The journey began, part 2...

We spent the first few weeks in our RV putting things where we thought the should go, and then rearranging them.  We were busy preparing for a visit from 3 of our Texas Granddaughters.  They would be spending the 4th of July week with us in Grain Valley, MO.  We knew this would be a different experience than previous summers.  No house, yard, or many of the activities they had been used to when they visited.  I would miss those things too.  One of the sacrifices I made.

We took our first official trip, a weekend event to Lacey Keosauqua State Park in Iowa in June, to go canoeing with Pat's  siblings and friends.  We had a fun time, but after returning to Grain Valley had hydraulic problems.

Pat came into the RV, in the middle of the morning, middle of the day, in the middle of what should have been a work day, just a couple of days before the girls were to arrive. He said, "I have good news and better news."  The good news is I will be home all week while the girls are here, and the better news is my job was eliminated today and I'm not going back."  We had been planning for retirement in the near future, but it came a little early!

We met our son's in-laws in Warrenton, Mo. at Dyer park, and picked up the girls on 6/27.  We had a nice, hot, close-quartered week with the girls.  It was different, but we managed to do some fun things.  We went to Shawnee KS to their "Theater-in-the Park" production of Mary Poppins, Lee's Summit water park Summit Waves, Fireworks at our church, went to see Toy Story 3, visited the girls Great Aunt in Lawrence, KS. and played in the RV park's pool--a lot! Memorable was water volleyball and squirt gun fights.

We had decided that when came back to Grain Valley, MO from returning the girls to Texas, we would be leaving MO.  I don't  think I mentioned before that shortly before we bought the RV we spent a night in South Dakota and became residents. With our change of plans decisions were being made quickly. On July 3 the girls and us took Pat's Subaru in and sold his car that day.

We headed to Texas on July 5 and stopped for one night in Durant Texas, at Choctaw casino KOA.  We had kept my Chevy Malibu just because it happened to be 4 down towable.  Because there aren't "safe" kids seats in the RV (few RVs have seats that are listed as safe for car or booster seats) I drove my car with the 3 girls, and Pat and Krikkit led the way in the RV.  A funny story sometime about a magnet and my car door!

We stayed with the younger 2 kids at our son's house while the older 2 and their parents went to camp.  A memorable trip for me--a sprained ankle and my first, and hopefully last, kidney stone.  The latter kept us in the cool--"NOT" Texas summer for an extra week.  It was so HOT!!  We were able to park at my son's since he put in  a 30 amp outlet.  With nothing else running we could run both of our air conditioners to keep things cool.  You know it's hot when you go out at 3 am and the air simply takes your breath away!

We left the Houston area July 22.  We stopped at Hot Springs, AR July 22 and stayed at Gulpha Gorge National Park. We stopped here because it would give me my first National Park to scratch off my map!   Gulpha Gorge is also one of the few National Parks with full hook-ups.  Krikkit loved the stream there.  We enjoyed Bathhouse row and a tour of one of the bathhouses.  Our neighbors were "The Grateful Hikers."  Great couple that share their hiking experiences on Facebook.  I recommend checking them out if you like to hike.

Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs, AR

After the sprained ankle and the kidney stone I decided I should drink from the healing springs!

Krikkit enjoying a stream at Gulpha Gorge, National Park

Our next stop, July 24th, was at Table Rock Lake State Park in MO. Great memories of going there with our boys when they were younger.  A brief stop in Grain Valley to tie up some loose ends and then....(stay turned for part 3 next week)

Campsite at Table Rock SP, MO