Our next few days were spent in St. Louis. Thankfully, there’s an RV park blocks away from downtown.

Great location, but it was just a glorified gravel parking lot with hookups. The staff were very sweet, helpful people. The RV park is also at a major intersection, and people in St. Louis aren’t careful drivers as a whole, so we also heard the effects of a head-on collision while getting dinner ready. A police station was right across the road from us, so help arrived quickly and thankfully.
Wednesday, the 30th, was a day we’ve been looking forward to for a loooong time. We were headed to the City Museum.

I will say its name, from the get-go, gives the wrong impression of the place. It’s an all-out awesome 10 story playground. If you’re going to go there, be sure to bring a water bottle, a towel to wipe away your sweat, and wear plenty of deoderant. It’s also the ONLY TIME I wish I had a fanny pack. That way you can climb unencumbered. But this was THE only time. Ever.

 

There’s so much to crawl on, through, under, over, slide down, climb up — it’s so fun for everyone, all ages. We were able to help Ean do more than we expected him to be able to do, even with having to keep his leg straight.

 

Up on the top of the building, there’s even more fun, including a Ferris Wheel. You can ride an elevator up to the top of the ten stories, or you can climb 210 stairs, and they’ve numbered the stairs in a countdown format. Very fun! The ferris wheel is up on top of the roof, so you feel like you’re waaaaaaaaaaay up there. And from the top of the ride, we could see our RV park. Hands down, City Museum is a unique, amazing place to go.

 

We spent the later afternoon at the St. Louis Science Center. It’s located in Forest Park, and what’s neat about Forest Park is all the attractions/museums/zoo in Forest Park are free from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Here are some pictures from our fun there.

 

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The Science Center has a pedestrian bridge that crosses over I-65. There’s radar guns so you can track speeds of the cars, a telescope, and even geometric cutouts in the floor with glass so you can watch the cars zoom under you.

 

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Thursday, we’d be leaving St. Louis, but wanted to stop by the arch for a quick photo and then the zoo for a couple of hours before hitting the road. We visited the arch four years ago on that same roadtrip that took us to Southwest City. But it’s always fun to see it again.

 

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Ean had wanted to see a cheetah and gorilla. The cheetah is in the grass, left picture in the top third, right where the tree foliage ends. The gorilla is a little easier to spot.

 

Dayne made a friend. We only wish a hippo could fit in the bathtub. Ean has a real lion’s mane on his head.

 

Mansfield, MO is the home of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Association and Museum. The boys and I read through the series a few years back, and the stories have always had a special place in our hearts. We stayed the night at the Laura Ingalls Wilder RV Park directly across the road from the museum. It’s a wonderful, peaceful park, and we loved our stay there!

On Tuesday, the 29th, we visited the Wilder museum and took a tour of the farm house Laura and Almanzo built together.

It was sooo special. Everything in that house, save for a handful of items, are the actual items that belonged to them. He built Laura little things to make life easier. Almanzo was so resourceful and smart. And did you know Laura was only 4’11” and he 5’4″? It was just a really sweet time being there.

In the museum, they have on display Pa’s fiddle. The one Laura wrote about so often in her stories. Once a year, at their annual music festival, someone still plays it! You aren’t allowed to take pictures in either the house or museum, so we’ll just have the memories in our minds. Such a worthwile place to visit – so glad we did!

Southwest City, MO, isn’t usually on one’s vacation destination list. It’s named Southwest City because it’s literally in the very southwest corner of the state.

But this was where we spent the night, parked in an empty lot. Our reason for stopping here came the next morning, Memorial Day.
We headed to Dave’s Supermarket to buy some fresh flowers. Then drove down Choctaw Rd. to see Cousin Mabel’s house. She passed away years ago, but folks in town still remembered which house was hers and were kind enough to share. Mabel, Grandma’s cousin, didn’t have an indoor toilet until the late 70’s/early 80’s.

After that, we took our flowers and headed to the cemetary.

That’s where Mabel is buried, but it’s also where my grandma (Christina’s) is buried. She died in ’11, and four years ago, while on a family road trip, we stopped by with Christina’s side of the family. My sister, Leslee, and my mom got to be there together and see where she was buried. But it took us a long time on a hot afternoon that August of ’14 to find it. Thankfully, this time we knew right where to go.

