A GREAT DAY AT SAYLORVILLE LAKE, IOWA PLUS THREE NEW TOYS!

I will tell you something, right now!  This has been a great day!  

Why?  I started walking again and oh, my, it feels so good! This morning, I walked a bit over a mile.  This evening I walked three and one half miles!  

This photograph was taken as I was heading back to the motorhome.  I guarantee you that the place will not be this empty tomorrow night...and we will not be here.  We could only get reservations for one night.  

where we will be for the Labor Day holiday.  The good is that we will not be here when it is crowded!  

Since we are are on our way to Monteith, Iowa, we just might find a parking spot there and enjoy the ambiance, if there is any.  

A bit after one o'clock today, Saylorville Lake was literally invaded!  And it was a noisy invasion, too boot!  

Suddenly we heard the rumble of machinery.  It was loud as it seemed to be a lot of machinery.  It was!  Seven or eight zero-turn-radius mowers came roaring in.  It was the mowing crew on a mission!  

Our lot was the first to be mowed, but then another ZTR flew past our lot and went to the one next to us.  Then a third went to the third lot, the forth went to.....well, you get it. Then, they played hop-scotch and mowed the our campground in a matter of fifteen or twenty or twenty minutes.  There are four loops to this camping area, Prairie Flower, done in about three hours.  

Saylorville Lake is under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers and has four areas for camping.  Everything is beautiful.  Our site is huge and the sites are well spaced offering enough room to not feel like you are packed.

Many of the sites are level and are gravel.  Be sure to  stop near the entrance to dump and fill your water tank before you settle into your site.  Each site has fifty amps of power.  

Now, for the three new toys.  Verizon has been tempting me with a free IPhone for a few months.  

Rick got his IPhone months ago, but I resisted.  My closest friends have IPhones.  My daughters have IPhones. Everyone I know has IPhones and for that reason, I resisted. 

My Motorola Android was just acting a bit strange, and I sat on the phone and it has three cracks.  I love my Motorola Droid.  It has served me well for almost three years!  Do I turn my back on it?  Do I desert it just because it has a few cracks and "wrinkles?"  H

eck!  I have a few wrinkles.  Do I want to be abandoned?  

Do I blindly follow the crowd? I am NOT a "keep up with the Jones" person......I resist the IPhone because others think it is so "cool," so "In"  THAT is not me!  I think for myself, thank you very much! 

I could have the screen fixed for one hundred dollars.  I could get the IPhone.  Jeez.....This feels like I am considering a divorce from my beloved Droid!  

Alas, the bottom dollar wins.  (oooo, this hurts....IPhone wins...reluctantly.  

We arrive in Des Moines, Iowa.  Find a Verizon store and, ever so reluctantly, tell them I am there for my free IPhone. (as long as I agree to another 2 years with Verizon.)

That, my friends, is NOT the end of the story.  As we walk through the Verizon stores entrance, I hear behind me someone saying that we can have a free tablet!  I ignore the voice and continue my task of getting my free IPhone.  

On the other hand, John is standing there with a piece of paper in his hand.  It says that not only he, but I can have a free Verizon tablet!  (two year contract involved with a $10/month fee and a $35 activation fee).  

Hey!  I can still be true to Verizon Droid!  It just will not be my phone, but it IS in the same family, you know....

About an hour later, we walk out of the Verizon store with not only with a new IPhone, but two Verizon tablets and my sweet, dependable Motorola Droid.  Of course, the Droid cannot make phone calls any more....or act as my Hot Spot....but I still have my buddy. 

It has now been twenty-four plus hours.  My IPhone is fine.  I understand it although there was a tiny learning curve. BUT....my Motorola Droid, my buddy, my friend sits next to me as I type this.  It is just enjoying it's retirement on the road of full time motorhome living.

Thanks for visiting with us (my Droid and I) today.  

Hang in there, I am working on installing my Amazon link to this blog, once again.

God bless y'all and please travel safely.  Have a super, great, wonderful Labor Day weekend.  

n

SO LONG CENTERVILLE, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA!

When you are in a place that holds your interest and the campground is not crowded, time passes so quickly.  

I took my last sunset walk and finally had my camera with me. Note how crowded this campground is! 



Except for last Friday and Saturday nights when two other families were camping across the way, this is how the campground has been.  Sheer heaven! 

This is tonight's sky!  The most beautiful photo of the lake I have taken.

And this is how we have seen the sun set each evening.  I think without the trees, we would have had some spectacular ones.  But, that's okay, I like the trees.  

Oliver and Olivia have had fun chasing the squirrels.  All we need to say is squirrel alert and they come to attention then run from one window to the other.  If we are outside and they see one, they instantly become deaf to my call.  Just like little kids.

