We arrived at the emergency animal clinic in Spingfield, IL at 2:00 pm yesterday. It was the only place open on Sunday that we could take our little kitty, Dollie. She had quit eating and drinking, and even though she did not seem to be in any pain, we knew she needed a doctor. They kept her over night to give her IV fluids and do blood work.
The tests showed she did not have an infection and all of her body functions were good. The final diagnosis was pancreatitis. We were to pick her up by 7 am this morning as they are an overnight only clinic.
At 5 am I took each of the dogs for a potty run. I took Nellie first. When I got back, and got Nellie and I inside the motor home, I noticed the lights were all off. I yelled. “OUR ELECTRICITY IS OFF!!!” It was then I realized I was in the wrong RV. I had my 65 lb dog inside someone else’s RV. Since no one came to greet us, we left. I had trouble getting the door shut so finally slammed it shut. When we got to our RV, I told Kip that if those people weren’t up and about when we got back, we needed to check on them because they might be dead. If not, it wasn’t very smart of them to leave their door unlocked, right?
Kip was not too happy with me, anyway because on the way to the RV park after dropping the kitty at the vet, I missed a turn while giving directions and we wound up at a large sports complex where about 200 kid’s football games were going on. Kip had to maneuver in and out of about 100 cars with only inches to spare. When we got out of there, I commented that those kinds of things are what makes RV life fun, right? He didn’t answer me.
We had to take Dollie to a day clinic today so they could give her more IV fluids and an appetite stimulant. She is going to be okay.
On the way back to pick her up, we’re going to stop at McDonalds. Not to eat. We can’t afford that. They are paying $15 an hour and we have about a $1500 vet bill to pay. We’re really having fun, though!
PS: When we got back, the people in the RV Nellie and I broke into were pulling out. Some people can’t take a joke.
We left the land of beauty on Wednesday morning. I would highly recommend the Mississippi River State Park in Arkansas as a great place for a getaway vacation. There is no internet or cell phone service, but believe me. You won’t miss it.
Space #11 on a peninsula
We drove to Union City, Tennessee and spent the night at a place called Coyote View RV park. Kip parked the RV in front of the office and went in to see if the had a pull through space for the night. When he came back out, he started the RV up and proceeded to put the jacks down. I asked him what he was doing, we weren’t even at our spot, yet. He told me that this place right in front of the office was our spot. It really wasn’t that bad, but we did break our rule of staying at least 2 nights wherever we stop.
Parked in front of the office. We had water, electric and sewer hook-ups, and we were very close to the ice machine.The Union City water tower. It’s a nice addition to my collection.Kip and his sidekick, Nellie
We left early the next morning and on our way to Mt Vernon, IL, we stopped to see some Native American mounds at the Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site in Kentucky. It is the archeological site of a prehistoric Native American village of the Mississippian mound builders. It was occupied from about AD 1200 to 1350.
Native Americans had no beasts of burden or excavation machinery. Soil, clay, or stones were carried in baskets on the backs of laborers to the top or flanks of the mound and then dumped.
Some mounds of this period were built to bury important members of local tribal groups. These burial mounds were rounded, dome-shaped structures that generally range from about 3 to 18 feet high, with diameters from 50 to 100 feet. Distinctive artifacts were sometimes buried with the deceased. The villages were built around the mounds.
There was a large display of gourds, pottery, woven baskets and sashes inside the museum. It was really interesting to see and learn about these finds from so long ago.
They didn’t allow picture taking inside the museum where all the artifacts were displayed.
We are now in Mt Vernon, IL. Tomorrow we are headed to Springfield, IL where we will visit the home of Abraham Lincoln.
Crossing the Ohio RiverSide Note: It’s farmers, ranchers, and truckers that keep our country going…God bless them all…
Baba Wawa is back with another interview. She thinks she’s a star. Wait until you see her getup. She doesn’t even know she’s past her prime time. If she mentions Rose Bush again I’m going to sigh because it makes me sad.
BTW this isn’t Yram…
Eddie J must have been in the produce section buying corny. BTW, Baba looks like a cross between a biker babe and old time under cover reporter, Nellie Bly.
This still isn’t Yram…
Old time under cover reporter, Nellie Bly
W.W.W.Wouser!! We thought Baba couldn’t talk above a whisper, but she’s got a set of lungs on her. Better luck next time, Baba. I heard Eddie J was spotted at the car w.w.w.wash.
We finally got started on our long awaited RV trip. Our house was cleaned-out and clean, the huge garage sale we’d been preparing to have for weeks was behind us, the landscaping was complete and the RV packed and ready to go.
We left around noon on Friday and drove 165 miles to Texarkana, TX where we spent 3 nights. We found a very nice RV Park called Texarkana RV. (We like to keep things simple.) We needed a little time to learn all the nuances of our newer RV. We sold the 20 year old Alpha, which had been our home away from home for 7 years, and bought a 2017 Thor Outlaw patio RV. So far, we are loving it!
Kip and his 2 sidekicks, Rylie and NellieKip and I relaxing on the Patio
We left Texarkana Monday morning and drove to The Mississipi River State Park, near Marianna, Arkansas. Let’s just say I could have spent a month there. It was serene, beautiful, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The following pictures and the 12 second video were all taken there.
Nellie on the patio looking for squirrels Space #11 is on a peninsula. There is a lot of room between spacesThis morning before all of the fog lifted
We’ve really been enjoying the patio and it only takes 5 minutes to drop down the back and fold out the screens.
kay, things aren’t quite bug free, yet. We thought we were “what’s next” organized, but we’re slow learners. We thought we were moving right along this morning. The black water and gray water were dumped, dogs walked, patio up, slides in, the Jeep we tow hooked up, electricity off…and then, something occurred to me. I hadn’t showered and I was still in my flannel pjs. I said, “Uh oh, Kip, I’m going to have to wear my pajamas all day because my clothes are in the closet you can’t get into when the slides are in, and the electricity and water heater are off. I’ve been so busy checking things off the list, I didn’t think about myself. (Good time to throw that in right?)