 

We put flowers on Grandma’s mother’s grave an sister’s grave, as well. They’re all buried there together. We put flags, too, since it was Veterans’ Day. My grandpa was stationed at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed, so he and Grandma both survived that horrible time.
It’s comforting to know they’re resting there until Jesus returns. The next thing they’ll know is Jesus coming in the clouds to take them home. And no, our flowers won’t last long, especially in the Missouri heat, but it was nice to leave something pretty by their headstones.
While driving to Cousin Mabel’s house, we saw some teenage kittens along the side of the road. Being animal lovers, we of course noticed. But we also noticed they were playing with something. That “something’ happened to be a pond turtle. And he was on a path to be run over if he didn’t make an abrupt u-turn.

We rescued him and headed for Honey Creek, which runs through the northern end of town. Dayne named him Southwest. The boys and I took Southwest down to Honey Creek and set him down in a nice spot. He didn’t agree. He tried to climb out. So we picked him up and took him to an even nicer spot. Southwest started crawlling out to head for the road. He obviously was bent on adventure. We decided to take him across the road that runs through town and put in him over there. Maybe that’s where he’d wanted to be?…It worked. He so cutely paddled with his stubby legs and we soon lost sight of him in the taller creek grass. But we’d see the tops of blades moving and know where he was. Knowing our little man was safe and sound, we departed for Mansfield. Who knows when we’ll be back, but it was nice to spend some time in a place special to our family.

 

Right after taking the above picture, we crossed the road to the gas station we parked at. As soon as we crossed the two-lane country road, a white Chevy pickup flew by. And I mean flew!! They were going at least 75 mph. What was going on? If you’ve ever watched the old TV series “The Dukes of Hazard”, you’ll be able to visualize precisely what came next. A police car, sirens blaring, was chasing this truck through this windy country road that runs south out of Southwest City into Oklahoma. It was just like the Duke boys were outrunning Roscoe P. Coltrane. The truck whizzed by. Three seconds later, the police car. And just as in “The Dukes of Hazard”, these Duke boys got away. Up the road we heard a loud screeching of tires and watched as the white truck put on their brakes and turned back to make a sharp right turn onto another country road. The police officer drove right by the turn-off. He turned around up the road and came back slowly. It seemed he knew which way they’d gone. He stopped at the gas station. We asked him why he didn’t pursue. He said since they’d crossed the state line, it was out of his jurisdiction. Those Duke boys….they knew exactly what they were doing. But had we been crossing the road on foot, and particularlly Ean on crutches, just ten seconds later, we’d all have been mowed over by the truck. It was a good lesson for our boys to witness. And hopefully those Duke boys won’t have to injure or kill someone before they change their ways.

After leaving the Perry’s with freshly washed clothes, we headed north for OKC. Along the way, we stopped at Chipotle for Ean’s much-deserved burrito. In the ER, Albert had told Ean we’d take him somewhere of his choosing once we were on the road again. That helped Ean get through his time of no eating.
We spent the night at a KOA. The boys got to get in some tetherball before dinner.
The next day was Sabbath. We attended the Oklahoma City International Church and thoroughly enjoyed our time spent there. I (Christina) also got to meet up with the parents of one of my 4th graders during my student-teaching year in Texas. My 4th grader is now a dental hygenist in north Dallas. I’m very proud of her. There was a yummy potluck after church, and it was so nice to be able to visit and make new friends.
Sabbath afternoon, we visited the site of the Federal Building bombing. They’ve built a beautiful memorial park honoring the precious people who lost their lives that day.

Here’s a few more pictures from the memorial.

Later that afternoon, we found a park with some shade to park under. Dayne scootered, Brodee, Albert, and I played frisbee, and Ean practiced more on his crutches.

In the evening, we drove to Bricktown, a portion of OKC’s downtown. We walked around the Botanical Gardens and found a dog park.

Melbee loved running around like a crazy woman, having the whole place to herself. Then another dog and his family came along. His name was Murphy, and the two of them had so much fun just being dogs together. Albert and I enjoyed talking with Murphy’s family while our boys kicked the soccer ball around with their son. They were such sweet people, and we ended up heading to the Children’s area together. God gave us another special Sabbath blessing in meeting this family and having a fun time in a pretty setting.

Next, we headed to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s arena to take a picture. They’ve been one of Dayne’s teams for a while, so we couldn’t pass up this fun photo op.  Speaking of basketball, the Warriors were playing the Rockets in Game 6, so we headed to McDonald’s parking lot. Their wifi is strong enough for our laptop to pick up in the parking lot, so we’ve been able to keep up with the series. Thank you, Mickey D’s!
Our last stop in OKC was the National Cowboy and Western Museum on Sunday. It was sooooooo worth it. It worked out that we were there there for their annual Chuck Wagon Days. There were fun activities for kids, and the Boy Scouts made yummy cowboy food for us to sample – biscuits, peach cobbler, beans with jalapenos, and rice pudding.

