goodbye to the boys.  We had a good long visit with Hunter who got to Turkey Run on Thursday.  Keegan came on Friday and they both stayed until Monday.  We told them they could sleep in so they didn't get up until after nine.  

 

This is Keegan getting some device time before he gets up.

Hunter

Hunter and Keegan

Papaw, Hunter, and Keegan

Memaw, Hunter, and Keegan

Saying goodbye.  Both boys were four when they first camped with us at Turkey Run.  Now Hunter is 20 and Keegan is 15......so many good times and memories made during those 16 years.  After the boys left, we relaxed at the campsite for the rest of the day.  It was a pleasant day so we sat outside, read, played cards, napped, and just enjoyed nature.

This was the sky as we drove south toward Bridgeton.

Some trees have begun to change but not many.

Normally, on this road the leaves would be blowing around the car as we drove down this road.

I took this picture from the Bridgeton Bridge looking east.  The clouds and trees are reflected in the river.

This is the main street in Bridgeton running south to north.  I took this picture at 9:30 a.m.  The street is nearly empty.

This is the same street as above taken at 11:00 a.m.  Where did all the people come from?

It is a sea of people.

Carol is waiting for his lunch from Butta's Best BBQ.  He had a New Orleans BBQ sandwich.   He said it was very good.  I ate a Walkin' Taco from another food truck.  It, too, was good.

Today was Charlie Kirk's birthday.  People were asked to wear red in honor of his birthday.  We couldn't find a red shirt so we brought this dark blue one for Carol to wear.  Wearing a shirt like this is a first for Carol.  This shirt does not have a pocket (which he always requires), and has writing on it (which he never wears).  Charlie Kirk was honored.

After lunch we came back to the campsite to relax the rest of the afternoon.  That is our routine.  We go to the festival early before the crowds, eat lunch, and then return to camp to relax.  We usually read, nap, play Skip-bo, and have supper.  The weather has been perfect this whole week.  I don' remember another time that we have had such perfect weather.

Tomorrow we will go to Mansfield.

Sunday Dinner at the Mayberry Cafe

This is another two days in one.    

This is Saturday morning.  It seems that everyone gets their bodies charged for the day from being on their devices.

We left the motorhome around 9:00 a.m. heading for Bridgeton.  We were surprised but glad that the traffic was light; however, when we left the traffic was bumper-to-bumper for miles heading for Bridgeton.  Carol and I had never seen such a long line of traffic in all the years we have been coming here.  We are so glad we got here early.  This is the covered bridge in Bridgeton.

Bridgeton Mill

Kara and the boys went one way and Carol and I another way with plans to meet at the Bridgeton Mill at 11:15 a.m.  We dicovered new vendors and food ventors in the little bit we explored.  Lunchtime we met to eat together but everyone wanted someething different so Carol, I and Hunter ate together and Kara and Keegan ate together.  None of us brought anything except for Keegan.  He loves to shop.  We left Bridgeton around 1:00 p.m. and headed back to camp to relax the rest of the day.

One form of relaxation for us is to play cards.  We played several games of Uno, Old Main, and Crazy Cards.  We stopped at suppertime to roast hot dogs and make s'more for supper.

It is also very relaxing to sit around a campfire.

Sunday morning Kara packed up to head back to Warrensburg after we eat lunch at the Mayberry Cafe in Danville, Indiana.

This is Carol's lunch.  Everyone else had something else equally as tasty.

A picture of the five of us.  Can you see the fifth person? This picture is an optical illusion

 because Keegan is not taller than his mom.

After lunch Kara headed back to Warrensburg and we returned to Turkey Run to rest and let our meal settle.  Carol, me and Keegan played some more cards.  We decided to go to Gobbler's Knob for one final ice cream.  

The kids love to take crazy pictures with their phones.  Here are some examples.

Selfie of Hunter

I look like an old woman!!

Keegan

We are settled in for the evening.  Later we will build another fire and roast hot dogs again and make more s'mores.  We will follow that with some card games.  This will be the last evening with the boys.  Tomorrow Hunter and Keegan will go home to Warrensburg.  I think Carol and I will just relax.

Rockville

This post will be two days in one:  yesterday and today.  Yesterday, we relaxed and waited for Hunter to get here.  He arrived around two o-clock.  We ate an early and/or late meal of his favorite Hamburger Mac and Cheese Skillet.  After dishes, we played Crazy Cards.   In the evening we had our first campfire of the trip.  It was nice sitting around the fire swapping stories and making s'mores.  A raccoon tried to join us but he was not welcomed so he ran off.  We were outside around the fire until around 9:00 then we went inside and relaxed until bedtime.

Everyone slept good.  Carol and I didn't even get up until 7:00 a.m. which is very late for us.  Hunter woke up at 7 but didn't actually get up until 9:00 a.m.  By 10:00 a.m. we were on our way to Rockville.  Today is the first day of the Covered Bridge Festial.  We stopped in the old five and ten cent store.  When you walk into the store, you immediately feel like you have been transported back to the fifties.  Carol and I picked up a couple of jigsaw puzzles and Hunter brought some bottled soda.  We walked around the Rockville square trying to decide what to have for lunch.  Choice made:  Hunter had a grilled cheese and chili in a bread bowl;  I had broccoli/cheese soup in a bread bowl; and Carol had fried gizzards (ugh!!).  For dessert we all had fresh fried cruellers.

