Happy Halloween

Since my last post (the day before my birthday) we have been busy! Howard took me out to a Texas steakhouse in Tupelo, MS for dinner on my birthday. I had a huge rib eye (with leftovers) and it was super yummy. We had some work done on the coach while we were in Tupelo and then we headed south. As we were going across Alabama and Georgia they were right in the middle of the cotton harvest. The huge things in this picture are cotton bales. They lift them onto huge flatbed trucks to haul them to the processing plant and only one bale per truck. It was really neat to watch them!

Just after we got here we were going on the on ramp to go visit the kids south of us and I had to take a picture of these thunder heads. They get really dramatic on the coast and I thought the contrast to the beautiful sunny day and the clouds was really cool. We didn't get any rain from these clouds, but there is a sea breeze every day so it helps keep it feeling cooler. We've had temperatures in the 80s since we got here so we're spending every afternoon in the pool to keep cool! I cooled into the 60s the last two nights though (cooling trend?!) A few of the people we met 2 years ago are here already, but most people will start arriving in December so the park
is pretty quiet.

This is our home for the next five months. Yes, the door is open, it's about 6:30 so it's starting to cool down some! (It's down to 76 outside.) Next week we get to watch Koby and Dean while Di heads to Burley so that should be a busy and fun time for us!

Branson to West Memphis

The Ozarks are beautiful and we're glad we got to spend some time here! When we got to Branson, all the hills were green; when we left they were a rainbow of color. The hills and all the hardwood trees are really something! The drive today was beautiful: lots of hills and small towns and we even passed a cotton field! We're camped right on the Mississippi here in West Memphis tonight. The picture of Howard and Andy is taken from our RV park close to our RV and that's Memphis across the river. Tomorrow we head to Tupelo for the weekend. Then next week we'll get some work done on the coach . This sure is a beautiful country!

More Branson

Branson has been lots of fun, even with all the hills! We even got to drive down the "strip" a few times. It's windy and hilly, very unlike the strip in Vegas! The weather has been wonderful the whole time we've been here with lows in the 40s and 50s and highs in the 80s. We've done lots of shopping, but we haven't found anything we can't live without so we haven't bought anything (that's good shopping!) We've gotten to eat out a few time and had very good food when we did. We've seen two more concerts: The Osmonds on Friday night and Don Williams on Saturday night. We'd forgotten we liked their music so much! They were both really good shows!

Today, being Sunday, we went to Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, and Relief Society. We were a bit surprised to be sitting 2 rows behind Wayne Osmond during Sacrament Meeting. Then I went into the cultural hall for Sunday School and found an empty chair. Wayne and Kathy Osmond sat down right next to me! I got to introduce myself as a visitor from Moscow, Idaho during Sunday School (and after class, I shook Wayne's hand and told him one of the shows we had to go to was theirs and that we really enjoyed it!) Walking to Relief Society, I was stopped by Danell Tennison, she served part of her mission in Pullman, Washington! It was really fun to talk with her. I sat next to her in Relief Society and Kathy Osmond sat on the other side of me. They were really nice to a visitor!! After Relief Society, Danell asked me if we'd like to go to another show. Seems she had a free pass to the Branson Variety Theater, where she works and wanted to know if I'd be interested! We're going to see "Broadway, The Star-Spangled Celebration" Wednesday. Thanks Danell. It was an eventful Sunday! (Yes, Jay was there too. I saw him in the hall after Relief Society.) What a week!

Idaho to Branson

I haven't had any comments on my blog for about six months, but I'll update a bit anyway for anyone out there who is interested. We had a great summer visiting family and getting to see the Pacific Northwest! No matter where we roam, we're still Idahonians at heart!
While in Boise, we vegged with Loriann in the coach (this is Andy's favorite spot!) We also got to take a trip to Idaho City with Loriann before we left the area. It was really got to visit with Mom and Kathy and Jane & Fred while we were in the Boise area and we're looking forward to visiting again next summer and getting ready for the BIG reunion!
This is one shot of Idaho City, it's the Boise Basin Museum. The Boise Basin was at one time the biggest city in Idaho with LOTS of mining in the area. With the gold rush in the 1860s, Idaho was made a territory so the Union Army could have the revenue from the gold mines.
When we left Idaho we drove through Wyoming. Wyoming is a lot of antelope (but you really have to look or you'll miss seeing them!)
Lots of open country and lots of snow fences. (When you see this many snow fences, you know you don't want to be anywhere near this area when its snowing and blowing!!!)
Lots of windmills (usually means lots of wind!)
Lots of hills and changing colors. (We crossed the Continental Divide at 8000 + feet and there had already been a frost in September!)
And lots of trains! Our first stop after Wyoming was Denver, CO where we visited with my cousin Thom. We tried to remember when we last saw each other and figured it was probably in 1968! That left us a little catching up to do!! At Denver, we left any mountains and headed east through east Colorado and Kansas. Kansas is flat! We spent General Conference weekend in Neveda, MO where the P.E.O. Cotty College is located. It's a larger campus than I thought it would be and very pretty!
After Nevada, we headed to Branson where we'll be until 14 October. This is a view of Branson from one of its many hills. Lots of hills (one of them had a sign at the bottom saying 15% grade!!!) It's a really challenging town to drive in and because it is so hilly, it's spread out over a large area to accommodate the hills.
The first concert we went to was a Chuck wagon concert with the Sons of the Pioneers. They were great and the food was really good too! Other concerts we'll go to while we're here are the Osmonds, Don Williams, and the Showboat tour. Should be a fun few days!

While driving to Branson Landing (the shopping area) we got behind this pickup truck and I had to take a picture! That's a pumpkin in the bed of his pickup!! (The license plate says Illinois.) We'd never seen a pumpkin this big before!!!!! Bye for now.