Sunday, August 24
After getting around a little slowly this morning, we finally got ready to head off to the morning service at Rim Rock Cowboy Church. We stopped at a little donut shop north of Lake Hawkins and bought some apple fritters to munch on for breakfast while we continued our drive to the church.
It was good to be back at Rim Rock after our absence last week. It is a very friendly congregation, and we also got to sit with cousins Ladd and Angela and get caught up on the latest news about Madeline (Madeline is a candidate for rodeo queen up in Mount Pleasant and had a part of the competition last night. We won’t know how she did until this Saturday).
As usual, we got two wonderful sermons; the first was the Little Pards lesson, using II Corinthians 3:18 to teach the children how their lives should be like mirrors, reflecting their faith in God to those with whom they came in contact. Then, Pastor Larry gave an excellent sermon from Job 19, emphasizing how Job never lost his faith even when he was beset by troubles and doubting friends.
When church was over, we drove back through Quitman to Mineola to visit first with T.J. and then with Mother, Ernie, and Billee. After outlining our plans for the week, we returned to Big V for lunch, some reading, and a nap.
The rest of the day was just a quiet and unexciting one. During the late evening we took a short walk down to the beach to get out and around a bit. On the way back, I decided to go for a walk around the park while Barbara went back to Big V to fix a light supper.
As I walked along the main road through the campsites, I came upon Site 26, the site that was assigned to us when we came out to Lake Hawkins on August 1. As it turned out, we ended up in a much better site than 26. When I looked at the site tonight, I decided that we were very fortunate we weren’t staying there...a huge pine tree beside the concrete pad had blown down during the storm yesterday afternoon and was lying completely across the pad. What a headache that could have been! Luckily, no one was staying in that site yesterday, so the only damage was the downed tree.
Monday, August 25
Happy First Day on the new job with Halliburton, Ryan!
Since I didn’t have the camera to take a picture of the fallen tree last night, we decided to go across the park and get a couple of shots before the clean-up crew showed up to take care of the mess.
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After our morning devotional, I went down to the lake for an early morning swim while Barbara took care of some things at Big V. The beach was pretty much deserted…just a workman clearing out weeds a grass and me swimming. The water was a little cool, but it didn’t take long to get used to it and I had an enjoyable few minutes just floating around and soaking up some rays.Later, we decided we’d go back down there. Barbara went on and left me to finish up some emails. By the time I got there, Barbara had had enough, so we came on back to Big V, had some lunch, and took a nap.
Later in the afternoon we decided to go into town since Cathey had written that today was the first day of school and said she’d have Jaycie call us. After checking at the post office for mail and driving by Mother’s house for a short visit (all the while not being able to get through to either Randi or Jaycie), we started back to the lake. As we were driving, we did get a call from Jaycie, so I pulled off to the side of the highway so we could talk for a couple of minutes before we lost the signal again. It sounded like Jay Bird had a good first day…mainly she was impressed that as a fifth grader, she now has her own locker!
Back at the park, we fixed some supper and then settled down to a relatively quiet evening. Barbara figured out that for some reason tonight she had a strong cell signal when she was back in the bedroom, so she spent an hour or so making phone calls while I worked at the computer. One of the calls was to Randi, who in true teen-age fashion, declared the entire day, “Boring!”
Barbara: In defense of Randi’s view of the 1st day, I have to say that the first day of school has changed immensely over the years. Once upon a time, we teachers made the day fun and interesting…now, due to rules and regulations, that’s exactly how the first day is spent…from class to class the kids hear the rules, consequences, and on and on. It’s like everything has to be said on the first day…this is strictly an old-fashioned, old-school retired teacher’s view…
Jim: I went to bed early and read (until 1:00 a.m.) while Barbara spent her time catching up on email. Barbara: Hey, this playing “nice” and sharing the net service means somebody has to be last! And, that just happened to be me.
Tuesday, August 26
We took our time getting around this morning (that’s getting to be a theme for us), but gathered up all our dirty laundry and headed to Mother’s house to do the wash. Mother, T.J., Ernie, and Billee went to Tyler this morning to do some clothes shopping, but we decided we’d better stay behind in order to get things caught up before we have to close up Big V for storage this weekend.
While Barbara was doing the laundry, I went to the post office and then to Sonic for our breakfast. Back at the house, I started painting the washer boards that Ryan built for us. We thought that by painting and sealing the paint with clear-coating, we might be able to prolong the life of the boards in this sand and wet country.
When she was at a stopping point with the laundry, Barbara came out and helped finish painting. About that time, the others came home. After looking at their purchases and visiting for a few minutes, we said our goodbyes and drove back to Big V for a snack and a nap (another popular theme around here).