Tomorrow, we head sixty-eight miles northwest to Des Moines.  I need to visit the Verizon store and John, of course, wants to stop at Bass Pro Shop.  

After those two stops we head to Saylor Lake COE, north of Des Moines and on our way to the big city of Monteith, Iowa. Stay tuned, folks.  There is more to come.  

My Amazon shopping link is lost in cyberland.  I have worked all day trying to reestablish the link for your convenience. Maybe I can discover the problem tomorrow.  

In the meantime....travel safely and God bless.....

TOURING CENTERVILLE

Centerville, Iowa, have you even heard of the place?  I have because my father was born here. Also, one of our dear friends, either Bob or Pat Parks, from our church twenty- something group at church grew up in Centerville. 

Bob and Pat moved away from Indianapolis.  We moved to a little town in the country called Bargersville, Indiana.  We lost touch.  What a shame. 

But, let's start our tour of Centerville.  


We start with the typical county court house.  Centerville Square seems like nothing special, but at the courthouse, a wonderful group of people who work in the recorder's office help me with my family history search.  Thanks to all.

This is not a typical town square, but one that is reported to be the largest town square in the world. It has eleven streets that intersect  the square!  ELEVEN!  It also has four rows for parking all around the square which makes driving a challenge at first. 

I believe that the only time I was here in Centerville, I was quite young.  We came to visit my dad's aunt, my great aunt.  

It was a terribly hot day, of course there was no air conditioning.  It was as hot as it has been this week.  My older brother by eight years took me for a  walk around town and the town square.  

Big brother could not remember the way back to the apartment of our great aunt.  I led him right back there with ease.  

Why do I share such a silly anecdote?  Because for the week we have been here, I have had no problems navigating the streets in and around this town.  It boggles my mind.  

I wish my brother could have been here with us.  What a wonderful experience it could have been for both of us.   

Okay, I digress .... already! And today's blog has just started.

On the courthouse square is the Continental Hotel, built in 1865 when Alexander and Susannah McKee traded forty acres of land, four horses, one wagon and a harness for a 

The Continental

store house and lot where the Continental is located.  It was originally arranged as a hotel and residence and was known as the Jefferson House or Wagon Home in 1866.

The building burned to the ground but was rebuilt within a year and is the superstructure of what now is called the Continental Hotel.  

The hotel continued to serve weary travelers until the early 1900's when it fell to decay and ruin.  A portion of the  roof collapsed.  Raccoons, mice, squirrels, rats and skunks became the new residents until 1966 when a successful, local businessman, Morgan Cline, had the building restored to it's original grandeur.   

Today, the building is the home to a popular restaurant and a hotel  for weary travelers that also has apartments for seniors.  

The suites consist of bedroom, sitting room and a small eat-in kitchen.

For Fourteen hundred dollars a month a senior has a suite, one meal free the others at half price, all utilities paid and a small garden to enjoy.  

I looked at their menu and found that one could eat a different free meal for 34 days without a repeat!  

Now, if they could get rid of the cold temperatures ad snow in the winter, that would be one great deal! 

The entrance

 Main desk and lobby

Portrait of Morgan Cline, benefactor 

Behind the front desk sits the switchboard

Permanent residents enjoy a cool summer evening together.

Not far from the hotel is the library.  Can we say another gorgeous building interior?  

Looking up from the second floor genealogy department

The "guard rail" around the opening from the stained glass to the lobby on the first floor of the library

At the library, I found a photo of my grandmother.  She passed prior to my birth and this is only the second photograph I have seen of her. 

My grandfather sucummed to the flu pandemic that ravaged the United States in 1913 and 1914, leaving my grandmother with four young children to raise.  My father was the oldest. The youngest, my uncle, was only six months old.  

There is also much more to see in the Appanoose County Museum.  We found a photograph that my grandfather, a professional photographer took! 

I did not know that Centerville was a coal mining town.  The museum has an entire area designated for coal mining.  

Other sites we enjoyed were: an old filling station from probably the 1940 or early 1950's.

The Burlington and Northern railroad station.








The old very Centerville Jail

Ramsay House that now serves as a gift shop.  We did not go in since I am not much of a gift shop person.  

Just eight miles from Centerville is Rathbun Lake.  There are eight campgrounds located around the lake.  Five of the campgrounds are Army Corps of Engineers managed.  

Campgrounds contain many level campsites.  Not all have electrical hookups.  Picnic tables and fire rings are at each site.  Shower buildings, dump stations and fish cleaning stations are located in most of the parks.  

Our campground is a lower division of Rathbun Lake, in Centerville.  It is not a COE campground and is managed by the city of Centerville.  We have electricity, gravel parking spaces that a either level or very close to level. Our daily rate here is $15.00.  We consider this quite reasonable.  We have been the only campers here with the exception of Friday and Saturday night when there was one trail and one tent camper! This photo is of the campground taken from across the lake.   

