Departure Day!

Finally!  The day we thought would never come is here.  We pulled out of our driveway at 10:17 a.m.  Kim and Benny were there to see us off.  Ben was determined to go with us and it was hard to get him out of the camper.  But he was in the car with Kim smiling when we honked the horn goodbye.

We drove to the Camping World near Springfield, MO so Rick could replace his house batteries and then on to Lamar City Park in southwest Missouri.  Lamar is the birthplace of Harry Truman.  The city allows overnight parking for free, including electric hookups.

The day was warm, but sharp wind blew in cold weather and the morning found us cold – the temperature inside the camper was 50 degrees on Wednesday morning.  The wind blew hard, rocking the camper all night.  But it was not loud enough to cover the sound of the train whistles all night long.  The campground was about 100 yards from a very active rail line.

Below is a photo of the park campground.

Phyllis and Joe came down around 10 to pick us up for a visit with some relatives we had not seen for a while.  It was really great to see Aunt Vivian and Uncle Runt – Mom’s lone remaining sister and brother.  Several cousins were also there, including two first cousins, 2 second cousins, a third cousin and he had his three kids – my fourth cousins.  Dixie provided lunch, a nice surprise.  I am really happy we got to see them all.

The photo below has Dixie, me, Aunt Vivian, Uncle Runt, Phyllis, and Sally.

We returned to the campground and drove to Fort Smith, Arkansas where I am posting this entry from a Wal-Mart parking lot where we will spend the night.