We drove back to Mineola later in the afternoon to pick up the last of the laundry, clear-coat the washer boards, and return a call to Jaycie (she had called earlier, but the call was dropped before we could say anything). When we were finished, we made the drive back to the lake where we just hunkered down and took it easy for the rest of the evening.
There wasn’t much on television, so I popped in a DVD that I purchased the other day…the complete 26-episode series of Victory at Sea, the award-winning NBC series that told the story of the naval operations and battles of World War II, with a magnificent musical score composed by Richard Rodgers and performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra with Robert Russell Bennett conducting. The episodes pack such a punch that one or two at a time is as much as a person can handle…what a tremendous tool for an American History teacher!
Wednesday, August 27
There’s not much to say about some days, and that was certainly the case this morning. We intended to start some serious house-cleaning, but it didn’t happen…we just moved slowly and didn’t get excited about anything.
We went to Mineola for lunch at Mother’s house. The ladies all decided last week that Wednesday would be a family luncheon day. Today was Billee’s turn to fix the meal, and for someone who said she doesn’t do much cooking, she turned out a meal fit for a king…salmon croquettes, fruit and spinach salad, and a macaroni casserole. For dessert, she set out cheesecake that she and Ernie had found at Wal-Mart. Trust us; no one went away from the meal hungry.
After helping get the house squared away, we drove back to the lake to read and rest for a bit.
Later in the afternoon we had a very pleasant surprise. As we were looking out the window, we saw a large vehicle with a boat attached as it pulled up in front of Big V. We were delighted when out stepped Robbie and Barb Clingan. Barb was one of the English teacher
s at Liberal High School when I was band director and then assistant principal, and Robbie is the president of Clingan Tire Company in Liberal. They moved to Gilmer, Texas, about an hour’s drive northeast of us several years ago.We had been in contact with Barb via the internet and knew that they had a new boat that they intended to bring down to Lake Hawkins, but until today things had just not worked out for all of us. Their boat (used, but new to them) had spent unplanned time in the boat hospital and they brought it down today to see if everything had been fixed.
We spent over an hour just visiting and getting caught up on the past five years. Then, Barb decided it was time to put the boat in the water, so Barbara and I walked down to the dock while Barb and Robbie drove down and got everything set for the launch. As Barb pulled the car and trailer back up to the parking lot, Robbie took the boat out for a couple of lazy circles. When he got back and we got on board, he told Barb that he had good news and bad news…Barb asked what the good news was, and Robbie told us that the bilge pump worked…no point in asking about the bad news after that statement.
We cruised around the lake for quite a while before we talked Barb into strapping on her slalom and testing her skiing skills. What we found out in short order was that she is a fantastic water skier. Even though it had been some time since she was last on the water, she put on a great exhibition for us.
When Barb had finally had enough, we loaded her and the ski gear back on the boat and made our way back to the dock and the landing. We had the boat back on the trailer and pulled out of the lake in short order. With daylight running out, we said our goodbyes as Barb and Robbie headed back to Gilmore with a promise from us that we would soon climb aboard the motorcycle and pay them a visit at their home.Barbara: I haven’t had a lot of practice with real action shots; so it was fun to try that today. Being rather proud of the results, we decided to include more Barb pics as
well as some of us enjoying the Clingan’s new boat. Since we have driven around the lake many times, it was thoroughly interesting to see the water view! In fact, we were able to recognize many of the areas and know where we would have been if we had been in the Vibe or on the cycle. Jim particularly wanted me to shoot a shot of him enjoying the boat ride to show Chris Perkins and Bill Van Wyhe how the other “half” lives.Thursday, August 28
Finally, we decided to get serious about cleaning Big V. With plans to hit the road in the Vibe over the weekend, we had to get Big V in shape to go into storage for several days. It seems that every site in the park had been reserved for the Labor Day weekend for several months. As newcomers, we had to give up our site until September 2, the end of the camping season at the lake.
Barbara was busy dusting, sweeping, and mopping while I scrubbed the bathroom area. Then we tackled the job of putting things away so we could move the rig. Whether the move is 1,000 yards or 1,000 miles, the basics are the same…everything has to be put in place and secured so it doesn’t fall and break (or break something else).
Ernie and Billee came out for supper and an evening visit. They had gone to a job fair in Longview this morning and were supposed to stop by for supper around 4:30. As it turned out, they finished much earlier than they had planned, so they drove back to Mineola before they came back to the lake.
We had a great time talking and hearing about their adventures of the morning. After our meal, we took a long walk through the tent-camping section of the park (very primitive area) and then settled in for a couple of hot games of washers.