This is Hunter's chili in a bread bowl.

After eating lunch, we walked around the square and I took this picture of Hunter and Papaw.  It stands in front of the old jail of Rockville.  The jail is now a bed and breakfast.  We walked down the street coming in from the east in Rockville.  By the time we got back to the car, our feet will ready to take a rest.

No trip to the festival is complete without ice cream from Gobbler's Knob.  It's a sweet tradition.

Back to camp by 2:30.  Everyone is resting in their own way:  Papaw is playing a game of his I-pad; Hunter is on his tablet; and I am doing my blog.  There will be more to this day but I will post that tomorrow.  Kara and Keegan are driving over from Warrensburg after Keegan gets out of school.  They should be here by six o'clock.  We will eat supper and then finish with s'mores around a fire.  We may even get a game of Crazy Cards, Uno, or Old Maid in before bedtime.  It has been a good day.  The weather these ten days will be perfect...high in the 70's during the day and low in the 40's at night and no rain in sight.

Visiting Family

 It was a cool night to sleep.  We had to put an extra blanket on the bed.  That makes sleeping so warm and cozy.  We love it.  We decided to get up early and take our showers before everyone else gets up.  I think we must have been the first ones in because it took forever for the showers to heat up to even warm!  Our plans for the day were to drive to Danville, Illinois to visit with Carol's sister Jean who lives there.  We usually visit her when we are here.  We had to take into consideration the time change when we made our plans.  We had told her we would bring lunch at 11:30 to the assisted living place where she lives.  That time is 12:30 Indiana time.  It is an hour drive.  So we left Turkey Run at 11:00 and got to Danville at 11:00, stopped by Lee's Famous Fried Chicken and made it to Jean's at 11:30.  Amazing !!

When we got to Jean's, her son Miles was visiting her as well, so we had a nice visit with Miles.  We ate our chicken lunch.  We had never had Lee's Famous Fried Chicken before.  It was very good.  We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and catching up on each other's families.  Jean is the elder of the family at soon to be 86. There were two brothers (Don and Darrell) between she and Carol who have passed.  Carol is 80.  I enjoy listening to them tell stories on each other about their childhood.

The siblings:  Jean and Carol

Jean "walked" with us to our car and said she was going to stay outside for awhile.  I snapped this picture of her enjoying her "walk" outside.

I took this picture from our campside.  There is hardly any sign of fall foliage on these trees.  We usually drive rural roads between here and Danville and in past years the leaves are turning and it is very beautiful but not this year.  The leaves were all green.  When we got back to camp, we sat outside for awhile enjoying the sunny weather.  At dusk we went inside, ate supper, and played another game of Skip-bo.  Last night we played two games of Skip-bo.  Carol won one and I won one so we needed to have a play off.  Carol won the game tonight.  He is the champion of Skip-bo for this session.  Hunter will be coming to Turkey Run tomorrow.  He likes to play Crazy Cards so I am sure we will be playing cards with him.  Kara and Keegan will be over Friday evening after Keegan gets out of school.  It will be a fun weekend!

Out and About in Parke County Indiana

We both slept well.  There is just something very relaxing about camping and sleep.  I actually fixed bacon, eggs, and the traditional Mulvany dish of peanut butter and corn syrup for breakfast.  After dishes, we relaxed and read a bit before we decided to take a drive around the county.  Basically, we were looking for an Amish Garden Farm south of Rockville that Shane had told us about.  We needed to pick up a pumpkin or two and a mum.  It was an overcast day and had cooled down a bit.

Although the clouds look ominous, it only sprinkled a bit on us.  The sun played peek-a-boo most of the day.

We love driving these country roads.

This road led to the small town of Mecca.  We had never been there in all our visits to Parke County.

 

There isn't much left of Mecca although in the early 1900's it must have been a hub of activity.  This tavern was first opened in 1899 and still operates today.

Mecca has a covered bridge.  It was built in 1873.

This building looks like it was once a church.  Now it is being repurposed into a home.  We did not see a church in Mecca now.

In 1901 Mecca was the location of the Wabash Township Graded School.  It housed all grades 1-12 until 1986.  Their mascot was "The Arabs."

We did drive by this old church.  I think the congregation still meets although only once a week on Sunday.  I liked the sentence on the sign, "Established in Jerusalem 33 AD."

I liked the way they decorated their fence with the pumpkins.

This is the Amish Garden Farm at which we stopped to buy pumpkins.  The price were very reasonable and they had a good variety of pumpkins, mums, vegetables, and other garden things.  The mums in the front of the buildings were only $6.99 each and they were huge.

We purchased these mums and pumpkins.

We got back to camp around noon, ate lunch, and spent the afternoon reading and  napping.  The wind is blowing harder and it is cooling down.  It should be great sleeping tonight.