So an hour later, we were on our way. All we had to do was figure out where we were going!
By Valerie Leckey Halla, daughter of Ella Sanderson Leckey and husband, Al Leckey
We all love our small hometown…my Mom’s family were all brought up in Murdo, SD. I was partly raised in Pennsylvania but visited our small hometown most summers and loved moving back for 7-8 th grades. Then, boom, my parents moved us to California and I was devastated as a 13 year old to leave, thinking I could never go home to the place I loved and all my aunts, uncles and cousins again. But you can go home again…
I was chatting with my cousin Mark one time on the phone. We were looking back at good times, good people and good stories we had known and experienced. We talked about how my dear Mom was pretty frugal. When I was about 9 years old, she bought a new throw rug for the house. She kept it hidden away in the coat closet and didn’t use it except when some special South Dakota friends were visiting. It was considered an extravagance.
My Mom, Mark’s Aunt Ella and his Dad, my Uncle Jeff, had grown up with six kids in their family in a small log cabin. It was in a beautiful place about 8 miles east of Murdo called Horse Creek. It was a tough life growing up in the early 1900’s and 1920’s on the prairie and money was only used for necessities.
The young Sanderson family, minus Elna who was not born yet. Jeff is faced with his left side facing the camera. He had a black eye from a fall I believeL: A family friend, sisters Loretta, Ella, and Helen, holding baby Elna
Mark and I kept telling stories. Fast Forward to the 1950’s- my Mom would put this throw rug out only on special occasions. It was not a necessity but it made us look like we could afford to buy a small fluffy foo foo rug. After the visit with old friends was over and dishes were cleared, we stood at the entry saying goodbye to our old friends. Standing there and as a kid I got bored, so I reached down and pulled up the new throw rug and put it back in the coat closet. The friends looked shocked. I had literally pulled the rug out from under them. Like my Mom, I knew the rug was just for special occasions. When company left, the rug was whisked away. My folks told that story for years after and Mark and I chuckled at that old story once again. He even knew where it fit in our wonderful family past. It clicked with him.
Grandma Sanderson, Jeff Sanderson, Grandpa Sanderson, Wayne Sanderson, Ella, Helen, Loretta and Elna
“Yeah, your Mom was really frugal and did some strange things. And our Aunt Elna fit in with our family of characters also. She would go into Mack’s Cafe whistling a tune and just barely step inside looking around. If no one of interest was there, she turned around and left!”
We both chuckled together on the phone still discussing our crazy yet lovable aunts and uncles. I offered another story a friend had told me recently since I lived in California and missed out on a lot of Murdo stories. I got excited and yelled out, “Oh – and Mark, Cynthia told me about how during tourist season Aunt Elna drove Aunt Loretta uptown to check out the motel situation! It’s so funny. Aunt Loretta filled up her Chalet Motel then parked at Aunt Elna’s house so people didn’t recognize her car and then Loretta rode in Aunt Elna’s car with her. She would see which motels still showed vacancy signs!” I told him the route Cynthia said they took down the highway, up the hill, down Main Street, and they would do the route circling around a few times all this at about 5-10 mph, seeing all the Murdo motels in town and on the two highways several times. He knew all this anyway. “ So Aunt Loretta smoked her cigarettes and they went back and forth at about a snail’s pace, really stretching the ride out, lording it over on the businesses that weren’t filled with tourists chatting away until Aunt Elna drove Aunt Loretta back to the house to pick up her own car!” He laughed. (Ironically, years after this story occurred, Aunt Elna’s son – our cousin – now owns a big impressive motel in town and Mark has a lovely country inn also.)
Our conversation continued. Mark told another good one about his Dad promising to give him his treasured jeep when he, Mark, turned 24, but no, he didn’t. Uncle Jeff didn’t give it to him. There are many jeep stories, but suffice it to say many years later, friends took the old jeep out by the cemetery when Uncle Jeff passed away and the jeep watched as Jeff was buried there. The jeep now lives in the Murdo Auto Museum. If that old vehicle could talk…what a lot of stories it holds.
Valerie and the Jeep at The Pioneer Auto Museum in MurdoElla Sanderson Leckey and Grandma Sanderson in CA during the war years. Grandma was hoping to see her son, Jeff before he shipped out. Valerie and mom, EllaValerie and Aunt Elna Sanderson Miller at The 1880s Town near MurdoHelen Sanderson Haverberg, daughters Sue Ann and Trice, Valerie Leckey and Ella Sanderson LeckeyElna Sanderson Miller and Irma Bork Sanderson visiting Horse Creek after Sister Loretta Gustafson passed awayValerie Halla holding Caitlin, Irma Sanderson with Valerie’s son, Morgan, Ken Halla, Jeff Sanderson behind Matthew Halla, Mark Sanderson
Mark and I ended our hours long conversation by joking and bragging that we certainly weren’t as silly and weird like our parents and aunts and uncles! No, we were different, more educated, more modern, and young! We both paused and thinking it over, knew we had also done some weird things, but we felt the joy going back in time, recalling how we laughed at the good times, good people and funny stories. How lucky that we were able to go back home even if just in our memories.
There are more stories about Uncle Wayne and Aunt Helen and our grandparents and cousins, but that’s for another day when we’re back home. Thank Heaven, we can go back again. Back home.
(Yram: I apologize that the pictures aren’t in the correct order. I am working from my Executive trailer.)
Those 70ish Girls 