As they were leaving to go back to Mineola, I went up to the office to buy a bag of ice. While I was there, Ronnie, our next door neighbor, rode up on his motorcycle. The
manager was trying to take a picture of him, so I looked to see what that was all about. Ronnie had fastened a sling under the manager’s dachshund, buttoned him into his shirt, and was giving him motorcycle rides around the campground! I immediately asked Ronnie if he would ride down to our site so we could take a picture. He was happy to oblige and soon he and the dachshund were parked in front of Big V for a photo-op.Friday, August 29
We got an early start, but all the details of closing Big V for a few days took longer than we thought, so it was shortly after 10:00 a.m. when we finally had the Vibe packed and Big V and the motorcycle parked in the storage facility at the park.
We drove to Mineola and spent a couple of hours visiting Mother, T.J., Billee, and Ernie before we got back in the Vibe and pointed it north on U.S. 69 for the 550 mile trip to Lenexa, Kansas, to see Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy.
Knowing that we weren’t going to make the trip in one long stretch, we just took our time as we drove through Greenville and Denison, Texas, and Durant, Oklahoma, on our way to hook up with the Indian Nation Turnpike at McAlester.
Barbara: What a ride today!
We finally left Mineola a little after noon in the Vibe. We stopped for a Sonic lunch in Emory and then preceded to travel a new route to Lenexa since we have never been in Mineola when going there.
However, I had studied the route on the computer and even started reading the real map once we got in OK. Thought I had the route down pat since I'm usually a good navigator; so I threw the map into the backseat. WRONG thing to do!!! When we got to the Indian Nation Turnpike, I told Jim that we were to turn right. To make a long story short, I was dead WRONG.
We didn't think it would be too big of an issue since we would be able to turn around at the toll booth or at least shortly thereafter. WRONG! We had to pay a buck fifty and then drive over 25 miles before we could turn around!
But, the story doesn't stop there...the scenery was absolutely breathe-taking so we were playing positive Polly’s. However, all the beauty disappeared when we turned around to head back in the right direction. We ran smack dab into a whale of a storm! The rain was so hard and heavy that it sounded like gun shots hitting the car. Finally, we had to pull over to the side of the road and wait it out for about 20 minutes. Some crazies sped past us like they could actually see and then promptly pulled to the side once they passed us. Guess we weren't as crazy as they thought.
Eventually, we get back to our original starting position where we got the honor of paying another buck fifty to head in the right direction...everything's cool...right...WRONG! Jim decides we're going to stop for supper in McAlester; so we get off and drive and drive and drive some more before we see the McDonald's. But....we're in the WRONG lane...go more and more and more...finally a turn around...but...we can't figure out how to get to the McD's. We decide baloney to it.
There's a Braum's we'll stop there...my idea. Poor, Jim, it was definitely the WRONG thing to do. Braum's was slammed and short-handed to boot. We probably waited at least 30 minutes for our simple order...by then we decided just to eat on the road; so we could get to Henryetta where we are staying at the Super 8.
Once we got to Henryetta, we got on the WRONG road and had to finally stop at a convenience store and ask for directions. Sure enough, we had to turn around and take a right for a change! Finally found the motel and at least I didn't make a WRONG choice when I made the reservations online. :)
Jim: Without further ado, we made it safely to Henryetta, Oklahoma, where we found our home for the night at the Super 8 Motel. We spent the evening catching up on email and reading. I caught the webcast of the first Artesia High School football game of the season. The Bulldogs made it clear that they planned to defend their 2007 state football championship title as they defeated long-time rival Lovington by a score of 57 – 7 before a huge opening night crowd at Bulldog Bowl.
Saturday, August 30
There’s not much to be said about a basic travel day. We left Henryetta shortly after 8:00 a.m. and drove, and drove, and drove until we finally reached Lenexa around 1:30 p.m. We got checked in at the Super 8 close to Jim and Whitney’s house and then just took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.
We left a message with the kids to let them know we were in town. Whitney called a little after 6:00 to say they were back at home and were just going to kick back and relax for the evening and invited us to come on over.
Naturally, we jumped all over that invitation. We loaded up a couple of small gifts for Jimmy and went on over to their house where we spent a couple of hours visiting and playing with Little Jimmy.
After watching Jimmy finish his supper, we adjourned to their beautiful deck and backyard to chat and take pictures (and more pictures, and…well, you know).
Little Jimmy’s energy button shut down a little after 9:00, signaling the time for all to call it a day and get some rest before a busy day tomorrow. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the motel, leaving Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy to their nighttime routine.“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” – Church Signs
On the road in Lenexa, Kansas,
Jim & Barbara
