BACK ON THE ROAD….BACK TO OUR BLOG!

This is going to be a catch up blog...

After our rally's in Gillette WY and a couple of weeks in Rapid City, SD we headed to Minnesota.   I have a dear friend who moved there 20+ years ago, and although we don’t talk that often, I couldn't be so near and not make contact.  We had a very nice dinner and visit at their home and we thank Debbie and Bill for an enjoyable evening. 

  

Our plans were to spend a week in St. Paul, MN and a month in Wisconsin but Ron’s mother went into the hospital the end of July  and he thought it best to head back to St. Louis.  So on July 30^th we arrived at Lakeside 370 campground in St. Peters, MO.    

Ron’s mother had been going between a rehab facility and the hospital and is doing well at home in hospice.   Each day is a struggle for her but she seems to be happiest at home.

   

This visit didn’t result in as many social activities as usually, however, we did get in some visits and dinners with my sister and brother in law,  a few of Ron’s siblings, our annual Scott winery trip including nieces this year and an afternoon shopping with my sister in law.  Ron’s brother, sister in law and their son and granddaughter came in for a short visit.  Ron and Bob took in a Cardinal baseball game .  I didn't get to a game this time….boo hoo!  

My second cousins, Lou and Lorie, were in town from California  to visit his second cousin which gave us an opportunity to visit over two great meals…one at the Lemp Mansion (no, we didn't see any ghost) and Favazza’s on the hill.  

One evening we drove into Washington, MO about 45 minutes from St. Louis and where we lived for the first 3 years we were married.   Ron worked for the local newspaper and I did “miscellaneous”  jobs.  We took in dinner at the infamous Cowans Restaurant known for their mile high meringue pies and attended a concert of 3 Southern Gospel groups.  

Ron and I took an afternoon drive to Belleville, IL to visit the National Shrine of our Lady of the Snows.  Ron remembers taking a school field trip there, many, many, many years ago, but I didn’t remember ever going and it has been on my list for awhile.   It is owned and operated by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic order of priest and brothers serving the poor in 60 countries.   There are 12 areas of observation spread over 200 acres.  These include The Lourdes Grotto, scaled to 2/3’s the size of the original Lourdes in France.   Here are some of the other devotional areas:

                                                                  The Lourdes Grotto.

                                                               Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill .

The Annunciation Garden, feature larger than life Angel Gabriel and Blessed Virgin mounted on stone wall.  Each hour is marked by the tolling of the Byzantine Bells in the reflection pool. 

Main Shrine and Amphitheater

Agony Garden with a large Carrara marble statue of a kneeling Jesus. 

St. Louis skyline leaving  the shrine.

They also have a nice café where we stopped for lunch before heading home.

St. Louis now has 2 outlet malls.   These malls were completed in August within 2 weeks of each other and 5 miles apart.    Not sure why they built 2 so close together, but apparently these developers go head to head in other states.

One is so-so, but the other is really nice, so both were on my list of things to do while in St. Louis.

While in town we celebrated our 40^th anniversary.   Ron booked a room at a hotel, we took in a movie at a real theatre (that wasn’t a Redbox) and we had a very nice dinner.  

There are only a few things I miss from our house.   We had a beautiful deck that looked out on a heavily treed lot, I miss gardening and my bathtub.

So when Ron booked the room, he reserved a suite with a whirlpool tub.   I think I took 3 baths in a 20 hour period, but found I lost my touch and this is what happened…..

We left St. Louis on October 4, spent one night at the Crown Winery in Humboldt, TN.   We are members of  a newly formed organization called Harvest Host, where you pay an annual fee of $40.00 and can stay at over 400 wineries/farms at no cost.   The employees where very accommodating, although our first contact couldn't give us very good directions…how do these people get to work?

                                           Our "free" spot at the Crown Winery, Humboldt, TN.

The  parking area was gravel and very level.   They allow the use of jacks and generator and there was plenty of room to extend our slides.    Of course their incentive is you buy their product, so after setting up we walked to the wine sampling lobby and purchased a couple of bottles for our reserve.

Left early the next morning taking US 45 all the way into Marion MS to spend a couple of nights at Benchmark Coach and RV campground.   It’s a small campground with only 27 spots, but level concrete pads.    However, do you see a problem …..

We kept a close watch on  tropical storm Karen because our next stop was Foley, AL about 10 miles north of Gulf Shores.   We arrived in Foley on October 8, pulled in, hooked up, put slides out,  mopped floors , put rug down etc...   and Ron received a text saying his mothers blood pressure dropped and he should head back.   SO the next day at 6:30 am, after pulling the slides in, unhooking and packing we hit the road by car arriving at her hospital room around 8:00 pm that night.   

In the meantime my sister also had to go into the hospital for about a week stay.  As it turned out I am glad we were already in St. Louis.   We stayed long enough for both of them to return home, then headed back to the coach.    Our return trip resulted in one over night....I just couldn't do another 12.5 hour drive.     We have been back for about a week and are just relaxing, enjoying the nice weather and rooting our Cardinals to a World Series victory.   

Hope all is well!