Last weekend was lovely in Sedgwick, KS and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Friday was Jadelyn’s birthday and we helped her celebrate with cupcakes for her 9th birthday. It hardly seems possible that none of our grandkids are babies anymore!
Since we were leaving after church on Sunday, we celebrated an early Thanksgiving Saturday evening, complete with turkey and dressing, a scrumptious pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling and a perfect pecan pie. Bailey, at just 13, is already an accomplished baker. She made all the cupcakes for Jadelyn’s school and home parties, as well as the pumpkin roll (a Paula Deen recipe) and pecan pie, all while their oven was on the fritz and she had to take it all to a neighbor’s house to bake. We were stuffed before we went home that evening!
In order to make the final preparations/unhooking as simple as possible, LeRoy moved Liberty in to our church lot to spend the night. After church and lunch with the family, we hooked up the Cruiser and pulled away.
In several ways, this trip is similar to our initial tour in late August of 2010. We spent the first night with Darby and Pansy Wheeler, friends from our years in Tonkawa, OK. They have a nice place in the country just east of Hennessey now and were willing to plug us in for the night. We had a great time catching up with them and their family.
Monday night we were in Abilene, TX visiting Paul and Becky Lawry. Three years ago, we met them for the first time while they were living in their bus in the same RV park we stayed in this time. They are living in the wonderful historic Erinshire Gardens and House on 19 acres tucked away just off the Abilene Christian University campus and we got the grand tour. It is a historical home and many weddings are held on the  beautiful grounds.
Since Tuesday evening, we’ve been parked just outside San Angelo, TX at the Red Arroyo campground at San Angelo State Park. We’ve had a great time visiting with our son Robert Willis and checking out his new house there. He will be stationed at Goodfellow Air Force Base for the next couple of years so we’ll probably see him on our way to and from Arizona. We ate some wonderful food while we were there and spent time shopping with his girlfriend, Cindy Beam, who was also visiting him this week. We were too busy talking to take any pictures, but this is one we took in Wichita when they came through in early October.
Today was a real test of the new power steering since we had a side wind most of the day. LeRoy was really glad to have the assist. It kept us from calling it a day very early. By the time we turned onto I-10 headed west, the wind had changed and was coming from the north, still hitting us broadside. We stopped for the night at Van Horn, TX, just east of the time line. The dining room where we ate dinner had two clocks, one set for Central time and one set for Mountain. They were telling people that if they sat on the Mountain side of the bar, it was still happy hour and drinks were half price! We didn’t take them up on it but we did enjoy the historic El Capitan Hotel dining room.
The courtyard and lobby were really beautiful.
Van Horn is truly a town by the side of the road. There are lots of things of interest here and we think another time it might be worth staying a day or two just to check out all the neat little things you drive past without seeing on the interstate.
Norman & I have stayed at the Hotel Paisano in Marfa and enjoyed that. An attractive courtyard and lobby in that sister hotel, too. Happy trails!