We met a painter, Steve Boaldin. He’s such a genuine person and we got to chat for a while. He has his own TV show on the local PBS channel, and this summer it will go national on the Cowoy Channel. Be sure to look for it. You can also visit his website: artofacowboy.com. His work is so beautiful and lifelike.

Overall, we loved this museum. It’s certainly worth the visit.

 

The dirt hills are a fun place Michael and his boys like to ride. And our boys had a fun time, too. There are some whoopty-do’s, some banks, and some inclines.

Ean was going down a steep hill to attempt another when he realized the rider at the top of the next hill hadn’t cleared out. He put on his brakes, knowing he would lose much needed momentum. Albert and I lost sight of him as he descended, but knew he went down because Brodee and Jaden asked him if he was alright. That’s when we heard Ean yell, “I can see my flesh!”

Albert ran over the hill and down. Ean was trying to come back to us but fell again, unable to walk. This is what I saw as Albert brought him back. 

Blood was running down into his socks. We got going to iCare Urgent Care as quickly as possible, hoping they could take care of him there since it was closer than ER. The doctor saw him and after a quick exam, told us it was quite possible Ean’s knee could be compromised. The staff there was so kind and helpful. They got us on our way ASAP to the Children’s Hospital in Plano. While at the ER, Ean had a few x-rays taken. Then the Orthopedist came in to talk to us. He said it was still hard to determine whether Ean’s knee joint had been violated or not. He was going to have to do a dye test. That meant injecting the side of Ean’s knee with blue dye. If the blue dye came out into the wound, we’d know the joint was compromised and have to take action.

Let me stop here and say Ean was in no pain. From the moment he was torn up by his pedal, he felt no pain. It’s so hard to look at his laceration and comprehend that. The Orthopedist said the wound looked like a gunshot wound. Throughout this ER stay, even when the Orthopedist was injecting his knee with a long needle, Ean was a tough little champ. And we give God the glory. God subdued Ean’s pain, and helped him handle this with courage. The Orthopedist was a tough, no punches doctor. When he was done with the procedure, he looked at Ean and said, “You’re a superstar, my friend. There’s not many people that take that the way you did.” And Ean never cried. Ever.

After the Orhopedist left, the ER doctor came in to begin the laceration repair. This would end up taking 1.5 hours and require over twenty injections into the actual wound itself to numb it throughout that 1.5 hours. Those injections made Ean the most uncomfortable and were quite painful. It wasn’t easy to stitch Ean back up. It took twelve internal stitches, and the twelve you see on top. When the doctor was done, Ean’s cheeks were flushed because of the pain he’d been internalizing. We’re so proud of him and the way he carried himself. The nurses and doctors appreciated his demeanor  and trust.

We got to the ER before 6pm, and left at 2:30am. A nurse wheeled Ean out to the back parking lot where Big Boy was parked. After getting Ean tucked into bed, he finally was able to eat. The Perrys kindly sent pizza for us, and Ean ate two slices of veggie before falling asleep. We spent the night there in the parking lot. It was finally over.

We thank God for all he did to give us wonderful people to help Ean, for keeping the pain at bay, and for wonderful friends like the Perrys who looked after Brodee and Dayne for a while when we were in the ER. We praise Him for stitches instead of surgery.

The name Ian/Ean means “God is gracious”. Our Ean is living proof of that.

After a good breakfast, our first stops in Dallas was to the Cowboys’ Stadium and the Texas Rangers’ field.

Both are right there together – very convenient. Thank you, stadium planners! Next on our to-do list was to meet up with our friend Eliel. He’s from our church back in Gilbert, AZ, but is out in Dallas for work for a short while. It was fun to see him and have a little bit of home in Texas.

Our last planned stop for the day was in Frisco, where one of Albert’s friends from Jr. High lives. Michael and his wife Erin have three boys also. The two oldest are around our boys’ ages, so they were all looking forward to spending the afternoon playing.

But the big question was what to play? Basketball, go swimming, ride bikes at the dirt hills? The dirt hills won by one vote. But by the end of the day, we would all wish basketball or swimming had won. You see, while at the dirt hills, Ean had an accident. An ER type accident. If you’d like to know more and don’t mind some bloody pictures, be sure to read EAN’S EPISODE. If blood and raw flesh aren’t your thing, then here’s a quick summary. Ean got a laceration in his leg about 1.5″ in diameter and about 0.5″ deep. Jagged edges. Urgent Care couldn’t help. We went to the Children’s Hospital ER. 8.5 hrs later, Ean had twenty four stitches and crutches. We spent the night in the hospital parking lot. The next day, we went back to the Perry’s home to do some laundry. So kind of them to allow us to wash our stinky stuff 🙂 Then we set off for Oklahoma City.