Tuesday, we leave this little piece of heaven and venture toward Des Moines and Monteith, Iowa.  I am just wondering what we will find there in Monteith.  Whatever, it will be another adventure in our Trippin With the Talleys.

We appreciate every Amazon purchase made through our blog.  It does not cost you extra, but pays us a wee percentage.  You can find the gateway in the upper right portion of the blog where it says "year end deals"

God bless you all in your walk....may you come to know Him in a close personal way.  


       

BLING, BUGS, BBQ & BAREFOOT

I have been totally frustrated with the cloudiness of our headlights and tail lights since last June, when I did the three step procedure of cleaning up and waxing our Tiffin Allegro Bus.  

Monday, we pulled into the Rathburn Lake and Dam Campground in Centerville, Iowa.  Tuesday, I attacked the headlights and tail lights with the 3M 39008 Headlight Restoration System from Amazon.com.  

Oh, My!  What a difference a few minutes makes! 

Take a look at this....

BEFORE....

AFTER....

NOW.......FOR THE TAIL LIGHTS!

BEFORE 

AFTER!

AND, do you see the shine on the exterior of the motorhome????  That is all from the use of the Mother's Three Step Clean and Wax System from our Amazon.com location in the top right portion of our blog....even though it says something about year end deals....lol

As to bugs.....we are plagued with what I would call gnats and large gnats!  They are absolutely driving me bonkers.  So if any of you know how to get rid of these critters, please let me know....

Our router to Centerville, Iowa took us through the little town of  Shelbina, Mo and a restaurant, Buckhorn BBQ!

This is exactly why we love to travel the roads less traveled.

Where else can you find an award winning BBQ Restaurant in Missouri or Iowa????  You cannot!

Not only did we eat the best BBQ that we have tasted, but we found a small town establishment that is worth a detour off Interstate 70 on U.S. 36. Shelbina, Missouri is your delectable destination!  Be sure to tell them Nan and John sent you!

The restaurant is definitely not the Ritz!  But is hometown, America.  A business we want to keep flourishing!

On the walls we find the jerseys of local athletes who have "made it big"  in athletics.

This wall represents the two smallest schools in the area that have produced some of the best athletes in the mid-west.  

Displayed are jerseys from high school athletes who have gone on to play at numerous universities, even the United States Naval Academy.






I wish I had taken a photo of our full rack of ribs rack of ribs that  we  shared, but we were too busy enjoying our non-vegetarian meal, once again. Oh, oh, we need to be getting back on the wagon, don't we?  The only problem>>>>the scales are showing the results.

We try to eat the plant based diet for reason of better health and weight loss, but there are times that we slip into the bad, old ways of eating.

We have been staying at Rathburn Lake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathbun_Lake in Centerville, Iowa for the last 5 days.  Centerville is the hometown of my father and I have come to learn more about my family history.

I have not learned much about my family history, but the campground is a treat.  What solitude we have experience in the last week.     We have been the only inhabitants of the campground and have the freedom to allow Oliver and Olivia to romp as they will.

One thing I did learn today is that there is a town with my name.  It rivals New York City and Los Angles for size and population.  Here is a photo of the metropolis....

Welcome to the booming city of Monteith, Iowa!

I did not know it existed until a trip today to the Centerville, Iowa museum.

We are definitely planning to tour the town as we head north into Minnesota next week.  Stay tuned for the elaborate descriptions of the town with my family name!

I have visited the county museum, the county courthouse and the library in town.  My research has not produced much that I did not know already, but I have loved walking the courthouse square and surrounding streets that my father must have walked as a teen.

I have learned that my father graduated from Exline, Iowa high school as number one or number two in his graduating class.  But there were just two students in his class. So I am sure he was number one!

My father went on to the University of Iowa to study Pharmacy although he wanted to study medicine and become a physician.  Because his mother had been widowed seven year earlier, my father had to take a shorter path in order to help provide for his younger sibling, still at home.

Oops, I have been providing information to our family that he lefty behind and that I am sure is boring y'all, so I quit here.

Thanks to all for stopping by and sharing our experiences as we travel the roads that most avoid.  May God bless you regardless the roads you take, be it the interstates of North America, or the small, less traveled highways.

Also a huge thanks to you who shop through our Amazon link....

AND thanks to all who shop through our crazy Amazon link at the upper right area of this blog stating "year end deals".....someday....someday, Rick will once again teach me how to update this link.

Until next time.....looking forward to your comments!  And may God bless you as you go about your daily living.....

FINALLY - LEAVING INDIANA - HEADING TO KENTUCKY & FRIENDS

With John's checkups completed and Emi's baptism, we left Indianapolis/Greenwood.  We were on our way to Wilmore, Kentucky to visit friends.  