Our visit to Houston began with a night’s stay at the Palms RV Park. The boys were able to ride their bikes around the park while the parents did some laundry. A light sprinkle serenaded us to sleep. The next day was Space Center Houston. What an awesome place! The rain from the night before turned into showers, including thunderstorms and lightening, which kept us from the Tram Tour for a few hours. But with plenty of exhibits inside the Space Center, it wasn’t a biggie. Thankfully, the thunder and lightening let up enough for the tours to resume, and we made it out to Mission Control. While there, a “Shelter in Place” warning came through, so we had the added bonus of staying in Mission Control longer than the tour usually allows. The guide there told us more detailed info and there was time for a short movie and questions. Sitting in the observation galley, in the very chairs observers used forty-nine years ago to witness as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, that was a goosebump moment. It’s still the same fabric, wood, everything. We left NASA and headed up to see more stadiums, including the Texans’ and Rockets’. Now being Warriors fans, while they’re battling out the series, was pretty fun timing. We took our flag, as you see from the picture, and held it up in front of the arena. The security guard saw us and laughed as he said we couldn’t take a picture there. The boys and I continued to walk around and found an even better entrance to take a picture in front of. The same guard was there by then and when he saw us, he said “Oh no. You REALLY can’t take that picture here!” All said with a smile. It turns out he’s a Cavs fan anyway. I told him we could’t be friends anymore… It was fun and memorable. Brodee was worried we might get jumped having our flag out like that. We headed out for Dallas and spent the night somewhere about 30 miles south of Big D.

 

Hiccups. They appear out of no where. They’re obnoxious interruptions that are unavoidable, and you’re usually left wondering when they’ll ever go away!

Well, that was us when a code indicator light came on as we were driving through the night between Van Horn and San Antonio. With God’s help, the indicator light didn’t turn into us actually sitting on the side of the road. We arrived early Sunday morning into  San Antonio. Albert borrowed a code reader from Auto Zone and found out it was a code for the transmission. The hiccups just got more intense…

Well, never fear. We have a Good Sam extended coverage plan. That’ll take care of everything, right?…Long story short, Albert had to once again tell Cheap Sam we weren’t taking any short cuts when it came to servicing the transmission correctly. They conceded. And thanks to God’s guidance, Google and its ratings system, we found a 5-star transmission shop that was able to work us in to their work load. If you ever have transmission trouble in the San Antonio area, call West Ave. Transmission shop, owned by Greg and Desi Snell. Their motto is “Honesty at work”. Isn’t that awesome? And they live up to it. Should you ever find yourself with transmission troubles in San Antone, they’re the ones to call!

While Big Boy was at the transmission spa, we got on with our business of fun in San Antonio. We ate a yummy meal along the Riverwalk, enjoying the rain as it came down. We walked around some downtown and called it a day.

The next day was one the boys had been looking forward to for years — going to The Alamo. They’ve read books about it, re-enacted the battle many times in our backyard, and of course, seen the Fess Parker/Disney story of Davy Crockett countless times.

The tour guides are so knowledgeable. One in particular made you feel like you were right there with the way he laid out the story. Just before you go in the chapel, there’s a marker to the left of the doors. Four people who were at The Alamo as it fell say they saw Davy Crockett laying on the ground on that approximate spot with dead Mexican soldiers all around. His final resting place. It was a sadly amazing feeling knowing such a brave person died there.

After the Alamo, we went on a river boat tour. It was a fun way to get around and see more things. If you’re wondering where Melbee is in these pictures, she’s with a Wag dogsitter. This app will be a lifesaver on our trip for those times dogs aren’t allowed.

The river isn’t just used by tourists. Gardeners and law enforcement are seen daily.

Google Van Horn, TX. As you’ll see, it’s one of those small towns that you drive through, never really thinking about it. I (Christina) have driven through here several times in the past, never thinking it anything particularly special. John Madden, of course, would beg to differ. We decided to stop here Sabbath evening after leaving El Paso. We pulled off I-10 and drove for just a short bit. And that’s when we found it.

The Okey D. Luke Park. Just right there on the main drag. A complete oasis in what appears to be a sad little town. Beautiful green grass. Shade trees all over the place. A few picnic benches. Winding paths the boys had so much fun riding their bikes on. We spent about 3 hours there. Melbee was able to play and enjoy the grass. We played frisbee, ate dinner, enjoyed the soft breeze that kept on coming, and thanked God for this simple, timely gift.

It ended up being one of those perfect times. One of those times you always have to look back on when things don’t go right. Thank you, Van Horn.