Wilmore is a typical small university town, home of Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary.  It is also the new home of almost lifelong friends.  

John working on a minor glitch with the water heater.

We moochdocked in the circular drive for a week as I helped Lolita sort through "stuff" as they had downsized a bit and needed to eliminate many of Lolita's treasures dating back to great, great grandparents.  What a difficult time she has to let things go, but she is making headway.  

Oliver, Olivia and Noah were thrilled to have a place to run and play without having to be on lead.  We just left the motorhome door open and they came and went at will.

The time was not all work though.  We managed to have visited three wonderful restaurants. Monday, we were introduced to Ramsey's, located in Nicholasville.  This time I was almost good and had their vegetable plate then splurged on coconut cream pie. How can anyone resist these beauties?

Tuesday we celebrated Lolita's birthday and John's and my anniversary at Malone's, again located in neighboring Nicholasville.  John and I temporarily gave up our vegetarian lifestyle for the most delicious Prime Fillet Oscars. Melt in the mouth delicious.  Desert? Sure, why not! John had the monster chocolate chip cookie desert topped with ice cream.  I had their famous Chess Pie. We left in a food coma.  

Thursday, I fixed a vegetarian meal in order to make up for the previous night of indulgence.  

We visited the Kentucky River Palisades rising over two hundred fifty feet above the river offering a dramatic view of both the river and the Palisades.  The rocks are said to be over four hundred million years old and the oldest exposed rocks in Kentucky.  

From our viewing point, we were able to see spanning the Kentucky river, High Bridge, the one thousand, one hundred twenty five feet long and highest cantilever bridge in the United states.  Thus the name High Bridge.

 We also had a driving tour of Asbury University and Wilmore.  Wilmore is a great town in which to retire.  Condominiums have been and are being constructed in the area. With the university with it's cultural events, quiet rural living near the larger cities of Nicholasville and Lexington just minutes away, people have the best of all worlds.....unless it is living and traveling full time in our motorhomes and fifth wheels.  

Our last culinary experience was at the Kentucky Depot Restaurant in Stanford.  There we indulged in fried catfish. Oh yum!  We have decided that she has the best catfish we have experienced.  

Not only that, there is a gift shop not to be ignored!  It was filled with treasures that she had just brought back from the Atlanta Marketplace.  Would you believe that I drooled over a few things, but used self control.  (now, why did I do that???)

Saturday, we began our trek westward.  Our goal was to visit Abe Lincoln's boyhood home near Dale, Indiana.  Only one problem.  Rain and more rain.  Bucket upon buckets of rain...raining cats and dogs rain.  Therefore after spending the night in Dale, we drove on westward, in the rain, toward St. Louis.  More on that next time.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Your comments light up our day!  

And thanks for shopping Amazon from the link in the top, right column of this blog.  

Until next time....God's blessings on each of you.  

PROGRESS AND FAMILY TIME

Yesterday, granddaughter, Megan hosted a family cookout. We had a ball with family.

Harper has such a sweet spirit and loves her baby sister so much!  Harper wants to take part in "sissas" every day life.  She does a great job of feeding Emerson under mom, Meg's supervision.  

Do you remember feeding your child and finding your mouth open as your hand with a spoon loaded with yummies approaches the baby's mouth?

Emi is starting to take control of food that she can eat with her hands.  





Yesterday, John and I took fresh picked corn on the cob. Guess who loved her little cob of corn?

I have no idea what Blogger has done with this photo.  It cannot be changed!  

Before we left for the cook out, John applied 303 Aerospace Protectant  to the motorhome and Miata tires.  The 303 protects our tires from the harmful UV rays of the sun when applied monthly.  Such an easy task resulting protection and extending the life of our tires.  

You can find the 303 Aerospace Proctectant by clicking on the Amazon, end of year deals at the upper right of this blog.  

You will find it in Automotive Supplies.  We earn a little reward from Amazon for your purchased through our blog, and it does not add to the cost of your purchase.  


Not walking for exercise is really hard for me.  I feel like a am a slug when I do not, at least, achieve my 10,000 steps each day.  And I am not even coming close.  

I did walk the dogs for three thousand steps today, says my Fitbit.  But the rest of today is going to be spent behind my sewing machine.  Being only five feet tall, I need to put new hems in a couple of pair of jeans.  

The Miata is repaired, beautifully.  Thanks to Hunter Auto Care in Whiteland, IN.  Check them out on Angie's List. 

The last appointment we have is Tuesday.  If our eyes check out with positive results from our tune-up, we will be free to leave.  Can you believe it?  Free to go!  Mixed emotions...

Thanks for joining us.  We look forward to your comments.  

And thanks to all of you who make your Amazon purchases through our blog.  

May God Bless y'all!